Can I mix OpenGL and swing?

Question

I'm working on a small game library for me and some people I know that just handles the window and nothing special that we weren't gonna use. I know how to use OpenGL and stuff I just don't like having to deal with more then one library at a time like OpenGL and Swing so I want to combine them into something basic. Anyway my question is, is there any way I can use OpenGL's rendering onto Swing? I need a simple answer. I also don't want to have to include other libraries into my library, I just want it to be the only jar in the program that isn't program specific.

Answer 1

Yes, JOGL (Java™ Binding for the OpenGL® API) allows exactly that. See also this post for more information about OpenGL and Swing interoperability. Also see XTrans demo on JOGL demos page.

Mixing Swing and OpenGL has a little performance penalty though, so you should consider other options if realtime 3D is your primary feature and Swing is just a small user interface in the game.