Do you really need "complete access to your computer" to do 3D in Java? That's what the viewer applet is requesting according to the warning I get, and that sounds a bit over the top to me.
Maybe opengl calls?
Possibly, but that's something that shouldn't require "complete" access to the OS. Maybe it does, hence my question :)
I am fairly certain that does not require complete access but applet security is a pain in the ass and I am sure few people know how it really works. They probably opted for full permissions over granular permissions because it is easier.
It means it needs to use a JNI library, which operates outside the JVM sandbox, so it could theoretically do anything.