Modeling and Simulation Linking Entertainment and Defense (1997) / Chapter Skim
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3 SETTING THE PROCESS IN MOTION
3 SETTING THE PROCESS IN MOTION
Pages 84-102
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From page 84... ...
Doing so will require additional input and advice from the academic community, whose participation in the workshop was limited. OVERCOMING CULTURAL BARRIERS The entertainment industry and DOD are two different cultures, with different languages, different business models, and separate communi 84
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From page 85... ...
Many people from the entertainment industry were reluctant to participate in the workshop or serve on the steering committee that convened the workshop because of the project's connection with defense and their impressions that few opportunities exist for collaboration. Nevertheless, workshop participants provided personal examples of the key movements of people between the two communities that have crosspollinated each other's efforts: Eric Haseltine, vice-president of research and development and chief scientist at Walt Disney Imagineering, began his career in flight simulation at Hughes Aircraft Company; and Carl Norman, a senior producer with the games company Strategic Simulations Inc., is a former Marine officer who later worked on simulation and training systems for the Corps.
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From page 87... ...
At the same time, successful projects in the entertainment industry can generate profit margins of 100 percent or more; the film industry relies on a limited number of such blockbuster hits to underwrite its operating expenses and compensate for the more numerous failures. Nevertheless, the great potential profitability of entertainment products limits the enthusiasm with which entertainment companies would embrace defense-related work.
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From page 88... ...
Given the growing markets for entertainment products and the potential profitability of successful products, many entertainment companies do not find working with DOD to be an attractive alternative to their usual entertainment efforts. According to Buzz Hoffman, of ThrustMaster Inc., "developing products for the mass commercial market offers far more opportunities for profit than Defense Department contracts." Until the potential benefits of collaboration become more apparent to the entertainment industry and the associated costs can be reduced, formal collaboration will be difficult to initiate.4 Facilitating Coordination and Cooperation A first step toward bridging the gap between the defense modeling and simulation community and the entertainment industry would be to encourage greater sharing of information between the two communities.
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From page 89... ...
Because the entertainment industry is very competitive and proprietary, entertainment companies do not freely share information about research programs or interests, and the frequent changes in employment make individual connections fleeting. One mechanism for promoting informal information sharing between members of the defense modeling and simulation community and the entertainment industry and breaking down cultural barriers is to encourage attendance at relevant conferences that cross industry boundaries.
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From page 90... ...
By presenting more work at such conferences or setting up booths on convention floors, DOD could help artists, software developers, and executives in the entertainment industry learn about relevant DOD technology and research. At the same time, DOD would be able to see and hear about current developments in the entertainment industry that will enter the marketplace 18 to 24 months later and start to make the social connections that always facilitate information flow.
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From page 91... ...
The Federal Technology Transfer Act requires all federal laboratories with research and development budgets above a certain threshold to each establish an Office of Research and Technology Applications to promote technology transfer. These offices are authorized to both license federal technology to commercial industry and to enter into cooperative research and development agreements
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From page 92... ...
The Federal Laboratory Consortium helps industry understand technology transfer and assists with referrals to appropriate government agencies. The National Technology Transfer Center, a federally funded center located in West Virginia, also helps researchers from industry solve problems by linking them with relevant experts at federal laboratories.
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From page 93... ...
Workshop participants indicated a shortage of talented, high-quality, experienced people to develop virtual environments, modeling and simulation software, digital animation, design, and scripting of virtual worlds. "Ask the production manager of any effects studio," reported Alex Seiden, of Industrial Light and Magic, "and [he or she]
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From page 94... ...
Eric Haseltine, of Walt Disney Imagineering, has found that the best-designed computer user interfaces are not created by computer scientists or human factors engineers but by artists and designers who are visually literate (Box 3.2~. While Disney funds and employs many university graduates with such training, the demand is much greater than the supply.
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From page 95... ...
Creating a sense of social space in virtual reality is becoming more important to DOD, according to some workshop participants. Kirstie Bellman, of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, noted that there is a sense of social reality that is important in certain simulations, such as those represented by multiple user domains.
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From page 96... ...
Workshop participants from both the entertainment industry and DOD agreed that cross-disciplinary programs blending computer science and art are needed to provide workers with the education to support both entertainment and defense applications of modeling and simulation. Few university programs currently exist that combine visual literacy, digital design, computer science, and engineering; most universities have separate departments or separate schools for engineering and the arts.
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From page 97... ...
have difficulty being recognized as serious areas of study, noted Michael Zyda, of the Naval Postgraduate School, because they are new fields that are often viewed as applications of computer science rather than core research areas. Proponents will have to convince the computer science community that work in this field will yield publishable results and that the arts can play more than a supportive role.
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From page 98... ...
Early DOD investments in university research spurred development of many technologies that have turned into billiondollar industries that now lie at the core of both entertainment and defense modeling and simulation: workstations, graphics technology, and virtual reality.~3 Such funding for university research has not only produced new knowledge and new technologies but also provided research opportunities that are significant component of students' education. "People," says Ed Catmull, "are the best products from research dollars." Many workshop participants believe that the funding environment has changed in ways that could prove detrimental to the long-term viability of the technology base for modeling and simulation.~4 Attempts to reduce the federal budget deficit and trim defense spending have put additional pressure on federal research expenditures.
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From page 99... ...
In addition, several workshop participants suggested that industry is not contributing equipment to university laboratories as it did in the past. University researchers perceive a decline in contributions by traditional donors and note that many of the newer industry leaders have not stepped up to the challenge to provide donations.
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From page 100... ...
Linking these two communities represents a significant challenge; differences in business practices and culture need to be overcome in order to find mechanisms for cooperation and collaboration. Additional efforts will be needed to ensure adequate education of visually literate people who can create engaging simulated environments and to ensure funding for continued research.
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From page 101... ...
16. The center includes computer graphics programs at Brown University, the California Institute of Technology, Cornell University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the University of Utah.
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