In Building Interactive Worlds in 3D readers will find turnkey tutorials that detail all the steps required to build simulations and interactions, utilize virtual cameras, virtual actors (with self-determined behaviors), and real-time physics including gravity, collision, and topography. With the free software demos included, 3D artists and developers can learn to build a fully functioning prototype. The book is dynamic enough to give both those with a programming background as well as those who are just getting their feet wet challenging and engaging tutorials in virtual set design, using Virtools. Other software discussed is: Lightwave, and Maya. The book is constructed so that, depending on your project and design needs, you can read the text or interviews independently and/or use the book as reference for individual tutorials on a project-by-project basis. Each tutorial is followed by a short interview with a 3D graphics professional in order to provide insight and additional advice on particular interactive 3D techniques-from user, designer, artist, and producer perspectives.

Autorentext

Professor at New York University in the graduate studies department of Interactive Telecommunications; consultant; award-winning 3D artist.

Inhalt

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