Creating the structure for a 3d environment

[BlueZap]

I really don't know much about how java works with 3d environments and I was wondering if anyone knows of a good place to read about how the rendering tools work. I need to know this because I hope to make a game in which the world it's self is divided into units that also contain smaller units. All I've done so far is declare the shape of the world and how it's space is divided. I'm not sure how the get the engine to fit entities into the grid, or the player position out of the grid.

I'm going to go ahead and say it... yes... this game greatly resembles minecraft.

[Shoss]

What engine are you using?

[BlueZap]

That's the problem, I don't know where to start. I have no clue how java works around 3d games. Where should I start? what should I use?

[Shoss]

That depends on what you want to use, if you're looking for a straight 3d engine then check out jMonkeyEngine or JPCT. However, if you want to get into OpenGL and writing shaders to make your own engine you could take a look at LWJGL.

jMonkeyEngine has a nice gui that makes it easy to set up your scenes and effects, though i've never used it for anything other than playing around.