This special panel will focus on design, within the theme of immersive experience in digital worlds. We will be discussing not only the function of art and design in immersive worlds; but also how immersive design processes can change and enhance the user experience. Each panelist will have an opportunity to tell us about their own immersive design practices within digital media.

This Panel will last 2 hours and is intended, like 5D, to be intensely interactive. Moderator Plantec will not allow the audience to remain passively enjoying the presentation.

"This panel is being presented in association with 5D: The Future of Immersive Design, a movement sponsored by the Art Directors' Guild, Los Angeles, and the University Art Museum at California State University, Long Beach."

Peter is both a psychologist and an animator as well as a software developer. As Co-founder and President of Virtual Personalities, Inc. with Dr. Michael Mauldin (Lycos); he initiated the "Sylvie" project. Sylvie was the first commercially available animated virtual human interface. In addition to her interface duties, Sylvie can hold intelligent conversations with users. He is also author of a 1 bestseller on 3D animation, Caligari trueSpace2 Bible. It remained in the top ten for over a year and still retains five stars at Amazon. His latest book on Amazon is "Virtual Humans -- Creating the illusion of personality", also 5 stars. Peter has served as Art Director for Marlin Studios, Arlington, Texas (game development) and has taught animation at Silicon Studios in Santa Monica , CA.