Simulation Meets Hollywood: Integrating Graphics, Sound, Story and Character for Immersive Training

How can training simulations be made more effective? An important insight in answering that question is to recognize that effective training depends both on the technology that is used to present the material and the content of the material itself. The Institute for Creative Technologies (ICT) was created at the University of Southern California with the goal of bringing together researchers in simulation technology to collaborate with people from the entertainment industry. The idea was that if those who understood how to create high resolution graphics, immersive sound, and believable virtual humans worked together with those who understood how to create compelling stories and characters a synergy would emerge that would allow them to create much more compelling simulation experiences.