Joseph A. Zupko

Dynamic Intelligent Lighting for Directing Visual Attention in Interactive 3-D Scenes

Recent enhancements in real-time graphics have facilitated the design of high fidelity game environments with complex 3-D worlds inhabited by animated characters. Under such settings, it is hard, especially for the untrained eyes, to attend to an object of interest. Neuroscience research as well as film and theatre practice identified several visual properties, such as contrast, orientation, and color that play a major role in channeling attention. In this paper, we discuss an adaptive lighting design system called adaptive lighting for visual attention (ALVA) that dynamically adjusts the lighting color and brightness to enhance visual attention within game environments using features identified by neuroscience, psychophysics, and visual design literature. We also discuss some preliminary results showing the utility of ALVA in directing players attention to important elements in a fast paced 3-D game, and thus enhancing the game experience especially for nongamers who are not visually trained to spot objects or characters in such complex 3-D worlds.

System for Automated Interactive Lighting (SAIL)

Successful lighting in video games is more than a physically accurate illumination model. Aesthetics and function are of equal or greater importance. Lighting designers may deviate from physical accuracy to help a player identify an important object or to more powerfully evoke a desired emotion. Under the assumption that fulfilling the pipeline needs of interactive lighting design requires more than solving the computer rendering equation, we set out to develop a System for Automated Interactive Lighting (SAIL). The goal for SAIL was to develop an adaptive system that maintains lighting design goals (aesthetic and functional) in the context of unpredictable, interactive experiences. This paper presents SAIL and the results of a qualitative evaluation of SAILs contributions. We describe the algorithms of SAIL, where it succeeds, and where it fails. We conclude with a plan for future work.

Intelligent lighting for a better gaming experience

Lighting assumes many aesthetic and communicative functions in game environments that affect attention, immersion, visibility, and emotions. Game environments are dynamic and highly unpredictable; lighting such experiences to achieve desired visual goals is a very challenging problem. Current lighting methods rely on static manual techniques, which require designers to anticipate and account for all possible situations and user actions. Alternatively, we have developed ELE (Expressive Lighting Engine) -- an intelligent lighting system that automatically sets and adjusts scene lighting in real-time to achieve desired aesthetic and communicative goals. In this paper, we discuss ELE and its utility in dynamically manipulating the lighting in a scene to direct attention, stimulate tension, and maintain visual continuity. ELE has been integrated within Unreal Tournament 2003. The videos shown at [14] shows a demonstration of a first person shooter game developed using the Unreal 2.0 engine, where ELE was configured to dynamically stimulate tension, while maintaining other visual goals.

Intelligent Adaptive Lighting

The game industry is currently exploring the development of designs that can appeal to a wide market with users exhibiting different tastes, tenancies, behaviors, abilities, and life styles. This problem requires the industry to look for innovative design solutions and tools. Artificial intelligence (AI) techniques can be used to adapt the game experience to players’ skills, behaviors, and abilities. Recently, several adaptive systems have been proposed including adaptive character AI and game design. In this chapter, we discuss an intelligent adaptive system that adapts lighting in a 3D game to enhance the users’ experience. Lighting design is well known among designers, directors, and visual artists for its vital role in influencing viewers’ perception by evoking moods, directing gaze to important areas (i.e., providing visual focus), and conveying visual tension. The intelligent lighting systems discussed in this chapter adapt lighting qualities, in terms of visual attention and affective properties, by integrating a constraint optimization system built based on cinematic and theatric techniques. The system has been in development and refinement for 9 years. In this chapter, we will discuss the systems as well as their evaluation through different game prototypes, specifically highlighting their effect on the users’ experience.

Lighting Design Tools for Interactive Entertainment

Interactive entertainment is one of the fastest growing industries in the world, collecting more than

Building Virtual Spaces

1 billion in revenues. According to the first quarter Video Gaming report published in 2005, gamers have expanded beyond the expected 8-34 old male demographic to include women, Hispanics, and African Americans. Interactive entertainment is also flourishing in global markets, including North America, Japan, China, and Korea. Recently, India has also entered this market with their first international release of a AAA 3D game title Ghajini –The Game. For such a global and fast growing industry, the development of better tools and processes to facilitate the development cycle is becoming an important problem. A typical AAA video game production cycle is around 6 years of development with development budgets of

Review of "Techniques for 21st Century Fiction by A. S. Glassner", A. K. Peters, Ltd., Natick, MA 511 pages. ISBN 1-56881-221-3.

50+ million dollars. While research in developing production tools has been underway for areas such as animation, writing, character scripting, and event scripting, other areas such as lighting design have received very little attention. This chapter discusses our research exploring the design and development of production tools for video game lighting, starting with our first lighting design tool the Expressive Lighting Engine (ELE) and finishing with our latest lighting design tool the System for Automated Interactive Lighting (SAIL). We will describe these tools in detail and present a research study discussing how such tools were received by visual designers. The chapter ends with speculations on the future and the utility of such tools.

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The percentage of young women choosing educational paths leading to science and technology-based employment has been dropping for several years [1, 2]. In our view, the core cause for this phenomenon is a lack of interest and social support on the part of the girls and their families and not a lack of ability. The specific aim of this paper is to evaluate the utility of building virtual environments in influencing girls’ interest in computer-related educational paths and careers. This is evaluated through an intervention, or action-research, in the form of a class named Gaming for Girls. This class was offered to middle and high school girls three times over the years 2005–2006. We assert playing and developing computer games can lead to the acquisition of tangible IT skills and a higher sense of self-efficacy in terms of computer use. In particular, we discuss intervention methods that aim at changing socialization patterns by bringing girls into an all-girl classroom, reducing game violence by altering the forms of game action, and removing potentially negative character designs by allowing girls to design characters and game interaction themselves. We assert that within the information economy, playing video games is an advantage.

Dynamic Lighting for Tension in Games

For centuries, people have enjoyed both stories and games. As a result, a form of entertainment that combines storytelling with game-playing seems a great idea. It has the potential to be a lot of fun. Unfortunately, the road to this entertainment form is long and complicated and many difficulties must be overcome. Andrew Glassner, in his new book Interactive Storytelling: Techniques for 21st Century Fiction, does an excellent job identifying these difficulties. He analyzes games and storytelling, and describes the principal problems that developers face in merging these two activities into an interactive form of entertainment.