Digital Backlot
Much of the work performed at the ICT requires rapid prototyping and game based simulation creation for the production of immersive training environments. Efficiency in these processes are enhanced by employing well-defined art production processes or "pipelines", but the entertainment and game industries hold their pipeline standards as closely guarded secrets. This makes it difficult to leverage existing practices. The Digital Backlot (DB) project at the ICT is creating a library of usable art assets along with production pipeline standards and conventions for broader use. In addition, the related Automated Metadata Indexing and Analysis (AMIA) project is performing fundamental research into automated tagging methodologies for 3d assets. The DB project seeks to expand and further define pipeline standards and asset sharing in order to improve the efficiency of art teams within the entire simulation community, significantly lowering the cost of ever rising art budgets.
Standards developed by the DB team so far include Naming Conventions, Scale Definitions, UV Layouts, Metadata Schemas, game engine export procedures and best practices in art content production. These standards point towards defining a more modular approach in art content creation, thus fostering portability and cross compatibility among projects.
Additionally, the DB is researching methods to automate the indexing of more than 550,000 assets already held in ICT’s Digital Backlot, making it possible to leverage the high dollar investments which have been put into their creation. The AMIA effort is in collaboration with USC’s Signal Image Processing Institute (SIPI), run by Dr. Jay Kuo.
The DB is not yet widely available to the public. Any interested parties should contact the primary investigator, Milton Rosenberg: .
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