USC Institute for Creative Technologies
Lori Weiss
Director of Strategy, Operations and External Relations

The projects or efforts depicted were or are sponsored by the U.S. Army Research,Development, and Engineering Command (RDECOM) Simulation Training andTechnology Center (STTC). The content or information presented does not necessarilyreflect the position or the policy of the Government, and no official endorsement should
be inferred.

ICTMission (Why ICT)Create synthetic experiences so compelling that the participants reactas though the simulation is real…

ICT
What We Do

Develop virtual reality technologies and merge them with classic storytelling topioneer new ways to teach, train and interact.

There have been great societies that did not use the wheel, but there
are no societies that did not tell stories. - Ursula Le Guin

ICT Creates Experiences
The Human Dimension

Leader development
Cognitive training
Cultural awareness
Negotiation
Resiliency
Therapy

Core Areas

Immersion

Virtual Humans

Graphics

Games & Simulation

Narrative & Storytelling

Learning Sciences

Research & Development Portfolio
BASIC RESEARCH
Virtual Humans
Emotions‣Speech Recognition‣Nonverbal Behavior Understanding‣Process and Knowledge‣ Representation‣Natural Language Understanding‣Behavior and Gesturing‣Cognitive Architecture

Social Simulation
COSMOS

Graphics
Multi-view Facial Geometry‣Facial Cartography‣3D Display Systems

Learning Sciences
VR Cognitive Performance
Aptitude Test
Assessing & Improving Design
Virtual Interpersonal Skill Trainer

APPLIED RESEARCH
Integrated Virtual
Humans
Story Representation
Management
Mixed Reality (MxR)
Coming Home(TOPPS-VW)
Learning Sciences
Pedagogical
Catalysts
Technologies for
Accelerated Continuous
Learning (TACL)
IGEL
Tutoring for Practice6

PROTOTYPE/DEMO
Mixed Reality (MxR)
Development
Digital Backlot
UrbanSIM
Military Terrain for Games
Pipeline (MTGP)Virtual Officer Leadership Trainer(VOLT)

ICTʼs Virtual Humans Portfolio

C3IT
Cultural training

Minor
CharactersRadiobots
JFETS Training

Elder-Al-Hassan
SASO-EN

Dr. Perez
SASO-ST, SASO-EN

ELECT
Bi-LatTraining

ResearchMarketing

VirtualHassan
Emotional Dialog
Modeling

HumansClinicalDiagnosis

Sgt. Blackwell
Gunslinger

Museum Guide& CoachRapportAgent
Study
Raed
Tactical Questioning
77

7

JustinVirtual Patient

Justina
Virtual Patient

VeteransCenter

Sgt. StarNSF Interfaces Project: Grace and Ada at theBoston Museum of Science8

Virtual Iraq: VR-based Therapy for PTSD

9Engagement through Immersion

10

Mixed Reality
 Virtual Humans

11Realistic Graphics:
The “Digital Emily” Project

USC Institute for Creative Technologies
Graphics Laboratoryand(Santa Monica and Manchester, UK)

http://gl.ict.usc.edu/Research/DigitalEmily/
August 2008

Digital Emily Goals
 “Create the worldʼs first completely believable CG [computergenerated] face at HD resolution … to fool people into
thinking theyʼre looking at a real person”– Oleg Alexander, rigger / director, Image Metrics
 Face must be able to be seen from different angles and indifferent lighting conditions
 Face must be animatable intoarbitrary facial expressions andlook convincing while speaking
 Face should be placed in real-world context and becomparable in realism to a real photograph

13

ICT Profile

Organized Research Unit of the University ofSouthern California



Loca:on: Marina del Rey, CACurrently ~130 full‐:me staﬀ incl:– 10 Research Faculty– 12 GRA’s– Post docs
– 20 student workers– Summer Interns: 25‐30
Now accepDng applicaDons for summer 2010www.ict.usc.edu/internships
14