From: Jerry Isdale Subject: REV-EVENT: Entertainment Industry Simulation Standards Meeting Date: Thu, 30 Jan 1997 09:40:10 -0800 Message-ID: <32F0DCFA.6BEB@illusioninc.com> Organization: Illusion Inc I didnt attend but the following report was forwarded to me. I *have* received permission to post it here from the author >>From seiden@netcom.com Tue Jan 28 23:09:49 1997 >Date: Tue, 28 Jan 1997 20:00:43 -0800 >Hi Everyone, > >Here is a reasonably brief report of the meeting we had in San Diego last >week (23 Jan). As you may recall from the original announcement, the main >goal was to identify and discuss potential "distributed simulation" >standards for the entertainment industry. The meeting was sponsored by >SISO (formerly DIS) as part of its outreach effort and hosted by Jack >Thorpe of SAIC. > >It was a good initial meeting, although the discussion made clear that 1) >there is a lot of work to be done, and 2) some components of the >entertainment industry do not see standards and interoperability as >necessary or desirable. > >Like most industries, entertainment has many components. While these >components share underlying technical requirements for distributed >simulation, they come from different directions, use different terminology, >and are rooted in different cultures. We had the following three clearly >identified components in the meeting: > >1. VRML -- The extension of the WWW into three dimensions >2. Multiplayer games >3. Movie/TV production facilities as represented by the HollyNet(tm) >initiative. > >We had a series of excellent presentations. Highlights of each are below. >If you need any more information on these presentations, please contact me >or the presenter. [Acronyms were a problem so I am including a glossary at >the end of this report.] > >1. Don Brutzman, NPS, on recent VRML activities: > > - VRML Consortium has been established. It is the corporate entity that >will assume responsibility for further development of VRML. > > - VRML, SISO, and IETF need to collaborate. Don plans to present a paper >proposing specific collaboration at the Spring 97 SIW. > > - vrtp, a comprehensive protocol, is being proposed to VRML community. It >will be a key component of the next phase of VRML. > > - Everyone is invited to VRML 97 Symposium Feb 24-26 at the Hyatt Regency, >Monterey, California . > >2. Warren Katz, MaK Technologies, on multiplayer game developer's view: > > - Warren's views are based on many contacts made while marketing game >development tools based on the DIS standard. > > - Game developers tend to focus tightly on the game under development. >Goal is to differentiate the game from all competitors, including >predecessor games. > > - Development is done by isolated teams/studios. Sharing of information >between teams, planned reuse of software, and use/development of industry >standards are not part of the culture. > > - VRML is not suitable for game development due to current performance >limitations. Many developers still resort to assembly language programming >to squeeze performance out of hardware/OS platforms. > > - This culture may change as the industry matures. Warren noted that >Gilman Louie, CEO of Spectrum Holobyte, favors use/development of industry >standards to support the new "persistent world" model of multiplayer games. >[Persistent world provider maintains a continuously changing virtual world. >Players interact with that world and other players via simulations provided >by independent developers.] > >3. Mark Smith, SISO, on basic SISO information: > > - What is SISO...Organization...Well attended, week-long, semiannual, >technical workshops...affiliated with IEEE > > - Lots of experience with distributed simulation...Well organized...Cadre >of dedicated knowledgeable people...Ready to apply these talents to >distributed sim for entertainment... > > - Moving away from DoD center...Financially independent...seeking to >broaden applications... > > - SISO in formative stage...Lots of opportunity to participate at the >highest levels...key positions open...You can make a difference... > > - Everyone invited to Spring 97 SIW workshop, 3-7 March at the Holiday Inn >International, Orlando . > >4. Michael Myjak, IST, on distributed simulation activity in the IETF: > > - New IETF working group has been formed to explore large-scale, >distributed, multicast applications. Real-time distributed simulation is >the most demanding of such applications. > > - IRTF has been tasked to develop/test protocols to support said applications. > > - Reliable multicast communications service via the Internet is the key to >achieving large scale simulations for VRML, multiplayer games, and DoD. > >5. Steve Seidensticker on distributed sim models and potential standards: > > - Distributed simulations use both peer-peer and client-server models. >Some applications (e.g. persistent worlds) are hybrids. > > - Standards are not only needed at the interface and communications levels >but also at higher levels (e.g. time synchronization, time reference, >coordinate reference, TSPI, attribute value extrapolation, behavior >representation, human form/avatar representation) > >We also had several good demonstrations: > > - Ed Roberts of NUWC showed a live link into a local Navy tracking range >via the Internet. His software incorporated both VRML and the new DoD HLA >. > > - Scott Roy and Will Harvey of Sandcastle, Inc. > showed a time synchronization scheme that >compensates for the latency encountered on WANs. Very clever, very >innovative. > >The meeting concluded with a discussion of where we should go from here. > > - Yours truly floated the idea of a special conference this summer devoted >to distributed simulation standards for the entertainment industry, perhaps >jointly sponsored by SISO, VRML and CGDC. The idea sank quickly. General >consensus was that this is too soon. We would get little support from the >multiplayer game community with its present view of the world. VRML >community has its hands full with its own efforts to get underway. > > - Consensus was that we should continue to interact at this level and >participate in each other's conferences and symposiums. > > - We should follow up on the VRML/IETF/SISO collaboration proposed by Don >Brutzman. > >---------------- > >Congratulations on having read this far! You must be somewhat interested. >If you have any reaction or feedback let me know. If there is enough >interest, I will set up a list/reflector to exchange ideas more quickly and >easily. > >GLOSSARY > >CGDC Computer Game Developers Conference >DIS Distributed Interactive Simulation >DoD Department of Defense >ETC Entertainment Technology Center (University of Southern California) >HLA High Level Architecture >IEEE Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers >IETF Internet Engineering Task Force >IRTF Internet Research Task Force >IST Institute for Simulation and Training >NPS Naval Post Graduate School >NUWC Naval Undersea Warfare Center >SAIC Science Applications International Corporation >SISO Simulation Interoperability Standards Organization (Offspring of DIS) >SIW Simulation Interoperability Workshop (Sponsored by SISO) >TSPI Time-Space-Position-Information >VRML Virtual Reality Modeling Language >vrtp Virtual Reality Transfer Protocol >WWW World Wide Web > >Steve Seidensticker |Internet: seiden@netcom.com >2223 Commonwealth Ave |Voice+fax: 619/284-3006 >San Diego CA 92104 |Alternate: 619/283-2849 >