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Game Technology for Virtual Cities |
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David Colleen, CEO Planet 9 Studios, San Francisco |
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History of City Building at Planet 9 Studios |
| I am an architect, registered in the State of California. I graduated from Cornell University in the School of Architecture in 1981 ... before the 3D computer revolution. I built high-rise buildings in San Francisco for ten years. Starting in 1985, I trained on the McDonnell Douglas' GDS drafting System. My first steps in 3D involved typing coordinates in by hand. I bought my first PC in 1987, and started building 3D models in Autocad. In 1991, I started my own firm, Colleen Architects, which was 100% computer based (radical at the time). Soon, other architecture and engineering firms starting coming to us asking if we could show their projects in our fledgling computer model of San Francisco. |
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| In 1995 things changed ... dramatically. A good friend of mine, Barb Singer, started Intervista Software to build VRML viewers and tools for the Internet. She asked if I would like to put the first virtual city online. In August of 1995, we launched our first VRML city models at Siggraph. We were not prepared for the tidal wave of interest that ensued. Before long we had customers clamouring for real-time Internet applications, and the press showered us with coverage including CNN, Time and The Wall Street Journal. Today, Planet 9 is the largest supplier of 3D for the Internet, and has a roster of 45 digital cities that are licensed to customers in real estate, entertainment and the military. |
| In 1999, we learned of the National Imagery & Mapping Agency's (NIMA) Pathfinder process. We found immediate acceptance in the military and intelligence community, many of whom were stirving to replace proprietary, "big-iron" solutions with open standards, COTS simulations running on standard PC's. There had been some efforts, in years past, to use game engines, such as Quake, as military simulators. Most felt that the results were too cartoonish and inaccurate. Through Pathfiner, we met Darryl Garrett, then CTO of NIMA. Darryl liked what we were doing and challenged us to use state of the art game technology to make truly useful military simulations that would outperform existing solutions on all levels. |
This
challenge became the Traveler project. Traveler is a multi-phase project
to:
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Traveler |
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| The initial phases of Traveler were set in Midtown Manhatten at Grand Central Terminal. This was chosen as it is a large public space with many ingress and egress points. For Traveler Phase One, the game Half-Life was chosen. Half-Life was the game of the year that year, and included its own game-level editor along with weapons and characters along a military theme. The function theme for this project was to create a multi-user surveliiance detection trainer. |
The
Lessons learned from Traveler One:
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| Traveler One was so successful that the next phase, Traveler Two, proceeded in 2000. The UnReal game engine was chosen as it had its own editing tool, and it was rumored that there were no fixed limits on world size or texturing. Traveler Two is based on the interior of Grand Central Terminal, and is built as a multi-user hostage rescue trainer. |
The
Lessons learned from Traveler Two:
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| I have provided both the Traveler One and Traveler Two for you to try. Use of these files requires the purchase of the game (roughly $30), successful installation of our files (follow the readme), installation of their latest patches (available on the game web sites) and a tolerance for loud sounds, bloodshed and having fun. Please report your findings to me at dcolleen@planet9.com. |
| A Brief Overview of Game Technology for Simulation |
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last count, there are 643 game engines (see
a list) currently in use. The most popular is Direct 3D from Microsoft,
along with OpenGL from SGI (OK, this did not really start as a game engine).
Lite versions of OpenGL such as CosmoGL and QuakeGL provide higher frame
rates based on a subset of features. ISO standard, VRML exists in several
formats including Direct 3D and OpenGL. VRML also has extensions to support
DIS and earth centric geometry called GeoVRML (that includes some SEDRIS
algorithyms). VRML is built into MPEG4, and an XML version of VRML has
been finalized. Other mainstream engines/platforms include Renderware,
Quake 1, 2 and 3, UnReal, Half-Life, Playstation 1 and 2, and Nintendo.
In recent years, several middleware companies have formed that allow you
to take geometry from the editor of your choice, add functionality, and
then export to a wide range of platforms. We are currently working with
several game companies to supply our digital cities for their new game
titles (see draft image below).
Demonstrations:
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Future Steps |
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are currently working on several R&D projects, including Digital Earth
with SRI and other development projects using next generation game platforms
such as Xbox, UnReal 2 and VTP. We will continue to explore other existing
game platforms such as Quake 3, Renderware, UnReal 2 and Playstation 3.
The Planet 9 team is currently working on updates to the San Francisco,
New York, Los Angeles and Washington DC datasets. All of Planet 9's 45
digital cities will be released later this year in GeoVRML format!
Planet 9 Studios can be reached at:
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© 2001 Planet 9 Studios |
