WebView and WebGL

[Nir Lisker]

I don't want to hijack the WebGL discussion but since it rolled into the 3D
library territory anyway I'll give my 2 cents.

3D enhancement are indeed not planned for Java10 (at the minimum) and
indeed you can't bring your own shader (asked already at
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/43622856/can-we-implement-our-own-materials-in-javafx),
but I agree with Mike - you can, maybe somewhat surprisingly, do quite a
lot with what there is.

Perhaps the most limiting feature is not supporting industry standards of
3D modeling via converters (import/export). It has been suggested (
https://bugs.openjdk.java.net/browse/JDK-8091851) but last activity was 5
years ago. As for shaders (materials), lightings etc., from what I remember
by looking around in the source, it will take some effort to rewrite the
API to be able to accept custom ones but it's far from impossible. If Phong
is implemented there's little reason reason others won't fit (maybe
reflective surfaces don't work). Similarly a directional light can be based
on the implemented point light be using a cone instead of a sphere.

We've employed some clever tricks to get adequate "advanced features"
results and considering that all of it can be single-handedly run on iOS
and Android with Gluon Mobile (specifically JavaFXPorts) I think there *is*
a future in this direction and I'm willing to team up with whomever is
interested provided we can get minimal support from the Oracle team.