Abstract: A real-time, interactive, three-dimensional (3D) virtual surgical system including a 3D scene having a timeline and a plurality of artist-rendered 3D objects each representing a human anatomical structure and a plurality of 3D objects each representing a medical device or a medical instrument. Each object includes a number of definable properties each associated with a location on the timeline. A timeline controller generates camera controller commands, generates and sends time commands to select locations on the timeline, and generates and sends play or pause commands to the 3D scene. A camera controller generates camera position commands for any camera position. A camera is responsive to the camera position commands and is configured to read the 3D scene and generate and send views to an output device to create a real-time, interactive, 3D virtual surgical procedure having views for any camera position.