THE FLATWORLD SIMULATION CONTROL ARCHITECTURE (FSCA): A FRAMEWORK FOR SCALABLE IMMERSIVE VISUALIZATION SYSTEMS

Motion Picture sets are traditionally built using decorated modular wall components called "flats". The FlatWorld project (Pair et al., 2003) at the University of Southern California Institute for Creative Technologies merges this practice with immersive technology by creating a system of displays coupled with physical props which can be scaled to simulate entire buildings and Streets. A single room prototype FlatWorld system was developed in 2001. The software developed for this prototype was not scalable beyond the simulation of a single room environment. In 2003, the FlatWorld Simulation Control Architecture (FSCA) was developed to support multiple digital flats in arbitrary configurations. The FSCA facilitates digital flat training scenarios which can be scaled from the simulation of a single room up to a complete city block. The architecture's flexibility allows it to easily interface with a variety of 3D graphics engines and display devices.