How to embed a 3D graphics panel (LibGDX or JOGL) into a desktop GUI (JavaFX or Desktop Compose) in 2022?

Question

I am working on a 3D visualization tool as a prototype desktop app in Java/Kotlin.

I need the GUI power of JavaFX or Compose for Desktop (or Swing, worst case) but I need the main panel of the window to be a high performance dynamic 3D graphics using LibGDX, JOGL or similar low-level library.

I have searched many SO posts and pages but found no way to do this so far.

Can anyone suggest the best way to embed a 3D panel into one of the big desktop GUI frameworks? Or a demo repo which does this already?

Answer 1

I managed to create a solution on the stack:

• Kotlin 1.7
• JDK 17
• Swing
• FlatLightLaf
• LibGDX 1.11
• LWJGL 2

I got it working by following these steps:

1. Use the LibGDX setup wizard with settings:

   • Kotlin (under Advanced)
   • Desktop (LWJGL 3) only -- note this will be changed to LWJGL 2 later

2. Modify build.gradle line:

api "com.badlogicgames.gdx:gdx-backend-lwjgl3:$gdxVersion"

to

api "com.badlogicgames.gdx:gdx-backend-lwjgl:$gdxVersion"

3. Convert DesktopLauncher to Kotlin code in IntelliJ (open file, Ctrl+Alt+Shift+K):

4. Replace DesktopLauncher code with:

package au.com.brendanhill

import com.badlogic.gdx.backends.lwjgl.LwjglAWTCanvas
import java.awt.BorderLayout
import java.awt.Container
import javax.swing.JButton
import javax.swing.JFrame
import javax.swing.SwingUtilities


// Please note that on macOS your application needs to be started with the -XstartOnFirstThread JVM argument
class DesktopLauncher : JFrame() {

    init {
        setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE)
        val container: Container = getContentPane()
        val canvas = LwjglAWTCanvas(Basic3DTest())
        container.add(JButton("test button"), BorderLayout.WEST)
        container.add(canvas.getCanvas(), BorderLayout.CENTER)
        pack()
        setVisible(true)
        setSize(800, 600)
    }
}

fun main(arg: Array<String>) {
    SwingUtilities.invokeLater { DesktopLauncher() }
}

5. It then launches successfully with the graphics panel in the window with other Swing components:

The source code is available here for reference:

https://github.com/brendanhillovida/try-libgdx-kotlin-gradle-swing

Notes:

• I don't know why the wizard didn't create DesktopLauncher and MyGdxGame in Kotlin after specifying Kotlin as the language - but it is easy to auto-convert

• It appears that LibGDX cannot use LWJGL3 as the backend if you want to embed in Swing (various pages mentioned this, I didn't research further what the latest status is)

• There appear to be viable options using JavaFX however my preference is Swing and I got it to work, so I didn't investigate them further.

Answer 2

Maybe you can use https://github.com/AlmasB/FXGL which also offers 3D support. JOGL can also be used by JavaFX.