Chapter 1
A short history of computer simulations History of interactive 3D, from early flight simulaters during World War 2 to state of the art low cost virtual sets.
Inverview: Ken Perlin, Director of CAT/NYU, special effects supervisor for Tron, Disney. Cahpter 2 3D basic kit
Solutions to practical and conceptual problems
Modeling and texturing for interactive 3D
Alpha channels and transparencies
Photorealistic real-time 3D rendering on a PC or on a Mac
Project:designing a skybox
Interview: Benjy Bernhard about creating virtual sets for the AMNH's Planetarium Chapter 3 Adding interactivity
Director
Virtools
Reusable behaviors
Scripting interactions
Simulating natural laws or physics in a virtual set
Controlling interactions with input devices: dragging 3D objects
Project: 3D artist, Tamiko Thiel, about museum installations Chapter 4 Animation basics
Keyframed animation: simple animation in Maya and Lightwave
Morphing
Animated textures
Exporting animated 3D models
Character animation: bones and biped
Exporting animate dcharacters
Scripted animation in Lingo
Advanced interactive animation
Capturing real-time motion
Project: Interactive showcase for virtual actors
Interview: dancer-animator, Liza Herlinger-Thompson, Troika Ranch, about character animation Chapter 5 Interactive Lighting
Natural lighting
Indoor lighting
Distant light
Spot light
Point light
Building a virtual light studio: a virtual set for TV
Adding interactivity
Testing the virtual light studio on a movie set
Advanced interactive lighting: particle animation, special effects and volumetrics
Project: Interactive lighting of a character isnide a virtual set
Interview: interactive 3D artist, Florent Aziosmanoff about lighting for virtual sets Chapter 6 Virtual Cameras
Virtual cameras adapted from Hitchkok and Stanley Kubrick's movies
Steadycams
Movie previsualization
Parent-child scripting and targets
Controlling virtual cameras
Advanced interactivity for virtual cameras: artificial intelligence, portals
Tutorial: 3D interactive adaptation from a scene from "Night Hawks" from E. Hopper
Interview: director of photography, Kaminski, AI, Minority Report, discusses using virtual sets for movies Chapter 7 3D sound
Introduction to immersive experiences
Synchronization of display and sound
Spatialized sound
Controlling several sound streams
Real-time 3D sound
Sound envelopes
Tutorial: sound mixer
Interview: 3D Sound inventor and engineer, Bo Gehring, discusses spatialized sound for virtual sets Chapter 8 User interface and input devices
Linear and non-linear story telling
User testing
Testing playback performance
Building input devices: serial inputs
Midi inputs
Interactive phones
PDAs
Project: Designing a new interactive camera: the "cocktail camera"
Interview: Interactive designer, Bill Tomlinson, Synthetic Character Group, MIT MediaLab about input devices for virtual sets Chapter 9 Following a terrain with a remote controlled car
Modeling and texturing a terain
Modeling the car and obstacles
Collision against the terrain
Collision between a character and walls and other collisions
Adding physics: springs
Other methods: ray calculations
Project: an online 3D game
Interview: game designer, Sokal, creator of Syberiade, about virtual sets for game design Chapter 10 Communication environments
Communication from and to the virtual set
Introduction to multiplayer 3D games
Serial communication
Web communication
Interactive phone communication
Example of online multiplayer 3D game
Project: a robot talks to a virtual set
Interview: bio-robotic specialist Robert Full, Director of the Polypedal Lab, Bugs Life, Disney and Pixar, about using virtual sets to stimulate robots inspired by insects. Chapter 11 Advanced interactive 3D characters
Advanced character animation: blending motions
Cloning motions
Crowd control
Path finding and terrain analysis
Project: characters from a movie set are controlled by cellular phones
Interview: virtual sets designer, Colin Green, from Pixel Liberation Front, The Matrix, Panic Room, discusses movie previsualization for virtual sets Chapter 12 Artificial intelligence and gameplay for virtual sets
Introduction to AI
Decision making and self-determination
Managing crowd in an open space
Integrating AI in a game with AI
Project: virtual agora in the antique city of Aphrodisias
Interview: 3D interavtive designer, Zach Rosen, about using AI inside virtual sets Chapter 13 Multi-user server and database
Database administration
Connection to database
Saving and loading
Managing characters in multi-player environment
Chat in 3D world
Project: Multi player virtual movie set
Interview: CEO of SIA-TV, Adrian Simonovitch, about database driven virtual sets for interactive TV games