Virtual NMU               Faculty Advisor:  Jeffrey Horn

NEWS    (as of Wednesday, April 14, 2004)

• Elizabeth Sprehe will be giving our first public presentation of the Virtual NMU project THURSDAY, April 15, 2004 at 4pm in the Mead Auditorium.  Please everyone, come and help us brainstorm!  Here are the details:
  • in MS Word,
  • in plain text.

OLD NEWS

• Tom Meyer is working on Conitec's 3D Game Studio (see below) for his CS 480 senior project, Fall 2002
• Click here to see what Tom is up to.

INTRODUCTION

• See the LTF Proposal

• The basic idea (which keeps evolving!) is to use a 3D simulator or 3D game engine to create an immersive, virtual world that models the NMU campus and perhaps its environs.  
• Virtual NMU is different from Daric Christian's Virtual Campus Tour, although it is worthwhile to compare and contrast the two approaches, and it should be possible to link from within vNMU to the virtual campus tour and to any NMU web content, for that matter.
• Virtual NMU will likely be free packaged software, with automated installation (a la InstallShield), distributed via CD, DVD, or through an internet download, and runnable under MS Windows on a PC with a decent graphics accelerator card.  It will also likely be playable in standalone as well as networked mode, with the central world server here on (the real) campus.

ALTERNATIVE APPROACHES

1. Military Type Simulation Package (e.g., vTree from CG2)  (thanks, Mike) 
2. 3D Game Engine
   • Open Source
     • Crystal Space
     • Jet3D  (thanks, Mike)
     • Genesis3D
   • Commercial                          (each comes with tools, or source, or both)
     • 3DGameStudio from Conitec  (thanks, Alex)
     • Quake (2 (free) or 3)
     • Morrowind (or at nVidia)     (thanks, Keith)
     • Torque Game Engine
     • Neverwinter Nights   (thanks, Alex)
       • Good Review of NWN in EuroGamer
   • Lists
     • 3D Game Engine List    (thanks, Keith)
     • Google's List
3. Java 3D
   • Sun's Web site  (go here for tutorial information)
4. OpenGL programming    (thanks, Mike)
   • Neon Helium (NeHe) Productions   (thanks, Mike)
5. VRML (Virtual Reality Markup Language)    
   • Blaxxun,  the company, and the 3D project    (thanks, Di)
   • CyberTown (on-line community powered by Blaxxun technology)
   • A nice page on VRML for landscape architecture
6. Non-VRML Web-based Worlds
   • FishFaction (Shockwave-based)
   • the SIMS online
7. World Simulators for Robots, etc.
   • Webots
   •  
8. This is a cool approach (talk about "smooth LOD"!):  Earthviewer from KeyHole

TOOLS

1. 3D Studio Max and gmax  (from Discreet)
2. Adobe's  Atmosphere   (thanks, Nate), Photoshop, Illistrator
3. Geo-metrics pre-built 3D models  "like ClipArt for 3D"
4. 3D File Conversion:  PolyTrans
5. Milkshape
6. Worldcraft (new versions are known as Hammer from Valve)

SIMILAR PROJECTS

• America's Army (if it can be used to promote a military career, why can't vNMU help promote a college career?)
  • article on AA
• Virtual U.  (actually a simulation game, a la "the Sims", to play/learn/test higher education administrative management skills)
• Architectural walkthroughs, other example applications (vendor site)

FUTURE POSSIBLITIES

• Surround Gaming with the new Matrox Parhelia-512
• "Cinematic Computing" with the nVidia GeForce FX
• Haptic interfaces  (oooh, what a feeling!)  VR Gloves
• 3D HMD (with SVGA resolution)
• Stereographic Projection (via stereo-glasses)
• The ultimate gaming CAVE (AeroBall)

OTHER LINKS

• Getting a job in the Game Programming industry (article), IGDA's advice column
• AI in Game Characters
  • The Excalibur Project (Alex Nareyek's Work)
  • Alex's Paper
• ExtremeTech  (on-line 'zine for 3D performance)
  • Resources page (background) on 3D
  • Section of site on 3D news
  • Nice (long) article on 3D engines, rendering, etc.
• Other Computer Gaming 'zines
  • Gamasutra (3D gaming)
  • Gamespy, a gaming magazine ( a GREAT source!)
  • Eurogamer
  • Gameinfowire
• AI in Games
  • IGDA's AI interface standards committee  (press release, white paper)