"In worlds where storytelling is a science, the 'Big Idea' is king, and fantasy makes good business sense, this is an excellent overview, not just of the technology, but of the personal points of view of many of the professionals who make it happen." -- Bran Ferren, Executive Vice-President, Walt Disney Imagineering Research and Development, Inc.
Digital Illusion is the future of entertainment. That future, as seen in this book, is at the intersection of show business and interactivity. It is a future where games, theme-park attractions, and networked virtual worlds are built with seamless, interactive, computer technology, and where exciting new kinds of experience and enjoyment are made possible. It's a future that has already begun!
Clark Dodsworth has participated for years in this convergence of the computer and entertainment industries. Here, he gathers prominent contributors from both worlds to describe the design and implementation of computer-based entertainment applications. With striking examples, they show what has been accomplished and preview what is yet to come.
The book covers diverse subjects in some technical detail, making it a useful resource for readers designing or developing their own applications. Topics include the infrastructure required for new applications; advances in creative tools, multiplayer systems, and networking; interface-design techniques, including avatars and agents; and practical hardware issues. A section on business applications, with predictions from industry insiders, explores economic opportunities for both content vendors and providers, and shows how digital entertainment is fast becoming a key profit center in our economy. Much of the book, however, is accessible and interesting to the general reader-anyone fascinated by the potential for high-tech fun-who wonders, say, what it might be like to wield magical powers in an imaginary universe.
Digital Illusion represents entertainment in the age of powerful computers and unlimited imagination. Combining traditional entertainment skills with advanced tools and methods in computer graphics and image processing, the producers of interactive games, multimedia networks, virtual reality environments, and theme park rides are reshaping one of the largest industries in the world. As new ways of interaction emerge, and as innovative new products appear, boardrooms from Silicon Valley to Hollywood are preparing for their own heart-thumping ride into some future space.
This book is the first to detail the design and implementation of computer-based entertainment. Editor Clark Dodsworth has pulled together key players in the field to share their keen insights and invaluable experiences. These contributors describe first the recent developments in graphics, simulation, and animation that have led to advances in interactive entertainment. Then, in discussing such topics as location-based entertainment, image generators and tools, flight simulators, sensory displays, interface design, and play environments, they suggest how new ideas already are affecting the way we play and the way we live. To ground this discussion in reality, the book describes, with good examples, the infrastructure required to develop the new technologies of illusion; it also explores some of the practical issues involved in designing virtual entertainment. Finally, contributors examine the history and the economics of the field, with a critical eye to future developments.
If you are a player in the computer or entertainment industry, or even if you just look forward to a new ride, you will enjoy this book. Digital Illusion is pure adrenaline!
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