Introduction to Virtual Worlds and Designing for Them Welcome to the Infinite Visualization Tool, a Virtual World A Short History of Virtual Worlds How Do They Work? Who Uses Virtual Worlds and How They Use Them Virtual Environments from a Designer's Point of View Designing in a Preexisting Virtual World or Making One Yourself How to Use This Book and Start Doing Virtual World Design Introduction How to Use This Book How to Get and Upload the Content for This Book into Your Virtual WorldOperating System and System Configuration for Your Computer Who This Book Was Written For How to Pick Your Viewer for a Virtual World "Build It Once" Optimizing Your Design Workflow Overview: Reducing Repetitive Building and Increasing Creative Design Time Five Basic Steps to Set Your Standards and PracticesLines and Arrows and Charts, Oh My! Concepts in 3D Design for Virtual Environments Introduction to 3D Design Design Elements in Virtual Environments Compositional Methodology for the Six Basic Elements in Virtual Environments Using Similarity and Contrast in 3D DesignDesigning "Flow" in Virtual EnvironmentsEducation, Serious Games, Virtual Environments Project: Assembling a Modular Virtual Classroom Virtual Terrain and Designing Landscapes Terrain Is More than Just DirtMethodologies for Terraforming Using Inworld ToolsMethodologies for Terraforming Using Height MapsMaking Wheely Island, a Wheelchair-Accessible Virtual ParkAdding Terrain Textures to Your Landscape Other Applications for Creating Landscapes Designing Access for AllMaking an "All-Access" Element: The Basic Sign Planting Trees and Other Landscaping on Wheely Island Making Your Own Trees for Landscaping 3D Modeling, 2D Graphics, and Data Visualization Spatial Perception and How that Applies to Three-Dimensional Modeling and Virtual Environments Picking a 3D Modeling Program and a Methodology for BuildingBuilding with the Inworld Prims (Objects)Meshes and How These Can Be Imported Sculpt Maps (Sculpties) and How They Led to Mesh Concepts in Texture Creation, 2D Graphics Utilizing the Texture Menu in the Build Editor Specialized Textures: Animated, Transparency, and Baked Lighting with Ambient Occlusion Project: Designing a Data Visualization Environment: Your 3D Timeline or Résumé Art and Data Visualization in a Virtual World Color, Particles, and Sensory Spaces The Impact of Color and the Power of Particles Understanding the Basics of Light and ColorColor from a Designer's PerspectiveColor, Colored Light, and PerceptionColor and Design for All: Working toward an Accessible Palette Particles and Their Uses in DesignProject: Designing a Colored Light and Particle Effect Lighting in Virtual Environments: Second Life and OpenSim Lighting Is Crucial Three Main Jobs that Lighting Has to DoSpectrums, Color, and LightSpace to Color to Light: Forming a Lighting MethodologyThe Three Basic Elements Involved in Lighting a Scene: Lights, Shaders, and BakingEnvironmental Menus and Shaders in Second Life and OpenSim The Importance of Shadows Help Your Design Look Great in All Sorts of Lighting Project: Lighting Three Basic Scenes Cameras and Collaborative Spaces (the Ideagora) Overview of Cameras, Narrative, and Social Spaces for Meetings Presenting and Collaborating on Ideas in a Virtual World Description and Functional Aspects of Virtual Cameras in a Presentation Designing for the Future and Mobility Project: Building an Ideagora for Your Team Virtual Goods and Design for Virtual Shopping Environments Why Do People Buy Virtual Goods? Consistent Brand Identity from Your Logo to the Architecture of Your ShopThe Physical Aspects of an Effective Inworld Store Size and Virtual StoreSetting Up Your Shop in the Online MarketplaceUsing Social Media and Games to Popularize Your Content Performance Spaces Added to Retail Project: Designing and Building a "Pop-up" Shop Sound Design for Virtual Spaces Discovering Sound in Your Environment Just a Bit of Sound Theory to Deepen Your Understanding Basic Qualities of Sound in a Virtual World Building Basics for a Sound Environment How to Control Sound in a Virtual World Where to Obtain Sound for Your 3D Spaces How to Edit the Sound for Your Virtual EnvironmentProject: Making an Audio-Based Gaming Environment Avatars and Nonplayer Characters Avatars and Our Sense of Self The Importance of Avatars Designing the Look of Your Character Animating Your Avatar What Are Nonplayer Characters? Types of NPCs and How They Can Be Used in Virtual EnvironmentsDesigning the Environment for the Inclusion of NPCs Setting Up and Designing the Look of Your NPCs in Second Life Setting Up and Designing the Look of Your NPCs on an OpenSim Region NPCs and Their Future Development Project: Setting Up a Basic Avatar in a Virtual Environment Prototyping the Real World in a Virtual EnvironmentPrototyping and Workflow: Where and How Do Virtual Worlds Fit In? Introduction to Worldwide Group Collaboration and Why You Should Use It Math, Molecules, and Military Engineering Entertainment Environments: Prototyping the Performance Space Prototyping Games in a Virtual WorldProject: Prototyping a Virtual Space and Making a 3D Print from It Scripting Basics for the DesignerIntroduction to Scripting in LSL Design Thinking and ScriptsAn Overview of How LSL Scripts Work About the Script Text EditorBreakdown: Finding the Parts of a Basic ScriptDo It Yourself or Hire a Scripter? How to Talk to a Scripter about LSL Scripts You Need Scripting and Various Performance Pitfalls Debugging and Testing and the Importance of Those Tasks Moving on to More Complex Scripting HUDs in Virtual Environments What Are HUDs?Types of HUDsDesign Considerations Some HUD Design Ideas and How They Have an Impact on Immersion Some Things to Remember When You Use HUDs Tools to Make HUDs Project: Creating a "Favorite Links" HUD Machinima in Virtual Worlds What Is a Machinima? Defining Your Narrative and Presentation Style Visual Narrative and the Camera Tools Needed for Machinima Machinima Policy and Your Work Camera Tools and Phototools in Firestorm The Future, Design, and Virtual Worlds Some Predictions for the Future and Their Impact on Your Design Outlook Emerging Technologies and New Design Methodologies How the New Technologies Are Intertwining When Do We Get the Holodeck? Index References appear at the end of each chapter.
