Virtual World Design

by Ann Latham Cudworth

Learn How to Create Immersive Virtual Environments Written by an award-winning designer with 20 years of experience designing virtual environments for television and online communities, Virtual World Design explores the intertwining disciplines of 2D graphics, 3D models, lighting, sound, and storytelling. It illustrates how these disciplines come together by design in the creation of an accessible virtual environment for teaching, research, and entertainment. The book gives anyone the tools and techniques to design virtual environments that support their message and are accessible by all. With 200 illustrations and 12 step-by-step projects, the book delivers hours of creative challenges for people working in public virtual worlds or on private grids. Using the modular components available for download on the author’s website, readers learn by building such things as a virtual classroom, an "all-access" terrain, and a sound-based game. This book can be the foundation for class work in distance learning, simulation, and other learning technologies that use virtual environments. It shows both novices and advanced users how 3D composition, color, lighting, and sound design are used in the creation of an immersive virtual environment.

405 pages, Paperback

First published March 13, 2014

Reviews

[Michael Thome · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great overview of the design and implementation of virtual world experiences on platforms such as Second Life and Open Sim. Broad strokes cover the ground with engaging deeper dives into numerous specific areas of interest. Of course, there are plenty of topics remaining for the rumored sequel!