Hi Mike,
> Excellent...I will see if I can change the Earth example to use the manual
> aspect ratio setting. Bill, should I download/install VisAD again or can I
> just add the new method to what we have?
You'll need to download/install VisAD. The hardest part
is getting your CLASSPATH right, which it already is for a
re-install. Just ftp the visad.jar, or ftp the source in
visad_src-2.0.jar, unpack and 'make compile'.
> When the change is made to the API, will aspect ratio be automatically set,
> manually set (through user input), or semiautomatically set (by querying
> the display and using returned info)?
It sounds like the Java3D folks intend that it will all be done
transparently so you won't have to think about it.
> What is the typical lag time for these changes to filter down to
> a beta and release version of J3D?
I raised this issue with the Java3D folks at Siggraph. If you
discover a bug or need a change in VisAD, we try respond on our
server within a day or two. Its hard to see why that has to be
six months or a year for Java3D, which is about what it usually
is. On the other hand, they have to cope with lots of internal
coordination with all the other Java teams.
> I assume it may also need to filter into HP3D as well, though
> I also assume HP tracks the latest updates pretty closely. How
> can I be notified when the change has been incorporated?
When we update VisAD to take advantage of new versions of Java3D
we notify visad-list. It hasn't happened for a while, since the
last two versions of Java3D (1.1.3 and 1.2) have bugs that make
them unusable with VisAD. When we do make such motification,
you can check Sun's web pages to see what features are supported
by the new Java3D version.
Cheers,
Bill
----------------------------------------------------------
Bill Hibbard, SSEC, 1225 W. Dayton St., Madison, WI 53706
hibbard@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 608-263-4427 fax: 608-263-6738
http://www.ssec.wisc.edu/~billh/vis.html
