Everything looking good for release!

in preparation of the final 3.0 Release of the SDK we now finally surface again with a Release Candidate of the SDK. As there was a short test of the installer that went as “RC1″ due to the sudden interest of Geertjan Wielenga this release is now called “RC2″. This “Release Candidate” label is mainly for the SDK itself, the engine will see some more severe updates until release.

A lot of changes have been incorporated, most of which have been available as stable updates to the 3.0Beta version. The main change of this release is the move to the NetBeans Platform 7.2 which brings a significantly faster and less memory intensive SDK and some IDE features like Git support and others.

We know that the final release of the jMonkeyEngine 3 SDK is overdue but we want to make sure everything is right. We pushed stable updates to the current 3.0Beta release whenever we could to support those who already use the engine in production and we intend to continue supporting a largely hassle-free working environment. Heavy changes in the surrounding ecosystems however (Blender, JDK) gave us a bit of a bumpy road over the last few months.

Among the most recent changes are..

Engine
- Various bugfixes, some of them long-term bugs
- Better blender 2.63 support for both ogre and direct .blend loaders
- Fixes in post processors
- Android input system improvements
- Bugfixes in batching
- Animation support in batches

A few fixes for the NiftyGUI integration as well as a new NiftyGUI version (1.3.2) will be incorporated in a later release.

SDK
- Vastly improved speed and memory consumption
- Fixed user rights issues on windows
- Improved Model Import Tool with error checking of models and hints at problems
- Improved input handling in the SceneComposerA plugin in the jMonkeyEngine3 SDK, allows editing the content of j3o files which represent a complete scene or model.
- Improved support for animations in the SceneExplorer
- Support for bone attachments in the SceneExplorer
- Support for effect and audio tracks for animations in the SceneExplorer
- Improved .exe creation, added config file
- More robust Android support
- Fixes for problems with latest Android SDK
- Fixes problems with creating SDK plugins
- Added latest Ogre exporter script for blender

This version will use its own setting directory so you can use it alongside of a 3.0Beta install which allows you to check your projects with the new release. The nightly updates for 3.0Beta will stop from now on and only RC2 will get nightly updates, any “stable” update will probably be a completely new RC release until the final 3.0 release.

Please report all issues you encounter be it with the installer, the SDK or the engine.

Edit: A small issue with a wrong junit library import in the BasicGame template has been fixed in a stable update already, just update the SDK via Help->Check for Updates. You can ignore and “Reference Problems” for junit in RC2 projects if you encounter them and just remove the junit references from your projects Library settings.

You can download this release as always in our downloads section!

Have fun coding,
The jMonkeyEngine 3 Team

Update your jME3 SDK today! Simply click the update button on the lower right side of the jME3 SDK or select “check for updates” in the “Help” menu and install the updates, it is all automatic.

Here’s an overview of the new features:

• Better support of Blender 2.6 models through fixes in Ogre3D animation importing as well as tangent generation (if using normal mapping)
• More stability and better performance in the jME3 SDK
• Custom controls editing directly in the SDK SceneComposerA plugin in the jMonkeyEngine3 SDK, allows editing the content of j3o files which represent a complete scene or model. 
• Texture array support
• MonkeyZone now runs with 3.0 beta out of the box
• Raycasting now supported in native bullet physics
• Templates for NiftyGUI controls in the SDK
• Templates for AppStates and Controls in the SDK
• Play/stop physics right in the SDK
• Fix issues with mouse input in the SDK
• Fixes to AppStates, to make their usage more consistent
• Various fixes to timer, making multiplayer games much smoother
• Fix issue with jME3 native extraction not working in Windows under limited user account

Happy coding! ~jME team

It was a long way to beta

linux bugs were fiercer than expected..

First of all we’d like to apologize for the delay of the beta release, we wanted to make sure the most problematic issues (e.g. SDK/Swing not working on Linux) and most wanted features (Android deployment and a working Android renderer) made it into the beta so they can be tested and be expanded on properly.

While the jMonkeyEngine SDK (jMonkeyPlatform) will still see some major improvements until release, its time for all to get used to the jME3 API, as its nearing its first finished release state. Many additions, improvements and some intense cleansing have lead to what we believe is a solid foundation for any type of 3D game on any platform. The use of Java and the consequent unification of features delivers unparalleled ease of development and deployment for your games and we plan to extend on these advantages in the future. The goal is to write games, not getting entangled in language / build process / target platform issues long before you start to code and jMonkeyEngine delivers on that.

Changes

See some of the various changes made to both the core engine and SDK.

Core Engine
- Android 2.2+ support
- Blender model loader
- Spotlight
- Grid Terrain
- Kinematic rag doll
- Underwater filter
- Steep Parallax Mapping
- Improved j3m flexibility
- OpenGL1 lighting
- Improved networking library
- Native Bullet physics
- NiftyGUI 1.3
- JavaDoc improvements
- Many more improvements and additions

Major Bugs
- Linux canvas fixed
- Lighting bugs fixed
- Applet on MacOSX and Linux fixed and improved

SDK (jMonkeyPlatform)
- Android Deployment
- Blender model support
- Edit post processing filters
- Font creator
- Move widgets in SceneComposerA plugin in the jMonkeyEngine3 SDK, allows editing the content of j3o files which represent a complete scene or model. and TerrainEditor
- Improved terrain editing
- Improved material and particle editing
- Improved Model Importer
- Improved Eclipse support
- Material editor, Nifty editor etc. all work without the main OpenGL window being open
- Updated Help and Documentation
- WorldForge AssetPack with lots of free to use models
- jME2 Model Import (WIP, optional install)

Major Bugs
- Linux freezes
- Canvas issues

Updates

During alpha it became apparent that many users feel forced to switch to the unstable “nightly” version because of some new feature, thus breaking their projects and SDK installs on various occasions. To counteract this from now on we’ll push “stable” updates more often using the same update path that will be used for the final version of jME3 and the SDK.

Note that if you want to test the nightly versions it is recommended to use a separate settings folder with the nightly version of jME SDK so you can try the nightly version while keeping your stable install intact, see more details here.

Versioning of jME3 when going stable

As you know, jME is now at version 3 and we intend to keep it that way, maybe more than you think As jME3 is a complete rewrite of the whole engine, we intend to keep the “3″ version number for a long time and provide possibly API breaking updates like the one from jME1 to jME2 as point updates (e.g. jME 3.1). Simple fixes and additions that don’t change or deprecate anything are coming as e.g. jME 3.0.3 updates. The SDK and all of its core plugins will also have the same version number so theres no confusion about what works with what.

To clarify the future versioning of jMonkeyEngine (X = number changes):
3.0.X – Bugfixes and feature updates that do not break current projects or the engine API, pushed automatically via stable update center.
3.X.0 – Major release with completely new features, may contain API changes or break current projects, requires new download of SDK which can be run in parallel to previous version without mixing up settings for easy transition.
X.0.0 – jME release version, will be “3″ as long as the engine does not get completely rewritten again (similar to MacOS X).

Upgrade notes

Its recommended to uninstall previous versions of the SDK using the uninstaller:

Windows:
- Select jMonkeyPlatform in your installed software list and uninstall it
- (Alternatively) Double-click the uninstall.exe in the jmonkeyplatform folder
- Go through the uninstall wizard

Linux:
- Run the uninstall.sh file in the jMonkeyPlatform install folder
- Go through the uninstall wizard

MacOSX:
- Right click the jMonkeyPlatform application and select “show contents”
- Double-click the uninstall.command file in the folder that opens
- Go through the uninstall wizard
- Delete the empty jMonkeyPlatform application.

Get it now!

As always, you can download the release in our downloads section.

Happy coding,
The jMonkeyEngine Team

The first jME3 release of 2011 is at the same time the last alpha release of jME3, the beta release of jME3 will finally be in “API freeze” although most planned API changes have been incorporated already in alpha-4 and we will try to keep the changes until beta at a minimum while mainly concentrating on adding new features.

About Alpha-4

It took us longer than anticipated to get alpha-4 out but we think this package was well worth the wait. Many improvements and additions like lighting support for terrain, post-process water and physics controls bring jMonkeyEngine3 a big step closer to its final release. The SDK steps into a whole new dimension of visual editing thanks to @Sploregs new terrain editor plugin for jMonkeyPlatform, many internal improvements in the platform make extending and improving it even easier.

The jMonkeyEngine3 SDK has really become a mature product by now and success stories like those of Mythruna and other projects further strengthen our belief in providing a complete game development package that keeps all aspects around the development under control so that you can concentrate on creating your game.

From this release on the jMonkeyPlatform with all its plugins will be referred to as “The jMonkeyEngine3 SDK”. While the jMonkeyPlatform application itself will keep its name, the amount of available plugins that come preinstalled and can be added make the whole package more than just a simple application, hence the shift to the SDK name.

We sincerely hope that also those users that code in other IDE’s start to use the SDK and its functions, remember you can edit other IDE projects assets via File->Import Project->External Project Assets.

Changes in the engine

- Lighted terrain
- Post Process Water
- Depth Blur Filter
- Movement paths & cinematics tracks
- Physics Controls
- Improved physics character
- Overall improved physics flexibility
- NiftyGUI 1.3 (changes may break current xml)
- OpenGL 1 support (currently all materials are unlit in OpenGL1)
- Support for mat param -> renderstate binding to support OpenGL1 for your own shaders
- Uses lwjgl 2.7.1

Notable deprecations
- PhyiscsNodes have been deprecated (in favor of Physics Controls)
- Most unshaded material j3md files are deprecated: (in favor of Unshaded.j3md)
- SolidColor.j3md
- VertexColor.j3md
- SimpleTextured.j3md
- ColoredTextured.j3md
- The m_ prefix for material settings has been deprecated (its kept in the shader source only)
- JOGL support has been deprecated

Changes in the SDK

- Terrain editing and painting
- SkyBox creation wizard
- Vehicle editor (WIP)
- Improved Material Editor
- Undo/Redo support (WIP)
- Adding of items via SceneExplorer
- Executing of functions like tangent generation via SceneExplorer
- Editing of UserData for Spatials
- Support for Controls in SceneExplorer (AnimControl, PhysicsControl etc.)
- Improved physics support
- Improved switching between plugins in open scene

Changes in the jMonkeyPlatform Plugin API
- Generally improved internal and extension APIs
- Support for creating custom items via the SceneExplorer
- Support for Undo/Redo
- Support for custom Controls in SceneExplorer
- Improve support for custom Spatials in SceneExplorer

Platform and Update Center changes
jMonkeyPlatform is now based on our own build of the NetBeans platform which allows us to update the base platform independently from the NetBeans IDE update cycle. A new update center on jMonkeyEngine.com provides the updates for the base platform. For the time being these are generated from the “silver” version of NetBeans, which makes jMonkeyPlatform more up-to-date than the current NetBeans beta release
The update centers for NetBeans plugins are now disabled by default to avoid cluttering the list of available plugins with stuff thats mostly not relevant to jME, however you can simply enable these to access the additional plugins that are available for the NetBeans IDE as well.

Upgrade notes

Note that depending on the content binary asset files created with alpha-3 might not be compatible with alpha-4 as no upgrade handling code is added to the jME3 serializer methods before beta. Also note that some API changes (especially physics) might break existing code, most changes should not be too complicated though.

Its recommended to uninstall previous versions of the SDK using the uninstaller:

Windows:
- Select jMonkeyPlatform in your installed software list and uninstall it
- (Alternatively) Double-click the uninstall.exe in the jmonkeyplatform folder
- Go through the uninstall wizard

Linux:
- Run the uninstall.sh file in the jMonkeyPlatform install folder
- Go through the uninstall wizard

MacOSX:
- Right click the jMonkeyPlatform application and select “show contents”
- Double-click the uninstall.command file in the folder that opens
- Go through the uninstall wizard
- Delete the empty jMonkeyPlatform application.

SVN changes

Shortly after this release the /branches/jme3 branch in svn will finally be moved to /trunk/engine to replace the now end of lifed jME 2.1, which will be moved to /branches/jme2.1. The /branches/jme3-gdeGame Development Environment - The basic definition of jMonkeyPlatform. branch will be moved to /trunk/sdk.

Download the SDK

Download the SDK in our downloads section.

Happy coding,
the jMonkeyEngine Team

7 Years of jMonkeyEngine History

We’d also like to take this opportunity to give a special shout-out to all past jME developers whose contributions to jME have helped make it the wonderful engine we all know and love.  Thank you especially to Mark Powell (Lavacado Studios) and Joshua Slack (Ardor Labs), whose leadership and vision helped to keep the community inspired in its formational years.

For those who may be concerned by the word ‘final’, rest assured that jME2 will remain under version control and its documentation will remain intact.  Fixes are not out of the question for those who run into issues, but remember that it is entirely community supported at this point.

This release sees many additions like terrain and networking and also jMonkeyPlatform has been improved with many additions and fixes. To celebrate the achievements, we have created a new video for this release, showing some of the code examples and jMonkeyPlatform in action. Enjoy:

The newly added terrain and networking systems have been tested by users of the nightly version and most bugs have been squished already. See a list of the most important changes in jMonkeyEngine3 SDK Alpha-3:

jMonkeyEngine
- Terrain system
- Networking System
- Blur filter
- Glow map textures
- Bullet physics now an AppState (easily create/switch multiple physics spaces)
- More/Updated tests
- Local updates (no more rootNode.updateGeometricState())
- Fixes (AssetLinkNode, Collision etc..)

jMonkeyPlatform
- Welcome Screen
- Model Import Wizard
- Asset Packs
- Codeless projects (manage other IDE projects assets in jMPThe jMonkeyPlatform, a full-fledged IDE with plugins for editing jME3 content and assets. Integral part of the jME3 SDK.)
- NeoTextureEditor & NeoTexture plugin (via Contribution Update Center)
- Desktop and Applet Deployment
- NiftyGUI XML Previews
- Terrain Support (Editor WIP)
- Binary Ogre files support
- Improved Help System (Docs are stored local, search works now)
- Add jMonkeyEngine3 wiki content to Help System
- Bugfixes (e.g. edit-resistant example projects etc.)

Uninstalling jMonkeyPlatform Alpha-2
For all existing users its recommended that you uninstall your current version of jMonkeyPlatform without deleting the settings folder and then install Alpha-3.

Windows:
- Select jMonkeyPlatform in your installed software list and uninstall it
- (Alternatively) Double-click the uninstall.exe in the jmonkeyplatform folder
- Go through the uninstall wizard

Linux:
- Run the uninstall.sh file in the jMonkeyPlatform install folder
- Go through the uninstall wizard

MacOSX:
- Right click the jMonkeyPlatform application and select “show contents”
- Double-click the uninstall.command file in the folder that opens
- Go through the uninstall wizard
- Delete the empty jMonkeyPlatform application.

Downloading jMonkeyPlatform Alpha-3
Download jMonkeyEngine3 SDK Alpha-3 in our download section.

Happy coding,
The jMonkeyEngine Team

Many improvements have been made to the core jMonkeyEngine as well as to the jMonkeyPlatform since Alpha-1 and generally jME3 is gaining more and more steam. We are happy to see many new users and even contributors and that tells us that we are on the right way. Everybody is very determined to make the jME3 SDK a premier OpenGL and game development tool and we are just as eager as you to see a beta soon .

See a partial list of changes hee:

jMonkeyEngine

• PSSM / SSAO
• Picking / Collision fixed
• New Input System
• Many Physics improvements, esp. Vehicle
• Physics load/save
• First implementation of a water shader (WIP)
• Many small bug fixes and added methods

• Way faster jMPThe jMonkeyPlatform, a full-fledged IDE with plugins for editing jME3 content and assets. Integral part of the jME3 SDK. due to fixed logging bug
• Material (j3m) editing in jMPThe jMonkeyPlatform, a full-fledged IDE with plugins for editing jME3 content and assets. Integral part of the jME3 SDK. (video)
• Improved SceneComposerA plugin in the jMonkeyEngine3 SDK, allows editing the content of j3o files which represent a complete scene or model. (see video below)
• Linking of models into scenes (see video below)
• Physics support in SceneExplorer
• Texture editing tool
• Online Documentation for jMPThe jMonkeyPlatform, a full-fledged IDE with plugins for editing jME3 content and assets. Integral part of the jME3 SDK. and jME3 via “F1″
• GLSL Code Editor (Contribution Center)
• Collada Import (Contribution Center, Alpha)

This is the first release that introduces a new installer and by using advanced compression, we were able to reduce the release download size to 75MB, including jMPThe jMonkeyPlatform, a full-fledged IDE with plugins for editing jME3 content and assets. Integral part of the jME3 SDK., jME and all test data.

jMPThe jMonkeyPlatform, a full-fledged IDE with plugins for editing jME3 content and assets. Integral part of the jME3 SDK. alpha-2 also introduces the “jMonkeyPlatform User Contributions” update center. If you go to “Tools”->”Plugins”->”Available Plugins” you can install some new plugins to jMPThe jMonkeyPlatform, a full-fledged IDE with plugins for editing jME3 content and assets. Integral part of the jME3 SDK. that are not part of the core jMPThe jMonkeyPlatform, a full-fledged IDE with plugins for editing jME3 content and assets. Integral part of the jME3 SDK. but have been contributed by users or are packaged from external libraries/projects (Category jMPThe jMonkeyPlatform, a full-fledged IDE with plugins for editing jME3 content and assets. Integral part of the jME3 SDK. User Contributions).

Download jMonkeyEngine3 SDK Alpha-2 for your OS now:

• Windows
• MacOSX
• Linux

If you have problems after installing, delete your jMonkeyPlatform settings folder:

Windows: C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\.jmonkeyplatform
Windows (alt): C:\Users\<username>\.jmonkeyplatform\
MacOSX: /Users/<username>/Library/Application Support/jmonkeyplatform
Ubuntu:  /home/<username>/.jmonkeyplatform

Happy coding,

the jMonkeyEngine Team

Direct Download – jME3 SDK Alpha1, no questions asked, for the impatient and daring.

We have decided to release jME3 in two different packages:

1. jMonkeyEngine3 SDK (includes jMonkeyEngine3 and jMonkeyPlatform)
2. jMonkeyEngine3 Standalone (includes jMonkeyEngine3 only)

Go to our download repository and pick whichever flavor suits you.

Showcase videos

jMonkeyEngine3 Demo Video

jMonkeyEngine3 SDK Demo Video

Documentation

• http://www.jmonkeyengine.com/wiki/doku.php/jme3
• http://www.jmonkeyengine.com/wiki/doku.php/jme3:jmonkeyplatform

If you’re wondering how the new jME3 matches up to the good ol’ jME2, check out the newly updated comparison, and join in on the discussion if you want to have your say.

We are also attempting to build an exhaustive list of all current and upcoming features. As of this writing, only the current and most complete features are listed.

Now let’s talk community!

Please read our contributor’s handbook. Make sure you don’t miss the part about reporting bugs. This is an alpha after all.

We could also use more video footage.

Frankly, we’re all rather exhausted now! There’s so much in store for the days to follow though. Here’s a taste:

• Plenty more showcase contents
• Webstarts!
• What’s up next? (general core, Android, terrain, jMonkeyPlatform plugins)

Happy Alpha Day, fellow jMonkeys!

~ jMonkey Team

Before this new release, the Java Monkey Engine reached almost 20’000 downloads. Unfortunately there are no statistics for the number of SVN pulls, but we estimate even greater traffic through these means, as most developers have preferred to use the development version of JME for a long time now. We have gone from r4093 to r4666 – suffice to say, there’s been some changes. Please see the changelog for details, but keep in mind we’re talking about continuous changes since January here, so there’s bound to be some left outs.

Now it is time to determine some realistic feature goals for JMonkeyEngine 2.1 as a continuously community-driven project. As part of that, we are launching a 3-part survey that aims to accommodate JME development as a whole. We urge every JME enthusiast to dedicate just a couple of minutes to this survey, as it will help strengthen the direction we are currently missing. With clearly defined goals for both 2.1 and 3.0 we should see a boost in streamlined development.

We will introduce the complete core team for JME shortly, which also means we feel the newly established developers team is solid enough to handle new additions soon. We gladly welcome all applications.

I hope you have all been pleased to see the increase of activity in JME as a mere project; an organization if you will. Experimenting with social networking tools such as twitter has been a lot of fun and our newly recovered youtube channel is quickly gaining momentum. If you ever fall back into doubt about JME’s graphical capabilities or its lacking presence in high quality projects, the multitude of videos on this channel should be a powerful reminder. And the best stuff is always yet to come

Managing an open source project of this scale is still a learning experience for most us, albeit far from entirely unexplored territory. We are consciously investing a great deal of time in learning about and developing the assets that this project surrounds itself with and produce, in the hopes that more and more will see JMonkeyEngine as a highly viable OSS project worth committing to.  Any further questions or requests should be made on our forum.

~ Erlend Sogge Heggen