Introduction

The purpose of this project is to create a Java Applet that will enhance the understanding of the concepts of hierarchical modeling for the purpose of creating simple models of complicated objects in computer graphics. Hierarchical Modeling provides the following benefits:

Simple Basic objects
Intuitive combinations of objects to create building blocks for more complicated objects.
Hierarchical transformations
Simple duplication of already created sub-hierarchies

Another goal of this project is to understand the transforms that are required to take objects from World coordinates to View coordinates and then to Screen coordinates:

Camera Transformation
Perspective Transformation

Another goal of this project was to acquire knowledge of Java and Java Applets. Java is a simple language based primarily on C++. It takes advantage of object oriented concepts and combines them with a garbage collector - easing the presure on the programmer to explicity free objects as they become unreachable - a problem that is the source of much of the frustration associated with C and C++ programming. In addition, Java comes with an Abstract Windows Toolkit (AWT) that allows application developers to rapidly create complicated user interfaces that maintain a consistent look and feel with other Java applets.