Description

The goal of Virtual Worlds is to explore both computational and noncomputational issues in designing interactive virtual environments that will be used in the entertainment and education systems of the near future.   During the semester, the students will design and implement a web-accessible, 3D graphics virtual world as a testbed in which these issues can be explored.  The virtual world will be built using the Alice toolkit from Carnegie Mellon University and the Python programming language.  You can see some projects built by CMU students here.

Enrollment is limited to a small number of students.  We will meet once a week to discuss readings and to discuss work on the project.  The readings covered will be determined by the needs of the project, and may come from diverse areas -- e.g., drama theory, cinematic design, human-human nonverbal communication, and artificial intelligence.  The course is suitable for juniors and seniors in Computer Science who are project-oriented and self-motivated.  Your grade will be a function of class attendance/participation and your contribution to the project.  Skill in Java (as determined by CSC339) or a similar language is required.  Previous coursework in 3D graphics is not required but may be useful.  The course will meet Tuesdays 2-5 pm in Bryan 117 and in Bryan 330 (the lab).

Textbooks
 

• AI for Games and Animation, John David Funge. A.K. Peters, 1999.   Other stuff from this author free to download:Cognitive Modeling: Knowledge, Reasoning and Planning for Intelligent Characters (paper by John Funge, Xiaoyuan Tu, and Demetri Terzopoulos, presented at SIGGRAPH 99, Los Angeles, CA, Aug. 11-13.
• (optional) Python reference manual such as Learning Python, Mark Lutz and David Ascher, O'Reilly and Associates, 1999. (ISBN 1-56592-464-9) $29.95 ppb

Cassell, Justine, "More Than Just Another Pretty Face: Embodied Conversational Agents".  CACM, April 2000, 70-78. [PDF]

Johnson, W. L., Rickel, J. W., and J. C. Lester, "Animated Pedagogical Agents: Face-to-Face Interaction in Interactive Learning Environments". International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education 11:47-78, 2000. [PDF]

Elliott, Clark and Jacek Brzezinski, "Autonomous Agents as Synthetic Characters," AI Magazine, Summer 1998, 13-30.

Mateas, Michael, "An Oz-Centric Review of Interactive Drama and Believable Agents".  School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA.  June 1997.  Technical Report CMU-CS-97-156. [html]

3 papers from CACM, v.43, no. 7 (Jy2000) special issue on physically based computer animation:
    Funge, J.  Cognitive Modeling for Games and Animation. pp. 40-48.
    Hecker, C.  Physics in Computer Games. pp. 34-39.
    Popovic, Z.  Controlling Physics in Realistic Character Animation.  pp. 50-58.

On Reserve

Embodied Conversational Agents, J. Cassell et al., eds., MIT Press, May 2000.

From Barbie to Mortal Kombat, J. Cassell and H. Jenkins, eds., MIT Press, 1998.

Hamlet on the holodeck : the future of narrative in cyberspace, Janet H. Murray, New York: Free Press, 1997.

Final Course Project: Enter Goldylocks' Virtual World here, or see a PowerPoint Presentation about it here

Students
Jason
Alex
Jared

Storybooks
Goldlilocks and the 3 Bears (text only)
Goldlilocks and the 3 Bears (narrated text and pictures) Best viewed with MS Internet Explorer

Virtual Worlds and AI in Games

AAAI Spring Symposia on AI and Interactive Entertainment  200120001999

AI and Games Course at U Mich taught by John Laird

AI & Virtual Worlds course, NCSU

Using Technology and Innovation to Simulate Daily Life, Michael Macedonia, IEEE Computer Web Site.  Review of the SIMS.

Kids MUDS

Kids MUSHs

Intelligent Agents and Synthetic Characters

OZ Group (CMU)

Collagen

Synthetic Characters (MIT Media Lab)

REA (MIT Media Lab)

Steve (ISI)

Intelligent Tutoring Systems and Educational Games

Andes Physics Tutor

Atlas Physics Tutor

CIRCLE

Electronic Games for Education in Math and Science (E-GEMS)

Intellimedia (NCSU)