33. Designing Real-Time 3D Graphics for Entertainment Full Day / Intermediate This course explores creation of real-time 3D games on platforms ranging from game consoles to location-based entertainment systems. Topics include the hardware architectures of game machines, visual simulation tricks, 3D modeling, character animation, and game prototyping, programming, and tuning to the metal. Recent efforts to enable reuse of content across platforms are also explored, including cross-platform renderers, game authoring systems, VRML, and 3D toolkits for Java. Speakers draw examples from development of actual games, tools, and production environments. Who Should Attend Programmers, modelers, and individuals with technical backgrounds in computer graphics who are interested in how 3D games are created. Organizer James Helman Silicon Graphics, Inc. Lecturers Andy Bigos 3DLabs Steve Rotenberg Angel Studios Philippe Tarbouriech Electronic Arts Scott Watson Walt Disney Imagineering Tom Capizzi Atari Games Corporation Schedule 8:30 am: Architecture and Performance of Gaming Systems - Helman Software and hardware architectures, performance requirements and the graphical components that go into game systems including game consoles, personal computers and LBE systems. Portability and performance tradeoffs in cross-platform rendering toolkits. 3D rendering from Java. 10:00 am: Break 10:15 am: Exploiting 3D Graphics Hardware on PC's - Bigos Description of hardware features on 3D graphics cards, performance measurement, performance/feature tradeoffs, sorted vs. depth buffered rendering and resource management. 11:00 am: Tuning to the Metal - Tarbouriech Stages in the development of a console game, from concept, prototyping to product. Working within speed and memory constraints. How differences between platforms impact program structure and tuning. Elements of game design and playability. 12:00 noon: Break 1:30 pm: Game Prototyping and Porting Methods and software architectures for prototyping games and moving content from development systems to target platforms. 2:15 pm: Action! - Watson Scripting languages, behaviors, real-time character animation, and portable game players. 3:00 pm: Break 3:15 pm: Creating Compelling Content - Rotenberg Bridging the gap between art and code, in particular creating tools and systems, e.g. AngelArts, that allow artists to create compelling procedural and behavioral content with minimal assistance from programmers. 4:15 pm: Panel Discussion, Q&A

---

			Courses | This Web Site

Final SIGGRAPH 96 Web site update: 25 October 1996.
For complete information on the next conference and exhibition, see: http/www.siggraph.org/s97/