SIGGRAPH 2011 Media Blog

SIGGRAPH 2011 Ranks as Vancouver’s Largest Conference Ever

2011-08-11T16:16:00.000-07:00

Vancouver, British Columbia – SIGGRAPH 2011, the world's premier conference on computer graphics and interactive techniques, welcomed 15,872 artists, research scientists, gaming experts and developers, filmmakers, students, and academics from 74 countries around the globe to Vancouver this week—breaking the city’s previous conference attendance records. In addition, 156 industry organizations exhibited at SIGGRAPH 2011—representing 17 countries with approximately half from outside the United States.

Content was once again king at SIGGRAPH with approximately 825 speakers participating in the conference through a variety of talks, sessions, panels, papers, presentations, and screenings.

“It was both an inspirational and incredibly fulfilling week,” said Peter Braccio, SIGGRAPH 2011 Conference Chair from Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. “Vancouver was an awesome home for SIGGRAPH and people are leaving with a renewed sense of passion and motivation both in their professional and personal lives. Vancouver delivered on its reputation as a world-class city.”

Highlights from SIGGRAPH 2011 included:

• Keynote Cory Doctorow Lashes Out on Copyright Laws in the Digital Age

World renowned blogger, activist, and science-fiction author Cory Doctorow treated the audience to a lively and enlightening discourse on the ineffectiveness of copyright laws in the digital age for protecting content creators.

Doctorow contends that copyright law should serve as an incentive to creativity, and that a good copyright system should result in more people making more creations. However, the 1996 WIPO Copyright Treaty that called for nations to grant legal protection for “Technical Protection Measures” resulted in digital rights management (DRM) and lockdown of content. This enabled the DRM companies to have more say over creators’ works than the creators themselves.

The entire keynote speech is available here.

• New to SIGGRAPH this year was the SIGGRAPH Symposium: The Business Think Tank, which was held on Sunday. The objective of the event was to help shape the future direction of the computer graphics industry, and it was sold out.

• The SIGGRAPH 2011 Computer Animation Festival presented the world's most innovative, accomplished, and amazing creators of digital gaming, film, and video. A total of 77 films were shown during the Festival. In addition to film screenings, the Festival included interactive sessions and exclusive learning opportunities to gain industry secrets and advice from some of the most successful professionals in the field.

SIGGRAPH 2011 Computer Animation Festival award winners include:

Best in Show Award: The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore, Directed by William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg, Moonbot Studios

Jury Award: Paths of Hate, Directed by Damian Nenow, Platige Image

Best Student Project Prize: Flamingo Pride, Directed by Tomer Eshed, The Konrad Wolf Potsdam-Babelsberg Film and Television University

• Technical Papers, the premier global forum for presenting groundbreaking research from today's leading experts. The SIGGRAPH 2011 Technical Papers program featured 82 Technical Papers, selected among 432 submissions. In addition to core topics of modeling, animation, rendering, imaging, and human-computer interaction, the Technical Papers program encouraged submissions from areas related to computer graphics, including: computer games, design, vision, scientific and information visualization, audio, and robotics.

• The SIGGRAPH 2011 Art Gallery: Tracing Home explored issues related to the concept of home in the networked age. From more than 300 submissions, the Art Gallery jury selected 16 pieces to be featured, including 2D images, audio, video, and data-driven and mixed-media installations. All pieces explored “home” as both a conceptual category and a physical reality, often blurring the boundaries between the two.

Download photos from SIGGRAPH 2011 here.

SIGGRAPH Keynote Cory Doctorow's Full Speech Published

2011-08-10T14:21:00.000-07:00

World renown blogger, activist, and sci-fi author, Cory Doctorow exposed a large audience to a lively and enlightening discussion on the ineffectiveness of copyright right laws in the digital age in protecting respective content creators.

“Here in the digital age, we copy like we breath.” stated Doctorow. “And so the stakes for getting the rules right on copyright have never been higher.”

Doctorow maintains that copyright law should serve as an incentive to be creative and that a good copyright system should result in more people making more innovation or content.

Yet Doctorow indicated that the 1996 WIPO Copyright Treaty which called for nations to grant legal protection for “Technical Protection Measures,” resulted in digital rights management and digital tie-ups. This enabled those companies to have more say over creators works than the creators themselves, or even the publishers that invest in the work.

Doctorow shared his three laws on the subject:

1) Anytime someone puts a lock on something that belongs to you and doesn’t give you the key, the lock is not there for your benefit.

2) Fame doesn’t guarantee fortune, but no one gets rich from being unknown.

3) Information doesn’t want to be free, people do.

In his summation, Doctorow qualified his optimistic outlook that a solution can be found, by also conveying that if the only solution to keep his trade as an author alive was to “redesign the devices the that fill our pockets, run our cars, carry our love notes, and comprise our entire system of political and civic engagement so that they can spy on us and betray us,” he’d go and get a “real job.”
For the first time ever, SIGGRAPH will release the entire keynote to the general public. Doctorow started his speech by stating that people could record the speech and replay it with his blessing. Here it is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfU6e6--izo

SIGGRAPH 2011 Photos Online

2011-08-10T11:17:00.001-07:00

SIGGRAPH 2011 photos are now available online here. Additional photos will be added to this gallery as they become available.

SIGGRAPH Technical Papers Are Live

2011-08-02T06:50:00.000-07:00

The SIGGRAPH 2011 Technical Papers are now available online in the ACM Digital Library. There are updated links at http://www.siggraph.org/s2011/for_attendees/technical-papers .

New this year is a downloadable document called “Technical Papers First Pages”. This is a large (184 MB) PDF file containing the first pages of all Technical Papers presented at SIGGRAPH 2011.

Each first page has hyperlinks to additional information, including the full version in the ACM Digital Library. The idea is to allow quick scanning through all papers to get an overview of the conference program and to find subject material of most interest to you.

SIGGRAPH Art Gallery Unveils Event Line-Up

2011-07-31T11:33:00.000-07:00

The SIGGRAPH Art Gallery released its line-up for events during conference week.

The theme for this year is "Tracing Home" and the following is Mona Kasra's [the SIGGRAPH 2011 Art Gallery chair] vision statement for the content:

"In the era of networked technology, the interplay of physical and virtual within our lived experience opens up portals and wormholes enabling simultaneous and discontinuous realities at the touch of a button, echo of a voice, or nudge of a sensor. The new dynamics not only reconfigures our relations with ourselves and with one another, but most importantly, it reshapes our sense of identity, belonging, and place. The SIGGRAPH 2011 Art Gallery: Tracing Home, presents exceptional digital and technologically mediated artworks that explore issues related to the concept of home in the networked age."

Listed below is a guide to the week's activities:

Reception: Leonardo, Art Papers, and Art Gallery
TUESDAY, 9 AUGUST 2-3:30 PM | Art Gallery
Experience "home" in the networked age. Talk with the artists, designers, and Art Papers authors about their work. And meet the members of the SIGGRAPH 2011 committee who organized this year's Art Gallery.

Daily Art Tours
MONDAY, 8 AUGUST - WEDNESDAY, 10 August, 1-1:30 pm
Members of the Art Galley committee offer 30-minute guided tours to introduce visitors to Tracing Home and some of the specific artworks displayed in the exhibition. The daily tours begin in the Art Gallery.

Informal Art Talks
Tracing Home participating artists casually explain and discuss their works, process, and ideas . These talks are followed by short Q & A sessions and an opportunity to meet and chat with the artists. All talks are presented in the Art Gallery.

Monday, 8 August
4-4:20 pm
MOSTON
Anya Belkina
Emerson College

4:20-4:40 pm
Travel Stones
Jacquelyn Martino
IBM T.J. Watson Research Center

4:40-5 pm
The Insatiable
Jawshing Arthur Liou
Indiana University

Tuesday, 9 August
4-4:20 pm
The Garden of Error and Decay
Michael Bielicky
Kamila B. Richter
HFG/ZKM Karlsruhe

4:20-4:40 pm
tele-present wind
David Bowen
University of Minnesota

4:40-5 pm
0h!m1gas: biomimetic stridulation environment
Kuai Shen Auson
Academy of Media Arts Cologne

Wednesday, 10 August
4-4:20 pm
Open House
Patrick LeMieux
Duke University

Jack Stenner
University of Florida

4:20-4:40 pm
Wait
Julie Andreyev
Simon Overstall
Emily Carr University of Art + Design

4:40-5 pm
Third Skin
Andrea Zapp
Manchester Metropolitan University

Here are links to the 2011 Art Gallery Video Preview and Podcasts [available in multiple languages]. A guided Media Tour will be available on Tuesday, 9 August, at 3:30pm. Sign up for the tour in the Media Office on-site.

Jon Peddie Research Releases Analysis on Computer Graphics Industry

2011-07-22T11:35:00.000-07:00

**The overall CG market will exceed $100 billion in 2014**

**Industry enjoys 7% growth for past five years**

The computer graphics (CG) industry has been a growth industry since it was established the late 1970s. Weathering the storms of the recession of 2009, the CG industry is back on track and showing new invigorated vitality and potential.

The CG hardware market was worth $53 billion in 2010 and should exceed $67 billion in 2011. The market for CG software was worth $13 billion in 2010 (not counting services, maintenance and other aspects). CG software is expected to grow to $14.8 billion in 2011 as the industry shakes off the remaining effects of the recession and customers start replacing software tools.

As a result of the pull back due to the recession, more people will be buying computer graphics software programs and we will see the development of traditional segments like CAD/CAM expand as new design approaches in automotive, aerospace, and architecture are brought forth. Visualization, a market that has been almost dormant for the past few years is poised now for great expansion due to exciting and lower cost technologies.

There is considerable opportunity for computer graphics software on several fronts. The tools for making movies is the highest profile market but it represents a very modest proportion of the total market. Design tools, game development, manufacturing, and scientific visualization are much larger markets and there is a great deal of opportunity as these markets adapt to changes in mobile devices, and take advantage of the vast compute power in the cloud. There has been a bubbling up of interest in computer graphics tools for mainstream and hobbyist users. It is still a tiny proportion of the overall market, but this too is an area where Jon Peddie Research is seeing intriguing product development and growth.

Over the course of the next five years, we will see the effects and tools used in filmmaking extend to much larger markets for small production houses, independent filmmakers, and even enthusiast/hobbyists. Game development will shift to accommodate new game platforms including mobile devices. And, most exciting, we expect to see a resurgence for imaging, vector graphics, and desktop publishing as new distribution models enable new business models for the publishing industry.

The demand for programmers, artists, scientists, and designers has picked up again and firms are actively looking for people who can use and exploit these new programs and their associated hardware accelerators. The economic recession has caused a slow down but it’s going to look like a small bump in the road by 2014.

Given these trends, Jon Peddie Research expects the rate of growth continuing to grow.

Exhibitor Tech Talks Schedule Announced

2011-07-22T08:42:00.000-07:00

At the SIGGRAPH 2011 Exhibitor Tech Talks, attendees are able to get the inside story direct from the commercial developers of tomorrow's hot hardware, software, and systems. Benefits include question-and-answer exchanges and one-on-one conversations with the speakers after each presentation. All talks will be given on the Exhibition Floor in Booth #801

Following is the current line-up for Vancouver:

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
Tuesday, 9 August 11:15 am - 12:15 pm
Video Processing With AMD FirePro Solutions

PC architecture and graphics-processing units have become ubiquitous in broadcast and post-production workflows. This talk reviews the types of processing and rendering that the GPU excels at and illuminates some of the emerging trends for tightening GPU integration into these workflows.

DigiPen Institute of Technology
Tuesday, 9 August 2:15 pm - 3:15 pm
The Academic Infrastructure of Innovative and Successful Video Games

A detailed look at the academic infrastructure of interactive media technologies and the special emphasis placed on incorporating innovative game design and gameplay mechanics to make video games highly successful and marketable.

The Bakery
Tuesday, 9 August 3:45 pm - 4:40 pm
Bakery Relight: Interactive Lighting, Shading, and Rendering for Pros

Designed for the high-end feature film, television, industrial, automotive, and architectural design industries, Bakery Relight is the first interactive, all-in-one lighting, shading, and rendering solution. Born out of years of hands-on experience on top-grossing feature films, Relight supports the lighters’ and shaders’ iterative process with full-resolution feedback in seconds.

OPTIS
Wednesday, 10 August 9:45 am - 10:45 am
Physics-Based Virtual Reality

Thanks to their unique physics-based approach, OPTIS light-simulation specialists provide real-time, predictive visualization solutions based on measured physical properties of surfaces and materials. OPTIS solutions are used by engineers, ergonomists, and designers to optimize perceived quality and the visual ergonomics of HMIs.

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
Wednesday, 10 August 11:15 am - 12:15 pm
OpenCL and OpenGL/DirectX Interoperability

The computing power of GPUs is now accessible to improve the interactivity of 3D graphics. Leveraging this capability requires optimum interoperability between compute (OpenCL) and graphics APIs (OpenGL/DirectX). This talk demonstrates how to compute and update geometry with OpenCL on APUs, how to update VBO on discrete GPUs, and how to compute physics data on OpenCL and transfer those data to discrete GPUs.

Autodesk, Inc.
Wednesday, 10 August 12:45 pm - 1:45 pm
Multi-Threaded 2D Renderer Design

Rendering real-time high-quality 2D vector graphics through a 3D pipeline is a challenging task that requires custom algorithms for shape tessellation, edge anti-aliasing, and text rendering. For best performance, Scaleform 2D renderer includes optimizations such as multi-threaded rendering, mesh caching, and draw-primitive batching. Following a high-level design description, this talk dives into multi-threaded rendering, introducing a novel render-tree design that allows the both threads to access scene graph nodes simultaneously, greatly reducing copy overhead. This strategy is particularly effective when only a subset of nodes is modified every frame and can be applied to any real-time rendering engine.

Xsens Technologies B.V.
Wednesday, 10 August 2:15 pm - 3:15 pm
How Much Animation Can You Do in a Day?

This talk shows how to speed up your pipeline with the Xsens MVN animation tool. It also explains how to record a motion, edit the motion, and insert it into a scene in no time, or even real time, using the Xsens MVN system.

Organic Motion
Wednesday, 10 August 3:45 pm - 4:40 pm
Organic Motion Unveils the Latest Developments in Next-Generation Computer Vision

Preview the building blocks of the latest human-computer interaction.

SIGGRAPH 2011 Game Industry Content Summary

2011-07-19T09:58:00.000-07:00

The following is a roundup of all content at SIGGRAPH 2011 originating from the game industry as compiled by Naty Hoffman, SIGGRAPH 2011 Game Development Community Director from Activision Studio Central.

From Naty, "Please note that this content originating from the game industry is not the same as 'content of interest to game developers', which is a much larger set. Also note that I have taken a fairly strict definition of “game industry” - basically a studio that develops games, or a research group belonging to a game publisher."

SIGGRAPH 2011 has content from 30 game development studios:

Advanced Technology Group (Sony Computer Entertainment Europe)
Avalanche Software (Disney Interactive Studios)
Avalanche Studios
Black Rock Studio (Disney Interactive Studios)
Blizzard
Bungie
CCP Games Iceland
CCP Games Newcastle
Criterion Games (Electronic Arts)
Crytek
Disney Interactive Research
Double Fine
Electronic Arts Black Box
Electronic Arts Canada
Electronic Arts Montréal
Electronic Arts Tiburon
Epic Games
Evolution Studios (Sony Computer Entertainment)
Frontier Developments
Guerrilla Games (Sony Computer Entertainment)
Kalloc Studios
LucasArts
Media Molecule (Sony Computer Entertainment)
NetherRealm Studios (Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment)
Q-Games
Remedy Entertainment
SCE Santa Monica Studio
Treyarch (Activision Blizzard)
Ubisoft Montpellier
Valve

Please note: If the studio is owned by a publisher and it’s not clear from the studio name which (for example, “SCE” = “Sony Computer Entertainment”), then the publisher’s name is listed in parenthesis. Publisher-owned central R&D groups are listed as studios. When the work described was done at a previous place of employment of the author or presenter, that place of employment is listed instead of their current affiliation.

SIGGRAPH 2011 game industry content covers 25 games titles:

Alan Wake
Battlefield 3
Call of Duty: Black Ops
Costume Quest
Cars 2: The Video Game
Crysis 2
EA Sports MMA
EVE Online
From Dust
God of War III
Halo: Reach
Killzone 3
Kinectimals
LittleBigPlanet 2
Left 4 Dead 2
Mortal Kombat
Motorstorm Apocalypse
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit
Need for Speed the Run
PixelJunk Shooter 2
Portal 2
Split/Second
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2
The Saboteur
World of Warcraft

The lists below break out all the game industry content by program. First the title of the content (course/talk/paper etc.) is listed, then the studio name (as in the studio list above), and finally (in parenthesis) the game title which the content is focused on. If the content is not focused on any specific game title, (#) is used.

Courses:

Advances in Real-Time Rendering in Games Part I: Bungie (Halo: Reach), Avalanche Software/Disney Interactive Studios (Cars 2: The Video Game), Crytek (Crysis 2), Media Molecule/Sony Computer Entertainment (LittleBigPlanet 2)
Advances in Real-Time Rendering in Games Part II: Electronic Arts Montréal* (Battlefield 3), Electronic Arts Black Box (Need for Speed the Run), Treyarch/Activision (Call of Duty: Black Ops), CCP Games Newcastle (#), SCE Santa Monica Studio (God of War III), Electronic Arts Canada (#)
Filtering Approaches for Real-Time Anti-Aliasing: Double Fine (Costume Quest), SCE Santa Monica Studio (God of War III), Advanced Technology Group/Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (#), Kalloc Studios (The Saboteur), CCP Games Newcastle (#), Avalanche Studios (#), LucasArts (Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2), Crytek (Crysis 2)
Beyond Programmable Shading Part I: Disney Interactive Research (#)
Character Rigging, Deformations, and Simulations in Film and Game Production: Electronic Arts Canada (#)
Destruction and Dynamics for Film and Game Production: Avalanche Software/Disney Interactive (#)

* - Presenter is from Electronic Arts Montréal, but Battlefield 3 was developed by DICE.

Talks:

Making Faces: Eve Online’s New Portrait Rendering: CCP Games Iceland (EVE Online)
MotorStorm Apocalypse: Creating Urban Off-Road Racing: Evolution Studios/Sony Computer Entertainment (Motorstorm Apocalypse)
Spherical Skinning With Dual Quaternions and QTangents: Crytek (Crysis 2)
Rendering the Interactive Dynamic Natural World of the Game: From Dust: Ubisoft Montpellier (From Dust)
Deferred Shading Techniques Using Frostbite in Need for Speed The Run: Electronic Arts Black Box (Need for Speed: The Run)
Animation Workflow in Killzone 3: A Fast Facial Retargeting System for Game Characters: Guerrilla Games/Sony Computer Entertainment (Killzone 3)
Occlusion Culling in Alan Wake: Remedy Entertainment (Alan Wake)
Increasing Scene Complexity: Distributed Vectorized View Culling: Electronic Arts Black Box (Need for Speed: The Run)
Practical Occlusion Culling in Killzone 3: Guerrilla Games/Sony Computer Entertainment (Killzone 3)
High-Quality Previewing of Shading and Lighting for Killzone 3: Guerrilla Games/Sony Computer Entertainment (Killzone 3)
Run-Time Implementation of Modular Radiance Transfer: Disney Interactive Research (Split/Second)
Fluid Dynamics and Lighting Implementation in PixelJunk Shooter 2: Q-Games (PixelJunk Shooter 2)

Technical Papers:

Physics-Inspired Upsampling for Cloth Simulation in Games: Disney Interactive Research (#)

Posters:

Character Shading in EA Sports MMA Using Projected Poisson-Disk-Based Ambient Occlusion: Electronic Arts Tiburon (EA Sports MMA)

SIGGRAPH Dailies!:

Mortal Kombat X-Ray Attacks: NetherRealm Studios/Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment (Mortal Kombat)
God of War 3: Chimaera Tail Swipe Attack: SCE Santa Monica Studio (God of War III)
God of War 3 Poseidon Creature Boss Fight: SCE Santa Monica Studio (God of War III)

Computer Animation Festival:
Electronic Theater

Halo Reach: Bungie (Halo: Reach)
Portal 2: Turrets: Valve (Portal 2)

Screening - Commercials, Games, and Music

Left 4 Dead: The Sacrifice: Valve (Left 4 Dead 2)
Portal 2: Bot Trust: Valve (Portal 2)
Portal 2: Turrets: Valve (Portal 2)
World of Warcraft: Catacysm Intro: Blizzard (World of Warcraft)

* Please note that game cinematics not made by the game’s developer aren’t counted.

Production Sessions:

Guerrilla: The Creation of Killzone 3: Guerrilla Games/Sony Computer Entertainment (Killzone 3)

Real-Time Live!:

Kinectimals: Frontier Developments (Kinectimals)
A Look Under the Hood of Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit: Criterion Games/Electronic Arts (Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit)
Samaritan Real-Time Demo: Epic Games (#)

The Sandbox:

A Look Under the Hood of Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit: Criterion Games/Electronic Arts (Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit)
Alan Wake: Remedy Entertainment (Alan Wake)
Bring the Storm to the Apocalypse: Evolution Studios/Sony Computer Entertainment (Motorstorm Apocalypse)
Killzone 3: Guerrilla Games/Sony Computer Entertainment (Killzone 3)
Kinectimals: Frontier Developments (Kinectimals)

The Studio:
Studio Workshops

Introduction to Python Scripting: Crytek (Crysis 2)
Rigging Characters for CryEngine: Crytek (Crysis 2)
World Creation in CryEngine: Crytek (Crysis 2)

Emerging Technologies:

Surround Haptics: Sending Shivers Down Your Spine: Black Rock Studio/Disney Interactive Studios (Split/Second)

International Resources Events:
The IGDA Presents Game Jam!: IGDA (#)

Interview With SIGGRAPH 2011 The Studio Chair: Chris Williams

2011-07-14T08:05:00.000-07:00

Following is a brief conversation with Chris Williams, The Studio Chair from Knowledge Adventure! (pictured at right).

He currently is their Creative Director and attended the University of California, Riverside.

For someone who is new to SIGGRAPH, what should they expect from their Studio experience this year?

This year is going to be spectacular! It is all about D.I.Y. wrapped in a Steampunk theme. The Studio has always been about getting hands-on experience with all types of equipment that one may not normally encounter in their daily lives. This year we took it a step further by focusing on cool technology and techniques that anyone could do themselves. One doesn’t need a $250,000 3D printer for rapid prototyping; you can start experimenting with something such as a $1,200 Makerbot. Since it comes in kit form, it allows for complete understanding of the technology during the construction process. It is great to discover that technology isn’t magic hidden behind a black box. Anyone can have access to it.

Not only does The Studio have some of the coolest toys at SIGGRAPH, but we also have some amazingly creative people. We have individuals from all over the world and from every discipline who are passionate about teaching and collaborating with other creative individuals. The Studio is the prefect venue for large exchanges of ideas.

When did you first come to SIGGRAPH and what specifically clicked in your brain that it was a good fit?

I first came to SIGGRAPH over 10 years ago when it was in Los Angeles. I was in awe with the assemblage of so many creative people in one place. I thought I found seventh heaven when I stumbled on the Studio. It was full of wonderful technology that attendees could use, experiment with, and learn on. There was the latest software, futuristic hardware, and a creative buzz that filled the air. I found that I was signing up for every workshop possible and ended up spending almost all of my time at SIGGRAPH there. I have never left.

How will it be the same or different from prior years?

The Studio will always be based on a “hands-on” area where technology is fueled by fun creative energy. This year is no exception! We have a host of donated equipment and software that attendees can try out, learn about and experiment with. The main difference this year is that we were heavily involved with the Unified Jury. It was a great experience to review and select projects, talks and workshops that would best fit inside The Studio. Along with curated venues, the juried selections promise to bring incredible talent together and a sharing of ideas.

What is one … or a few …. of the most special aspects of The Studio to you personally?

The Studio volunteers as well as the presenters! Each year, I love returning to SIGGRAPH, The Studio and working with, problem-solving with, creating with, such talented people. It really is like returning home and seeing old friends and family. Everyone who volunteers their time, equipment, and software really cares about teaching and sharing with others new technology and ideas. That is pretty special. That is SIGGRAPH.

Past attendees’ comments mentioned that the Studio atmosphere was a bit chaotic, how have you tried to address that this year?

What is great about The Studio is that it is always a bit chaotic. Even with all of the endless hours of planning, most of the donations and workshops aren’t finalized till the 11th hour. It should be commended the amount of corporate wrangling and solicitation it takes to host The Studio. Most of everything at The Studio is donated and all the time is volunteered. With that said, each year we outline new pipelines and procedures that will make for a more organized attendee experience.

Participating in the formalized venue of the Unified Jury was a monumental step in better organization. This year we have also tried to create a layout that allows for easy flow-through of traffic while encouraging exploration of each venue. Regardless, The Studio will be a fest for the mind.

What are some of the things you are most excited about in the Studio?

I am usually excited about getting “hands-on” experience with the latest technology and software. I look forward each year to which new 3D printer will be available or newest motion capture technique that will be in The Studio. This year, I am really looking forward to all of the great talks and presentations in The Studio!

I am incredibly excited that we will be starting off The Studio with the highly anticipated roundtable talk with Cory Doctorow moderating! We then continue the week will all sorts of industry talks, creative talks, hands on presentations, and fun workshops. I like that The Studio talks and presentations are a little more personal. Instead of being in a giant room with an industry legend on some tall far-away edifice, attendees are up close and personal and can ask questions. It is a little more interactive than just spectating.

What drew you to volunteer to be considered as The Studio Chair this year?

I wanted to give back! For years, The Studio has provided numerous techniques and experiences that I have been able to use in my professional life. I have learned many methods in The Studio and applied them in creating our company’s video games. Besides the obvious tips and tricks for 3D modeling and animation, there have been many non-obvious ones which include large format printing for advertising, pre-press printing and color correction for retail venues as well as lenticular imaging to showcase our 3D products. Because of the SIGGRAPH Studio, I was able to bring additional value to my company and colleagues. I find it an honor and privilege if I can help and teach others so they can benefit from the same experience.

On a personal level you have managed to stay with the same company for 16 years - which is rare in any industry – what makes it such a good fit and how have you done it?

I love the company that I work for, Knowledge Adventure! The company has been around for about 20 years during which it merged with Davidson and Blizzard (way before WOW) which then was acquired by Cendant, Havas, and finally Vivendi/Universal. I have had the benefit of working on all types of titles, licenses, and art styles. The work is hard, but we also play hard. The office is full of toys and we shoot Nerf guns at each other everyday. I have a great and incredibly talented team whom I would go through the "Gates of Hell" with.

We noticed you have an inspiration for talking spirits and skateboards, please elaborate on that interesting combination.

Creating Ouija boards and skateboards is a direct result of The Studio. While SIGGRAPH was in San Diego, a laser engraver was donated to The Studio and I fell in love with the sheer potential of the machine. For the next couple of months, I saved my pennies (lots) and bought my own laser. I liked the detail that the laser could give me so I wanted to produce art with incredibly intricate designs that I could combine with woodworking. The spirit boards came out of my fascination with the Victorian Era and the skateboards from growing up in California. I never would have been creating these boards without the experience gained from The Studio.

[Editor's note: Image on the left is one of his creations.]

Sources tell us that you have a particular passion for Circus Peanuts, any validity to this rumor?

I love Circus Peanuts and will consume about a bag a day. I use them as mini-brain batteries (in fact, I just ate four so I could write this :). I am naturally spastic, but I don’t think the “Peanuts” help matters. I love the taste, texture, and that they are a “fat free candy.” It is a “win – win”. The love is probably more about their texture as I dislike “peeps” and regular marshmallows (mushy).

The best is when someone tries them. It only happens once! They twist their faces up as soon as the sugar overload hits them (amateurs). They usually only finish half which usually means “more for me.”

Fun fact – When they were designing Lucky Charms, they first used bits of Circus Peanuts for the marshmallow addition. It was a success as they took longer to get soggy in milk. The rest is history. I also like Lucky Charm marshmallows but they are too small and too hard to get a good mouthful.

Usually when I say that I eat lots of circus peanuts, people often conclude it is the nutritious natural nut not a big squishy orange facsimile of a peanut. It’s like a cartoon peanut and that makes me happy.

Finally, to achieve your personal “Mission Accomplished” for The Studio in 2011, what would you hope attendees feel as they look back on their Studio experiences?

I would hope that attendees feel that they experienced many new and interesting technologies and techniques which they could bring back to their place of work and share with colleagues. In addition, I hope that they are inspired both technically and creatively by the workshops, sessions, presentations, and the people. I figure if they can take away a useful experience or technique that they can apply to their daily lives, then we have been successful.

[Editor's note: The Studio is packed with content including Studio Workshops, Digital Artistry Sessions, and Studio Talks. Attendees are encouraged to plan in advance as there will be limited capacity.]

SIGGRAPH 2011 Computer Animation Festival: From Game Content to Major Hollywood Films

2011-07-13T07:05:00.000-07:00

The SIGGRAPH Computer Animation Festival has a long history of presenting a variety of the world's most innovative, accomplished, and amazing creators of digital gaming, film, and video. The Computer Animation Festival at SIGGRAPH 2011 in Vancouver, 7-11 August 2011, provides a personal viewing experience unlike any other. In addition to film screenings, the Festival includes interactive sessions and exclusive learning opportunities to gain industry secrets and advice from some of the most successful professionals in the field.

“Once again, the content in the Computer Animation Festival offers something of interest to just about everyone – from industry newbies to veterans,” said Joshua Grow, Computer Animation Festival Director from The Creative-Cartel. "The content ranges from commercials to gaming. It is truly the year’s unique opportunity to hear directly from the best in the business. It should prove to be educational and inspirational.”

Listed below are just a few of the learning opportunities during the Computer Animation Festival:

Production Sessions
Production Sessions are high-level discussions that showcase the computer animation and visual effects in some of the Computer Animation Festival's most provocative works. SIGGRAPH 2011 featured Production Sessions include:

The Visual Effects of "Thor" and "Captain America": So Different Yet So Marvel
Marvel Studios devotes great time and effort to deliver great great storytelling, strong visuals, and compelling characters to movie audiences. This session compares the films "Thor" and "Captain America" and shows how visual effects are a critical aesthetic ingredient in their success. Visual effects supervisors Wesley Sewell and Christopher Townsend and their teams from Digital Domain, Double Negative, Whiskytree, Luma Pictures, and Lola VFX review how the films combine beauty and authenticity.

Pixar: "La Luna"
Enrico Casarosa, Pixar Animation Studios
"La Luna" is the timeless fable of a young boy who is coming of age in the most peculiar of circumstances. Tonight is the very first time his Papa and Grandpa are taking him to work. In an old wooden boat, they row far out to sea, and with no land in sight, they stop and wait. A big surprise awaits the little boy as he discovers his family's most unusual line of work. Should he follow the example of his Papa, or his Grandpa? Will he be able to find his own way in the midst of their conflicting opinions and timeworn traditions? Following the Canadian premiere screening of "La Luna", its director, Enrico Casarosa, discusses the journey that led him to create this very personal short and demonstrates the singularly artistic style by which the film was crafted.

DreamWorks Animation: The Yin and Yang of Creating the Final Battle in “Kung Fu Panda 2”
The climax of the CG-animated movie “Kung Fu Panda 2” is an epic battle featuring a flotilla of boats, an ancient Chinese-styled city, thousands of wolves armed for battle, action featuring hundreds of characters in a single shot, stylized graphic lighting, fantastical cannon fire and explosions, and a set of effects-supported Kung Fu moves. This talk provides a unique insight into the making of a CG-animated movie that goes beyond the traditional idealized concept of the pipeline.

Industrial Light & Magic Presents: Getting Dirty: Bringing the Digital Feature “Rango” to Life
This in-depth discussion focuses on the production of Industrial Light & Magic’s first animated feature “Rango”. ILM’s unique approach to the genre brings a new dimension to the animated feature, giving “Rango” the visceral quality that the company is best known for in its visual effects work. The presenters review all aspects of the work from initial asset development through animation, simulation, lighting, and compositing.

Imageworks: The Smurf-alution: A Half-Century of Character Development
Sony Pictures Imageworks animation supervisor Troy Saliba and leading members of their Vancouver animation team take the Smurfs from the most primitive pencil sketch to a contemporary 3D stereo rendering.

Industrial Light & Magic: New Solutions for New Challenges
The Industrial Light & Magic team delves into the effects created for three of 2011’s largest summer films, dissecting the challenges and revealing their solutions. The panel breaks down the visual effects challenges presented on this year’s slate of films including: “Cowboys & Aliens”, “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides”, and “Transformers: Dark of the Moon”.

Guerrilla: The Creation of Killzone 3 - Game Production Session
This talk details various aspects of designing and developing videogames at Guerrilla. It highlights methods that are very similar to methods used in the CGI industry, and it illuminates some of the most important differences. And it covers the complete breadth of videogame development from artistic design to production pipelines and tool and engine development.

Real-Time Live!
This program showcases the latest trends and best techniques for pushing the boundaries of interactive visuals in video games and real-time simulations. To help emphasize the difference between these works and pre-rendered works, real-time pieces are demonstrated live on their actual platforms without any post-production. Each live presentation lasts less than five minutes in a fast-paced, 45-minute show of diverse and aesthetically stimulating work. SIGGRAPH 2011 Real-Time Live! highlights include:

Chrysaora: WebGL Jellyfish Simulation
Savannah College of Art and Design
Chrysaora is a real-time jellyfish simulation created entirely with web technologies such as JavaScript, WebGL, WebSockets, and CSS. It uses realistic rendering and simulation techniques similar to those used in modern 3D video games, but it can run in an internet browser on any operating system.

Enlighten Real-Time Radiosity
Geomerics Ltd.
Using Geomerics Enlighten technology, this demo shows how dynamic real-time lighting enhances game play and visual quality in computer games. Enlighten is a cross-platform, real-time radiosity solution that can generate bounce lighting for a game level in a fraction of a frame.

Samaritan Real-Time Demo
Epic Games Inc.
Samaritan is a real-time demonstration of the latest Unreal Engine 3 technology that shows off DirectX 11 support and DirectX features such as tessellation and displacement mapping, geometry shaders, multi-sampled textures, and Shader Model 5. High-end rendering enhancements include image-based reflections, Bokeh depth of field, subsurface scattering, anti-aliased masked materials, deferred rendering with MSAA support, and high-quality dynamic shadows.

iMedic: Immersive Medical Environment for Distributed Interactive Consultation
Digital Artforms, Inc.
This interactive medical visualization system is based on two hand-held tracked controllers that directly control the position and orientation of two 3D cursors. Button presses enable direct manipulation of space with either or both hands, resulting in intuitive manipulation of the viewpoint. You can place yourself anywhere at any orientation and at any scale with just a few simple gestures.

RealD Presents 3D Day
The Computer Animation Festival also features an entire day highlighting the enormously popular growth of 3D in movies, including an introduction to 3D by 3ality and an excerpt from Disney’s “Lion King” in 3D. SIGGRAPH 2011 3D highlights include:

JURY AWARD
Paths of Hate
Platige Image
Two pilots, driven by blind hate, chase each other in their airplanes and thereby write cryptic messages of madness into the firmament. On their way into the abyss they transform into inhuman and distorted creatures that finally become part of the history of hate.

BEST STUDENT PROJECT PRIZE
Flamingo Pride
The Konrad Wolf Potsdam-Babelsberg Film and Television University
Frustrated being the only straight flamingo in a gay flock, our hero falls in love with a lady stork that flies by. Unable to convince her of his serious intentions he isolates himself and goes through an identity crisis. An intensive encounter inspires him to make a bold move.

IMAX Hubble 3D Visualization Excerpt: Journey Into the Orion Nebula
Space Telescope Science Institute
An excerpt from IMAX “Hubble 3D” takes viewers inside the Orion Nebula to witness the birth of stars and planets. This cinematic scientific visualization, based on data from the Hubble Space Telescope and other observatories, is the result of close collaboration between research astronomers, computer programmers, and visualization artists.

"Green Lantern"
Sony Pictures Imageworks
In a vast universe a small powerful force has existed for centuries. Protectors of peace and justice: the Green Lantern Corps. A new enemy, Parallax, threatens to destroy the balance of power. Their fate and that of Earth lie in the hands of the first human ever selected: Hal Jordan.

SIGGRAPH Game Content Revealed: Part III

2011-07-11T06:40:00.000-07:00

Following is the final entry of a three-part series focusing on game content that will be featured at SIGGRAPH 2011. This is a conversation between Naty Hoffman (pictured at the right) and ACM SIGGRAPH Chapter Reporter Mariebeth Aquino.

Naty Hoffman is a Technical Director at Activision Studio Central, where he assists Activision's worldwide studios with graphics research and development. He is a co-author of the book Real-Time Rendering, 3rd Edition.

Background details: This year's content features a substantial amount of game development content: game papers, courses, talks (technical, studio, and exhibitor talks), workshops on game development, and technical papers. In addition, game content can be found in the Computer Animation Festival where Real-Time Live! showcases the latest trends and techniques in games. And for those wanting a hands-on experience, the Sandbox provides the ideal environment to test drive the latest in interactive entertainment.

A Conversation with Naty Hoffman, SIGGRAPH 2011 Game Development Community Director

What are your responsibilities as Game Development Community Director?

My responsibility is to engage with the professional game development community, both to encourage them to submit more content for presentation and to facilitate higher industry attendance at the conference.

It must be hard motivating a game development community which has its own big conferences like the GDC, how do you engage them?

It can be challenging, but SIGGRAPH has some unique things to offer compared to industry-specific conferences like GDC, such as the opportunity to interact with top graphics minds not only within the game industry, but outside it as well. SIGGRAPH attendees can see content presented by people from companies like Pixar, ILM, Disney, Digital Domain, Dreamworks, etc., as well as researchers from top academic institutions around the world. In addition, the graphics focus and extremely high quality bar means that for anyone involved with the visual side of game development (such as artists and graphics programmers), the breadth and depth of relevant content at SIGGRAPH is simply unmatched.

This year, I have enjoyed the able assistance of the game development subcommittee; a group of prominent developers who have been advising me and helping me reach out to studios across the world. Other members of the conference committee with game industry ties such as Drew Davidson, Jason Smith, and Chris Williams have also provided invaluable help.

It is important to note that we did not start from scratch; we benefit from the momentum slowly built up over previous years. Each year SIGGRAPH has more content submissions from game developers, more presentations of interest to them, and more awareness in the game development community in general. I hope that within a few years, we will be close to parity with the film production community in terms of content and attendees.

How important are emerging technologies in game development, or rather, are upcoming technologies supported by game studios?

The game industry is highly technology-driven; new technology is constantly being evaluated, and if it fits the needs and constraints of production it is integrated into the engine and/or tools pipeline. A few examples of note include screen-space ambient occlusion, filter-based anti-aliasing, deferred shading, and high-dynamic range image-based (HDRI) lighting. All of these have been covered at SIGGRAPH - one of them (filter-based anti-aliasing) is the topic of a half-day course this year.

Industry and research can often tell different stories (i.e in goals and communication) - is one more important to game development, and one to SIGGRAPH? Or if not, where and how do these two areas intersect?

Game development tends to be focused more on short-term development, but we do keep an eye on longer-term research as well. SIGGRAPH covers both - some programs (such as the Technical Papers) are targeted more at research and some (such as Courses, Talks and The Studio) at current industry practices.

Which upcoming trends in game development do you see having the greatest impact on game production? And are these featured in this year's SIGGRAPH games coverage?

Rendering techniques are always evolving in our industry, both on the PC side (where constantly increasing hardware power enables new techniques) and on the console side (where much ingenuity is needed to squeeze out better visuals ever year from the same hardware). The courses "Advances in Real-Time Rendering in Games" and "Beyond Programmable Shading" cover both sides of this divide; many of the techniques presented are also relevant for emerging platforms such as tablets and mobile phones.

A specific example of technology used to increase visual quality on consoles is the recent rise of new techniques for filter-based anti-aliasing, which (as I previously mentioned) has an entire course devoted to it this year: "Filtering Approaches for Real-Time Anti-Aliasing".

Another important trend is the convergence of techniques between film and games - we have a lot to learn from the film industry and I believe they are interested in learning from us as well. SIGGRAPH has a variety of content addressing this. Some are explicitly targeted at both industries (for example, the courses "Destruction and Dynamics for Film and Game Production" and "Character Rigging, Deformations, and Simulations in Film and Game Production"). Also, content presented by people from one industry is often of interest to the other - I often find interesting content in the film production Talks and Courses, and I hear from my film industry counterparts that they find useful information in the game development content at SIGGRAPH.

As free-to-play, mobile and independent games become more popular (for gamers and developers, alike) is there potential to optimize top notch technology for such games?

Definitely. Mobile platforms in particular are rapidly increasing in power, and as they continue to do so in the future, they will enable unprecedented visual quality on the go. Since the types of games, input devices, and visual styles often differ from games on more traditional platforms, there is also a need for new technology as well as adapting existing methods.

The game development community is expanding. Great ideas and concepts are now emerging from the independent community - without the use of high performance technology. Will SIGGRAPH cover these noteworthy areas as well?

SIGGRAPH welcomes ideas from all areas of game development, not just "blockbuster" console titles. One of the talks this year (in the "Light My Fire" session) is by an independent developer, Q-Games; Frontier Developments - another independent studio - is presenting their game "Kinectimals" in the Real-Time Live! program. I would like to see more submissions from indie developers in future years, especially from some of the smaller teams.

What are some of the highlights of the game development content?

There is so much good game development content this year, it's hard to pick just a few highlights. Many of the courses have great game content, two in particular are "Advances in Real-Time Rendering in Games" (both parts) and "Filtering Approaches for Real-Time Anti-Aliasing". There are also many game development Talks - for example, the entire "Hiding Complexity" Talk session. A few highlights from other Talk sessions: "Rendering the Interactive Dynamic Natural World of the Game: From Dust", "Deferred Shading Technique Using Frostbite in Battlefield 3 and Need for Speed The Run", and "Fluid Dynamics and Lighting Implementation in PixelJunk Shooter 2". The Computer Animation Festival is showcasing a lot of game content as well, most notably "Halo: Reach" and "Portal 2" in the Electronic Theater and "Killzone 3" in the Production Sessions; several other games are featured in the "Commercials, Games, and Music" screening.

Unusually, one of the Technical Papers ("Physics-Inspired Upsampling for Cloth Simulation in Games") was written by game developers; I hope for more such at future SIGGRAPH conferences. This year, there are many game presentations at The Studio which are also well worth attending. Finally, the Real-Time Live!, Sandbox, and SIGGRAPH Dailies! programs are showing several notable game pieces.

Is there content that applies to people both new to the game industry and veterans?

Most of the content is targeted at relatively experienced developers, though beginners who listen carefully should find it interesting as well, and perhaps get some good ideas for areas to study up in! Some of the content should be more approachable for beginners; SIGGRAPH Dailies!, Sandbox, and Real-Time Live! come to mind, as well as the game content at the Computer Animation Festival and The Studio.

What are your “must attend” sessions this year?

I haven't had a chance to work out my schedule yet, but I very much hope to see the Technical Papers Fast Forward, Cory Doctorow's keynote, SIGGRAPH Dailies!, the Electronic Theater, and the "Advances in Real-Time Rendering in Games" course.

SIGGRAPH Gaming Content Revealed: Part Two

2011-07-06T10:52:00.000-07:00

Following is the second entry of a three-part series focusing on gaming content that will be featured at SIGGRAPH 2011. This is a conversation between Jason RM Smith (pictured at the right) and ACM SIGGRAPH Chapter Reporter Mariebeth Aquino.

After successfully leading the SIGGRAPH 2010 Real-Time Live! program, Jason RM Smith continues his legacy as Chair and Director for 2011 and 2012. In his life outside SIGGRAPH, he is Digital Production Supervisor at LucasArts San Francisco.

Background details: This year's content features a substantial amount of game development content: game papers, courses, talks (technical, studio, and exhibitor talks), workshops on game development, and technical papers. In addition, game content can be found in the Computer Animation Festival where Real-Time Live! showcases the latest trends and techniques in games. And for those wanting a hands-on experience, the Sandbox provides the ideal environment to test drive the latest in interactive entertainment.

A Conversation with Jason RM Smith, SIGGRAPH 2011 & 2012 Real-Time Live! Director and Chair

What are your responsibilities as Director and Chair of Real-Time Live!?

It’s actually a combination of things which makes the role so interesting.

Firstly, I’m accountable for ensuring Real-Time Live! and the Sandbox are each a success in their own right at SIGGRAPH 2011. Fortunately I get to work alongside a bunch of super smart people who know how to organize an amazing conference, which makes my job much easier.

Secondly, I get to move the two events further forward in terms of placement and understanding as part of SIGGRAPH; they are still both relatively new compared to many other areas of the show so a goal for 2011 was to ground them in their own right, building on the great work established by Evan Hirsch in previous years.

The last major goal was to look to broaden the content (and hopefully the interest) in RTL! Computer Graphics has such a great community it was relatively easy to establish a subcommittee who provided outreach across a wide range of industries and groups that are pushing the boundaries of real-time graphics.

The sub-committee was almost too successful – we ended up with so many strong submissions that deserve to be on stage it was a real challenge to keep the show within its allocated time-slot.

What is the Sandbox? What was the vision behind it and what role does it play at SIGGRAPH?

The vision behind the Sandbox is very straightforward. Real-Time Live! is all about the live presentations from the artists and engineers responsible for the work, and the Sandbox was setup to allow SIGGRAPH attendees to try these projects hands-on, for themselves. (I’m also using it to squeeze in additional content just because there were so many great submissions; be sure to check out the handful of projects in the Sandbox you won’t find anywhere else at the show).

It’s also a really nice change of pace; after a few hours of lectures it’s fun to exercise the physical reflexes a little. Whether you want to race cars or interact with virtual Jellyfish, the Sandbox has something for everyone.

With the rapid evolution and advancements in technologies such as real time rendering, are games using top-notch technologies as impressive to gamers as they are to game developers? Are users more aware or appreciative of what goes on behind the scenes to create their games of choice?

You know, I’m constantly amazed by the number of gamers and communities who are extremely real-time tech savvy just through their interest in the medium. They represent a minority group of players but their depth of knowledge is just incredible.

Looking at the gaming audience in general, I think it’s much more a question of how the technology contributes. If developers’ use breakthroughs to drive a more holistic, compelling experience overall, there is no doubt the work involved is appreciated, even where the exact areas of improvement aren’t obvious to most people playing the game. Ideally, we want to focus 100 percent of the player’s attention to the situation we’re presenting on screen. In many ways, if the technology behind the scenes is obvious or demands attention as an element, then we have failed at delivering the most immersive experience possible.

In-game cinematics temporarily take gamers out of the active play role and place them in a more passive role. With large game development studios placing high importance on the quality of these cinematics, do you foresee a shift towards maintaining player involvement by making these segments more seemingly active?

Yes; there’s no doubt that developers are becoming more comfortable delivering meaningful action and narrative to garner an emotional response from the player using real-time sequences. As this becomes standard, our understanding of cinematics will be challenged as the boundaries between interactive and non-interactive disappear.

As an industry, we’re just beginning to understand how to balance multiple levels of interactivity to deliver a rewarding experience that sits comfortably between storytelling and retaining an immersive experience. The trend has started; it’s interesting to see where it will lead over the next couple of years.

Which is the stronger driving force:
- Video game hardware technology or video game software technology?
- The artist's craft to create video game content or the programmer's knowledge of the latest render technology?

None of them; or all of them. It’s a trap!

What makes a creative industry successful can be broken down or split up into many component pieces, but ultimately the one thing that drives all of those areas is innovation. It’s not always about doing something new, using the same pieces in a new way can be just as progressive, but it’s the underlying creativity that makes the difference, whether affecting one or all of the areas above.

SIGGRAPH 2011 Gaming Content Revealed

2011-07-05T15:17:00.000-07:00

Following is the first entry of a three-part series focusing on gaming content that will be featured at SIGGRAPH 2011. This first entry is a conversation between Drew Davidson (pictured at the right) and ACM SIGGRAPH Chapter Reporter Mariebeth Aquino. Drew Davidson is a professor, producer and player of interactive media. His background spans academic, industry, and professional worlds: he is the Director of the Entertainment Technology Center – Pittsburgh at Carnegie Mellon University and the Editor of ETC Press.

Background details: This year's content features a substantial amount of game development content: game papers, courses, talks (technical, studio, and exhibitor talks), workshops on game development, and technical papers. In addition, game content can be found in the Computer Animation Festival where Real-Time Live! showcases the latest trends and techniques in games. And for those wanting a hands-on experience, the Sandbox provides the ideal environment to test drive the latest in interactive entertainment.

A Conversation with Drew Davidson, SIGGRAPH 2011 Games Chair

What are your responsibilities as Games Chair?
To oversee and coordinate game-related content at SIGGRAPH, working with Naty Hoffman (Game Development Community Director), Jason RM Smith (Real Time Live! chair), and T.L. Taylor (Games Papers chair).

In terms of Games Papers, how many submissions were received? Was there an increase in the number of submissions? Did you notice any trends in the content received?
We had around 100 submissions this year, which is right around what we were expecting. Since we've had Game Papers for several years now, we have had between 80-100 submissions each year. As for trends, there seems to be more attention being paid to indie games and user-generated content.

How has the growth of the video games industry affected the amount of game content at SIGGRAPH? Has it affected this year's game content lineup? And do you foresee this trend expanding game content inclusion in future SIGGRAPHs?
That it's there at all attests to the growth of the industry, and Naty Hoffman has done some great work this year getting involvement and participation from the industry in this year's SIGGRAPH. As for expansion, that's tough to tell, it's been successful and it's going to be more of a PR issue as SIGGRAPH works to get the word out to attendees about the amount of good content related to games.

Since games have a little bit of everything, where does game development fit in SIGGRAPH?
Games fit into SIGGRAPH both in terms of graphics (with real-time rendering and such) and also in terms of interactive techniques (issues around design and player engagement) so there's some good fit with SIGGRAPH.

SIGGRAPH 2011 is in Vancouver, a location that has long been associated with game development. Any thoughts on what has made this location a hub for gaming?
Well, it's a great city all around, so it's an appealing place to work, and there has been a lot of local support to do business here. And with the local universities, there is a lot of potential talent. All of this has helped make it a great hub for game development.

Has the conference's location this year impacted the gaming content being included, interest level in content, or amount of submissions/participation by the local community?
It definitely has. Sylvain Provencher and Glenn Entis have been great in helping with some outreach, and again, Naty has done a great job coordinating with industry as well.

What advice do you have for someone interested in submitting content?
It is such a large event, it is really important to go over all the information on the website - it's all there, it just may not be apparent on first pass. And don't be shy about asking questions - you'll get an answer quickly which can help you submit in the right area and complete your submission successfully.

SIGGRAPH is known for debuting the types of technologies that allow for more intricate gaming experiences, such as the advanced motion capture technology in games like L.A. Noire. What do you think is the next big technology that will be featured in mainstream games?
Mobile gaming is really hitting it's stride. We're going to start seeing more integrated experiences that let you take your gameplay with you across platforms. Plus with services like Gaikai, we're going to see games start streaming (like movies and shows through Netlfix and Hulu).

On a personal level, what was the last great video game you played and what did you appreciate most about it? What is your favorite video game of all time and why?
Recently, I've been playing a lot of Minecraft. It really is an amazing experience. It's the epitome of a "Sandbox" game, where you can pretty much do whatever you want...but then's there's the night time, for which you better be prepared.

As for all time, that's a complex question, because I enjoy different games at different times and for different reasons. With that caveat in mind, I'm going to mention two of my tops. "ICO" (on the PS2), is a wonderful adventure game that has an enchanting atmosphere and elliptical experience that I enjoy while I play it and that sticks with me afterwards. Second, would be "Words with Friends" (on the iPhone). I regularly play it with my wife as we both enjoy word games. It does such a nice job of taking advantage of the platform to make it easy to continuously play asynchronous games and keep in touch throughout the day.

Cory Doctorow Slotted to Help Open SIGGRAPH 2011 in The Studio

2011-07-05T07:53:00.000-07:00

The Studio at SIGGRAPH 2011 is planning on kicking off this year’s conference with a Roundtable Chat on Sunday 7 August 2011 (12pm – 1:30pm) at the Vancouver Convention Centre.

The Studio is the place for technical experimentation and innovative creation. It’s where inventors, artists, and dreamers gather to experience the latest hands-on technologies to explore new possibilities and collaborate with other creative people.

With this in mind, The Studio has gathered a group of technologists, programmers, and creative entrepreneurs working within a variety of disciplines for a discussion that explores the past, present, and future of digital technologies.

Scheduled Moderator: Cory Doctorow, SIGGRAPH Keynote Speaker and a contributor to The Guardian, The New York Times, Publishers Weekly, and Wired, as well as co-editor of the popular blog Boing Boing.

Scheduled Participants:

• Hyeong-Seok Ko, SIGGRAPH Asia 2010 Conference Chair and founder/creator of the Digital Clothing software suite;

• Michael Raphael founder and President of Direct Dimensions, focusing on rapid solutions to 3D scanning

• Peter Weijmarshausen, CEO of Shapeways, the revolutionary company that has changed the 3D printing game worldwide.

Computer Animation Festival Preview Video is Live

2011-06-30T18:09:00.000-07:00

For a preview video of the incredibly packed 2011 SIGGRAPH Computer Animation Festival use the following link and be prepared to get blown away. It is going to be a great show!

To request interviews with the key folks behind this year's Festival, contact media@siggraph.org.

SIGGRAPH 2011 Exhibition Experiencing Dramatic Growth in International Participation

2011-06-24T13:08:00.000-07:00

The SIGGRAPH 2011 Exhibition is shaping up to be diverse in both in international (exhibitors from outside the U.S.A.) participation and first-time SIGGRAPH exhibitors at the Vancouver Convention Centre.

SIGGRAPH 2011 is currently running 45% ahead of last year in terms of overall international exhibitors. Specifically there are already 64 international exhibitors committed this year vs. 44 at this point in time last year. Canada, UK, France, Japan, Korea, and China represent the majority.

A vast majority of the *first-time* exhibitors are based internationally. Of the 29 first-timers registered for 2011, 25 are located outside the United States, representing seven countries. In 2010, only 13 had committed to exhibit last year at this point in time.

“We are very pleased with the results from our efforts,” said Mike Weil, SIGGRAPH Exhibits Manager, “First-time exhibitors are important because they often bring new technology and innovation to the industry. In addition to our long-time and important exhibitors, the show will also be filled with many new, and to a greater extent non-U.S. based organizations. And we are not done adding more companies to the show.”

(Pictured left: Mike Weil, SIGGRAPH Exhibits Manager since 1992.)

According to Weil, by more than doubling the number of first-time exhibitors as compared to last year, attendees will be exposed to new organizations they have never seen or heard of before. This sometimes even leads to collaboration amongst participating exhibitors and new possibilities are uncovered on the tradeshow floor. Weil attributes some of the success this year to key assistance by Canadian partners as well as the strength of the conference program and the surging energy in the computer graphics industry in Vancouver and across the globe.

The current list of SIGGRAPH exhibitors is available here.

SIGGRAPH 2011 Announces Computer Animation Festival Winners

2011-06-20T07:39:00.000-07:00

BEST IN SHOW AWARD: The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore. Directed by William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg, Moonbot Studios

SIGGRAPH announces the Computer Animation Festival's Best in Show, Jury Award, and Best Student Project recipients for SIGGRAPH 2011 in Vancouver, 7-11 August 2011. A total of 77 films will be shown during the Computer Animation Festival. Nominees were chosen by an expert panel of jury members from 891 submissions representing 44 countries.

"The level of quality and technical expertise exemplified by this year’s submissions continues to raise the bar for the extreme innovation and leading technology the Computer Animation Festival delivers year after year,” said Joshua Grow, Computer Animation Festival Director and 3D Stereo Coordinator for The Creative-Cartel.

He continued, "The submissions selected to be featured at SIGGRAPH 2011 are a true testament to the leaps and bounds the Computer Animation Industry has achieved since the Computer Animation Festival first debut at SIGGRAPH and promises a very exciting road ahead.”

The Computer Animation Festival is recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as a qualifying festival. Since 1999, several works originally presented in the Computer Animation Festival have been nominated for or have received a "Best Animated Short" Academy Award. This years selections will be featured during the Computer Animation Festival through a series of daily Festival Screenings and the iconic Electronic Theater allowing attendees to get a glimpse behind the making of computer generated effects, visualizations, and animations.

BEST IN SHOW AWARD
The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore
Directed by William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg, Moonbot Studios

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore is a poignant, humorous allegory about the curative powers of story. Using a variety of techniques (miniatures, computer animation, 2D animation) William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg present a hybrid style of animation that harkens back to silent films and Technicolor musicals.

JURY AWARD Paths of Hate
Directed by Damian Nenow, Platige Image

Two pilots, driven by blind hate, chase each other in their airplanes and thereby write cryptic messages of madness into the firmament. On their way into the abyss they transform into inhuman and distorted creatures that finally become part of the history of hate.

BEST STUDENT PROJECT PRIZE Flamingo Pride Directed by Tomer Eshed, The Konrad Wolf Potsdam-Babelsberg Film and Television University

Frustrated being the only straight flamingo in a gay flock, our hero falls in love with a lady stork that flies by. Unable to convince her of his serious intentions he isolates himself and goes through an identity crisis. An intensive encounter inspires him to make a bold move.

JURY AWARD RUNNERS-UP
Escape of the Gingerbread Man!!!
Directed by Tod Polson, The Monk Studios

A young storyteller challenges the old master in a pub on the Irish west coast. The “Escape of the Gingerbread Man” is a mad romp through the Irish countryside. As well as a subtle commentary on the changes in traditions, and culture that is happening throughout the “emerald isle.”

The Experience of Fliehkraft
Directed by Till Nowak, frameboX

Humans mount themselves onto gigantic robots and try to get centrifuged through space. Sounds like science fiction, but it is what happens in theme parks. Machines with the power of tanks offer five minutes of anti-gravity therapy. An attempt to escape this world ... driven by 10,000 horsepower.

BEST STUDENT PROJECT PRIZE RUNNERS-UP
DreamGiver
Directed by Tyler Carter, Brigham Young University

A regular night of dream delivering turns into a literal nightmare when an orphan's book of Ancient Aztec Mythology comes alive. The Dreamgiver must save the orphan from his own nightmare!

Sweater Dog
Directed by Gina Moffit, Ringling College of Art and Design

A normally happy go lucky dog is put into a restricting sweater by his owner but tries to go on with his normal every day activities.

Editor's Note: A preview video of this year's Computer Animation Festival will be available soon. Check back to this blog for updates.

A Brief Conversation with Artist Meats Meier

2011-06-16T12:45:00.001-07:00

Following below is a brief conversation with Meats Meier - the artist behind the Computer Animation Festival's "Animation Mother" pictured below.

Meier is currently a freelance illustrator and animator living in Los Angeles. He taught the first ever ZBrush course at the Gnomon School of Visual Effects, and is the author of the very popular "Introduction to ZBrush" training DVD produced by the Gnomon Workshop.

Meier is also an award-winning digital artist (including two Expose' Master awards) with over a decade of experience in a wide range of artistic fields. His artwork is on the cover of numerous books, magazines, and web sites and he was honored with the prestigious "Maya Master" title by Alias at SIGGRAPH 2003.

What was your inspiration for this year's image?

The inspiration for this year's image was my interpretation of the design theme of SIGGRAPH 2011 - slightly psychedelic, a little hippy, and very colorful. If you saw her in real life, she would be morphing and changing every second - these images are just snapshots of what she looks like at any time for that year.

What does the image symbolize to you personally?
The Animation Mother to me symbolizes the industry and SIGGRAPH itself - always changing, always updating, something new to look forward to.

How specifically did you create the image?
This is the fourth year that I've created the SIGGRAPH Animation Mother, and each year I take elements from the version the year before and use those parts of the base for her new look. This year, I had the model Jessica Johnson scanned into a 3D model, and I used that mesh as a base to create her actual body parts. The fun part is just adding and taking away a lot of intricate detail until I'm happy with how she looks. If a new technology appears in the 3D world, there is a good chance that I will use that technique in her creation.

How much time did it entail?
I worked on it for just about four days or so. I like to try a lot of different poses and looks until I stumble upon the 'one'. I have so much fun with these images, if there wasn't a deadline (and if I didn't have other things to do) I could probably work on these until I die.

Where do you look for inspiration on a daily basis?
Nature really is my biggest inspiration. It seems like all design problems have been solved and perfected in nature. Life itself is always so interesting, so many levels of intricacy.

What brought about this collaboration between you and SIGGRAPH?
In 2008, Jill Smolin - who was in charge of the Computer Animation Festival that year - asked me to design something for the show. We discussed options, and we finally decided to do something a bit like a piece that I had done years ago that I called "Mother Nature". We got a really nice response to the image, and I was asked to continue the image for the coming years.

Any interesting projects you are working on currently?
Nowadays I'm mostly involved in art and animation for the music industry. Right now I am working on art for bands like TOOL, A Perfect Circle, and Puscifer. Art and music go hand and hand, and I love the creativity that is allowed when working on rock-and-roll.

To view more samples of Meier's work, go here.

SIGGRAPH Launches Business Symposium to Address Industry Needs and Direction

2011-06-15T12:27:00.000-07:00

For nearly 40 years, SIGGRAPH has inspired, educated, and influenced the direction of research, production, and artistic communities. At SIGGRAPH 2011 in Vancouver, 7-11 August 2011, the conference is introducing the SIGGRAPH Symposium: The Business Think Tank. This one-day event brings together leaders to address the past, present, and future of the global computer graphics industry.

The Business Think Tank introduces an opportunity for industry leaders and visionaries to discuss issues related to finance, strategy, culture, and creativity in a conversational environment. This full-day event on 7 August 2011 features discussion groups and two enlightening featured speakers intended to spark frank and honest interaction about the industry in the 21st century.

"The intimate, interactive nature of this inaugural Business Think Tank is the ideal forum in which to inspire idea-sharing and problem-solving among some of the visionaries within the global computer graphics community," says Jill Smolin, SIGGRAPH 2011 Director from 3ality Digital. "This highly interactive day will feature conversations and presentations of industry-specific issues and challenges within our local and global community."

Planned participants include:

Featured Speakers:

Gail Currey, Head of Studio, PDI/DreamWorks

Andy Hendrickson, Chief Technology Officer, Walt Disney Animation Studios

Business Session:

Victoria Alonso: EVP,VFX and Post Production, Marvel Entertainment, LLC

Rory Armes: CEO, Gener8 Digital Media Corp.

Dan Glass: EVP, Senior VFX Supervisor, Method Studios

Namit Malhotra: CEO, Prime Focus

Don McGowan: General Counsel, The Pokémon Company International

Marc Weigert: Executive Producer, VFX Supervisor, CEO, Uncharted Territory, LLC

Culture Session:

Steve Bocska: CEO, Pug Pharm Productions Inc.

Kim Davidson: Co-Founder, CEO, President, Side Effects Software Inc.

Warren Franklin: CEO, Rainmaker Entertainment Inc.

Jenny Fulle: Founder, Visual Effects Producer, The Creative Cartel

Shannon Gans: CEO, Co-Founder, New Deal Studios, Inc.

This Symposium is a new initiative for SIGGRAPH, and is intended to accommodate approximately 200 people who are on the business side of the industry. They might be artists who are now company leaders or leaders who work with artists. They are the people who look to each other and other leaders to define and run the industry.

Registration for the SIGGRAPH Symposium: The Business Think Tank is now available. Attendance for this event is very limited.

Interview with SIGGRAPH 2011 Art Gallery Chair

2011-06-14T07:01:00.001-07:00

Following below is a brief interview with Mona Kasra, SIGGRAPH 2011 Art Gallery Chair, who explains her vision and insights into this year's amazing Art Gallery - Tracing Home.

Kasra is a new media artist and educator currently pursuing a PhD at University of Texas at Dallas with a focus on emerging media and communication.

What was your vision behind this year’s Art Gallery?
Tracing Home actually came about as a result of blending SIGGRAPH 2011’s main conference theme “Make it Home” into my personal research interests around the effects of networked media on our culture and our existence. Home is a strong component in production of identities and can signify community and belonging while, on the other hand, can indicate a sense of displacement and isolation. As an Iranian-American, I have been personally fascinated by its personal, political, historical, or cultural definitions.

Given that our understanding of the word home is constantly being shaped and reshaped, I was eager to see how digital artists trace home in the age of networked technology where our sense of body, space, and time is rapidly dematerialized through non-physical hyper-connections. I was especially looking for artworks that critically addressed the current blurring boundaries between virtual and physical. So, Art Gallery’s Call for Submission (CFS) this year invited artists to submit their digitally mediated artworks that searched for, examined, or constructed different dimensions to the concept of home in the 21st century. I should mention that after the jury process, I was blown away by the variety of perspectives that the participating artists have embarked on - certainly beyond what I had imagined in the first place.

How did the community respond (number of submissions, etc)?
The response to SIGGRAPH Art Gallery’s CFS was quite impressive this year. We received over 300 high quality submissions from across the world in a broad range of mediums and disciplines. Submissions varied from those directly responding to the main theme of the exhibition… to those who drew attention to variety of sub-themes and for instance dealt with the ideas of nostalgia, spirituality, surveillance, privacy, control, etc.

All together, the level of breadth and creativity in many of the entries was incredible. The Selection Committee - which was composed of a group of artists, curators, and academic experts in the areas of art, science, and technology - had to go through a lengthy and difficult process of evaluation in order to identify and assemble the content of this year’s exhibition. The outcome of their careful selection is a fresh look at home in relation to its physicality as well as its emotional and sociopolitical aspects.

How will this year’s experience be different than the past?
Well, Art Gallery this year is thematically much more specific and narrowed down. We asked the artists: “where and what is home in the networked era?” and invited them to creatively engage in a more detailed exploration of a rather familiar concept. As a result, even though the selected artworks are very different in approach and technology, an invisible but unifying conceptual theme connects them all tightly. I certainly hope that such strong interconnection among the artworks would further engage the audience with the content of the works and the content of the overall exhibition.

This year, during the course of the conference, SIGGRAPH 2011 Art Gallery committee will provide the audience with educational opportunities such as guided “Daily Tours” and “Informal Art Talk” sessions. The goal of these programs is to expand on Tracing Home and expose the attendees to the various ways that artists use technology for artistic and conceptual expression.

Additionally, thanks to SIGGRAPH International Center, Art Gallery will be offering multilingual podcasts which will further explain artists’ thoughts and ideas behind their exhibited works. We hope that these podcasts facilitate self-guided tours of the gallery as attendees will be able to access the audio files on the spot just by scanning assigned QR codes using their smartphones. Podcasts will be accessible on the web closer to the conference and can also be downloaded prior to visiting the gallery.

You have been involved with the Art Gallery for several years now, what keeps you motivated to stay involved as a SIGGRAPH volunteer?
Simple… the ultimate opportunity to meet and work with some of the most inspiring artists and art lovers from around the world. The experience has been truly worthwhile.

What is the best advice you can give an artist interested in submitting to future SIGGRAPH conferences?
My advice is three-fold actually:

1- Read SIGGRAPH Art Gallery’s Call for Participation (CFP) carefully and thoroughly. CFPs vary every year. Submissions that do not relate or respond to Art Gallery’s CFP stand no chance of getting accepted to the show by the selection committee.

2- Spend substantial amount of time to review and follow the submission requirements. Incomplete or wrongly completed submissions will not be considered. Write a lucid description for your submission and provide a detailed Artist’s Statement. Explain your vision, intentions, and process in depth and especially address how your work relates to the CFP.

3- Keep an eye on the submission deadline. Every year, Art Gallery receives multiple requests from artists for late submissions, all of which regretfully get declined.

What do you hope attendees take away from this year’s Art Gallery?
First and foremost, I hope Tracing Home will be a memorable exhibition that inspires, informs, and engages the audience with its space and content; one that fosters dialog between attendees and participating artists. Secondly, in terms of our theme and our preoccupation with home in the networked age, I hope the selected works will collectively trigger the audience to re-examine and reflect on our new life trajectories especially in regards to hybrid realities of virtual and physical.

For complete details, visit the Art Gallery web page.

For the preview video, visit the video page.

SIGGRAPH 2011 Preview Videos Posted

2011-06-08T13:10:00.000-07:00

SIGGRAPH Preview Videos are now available for the content in the Art Gallery, Technical Papers, and Emerging Technologies.

Videos previewing Vancouver as well as its Gaming, VFX & Special Effects, Education & Technology Communities are also available on this page.

These videos are all found here. Check back to this Blog in the next few days for the Computer Animation Festival preview.

Interview with the SIGGRAPH 2011 Courses Chair

2011-06-06T12:38:00.000-07:00

Following below is a brief conversation with Ann McNamara, SIGGRAPH 2011 Courses Chair and assistant professor in the Department of Visualization at Texas A&M University.

Her research is in computer graphics and she is currently particularly focused on the application of visual perception to accelerate and improve computer graphics and visualization.

SIGGRAPH Courses are short (1.5 hours) or half-day (3.25 hours) structured sessions that often include elements of interactive demonstration, performance, or other imaginative approaches to teaching. Attendees hear directly from industry experts and gain knowledge critical to career advancement and job satisfaction.

What are some of the advantages for attending Courses for both SIGGRAPH newbies and veterans?
Courses are all about learning from the experts and gaining inside knowledge - knowledge that is applicable for everyone. The committee is also careful to include a broad spectrum of courses ranging from introductory courses for those new to the field, to advanced instruction on the most current techniques.

How many submissions did we receive this year?
We had a bumper year for submissions with 54 submissions in total! Not only were there lots of submissions, but also the quality of the submissions was extremely high. This made selection very difficult, but it's a good complaint - the quality of courses this year is outstanding!

Is there international participation in this year's content?
Yes, we have course presenters from all over the globe including the United States, Canada, Spain, Japan, Austria, the UK, and many more.

Did you see any trends in this year's content?
Lots of rendering!

In serving as this year's Courses chair, what was your vision and did the content urn out as you had hoped?
The original vision for Courses in SIGGRAPH 2011 was as always to select the highest quality content for our attendees to experience. Overall I am extremely happy with the content; things really did turn out as well as, if not better than I had hoped. Of course I was just part of a larger team that helped to bring this all together in addition to the entire S2011 committee - I was lucky to have lots of help from the wonderful jurors on the general jury, Pete Braccio (Conference Chair), Mark Elendt (General Submissions Chair), Dan Wexler (Late Breaking Chair) and Naty Hoffman (Game Development Community Director).

Also, what turned out well is that we have some new courses on topics that haven't traditionally been part of the Courses repertoire. For example Advances in New Interfaces for Musical Expression will look at case studies from NIME, and Compiler Techniques for Rendering
will focus on cutting-edge projects that apply compiler technology to improve the performance and functionality of renderers and shading systems. These are just two of the many courses this year that have exceptionally well-qualified presenters that will provide the top-notch instruction for attendees.

In a two-part course, would it still be beneficial to attend the second part of the course if you aren't able to attend the first?
Absolutely! We have three stellar two- part courses this year on Production Volume Rendering, Advances in Real Time Rendering in Games, and Beyond Programmable Shading. While they might be more worthwhile as a complete set, I wouldn't hesitate to attend just one part if that was all my schedule would allow.

Which courses are you anticipating being the most popular?
Wow! That is a tough question because we have so many great courses - personally I am excited to see all of them! But in the popularity stakes I can try to predict a few - the two-part courses that I just referenced will be very popular I am sure! Here are a few more:

There is an amazing collection of people involved in Filtering Approaches for Real-Time Anti-Aliasing.

Bruce Block author of "The Visual Story" will give a course on Cinematography that should strike a cord with everyone.

Storytelling with Color will be very popular. Course organizers Kathy Altieri and Dave Walvoord both experts from Dreamworks have done extensive work on recent Dreamworks blockbusters (HTTYD and KFP2) and are amazing presenters!

What is your advice to someone interested in submitting a course for a future SIGGRAPH
Think about your own expertise and the knowledge you have to share and reach out to other experts with similar experience and knowledge so you can build a strong team of presenters. Also, attend as many courses as possible. There are different presentation styles and delivery methods; some courses are hand-on and interactive - think about how you could encourage knowledge transfer through your own course! Also don't get discouraged, the quality of submissions is very high, and the jury will provide valuable feedback so if you are not successful the first time around you can always resubmit that next year.

You seem to have a pretty busy schedule between teaching, publishing, and research. What are some of your current favorite projects?
At the moment I have some interesting projects in the pipeline so calling favorites is another tough question. We are doing some exciting work (with my collaborators Drs. Reynold Bailey at RIT and Cindy Grimm at WASH-U) on a new technique we developed called Subtle Gaze Direction, where we try to guide a viewers gaze around a scene (without them being aware of this fact and without disrupting the image) - we have published two papers so far on this work - we presented our TOG [Transactions on Graphics] paper on this at SIGGRAPH 2010, which was very cool.

While I thoroughly enjoy all my projects, I find Subtle Gaze Direction particularly fascinating because there are so many applications and avenues for future research … we truly have only begun to explore the possibilities.

Interview with the SIGGRAPH 2011 Emerging Technologies Chair

2011-06-01T13:35:00.000-07:00

Following below is a brief conversation with Cole Krumbholz, SIGGRAPH 2011 Emerging Technologies Chair and co-founder of Koduco Games, who shares his insights, opinions, and thoughts regarding SIGGRAPH 2011.

Here's the 2011 Emerging Technologies Preview Video

How many submissions and acceptances did this year's Emerging Technologies have?
23 accepted out of 103 completed submissions.

What are some highlights of this year’s technology?
This year several Emerging Technologies works embed sensors into commonplace items offering casual methods for interaction. A throw pillow becomes a TV remote, a bathroom mirror reports your vital health information, and the back of your hand becomes a touch interface. In addition, some works this year are all about fun: one offers a new kind of physical table-top game, while another puts a new spin on the classic wooden top.

Any new trends this year?
One thing we’re trying to do this year is to extend the Emerging Technologies experience beyond the physical location in the convention center. We’re trying out some exciting new ways to make the pieces easier to talk about and follow.

What were the biggest challenges you faced putting together this year’s Emerging Technologies?
This year our biggest and most exciting challenge was how to best utilize the amazing Vancouver Convention Centre. The Emerging Technologies, the Art Gallery, and the Studio exhibits will be co-located in a common area this year. We’ve been working hard to include as many works as possible while maintaining a good flow and creating an exceptional attendee experience.

[Editor's Note: The SIGGRAPH Reception will take place from 9pm - 11pm on Monday (week of conference) and attendees will be able to interact with all the Emerging Technologies.]

Which technologies have the greatest potential for impacting every day life?
Though we’re more connected now than ever before, face-to-face communication still beats videoteleconference hands down when it comes to conveying presence cues. Two Emerging Technologies works this year tackle the problem of telepresence in very different ways. One transfers body pose and facial expressions to a remote operated puppet that can sit in your lap. The other takes telepresence mobility to new heights -- the remote collaborator’s head is displayed on a floating blimp!

Each year there always seems to be something wacky accepted into Emerging Technologies. Is this year any different?
Definitely not. This year we have a host of technologies that border on bizarre including a pregnancy simulator, a virtual crepe factory, and the telepresence blimp [mentioned above].

View more details on all the Emerging Technologies.

Get Pregnant at SIGGRAPH 2011

2011-05-27T12:53:00.000-07:00

Well not literally, but you certainly can experience what it feels like to be pregnant at SIGGRAPH 2011 this August in Vancouver. "Mommy Tummy: A Pregnancy Experience System Simulating Fetal Movement" is one of 23 interactive Emerging Technologies that will be featured at SIGGRAPH.

This interactive system simulates pregnancy through the use of a Mommy Tummy jacket which transmits the fetus’s temperature, movement, and heartbeat. Also, by rubbing the jacket you are able to communicate with the fetus. Within a few minutes, the jacket's weight and size change, simulating fetal growth over nine months. An auxiliary screen displays the condition of both the fetus and the mother in each simulated month with a 3D model of the fetus. The moods and activity of the fetus are displayed in a natural manner to simulate normal fetal development.

There are two types of fetal movement: kicking and wiggling. According to the inventors, achieving a kicking simulation is not as difficult as a wiggling simulation. It was achieved by using a technique inspired by the tactile funneling illusion (PhS) initially discovered by Georg von Bekesy as a type of illusory tactile sensation that arises between two points of simultaneous vibration or electric stimulation. Using PhS, Mommy Tummy simulates a wiggling sensation through continuous, temporally displaced operation of multiple air actuators.

When the user moves violently, the fetus enters a bad mood state and makes intense, jerky movements. Conversely, when the user caresses the abdomen, the fetus enters a good mood state and makes steady movements. Heavy physical exercise is discouraged until a stable period is reached. We wonder if a birth simulation is next up for these researchers - who are listed below.

For a preview video of many of these intriguing Emerging Technologies, click here.

Presented by:

Takayuki Kosaka, Kanagawa Institute of Technology;Takuya Iwamoto,
Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology; Robert Songer,
Kanazawa Technical College; Junichi Akita, Kanazawa University; Hajime Misumi, Kanagawa Institute of Technology

SIGGRAPH 2011 Emerging Technologies: Interacting with the Future

2011-05-26T09:14:00.000-07:00

The SIGGRAPH Emerging Technologies program is home to the latest developments in technology, including haptics, displays, robotics, and artificial intelligence. This year will feature 22 of the latest innovations selected by a jury of industry experts from more than 100 submissions. Topics range from displays and input devices to collaborative environments. SIGGRAPH 2011 takes place 7-11 August at the Vancouver Convention Centre.

A preview video of the SIGGRAPH 2011 Emerging Technologies program is available here.

"The SIGGRAPH Emerging Technologies program is unique in its interactive approach that allows people to experience the most cutting-edge developments first-hand,” said Cole Krumbholz, SIGGRAPH 2011 Emerging Technologies Chair and co-founder of Koduco Games. “This year, conference attendees will experience the latest achievements from industry and university research labs.”

Featured highlights from the SIGGRAPH 2011 Emerging Technologies:

Face-to-Avatar
Hiroaki Tobita and Shigeaki Maruyama; Sony Computer Science Laboratories, Inc.

This floating avatar system integrates a blimp with a virtual avatar to create a unique system of telepresence. The blimp avatar contains several pieces of equipment, including a projector and a speaker as the output functions. Users communicate with others by presenting their facial images through the projector and voices through the speaker. A camera and microphone attached to the blimp provide the input function and support the user’s manipulation from a distance.

The user’s presence is more dramatic than a conventional virtual avatar (CG and image) because the avatar is a physical object and moves freely in the real world. In addition, the user’s senses are augmented because the blimp detects dynamic information in the real world. For example, the camera provides a special floating view to the user, and the microphone collects a wide variety of sounds such as conversations and environmental noise.

Potential Future Use: Allows the user to have a moveable, physical presence in the real world from even the most remote location.

Volumetric Display Based on Vibrating Mylar Beam Splitter and LED Backlit LCD
Lanny Smoot, Quinn Smithwick, and Daniel Reetz; Disney Research

This new volumetric display produces full-color, high-spatial-resolution aerial images in front of the apparatus. It is based on a new optical element: the large, tunable-resonance, edge-driven, varifocal beam splitter.

This new display technology uses a circular Mylar beam splitter and adds a tension-adjusting metal hoop pressed against its surface. The beam splitter is adjusted, with high Q, to a specific resonance frequency. Three rim-mounted impulse drivers apply low-amplitude sinusoldal drive. Due to the high Q, the diaphram's sympathetic vibration is large. The beam splitter folds the optical path, and the system includes a fixed-curvature concave mirror to create real images that appear out in front of the apparatus.

It produces high-quality 3D images that occupy a one-third-meter cube 1/3 meter out in front of the apparatus. The image is viewable over a 30 degree viewing angle.

Potential Future Use: Advancements in 3D displays will impact many fields from medical research to gaming.

A Medical Mirror for Non-Contact Health Monitoring
Ming-Zher Poh, Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology; Daniel McDuff and Rosalind Picard, MIT Media Lab

Digital medical devices promise to transform the future of medicine with their ability to produce exquisitely detailed individual physiological data. As ordinary people gain access to and control over their own physiological data, they can play a more active role in diagnosing and managing their health. This revolution must take place in our everyday lives, not just in the doctor’s office or research lab. This project starts in the home environment by transforming everyday objects into health-sensing technology.

The Medical Mirror is a novel interactive interface that tracks and displays a user’s heart rate in real time without the need for external sensors. Currently, collection of physiological information requires users to strap on bulky sensors, chest straps, or sticky electrodes. The Medical Mirror allows contact-free measurements of physiological information using a basic imaging device. When a user looks into the mirror, an image sensor detects and tracks the location of his or her face over time. By combining techniques in computer vision and advanced signal processing, the user’s heart rate is then computed from the optical signal reflected off the face. The user’s heart rate is displayed on the mirror, allowing visualization of both the user’s physical appearance and physiological state.

This project illustrates an innovative approach to pervasive health monitoring based on state-of-the-art technology. The Medical Mirror fits seamlessly into the ambient home environment, blending the data collection process into the course of daily routines. It is intended to provide a convenient way for people to track their daily health when they use the mirror for shaving, brushing teeth, etc.

Potential Future Use: This device allows for easy and much more sophisticated everyday health monitoring.

Telenoid: Tele-Presence Android for Communication
Kohei Ogawa, Shuichi Nishio, Kensuke Koda, Koichi Taura, Takashi Minato, Carlos Toshinori Ishii, Hiroshi Ishiguro; ATR Intelligent Robotics and Communication

This new system of telecommunication focuses on the idea of transferring human “presence”. A minimal human conveys the impression of human existence at first glance, but it doesn’t suggest anything about personal features such as gender or age. The minimal appearance allows people to use Telenoid to transfer their presence to distant places regardless of their personal features.

Telenoid's tele-operation system is simple and intuitive. It can be controlled by even novice users. Its face-tracking system automatically captures the operator’s facial movements and expressions. Field tests revealed that most users tended to have a strange and negative impression of Telenoid in the beginning, but eventually they became comfortable. Elderly people had very positive feelings about Telenoid at first sight.

Potential Future Use: Telenoid provides a much more interactive and intimate experience than technology that is available today, such as Skype.

True 3D Display
Hidei Kimura and Akira Asano, Burton Inc.; Issei Fujishiro and Ayaka Nakatani; Keio University

This research team was the first to use laser-plasma technology for a true-3D display device that allows users to draw 3D images in midair Now the team has developed a much more compact and precise display, called SRV (Super Real Vision)-5000, based on advanced laser technology. One remarkable feature of the new device is its enhanced resolution: from 300 points per second to 50,000 points per second. It displays 3D objects more faithfully in real time and increases the range of possible applications.

Potential Future Use: Advancements in 3D displays will impact many fields from medical research to gaming.

A complete listing is available here.

SIGGRAPH Technical Paper Getting Media Attention

2011-05-26T07:22:00.000-07:00

SIGGRAPH Conferences have long been the home to advancements in computer graphics and interactive techniques. SIGGRAPH 2011 - set in wonderful Vancouver - appears to be no different.

Check out the media buzz this one Technical Paper "Depixelizing Pixel Art" is already creating:

Extreme Tech

Kotaku

Gamasutra

VIZWORLD

WIRED

Slashdot

Highlights from SIGGRAPH 2011 Art Gallery: Tracing Home

2011-05-20T09:28:00.000-07:00

The SIGGRAPH 2011 Art Gallery: Tracing Home presents exceptional digital and technologically mediated artworks that explore issues related to the concept of home in the networked age. From more than 300 submissions, the Art Gallery jury selected 16 pieces to be featured at SIGGRAPH 2011. These include 2D images, audio, video, as well as novel data-driven and mixed-media installations. They explore “home” as both a conceptual category and a physical reality, often blurring the boundaries between the two.

"The interplay of physical and virtual within our lived experience enables simultaneous and discontinuous realities at the touch of a button, echo of a voice, or nudge of a sensor,” said Mona Kasra, SIGGRAPH 2011 Juried Art Chair. “This year’s Art Gallery connects attendees with a unique interactive approach to art that explores this new era of technology, from a platform that captures the story of current world disasters through tweets and stock exchange information to a computer system that allows attendees to remotely control physical aspects of a house in foreclosure.”

The Art Gallery jury includes a wide range of artists, designers, technologists, and critics hailing from academia, industry, and the independent art world. Works exhibited in the Art Gallery are published in a special issue of Leonardo, the Journal of the International Society of Arts, Sciences and Technology. Peer-reviewed SIGGRAPH 2011 Art Papers will also be published in this special issue, which coincides with SIGGRAPH 2011 in August.

SIGGRAPH 2011 Art Gallery Highlights include:

MOSTON - Anya Belkina, Emerson College

A 12-foot-tall suspended inflatable sculpture, MOSTON conjures a technology-driven amalgamation of Moscow and Boston with its three-dimensional form of mutated Russian nesting dolls and two-dimensional surface design of printed artwork and documentary footage projection.

tele-present wind - David Bowen, University of Minnesota

This installation consists of a field of x/y tilting devices connected to thin dried plant stalks installed in the gallery, and a dried plant stalk connected to an accelerometer outdoors. When the wind blows, it causes the stalk outside to sway. The accelerometer detects and transmits this movement in real time to the grouping of devices in the gallery.

Open House - Patrick LeMieux, Duke University; Jack Stenner, University of Florida

An installation that allows visitors to telematically squat in an actual Florida home undergoing foreclosure after the United States housing collapse. Virtual markets transformed this otherwise livable property into a ghost house. Prior to the collapse, movements of global capital seemed like a distant reality, but it was imaginary systems of value, not bricks and mortar, that asserted ultimate authority. Open House temporarily resists eviction by mirroring the market and creating hybrid subjects who occupy both virtual and physical space. Cross the threshold, open the door, flicker the lights, and rattle the shutters.

The Garden of Error and Decay - Michael Bielicky, HFG/ZKM Karlsruhe; Kamila B.Richter, HFG/ZKM Karlsruhe Programmer: Dirk Reinbold Sound: Lorenz Schwarz

A poetic visualization of real-time world catastrophes. In this data-driven narrative of current world disasters, the artist, Twitter users, and stock-exchange information all influence the storytelling.

Wait - Julie Andreyev, Emily Carr University of Art + Design; Simon Overstall, Emily Carr University of Art +Design

Human and canine communication methods are interrogated through this interactive video installation. Taking cues from the movements of the visitor to the installation, interactions with the video point to the relationship of control between human and animal.

View the entire Art Gallery online. Contact media@siggraph.org for high-resolution images. A preview video of the content will be available and posted here in the next few days.

SIGGRAPH 2011 Technical Papers Preview Video is Live

2011-05-18T09:38:00.000-07:00

SIGGRAPH just released the 2011 Technical Papers preview video. To view the video on YouTube, click here. A preview video of the Art Gallery and Emerging Technologies will be available in the next week or two.

New Content Unveiled at SIGGRAPH 2011 Demonstrates Optimal Furniture Arrangement

2011-05-04T14:51:00.000-07:00

Presenters from UCLA and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology will be unveiling a new program that will automatically design the most desirable layout for pieces in various rooms based on rules pre-defined, such as "couches should face the television for optimal viewing" or "furniture should allow doors to open inwards". They do this by extracting relationships and then running everything through various optimization steps. Different optimized final outcomes are possible.

The group has used the program to optimally design everything from a living room to a sewing factory to a Chinese restaurant. They creatively titled their paper "Make it Home: Automatic Optimiziation of Furniture Arrangement."

Here's an example for an ideal layout given the equipment and furniture located inside a sewing factory.

Before:

After:

Image Credit: UCLA and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

To view their YouTube video, click here.

SIGGRAPH 2011 Technical Papers Advance Preview

2011-04-29T11:59:00.000-07:00

The SIGGRAPH Technical Papers program is the premier international forum for disseminating new scholarly work in computer graphics and interactive techniques. SIGGRAPH 2011, 7 –11 August 2011 at the Vancouver Convention Centre, will feature 82 Technical Papers, selected from among 432 submissions.

The papers to be presented were chosen by a distinguished committee of 52 experts from academia and industry. This year’s Technical Papers program also includes conference presentations for 33 papers published this year in the journal ACM Transactions on Graphics (TOG).

“Each year, the SIGGRAPH Technical Papers program evolves to feature the most cutting-edge advances in technology," says Hugues Hoppe, SIGGRAPH 2011 Technical Papers Chair from Microsoft Research. “This year is no different as SIGGRAPH 2011 Technical Papers will provide a look into some of the latest achievements in facial animation, stereo and multi-layered displays, procedural modeling, and rendering.”

In addition to core topics of modeling, animation, rendering, imaging, and human-computer interaction, the Technical Papers program encouraged submissions from areas related to computer graphics, including: computer games, design, vision, scientific and information visualization, audio, and robotics.

Featured highlights from the SIGGRAPH 2011 Technical Papers program:

High-Quality Passive Facial Performance Capture Using Anchor Frames

A new technique for high-quality facial performance capture that leverages the repetitive structure of face motions to automatically locate frames with similar expressions, called anchor frames. High-resolution geometry is reconstructed and temporal motion is propagated in parallel using robust image-space matching between the anchor frames.

Authors: Thabo Beeler, ETH Zürich and Disney Research Zürich; Fabian Hahn, Disney Research Zürich; Derek Bradley, Disney Research Zürich; Bernd Bickel, Disney Research Zürich; Paul Beardsley, Disney Research Zürich; Craig Gotsman, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology; Bob Sumner, Disney Research Zürich; Markus Gross, Disney Research Zürich

Practical application as suggested by the Technical Papers Chair: Highly detailed facial capture using multiple cameras without markers.

Bounded Biharmonic Weights for Real-Time Deformation

Deformation by linear blending dominates practical use as the fastest approach for transforming 2D and 3D shapes. This paper develops "bounded biharmonic weights" that produce smooth and intuitive deformations for any combination of points, bones, and cages of arbitrary topology, making control of deformations simple and flexible.

Authors: Alec Jacobson, New York University; Jovan Popović, Adobe Systems Incorporated; Ilya Baran, Disney Research Zürich; Olga Sorkine, New York University

Practical application as suggested by the Technical Papers Chair: An elegant UI framework that unifies cages, skeletons, and point constraints for 2D and 3D deformations.

Tomographic Image Generation for Attenuation-Based Light Field and High-Dynamic-Range Displays

This method optimizes auto-multiscopic displays composed of compact volumes of light-attenuating material. Inexpensively fabricated by stacking transparencies, the attenuators recreate a light field when illuminated by a backlight. Tomographic optimization resolves inconsistencies between views, leading to brighter, higher-resolution 3D displays with extended depth of field and improved dynamic range.

Authors: Gordon Wetzstein, The University of British Columbia; Douglas Lanman, MIT Media Lab; Wolfgang Heidrich, The University of British Columbia; Ramesh Raskar, MIT Media Lab

Practical application as suggested by the Technical Papers Chair: Exploring displays with more than two depth layers.

A Temporally Quantized Diffusion Model for Rendering Translucent Materials

This new model for subsurface scattering remains accurate for high absorption, supports high-frequency illumination, and can handle very thin materials. It is efficient to evaluate and works well in production.

Authors: Eugene d’Eon, Weta Digital Ltd; Geoffrey Irving, Weta Digital Ltd

Practical application as suggested by the Technical Papers Chair: Amazingly realistic human skin.

Physics-Inspired Upsampling for Cloth Simulation in Games

With this method for learning linear upsampling operators in physically based cloth simulation, coarse meshes are enriched with mid-scale details in minimal time and memory budgets, as required in computer games.

Authors: Ladislav Kavan, Disney Interactive Studios; Daniel Gerszewski, University of Utah; Adam Bargteil, University of Utah; Peter-Pike Sloan, Disney Interactive Studios

Practical application as suggested by the Technical Papers Chair: A practical approach to enhancing cloth animation in real-time games.

Computational Stereo Camera System With Programmable Control Loop

This computational stereo camera system closes the control loop to handle traditionally difficult shots. It is completely programmable, so complex shots can easily be scripted and adjusted depending on the scene and artistic preferences.

Authors: Simon Heinzle, Disney Research Zürich; Pierre Greisen, Disney Research Zürich and ETH Zürich; David Gallup, University of North Carolina; Christine Chen, ETH Zürich; Daniel Saner, ETH Zürich; Aljoscha Smolic, Disney Research Zürich; Andreas Peter Burg, ETH Zürich; Wojciech Matusik, Disney Research Zürich; Markus Gross, ETH Zürich and Disney Research Zürich

Practical application as suggested by the Technical Papers Chair: Stereo camera that uses computer vision processing to help automate interaxial and convergence settings.

Real-Time Eulerian Water Simulation Using a Restricted Tall Cell Grid

A new real-time Eulerian fluid simulation that uses a hybrid grid of regular cubic cells on top of a layer of tall cells above an arbitrary terrain. The method includes a novel multigrid method and several fluid solver modifications, and achieves 30fps in real-world scenarios on a modern GPU.

Authors: Nuttapong Chentanez, NVIDIA Corporation; Matthias Muller, NVIDIA Corporation

Practical application as suggested by the Technical Papers Chair: Realistic fluids rendered in real time.

A complete listing of all the papers presented in this year’s program will be available on the SIGGRAPH 2011 web site in late May. Check back here next week for an interesting interview with Hugues Hoppe.

Interview with the 2011 SIGGRAPH Technical Papers Chair

2011-04-26T09:10:00.000-07:00

Following below is a brief conversation with Hugues Hoppe, SIGGRAPH 2011 Technical Papers Chair from Microsoft Research, who shares his insights, opinions, and thoughts regarding SIGGRAPH 2011 and beyond.

What was your inspiration/motivation for volunteering to be the SIGGRAPH 2011 Technical Papers Chair?

Being the Technical Papers Chair is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to serve the research community and to experience the process from a completely different point of view, so this opportunity would have been difficult to pass up. Serving as chair entails many different responsibilities, but fortunately there is a large organization that provides help in numerous ways.

One of the most rewarding aspects is to try to improve the various stages of the Papers Program (submission, review, and presentation). Although this process has been fine-tuned over many years, one can still try to improve it. This year I worked toward increasing anonymity in the review process (so that it can hopefully become “double-blind” in the future), and worked with Stephen Spencer (SIGGRAPH Publications Director) to provide hyperlinks in PDF documents, as well as to introduce a “Papers fast-forward” document.

While SIGGRAPH has one of the most beautiful printed proceedings of any conference, the future lies in on-line electronic distribution, and we want to make that medium as rich and convenient as possible.

Did any trends surface as you reviewed all the submissions? Any surprises?

There are of course different “hot” topics every year, as our field continues to evolve. In addition to the traditional themes, some of the prominent ones this year include stereo acquisition and display, procedural and interactive geometry layout, and facial animation. Generally, we see a continuing trend towards data-rich approaches, as opposed to purely procedural ones. Personally I was impressed by the quality of real-time techniques in cloth animation and fluid simulation.

In comparison to last year, the acceptance rate was lower? Any reason for this?

I don’t think anyone knows precisely why the acceptance rate varies from year to year --- much like the stock market. There is much continuity in the papers committee members, and there is certainly no target number of accepted papers. Over the past five years, the acceptance rate has been 18%, 24%, 17%, 18%, and 27%. Thus, this year’s rate of 19% lies right in the middle of the long-term distribution.

How is this year’s program similar or different compared to previous years?

The program seems very similar to previous years in having the same balance of fresh/unexpected topics versus refinement of established areas.

What were some of the challenges that your committee faced in reviewing the content?

The review process seemed relatively uneventful this year. (I cannot reveal any of the issues encountered in the committee review discussions.) As usual, we had some Internet difficulties during the mad dash before the submission deadline. The lesson this year was to not advertise the precise time (about two hours before the deadline) at which we switch from uploading files to instead uploading MD5 hashes. Giving away the precise time effectively leads to a “denial-of-service attack” by our own users at that earlier time.

You have had many papers published since 1992, do any of them standout above the rest for particular reasons?

Two impactful papers are “Surface reconstruction from unorganized points” (1992) and “Progressive meshes” (1996). Surface reconstruction was a relatively new topic 20 years ago, and our results were really primitive, especially by today’s standards, so it’s great that SIGGRAPH recognized the potential this might have. The progressive meshes paper was also significant personally, as it was the first work on my own.

What advice would you give to someone who is considering submitting a paper to next year's SIGGRAPH?

Start work early! Really. Current SIGGRAPH papers have an amazing level of polish. That is likely why we see so few single-authored papers. The old timers in graphics recount stories of how they would have a great idea a few days before the submission deadline and quickly write it up; that is unfortunately not very feasible anymore.

If you had to name someone who has had the greatest impact on your professional life, who would that be and why?

Working with my PhD advisor Tony DeRose at the University of Washington was an invaluable experience. Overall, my time in graduate school was hugely productive. I’ve also had many supportive managers at Microsoft Research over the last 17 years.

We saw on your website that you have a preference for Belgium products, what is your connection to Belgium?

Indeed I was born in Belgium, and still speak some French. Although my family moved to the U.S. when I was young, I haven’t lost the taste for Belgian chocolates.

SIGGRAPH 2011 Media Registration Now Open

2011-04-21T09:42:00.000-07:00

SIGGRAPH is the best place in the world to experience the explosive evolution of computer graphics and interactive techniques. SIGGRAPH 2011 invites you to “Make it Home” with the best and brightest minds in computer graphics for the 38th International Conference and Exhibition on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques, 7 - 11 August 2011 in Vancouver.

Online media registration LINK is now open. In order to receive the latest breaking news from leading SIGGRAPH 2011 exhibitors, register by 8 July. Online registration will close 5 August.

Please note: Even if you have qualified for a SIGGRAPH media badge in the past, you must re-qualify for SIGGRAPH 2011. For assistance with your pre-show coverage, contact: media@siggraph.org.

SIGGRAPH 2011 Media Highlights include:

• Vancouver – The vibrant mix of urban and natural environment combined with its contagiously creative energy makes Vancouver the ideal host for SIGGRAPH 2011. With over one-third of it’s population active in SIGGRAPH’s major communities: artists, academics, film production, gaming, VFX, research, and more, this inspirational city welcomes the exploration and innovation this year’s conference brings.

• Technical Papers: The SIGGRAPH Technical Papers program is the premier international forum for disseminating new scholarly work in computer graphics and interactive techniques. SIGGRAPH 2011 Technical Papers will provide a look into some of the latest achievements in facial animation, procedural modeling, and rendering.

• Computer Animation Festival: The leading annual festival for the world's most innovative, accomplished, and amazing digital film and video creators. The Computer Animation Festival is recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as a qualifying festival. Since 1999, several works originally presented in the Computer Animation Festival have been nominated for or have received a "Best Animated Short" Academy Award.

• Courses: SIGGRAPH 2011 courses provide attendees inside knowledge that is critical to career advancement presented by experts in the field. The spectrum of Courses ranges from an introduction to the foundations of computer graphics and interactive techniques for those new to the field to advanced instruction on the most current techniques and topics.

• Keeping you informed: Stay up to date on everything SIGGRAPH 2011 with our monthly conference newsletter SIGGRAPHitti, Facebook, and Twitter.

For complete details on all of the dynamic content available at SIGGRAPH 2011, or to register as media for the event, visit the For Media of the SIGGRAPH 2011 Web site.

SIGGRAPH 2011 Exhibition Sales on Track to Meet or Exceed 2010 Results

2011-03-22T13:29:00.000-07:00

SIGGRAPH has traditionally provided the year's largest, most comprehensive exhibition of products and services for the computer graphics and interactive techniques marketplace. If current sales trends continue, SIGGRAPH 2011 will be no different.

SIGGRAPH 2011, 7-11 August, at the Vancouver Convention Centre in Vancouver, Canada, is on pace or in some instances exceeding the exhibition sales data at this point last year for SIGGRAPH 2010 in Los Angeles. For instance, the current number of exhibitors participating and amount of booth space sold is higher this year than at this same point in time last year.

"Since this is the first time SIGGRAPH is being held in Canada, we are encouraged by the positive response of our exhibitors from North America and around the world," said Peter Braccio, SIGGRAPH 2011 Conference Chair from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. "We are very encouraged by this vote of confidence from the exhibitor community. This year's submissions are even more encouraging. The volume and quality of papers, talks, courses, artwork, films, and interactive demos submitted so far confirm that this will be one of the most memorable SIGGRAPH conferences in years."

View more information on submitting work to be featured at SIGGRAPH 2011.

View more information on becoming a SIGGRAPH 2011 exhibitor.

View a detailed list of all SIGGRAPH 2011 Exhibitors.

SIGGRAPH 2011 Selects Cory Doctorow as Keynote Speaker

2011-03-07T07:51:00.000-08:00

SIGGRAPH announces the selection of Cory Doctorow, science fiction novelist, blogger, and technology activist, to give one of its keynote presentations at SIGGRAPH 2011, the 38th International Conference and Exhibition on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques, 7-11 August 2011 at the Vancouver Convention Centre in Vancouver, Canada.

Doctorow is a contributor to The Guardian, The New York Times, Publishers Weekly, and Wired, as well as co-editor of the popular blog Boing Boing. He was formerly director of European affairs for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a non-profit civil liberties group that defends freedom in technology law, policy, standards, and treaties. He is a visiting senior lecturer at Open University (U.K.) and previously served as the Fulbright chair at the Annenberg Center for Public Diplomacy at the University of Southern California.

“As an author, scholar, future-thinker, and creator, Cory Doctorow brings a lot to the table that should be of immense interest to the SIGGRAPH audience,” said Peter Braccio, SIGGRAPH 2011 Conference Chair from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. “His dynamic vision and creativity are certain to be interspersed throughout his presentation and will be a conference highlight for everyone.”

In 2008, Doctorow’s novel, Little Brother, was a New York Times best seller. Tachyon Books published a collection of his essays called Content: Selected Essays in Technology, Creativity, Copyright, and the Future of the Future and IDW published a collection of comic books inspired by his short fiction called Cory Doctorow’s Futuristic Tales of the Here and Now. Doctorow’s latest works include an adult novel, Maker, published by Tor Books/HarperCollins U.K.; For the Win, a young adult book about video games, labor politics, and economics; and a short story collection entitled Overclocked: Stories of the Future Present.

Doctorow has won the Locus and Sunburst Awards, and been nominated for the Hugo, Nebula, and British Science Fiction Awards. He co-founded the open source peer-to-peer software company OpenCola, sold to OpenText, Inc. in 2003. He serves on the boards of the Participatory Culture Foundation, the MetaBrainz Foundation, Technorati, Inc., the Organization for Transformative Works, Areae, the Annenberg Center for the Study of Online Communities, and Onion Networks, Inc.

SIGGRAPH keynote speakers represent a variety of prominent industry luminaries and technology experts who explore various aspects of computer graphics and interactive techniques.

Image Caption: Cory Doctorow, science fiction novelist, blogger, and technology activist.
Photo by Paula Mariel Salischiker, pausal.co.uk, CC-BY.

SIGGRAPH 2011 Seeks Real-Time Live! Content

2011-02-27T12:53:00.000-08:00

SIGGRAPH 2011 seeks cutting-edge Real-Time Live! content to be presented at this year’s prestigious Computer Animation Festival. Examples of accepted real-time simulations and graphics submissions include:
• Military or industrial simulations
• Interactive animation and graphics
• Research projects
• Computer games
• Real-time art explorations
• Scientific visualizations: medical, astrophysics, astronomy
• Interactive data visualization and information graphics

All content that is interactively controlled and rendered in real-time will be considered. Submissions must be able to be demonstrated in front of a live audience.

“Since its debut in 2009, Real-Time Live! has featured some of the most innovative and cutting-edge work presented at SIGGRAPH’s Computer Animation Festival,” said Jason Smith, SIGGRAPH 2011 Real-Time Live! Chair. “Each year the quality and diversity in real-time submissions showcases the best work going on in the industry. This year’s program will continue this trend of dynamic innovation.”

The Real-Time Live! submission deadline is 15 April 2011. All real-time work will be reviewed by a professional jury of industry experts from traditional computer graphics, video games, and research organizations. Entries will be judged on creativity, innovation, performance, and most importantly, the ability to render in real time in front of a live audience as part of the Computer Animation Festival. The top selections will be played and demonstrated live on their respective platform (PC, PS2, PS3, X box 360, or Nintendo Wii).

View detailed information on how to submit for Real-Time Live! content.

Highlights from SIGGRAPH 2010 Live Real-Time Demos

Conference Chair Previews SIGGRAPH 2011 in Vancouver

2011-02-24T09:14:00.000-08:00

The SIGGRAPH 2011 Marketing and Media team has created this blog to provide SIGGRAPH media with a central point for the latest information and announcements regarding the upcoming conference in Vancouver, Canada. Return to this blog for updates and important announcements.

Following below is a brief conversation with Peter Braccio (pictured below), SIGGRAPH 2011 Conference Chair from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute , on what to expect this year.

SIGGRAPH travels outside the United States for the first time in its history – what brought about this exciting change?

Vancouver was an obvious choice as a host city for SIGGRAPH as it has large and vibrant groups in all of our major SIGGRAPH communities: artists, academics, film production, gaming, VFX, research, and more. Plus, it is both an international and an inspirational city. As for being outside of the United States for the first time, this is merely an extension of the fact that SIGGRAPH is an international event.

That being said, I can’t think of a better city for SIGGRAPH’s initial foray outside of the United States’ border than Vancouver. And it offers relatively easy access for all the industry situated on the West Coast. Besides the concentration of our various communities here, we also have one of SIGGRAPH’s most active Professional Chapters based in Vancouver. So, in a real sense, we are actually coming home. It’s just to a place that we’ve never been before.

If someone has never visited Vancouver before what should they expect?

The first thing you’ll notice is that the area is just drop-dead beautiful. The way the mountains jut out of the bay reminds me a bit of the fjords of Norway. The second thing that you’ll learn quickly is that the Vancouver residents are just down-right friendly and helpful. This has made the long hours of conference planning a joy. And there’s something for everyone here outside of the conference – whether that be family activities, nightlife, outdoor activities, shopping, or dining. It is a major international city and should make this year’s conference extremely memorable.

How do you expect it to impact attendance or content?

That’s the $64,000 question, isn’t it? At least as far as attendance numbers it is. We believe that the attendance figures are going to be comparable to what they were at SIGGRAPH 2010. While we may have a few less United States attendees, we are likely to pick up more attendees from Asia and Europe due to the Canadian location. More importantly our focus isn’t on the number of bodies, but the quality experience we provide everyone who attends.

As for content, we’re seeing no decrease in submissions. In fact, our General Submissions deadline just passed and we saw a 47% increase in completed submissions over last year’s numbers. We saw significant increases in Technical Papers, Games Papers, Art, and Art Papers submissions as well. While numbers don’t directly correlate to quality, we feel very comfortable in saying that SIGGRAPH 2011 will be at least as good as past conferences in that regard.

What is the vision behind this year’s theme: “Make it Home”

The theme revolving around “Home” came out of a brainstorming meeting in 2010. A small group of us were discussing what the conference means in our lives and how we should use this as a way to reach out to our attendee groups. The fact that the word “groups” is plural is key to this discussion. SIGGRAPH does not have a homogeneous attendee base like most other conferences. This leads to conflicting interests at times. However, it always provides great opportunities because you have access to many points of view given the diverse audience.

The second step on the road to this theme concerned this being the first SIGGRAPH Conference outside of the United States. We talked about how we were going to have to educate our attendee and exhibitor base that it might not be more expensive to do X or harder to do Y, but that there just may be different roads that we would have to follow in order to accomplish what we did in the past. We also discussed that on a daily basis the world is getting smaller. We deal with, and affect, people around the globe constantly. The fact that the conference is not going to be in the United States could be inspirational and show the strength of our organization and its members.

At this point in the process, a planning group member stated that all of these discussions were reminding her of a postcard that she has tacked up in her house. It is a picture of the Earth taken from Apollo 17 (the famous Blue Marble photo). Directly under the photo was one word: Home. This idea resonated with the people in the room. It didn’t matter WHERE the conference was. It only mattered WHO made up the conference. We would be home no matter where we were.

Previously you served as the Guerrilla Studio chair (which is a daunting task in itself), what motivated you to take on the role of overall conference chair?

I’m still trying to answer this question to myself. Basically I felt that I owed it to the conference. I’ve learned a lot from my attendance at the SIGGRAPH conferences and have met some of my best friends here. In my household, the joy of attending the conference is not limited to me. My wife, Rachel, has been helping out in The Studio since the first time I ran that venue in 2000. In 2003, my children, Jacob and Sierra, began to come to the conference with us. So, in a very real sense, The Braccios have made SIGGRAPH "home" for a long time.

How is the SIGGRAPH conference trying to remain relevant?

This is a hard question because it deals with perception. As I’ve already pointed out, SIGGRAPH is made up of many different communities. What is relevant to one is maybe somewhat or totally irrelevant to another.

That said, I believe that we are making strides in addressing the needs of several communities that may have not felt as embraced at SIGGRAPH in recent years. For the people in the trenches in the Production Communities, we instituted the Dailies! Program in 2010. This is a program that applauds the craft of using the tools we have rather than the innovation of the tools themselves.

Another group that we are engaging is the people whose business is computer graphics. In 2011, we are launching The SIGGRAPH Symposium, the business think tank. This will be a day-long discussion concerning many of the thorniest issues facing a group actually trying to make money with computer graphics. Check back to conference website for details about this exciting new program.

What are some of the things that you are most excited about for the 2011 conference?

I think that the The SIGGRAPH Symposium is going to be a big deal that is going to spark conversations that take place well after the conference is over. This day-long event has the potential to change how a lot of people are doing business. And it will be an opportunity for executives and professionals from different backgrounds to network and engage each other in way that has never been experienced at SIGGRAPH. Plus, our exhibitors are responding to the venue change in a very positive fashion – as of today we are currently outpacing booth space sold, quantity of exhibitors, and international exhibitors from what we achieved in Los Angeles at this time last year.

What changes (if any) should attendees expect this year?

Besides The SIGGRAPH Symposium, the biggest change that long-time attendees will see is that we are planning on moving the Reception to Monday night. It will start a bit later in the evening as well and will be a dessert reception. There are a couple of pluses to doing it like this for 2011. The first is that, since the reception will be in the convention center where people will be able to interact with the Art Gallery, Emerging Technologies, and The Studio during the reception. (These venues will open for reception attendees.) The second plus is also logistical. The Reception will start shortly after the Monday night Electronic Theater lets out. Since the reception is one escalator ride away from the Electronic Theater, there should be no time conflicts this year.

Attendees should also expect to be fully engaged by the beauty of this city. You will be inspired by the content in the conference as well as by the amazing natural beauty you encounter literally just outside the convention center.

Two SIGGRAPH Submission Deadlines Are Tomorrow

2011-02-17T15:16:00.000-08:00

Deadlines are quickly approaching to submit your work to SIGGRAPH 2011, the 38th International Conference and Exhibition on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques, 7 - 11 August 2011 in Vancouver.

The deadline for General Submissions (Courses, Emerging Technologies, Panels, Posters, Talks, The Studio) and submissions to SIGGRAPH Dailies! is Friday, 18 February 2011, 22:00 UTC/GMT (17:00 EST or 14:00 PST). To determine what time that is where you are, you can use a converter such as The World Clock.

To view additional call for submissions deadlines and complete details on this year’s submission process, visit the SIGGRAPH 2011 Call for Submissions page.

Click here to watch preview videos of Vancouver and its VFX, animation, gaming, technology, and education communities.

SIGGRAPH 2010 Highlights from Los Angeles

2010-07-29T16:07:00.001-07:00

(Los Angeles, CA) – SIGGRAPH 2010, the world's premier conference on computer graphics and interactive techniques, welcomed 22,549 artists, research scientists, gaming experts and developers, filmmakers, students, and academics from 79 countries around the globe to Los Angeles this week. In addition, more than 160 industry organizations exhibited at SIGGRAPH 2010.

"We were thrilled to be back in LA this year in the vibrant downtown area, experiencing and enjoying the wonder of all the latest research and innovations," said Terrence Masson, SIGGRAPH 2010 Conference Chair. "SIGGRAPH once again served as the place where art, film, science, research, and technology converged for an entire week. We look to build onto this momentum in 2011 when we host SIGGRAPH in Vancouver - a growing hotbed for the computer graphics and entertainment industry.”

In all, more than 900 speakers participated in the conference through a variety talks, sessions, panels, papers, presentations, and screenings.

Highlights from SIGGRAPH 2010 included:

• Keynote presentations from industry experts:
o Don Marinelli, Executive Producer, Carnegie Mellon Entertainment Technology Center
o Jim Morris, General Manager and Executive Vice President of Production, Pixar Animation Studios

• The renowned SIGGRAPH Computer Animation Festival, highlighting juried and curated animation from around the globe. Winners in several categories included:
o Best in Show Award Winner: “Loom”, Jan Bitzer, Ilija Brunck, and Csaba Letay, Polynoid, Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg, Germany
o Jury Award Winner: “Poppy”, James Cunningham, Delf Productions, New Zealand
o Best Student Project Prize Winner: “The Wonder Hospital”, Beomsik Shimbe Shim, California Institute of the Arts, USA

• This year, a new program called SIGGRAPH Dailies! focused on the craft, artistry, and behind-the-scenes/never-told stories from the production community. The program featured work from films such as “Toy Story 3”, “Tangled”, “Percy Jackson & the Olympians”, “A Christmas Carol”, “The Princess and the Frog”, “Ratatouille”, “Up”, and more.

• A continued focus on videogames highlighted real-time rendering content with Live Real-Time Demos of cutting-edge real-time rendering applications, including games such as Blur, God of War III, and LOVE. Game studios that presented at SIGGRAPH 2010 included: Activision Studio Central, Bungie, LucasArts, Naughty Dog, Square Enix R&D, Ubisoft Montreal, Valve, and more. SIGGRAPH was the perfect place for film and game professionals to connect, with content specifically designed to appeal to both industries.

• The Disney Learning Challenge was an open competition sponsored by Disney Research with the goal of finding new and creative ways to use technology to make learning fun for children. From a group of 15 finalists, “Refraction: Teaching Fractions Through Gameplay” by Erik Andersen and Zoran Popović, won a majority of the $10,000 prize fund and tours of Disney R&D and Walt Disney Studio.

• Technical Papers, the premier global forum for presenting ground-breaking research from today's leading experts, covered the core topics of computer graphics, such as modeling, animation, rendering, imaging, and human-computer interaction, and also explore related fields of audio, robotics, visualization, and perception by presenters from all around the globe - from the Bangladesh to Switzerland.

• Art Paper presentations on topics exploring the multi-sensory nature of human experience in a technologically enhanced environment. SIGGRAPH 2010 collaborated with Leonardo, the Journal of the International Society of the Arts, Sciences and Technology to publish the SIGGRAPH 2010 Art Papers in a special issue.

SIGGRAPH 2010 Highlights from Los Angeles

2010-07-29T16:07:00.000-07:00

Upcoming "TRON: Legacy" Filmmakers to be Featured at SIGGRAPH 2010

2010-07-22T13:52:00.000-07:00

"TRON LEGACY" (l to r) Olivia Wilde, Garrett Hedlund Ph: Douglas Curran
© Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Walt Disney Pictures' highly anticipated film "TRON: Legacy", a 3D high-tech adventure set in a digital world unlike anything ever captured on the big screen, will be the focus of a filmmaker panel discussion during the SIGGRAPH 2010 Computer Animation Festival in Los Angeles on Tuesday, 27 July at 3:45 p.m.

"SIGGRAPH is honored to host this discussion on 'TRON: Legacy', the much-anticipated sequel to what was monumental filmmaking in a past era," said Isaac Kerlow, Computer Animation Festival Director from The Nanyang Technological University, ADM/EOS. "The original 'TRON' was one of the first films from a major studio that used extensive computer graphics, and the industry expectations are that this sequel will also mark significant achievements in what is possible in computer graphics now and in the near future."

Panelists-"TRON: Legacy" director Joseph Kosinski and producer Jeffrey Silver, and visual effects supervisor Eric Barba and animation supervisor Steve Preeg from Digital Domain--will present a special reel from "TRON: Legacy" and answer audience questions. The panel will be moderated by David Cohen, associate features editor from Variety.

About the panelists:

Joseph Kosinski, Director, "TRON: Legacy"
The impeccably designed and visually innovative creations of Joseph Kosinski have quickly made him a highly sought-after commercial and feature film director. His work, which specializes in merging live action with purely digital elements, represents a fusion of skills stemming from Kosinski's background in architecture, product design, engineering, and music. Kosinski has directed many high-end commercials, including award-winning campaigns for Xbox videogames Gears of War and Halo, Sony PlayStation, Hummer, and Chevrolet.

Jeffrey Silver, Producer, "TRON: Legacy"
Jeffrey Silver has produced a wide range of feature films through his production company Biscayne Pictures and his partnership with Outlaw Productions. Silver recently produced "Terminator Salvation" and "300". In the course of his career, Silver has produced both studio and independent pictures, including "Training Day", "The Santa Clause" and its two sequels, "Addicted to Love", and many others. For television, Silver produced the pilot and first two seasons of the hit ABC series "The Wonder Years", for which he won an Emmy® Award for Best Comedy Series.

Eric Barba, Visual Effects Supervisor, Digital Domain
Eric Barba is the Academy Award®-winning visual effects supervisor of "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button". He has been at Digital Domain for 14 years, and like many of the top directors with whom he collaborates, Barba is equally comfortable working in film or advertising.

Steve Preeg, Animation Supervisor, Digital Domain
Steve Preeg has been creating digital characters for more than a decade, for movies including "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within", "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers", "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King", "I, Robot", and "King Kong". Preeg recently received an Academy Award® for achievement in visual effects on "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button". He also created visual effects for "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End", "Flags of Our Fathers", and other movies.

The Production Session for "TRON: Legacy" will be held Tuesday, 27 July from 3:45 p.m. - 5:15 p.m. in the Los Angeles Convention Center, West Hall B. Passes for the Computer Animation Festival are available for the entire week or on a daily basis for as little as $50. For more information, click here.

Sony's 360-Degree Autostereoscopic Display Creating Pre-SIGGRAPH Media Buzz

2010-07-20T10:21:00.000-07:00

This autostereoscopic display is a compact, cylindrical display, which can show full-color, high-quality, volumetric, 3D images, videos, and interactive animation viewable without glasses from any angle (360 degrees). It has been creating quite the buzz online pre-SIGGRAPH and will be on display in the Emerging Technologies area. Click here for the video demonstation.

Potential Future Use:
This display has many potential applications, such as amusement, professional visualization, digital signage, museum display, video games, and futuristic 3D telecommunication.

Following are the upcoming hours Emerging Technologies will be open during SIGGRAPH conference week:

Sunday, 25 July noon - 5:30 pm
Monday, 26 July 9 am - 5:30 pm
Tuesday, 27 July 9 am - 5:30 pm
Wednesday, 28 July 9 am - 5:30 pm
Thursday, 29 July 9 am - 1 pm

Jon Peddie Research Releases Analysis on Computer Graphics Industry

2010-07-15T07:01:00.000-07:00

**The CG market will exceed $150 billion in 2013

**Industry has had 16.5% growth for past 28 years

The computer graphics industry has been a growth industry since it was established the late 1970s. Weathering the storms of the recession of 2009, the CG industry is back on track and showing new invigorated vitality and potential.

The computer graphics hardware market was worth $59 billion in 2009 and should exceed $63 billion in 2010.

In 2009 the CG software market was worth $11 billion (not counting services, maintenance and other aspects) and should grow to $11.6 billion in 2010 as the industry shakes off the remaining effects of the recession and starts replacing software tools.

As a result of the pull back due to the recession, more people will be buying computer graphics software programs and we will see the development of traditional segments like CAD/CAM expand as new design approaches in automotive, aerospace, and architecture are brought forth. Visualization, a market that has been almost dormant for the past few years is poised now for great expansion due to exciting and lower cost technologies.

Software for making movies, computer games, high-style products, and simulations of products and activities too expensive or too dangerous to test in reality is exploiting the features of today’s CG software. The result will be s amazing realism and real time capabilities in the next generation of films and designs.

The demand for programmers, artists, scientists, and designers has picked up again and firms are actively looking for people who can use and exploit these new programs and their associated hardware accelerators. The economic recession has caused a slow down but it’s going to look like a small bump in the road by 2013.

We are seeing new opportunities growing out of more mainstream applications for the web and consumer applications. The web is growing as a distribution medium for graphics content which in turn encourages people to pick up the tools, learn then, create content for pleasure, and even look for jobs in the field. What used to be a very closed society of experts is opening up.

Given these trends, we see the rate of growth continuing to grow.

Analysis provided to SIGGRAPH by Jon Peddie Research

SIGGRAPH 2010 Adds Focus on Production Community

2010-07-13T10:40:00.000-07:00

(Chicago, IL) – SIGGRAPH is known worldwide for showcasing some of the newest ideas in computer graphics (CG) and interactive techniques. This year, a new program called SIGGRAPH Dailies! expands this focus to include the craft, artistry, and behind-the-scenes/never-told stories from the production community.

[Image credit: Cool Shading Study © 2010 Ariel Chisholm, Texas A&M University]

"Often in production, the focus is not on the latest technique. Talented CG artists typically use standard tools and techniques to get their work done—yet they create images of extraordinary power and beauty," said Bill Polson, Production Communities Director from Pixar Animation Studios. "And oftentimes the story behind the work is the most interesting part of it. SIGGRAPH Dailies! celebrates this craft and these stories."

To work out the logistics of the new program, the Dailies! team started a trial run of the program earlier in the year at Pixar Animation Studios. As a result, Pixar and Disney artists submitted a great deal of material. But Dailies! also features student work from Texas A&M University, scientific visualizations from Analytical Graphics, Inc., and numerous unexpected gems from around the world.

SIGGRAPH Dailies! will be presented Tuesday, 27 July and Wednesday, 28 July from 6 – 7:30 pm on both days. The format is similar to Technical Papers Fast Forward, with authors presenting their work and stories in a rapid-fire format. Unlike Fast Forward, SIGGRAPH Dailies! is the actual presentation and not a teaser for other talks later in the week.

Following are just a few highlights of SIGGRAPH Dailies!:

Cool Shading Study
Ariel Chisholm, Texas A&M University
Hear how a small shading and lighting project uncovered hidden facts about RenderMan's depth-of-field and bokeh controls.

"Toy Story 3": Death By Monkeys
J.D. Northrup, Pixar Animation Studios
A detailed explanation of how Pixar animators made an exploding swarm of red plastic monkeys in “Toy Story 3”.

"Nuit Blanche"
Marc-André Gray, Stellar Scene
Gain insights into the making of a hyper-real fantasy world for the short film "Nuit Blanche".

"Tangled": The Pixels Behind the People Behind the Pixels
Ramon Montoya-Vozmediano, Walt Disney Animation Studios
Two real-time days of rendering are compressed down to a single second by animating the resource usage of the render queue on "Tangled".

US Airways Flight 1549: Hudson River Crash Animation With Flight Data
Kel Elkins and Glenn Warrington, Analytical Graphics, Inc.
Learn how the US Airways Flight 1549 crash simulation (created using actual flight data) provides further insight into this heroic event.

For more information, click here.

SIGGRAPH Gaming Director Previews Content

2010-07-13T07:36:00.000-07:00

SIGGRAPH 2010 offers an unparalleled bounty of information related to game development in all conference programs:

Courses with significant game-development content include Advanced Techniques in Real-Time Hair Rendering and Simulation; Advances in Real-Time Rendering in 3D Graphics and Games (I & II); An Introduction to 3D Spatial Interaction With Videogame Motion Controllers; Beyond Programmable Shading (I & II); Color Enhancement and Rendering in Film and Game Production; Gazing at Games: Using Eye Tracking to Control Virtual Characters; Global Illumination Across Industries; Perceptually Motivated Graphics, Visualization, and 3D Displays; Physically Based Shading Models in Film and Game Production; Recent Advances in Real-Time Collision and Proximity Computations for Games and Simulations; and Stylized Rendering in Games.

Talks of direct interest to game developers include A Deferred-Shading Pipeline for Real-Time Indirect Illumination, Curvature-Dependent Reflectance Function for Rendering Translucent Materials, How to Get From 30 to 60 Frames Per Second in Video Games for "Free", Irradiance Rigs, Screen Space Classification for Efficient Deferred Shading, Split-Second Motion Blur, Practical Morphological Anti-Aliasing on the GPU, REYES Using DirectX 11, and User-Generated Terrain in ModNation Racers.

Live Real-Time Demos showcase cutting-edge real-time rendering applications, including games such as Blur, God of War III, and LOVE.

The Computer Animation Festival also features game-related content; one of the Production Sessions discusses The Making of God of War III, and the Electronic Theater and Commercials & Cinematics screening include several game commercials and cinematics.

In the Exhibition, various game-technology vendors show their latest products and many present Exhibitor Tech Talks of interest to game developers.

Several Birds of a Feather sessions focus on topics of interest to the game industry, such as COLLADA, OpenCL and OpenGL.

Beyond the content directly related to game development, film production topics are also often relevant to game developers. One example is the use of spherical harmonics and precomputed occlusion in “Avatar”, as discussed in two Talks and one Technical Paper . Other examples can be found among the many film production presentations by the makers of films such as “2012”, “Alice in Wonderland” , “Avatar”, “How to Train Your Dragon”, “Iron Man 2”, “Shrek Forever After”, “Tangled”, “The Last Airbender”, “Toy Story 3”, and “TRON: LEGACY”.

In addition to practical production techniques of short-term interest, SIGGRAPH 2010 also presents forward-looking research that is likely to guide future developments. The Technical Papers program presents advanced graphics research, Panels speculate on future research directions, and Emerging Technologies features hands-on demonstrations of novel interaction methods and devices.

And opportunities for informal collaboration and exchange are everywhere. Throughout the week, SIGGRAPH 2010 attendees meet, network, and talk shop with the world’s top computer graphics talents.

See you in LA!

Troy Dunniway
SIGGRAPH 2010 Director of Gaming
GlobeX Studios

"Avatar" Secrets Revealed at SIGGRAPH 2010

2010-07-06T09:57:00.000-07:00

(Chicago, IL) - SIGGRAPH 2010 features multiple Production Sessions that will reveal the secrets of "Avatar", including stereoscopic filmmaking and visual effects. Two visual effects companies that contributed to the making of "Avatar", New Zealand-based Weta Digital and U.S.-based Industrial Light & Magic, will take attendees behind the scenes and give valuable insight into the work that won three Academy Awards® for Best Cinematography, Best Visual Effects, and Best Art Direction.

"James Cameron's epic vision of 'Avatar' changed the landscape for filmmaking and production," said Terrence Masson, SIGGRAPH 2010 Conference Chair from Northeastern University. "A movie of this caliber not only has moved our industry forward light years, but it also has the potential to teach us techniques and solutions that we never would have considered."

SIGGRAPH Production Sessions are high-level discussions that showcase how computer graphics and interactive techniques are actually designed and implemented. Attendees of all experience levels will benefit.

Here are just a few highlights of this year's Production Sessions:

Making "Avatar"
Joe Letteri and Stephen Rosenbaum, Weta Digital; Richard Baneham, Lightstorm

"Avatar" is the first predominately digitally created film, shot and directed as a live action film. Key to the director's vision was having photorealistic, believable digital characters and environments fit seamlessly with live action. To accomplish this, Weta Digital, led by Joe Letteri, developed innovations that enabled the director and actors work as if they were in a conventional live-action movie, even when filming sequences that were entirely computer-generated. For the audience to connect with the blue-skinned ten-foot-tall "Na'vi", they had to see the actor's soul shine through the character's eyes. This required increased realism in character animation, especially the facial animation. The emotional performances of the characters in "Avatar" are an achievement that have taken digital characters to a new level of believability and have at the same time, enhanced story telling.

Character and Environment Lighting Challenges on "Avatar"
Kevin Smith, Weta Digital

This session summarizes some of the problems encountered during the "Avatar" production process and their solutions. The focus is on maintaining pipeline flexibility and enabling users to concentrate on the art of lighting instead of managing technology.

Volume Rendering for "Avatar"
Antoine Bouthors and Mark Davies, Weta Digital

How Weta Digital achieved efficient, realistic stereo rendering of volumetric elements and their integration with the compositing engine.

Compositing "Avatar"
Peter Hillman, Erik Winquist, and Matthew Welford, Weta Digital

This presentation outlines some of the adaptations that Weta Digital made to its compositing pipeline to deliver "Avatar": simplifying stereo compositing and stereo-image handling, and avoiding the need to render holdout masks to composite render layers.

A Physically Based Approach to Virtual Character Deformations
Simon Clutterbuck and James Jacobs, Weta Digital

James Cameron's "Avatar" required the principal digital characters to be photo-realistic, full-screen, and almost fully naked in hundreds of shots. To accomplish this task, Weta Digital developed a robust character-simulation toolset that delivered the required level of realism.

Rendering "Avatar": Spherical Harmonics in Production
Nick McKenzie, Martin Hill, and Jon Allitt, Weta Digital

This session covers the application of spherical harmonics in a production rendering environment for accelerated final-frame rendering of complex scenes and materials.

PantaRay: Directional Occlusion for Fast Cinematic Lighting of Massive Scenes
Jacopo Pantaleoni and Timo Aila, NVIDIA Research; David Luebke, NVIDIA Corporation; Luca Fascione, Martin Hill, Weta Digital

NVIDIA Research and Weta Digital present the results of a joint research collaboration, and describe the architecture of a novel ray tracing system for precomputing the sparse directional occlusion caches used as a primary lighting technology during the making of "Avatar".

"Avatar": Bending Rigid Bodies
Brice Criswell, Michael Lentine, and Steve Sauers, Industrial Light & Magic

This session describes the tools recently developed at Industrial Light & Magic for automatically modeling surface deformations produced during bending and denting of rigid materials.

"Avatar": Modeling a Jungle, From Template to Film
Shawn Dunn and Marco Revelant, Weta Digital

The vast and epic environments in "Avatar" presented unique technical hurdles. Weta Digital developed tools and procedures to create realistic, high-density 3D environments. This presentation explores the process and tools used in modeling and layout of these very complex environments.

Digital Water for "Avatar"
Allen Hemberger, Christoph Sprenger, Diego Trazzi, and Sebastian Marino, Weta Digital

Detailed description of the full-CG stereographic water pipeline for "Avatar", from innovative fluid simulation through a custom-designed levelset-based post-processing stage to final renders using a modular shading strategy.

An Accurate Method for Acquiring High-Resolution Skin-Displacement Maps
Gino Acevedo and Eugene D'Eon, Weta Digital

An efficient and precise method for acquiring skin-displacement maps is an essential component for creating an accurate appearance model for faces, hands, and skin in general.

To view all the Production Sessions that will be presented at SIGGRAPH 2010, click here.

Computer Animation Festival Highlights: Beyond the Film Reels

2010-06-29T10:56:00.000-07:00

(Chicago, IL) - The Computer Animation Festival at SIGGRAPH 2010 offers more than just a viewing experience. In addition to film screenings, the Festival includes interactive sessions and opportunities to learn industry secrets, behind-the-scenes stories, and advice from some of the most successful professionals in this field.

"Attendees will get a glimpse of the work that went into creating some of this year's most successful films, including 'Avatar', 'The Last Airbender', 'How to Train Your Dragon', 'Alice in Wonderland', and many more," said Isaac Kerlow, Computer Animation Festival Director from The Earth Observatory of Singapore/NTU ADM. "Nowhere else in the world will so many computer graphics and animation experts come together under one roof to discuss both success stories as well as failures. In essence, sharing information is how this industry continues to move forward by leaps and bounds year after year."

Listed below are just a few of the learning opportunities during the Computer Animation Festival:

Production Sessions

Production Sessions are high-level discussions that showcase how computer graphics and interactive techniques are actually designed and implemented. Attendees of all experience levels will benefit.

The Making of God of War III

Izzy, Concept Artist; Patrick Murphy, Lead Character Modeler; Bruno Velazquez, Lead Animator; Bryan Koszoru, Environment Artist; Paul Coda, Sr. Environment Artist; Jung Ho Park, Concept Artist, SCEA, Santa Monica

The makers of God of War III detail the creative process behind the game's groundbreaking visuals. The first part of the session follows the lead character, Kratos, from initial concept art through modeling to animation. Particular emphasis is given to issues specific to game animation, such as integration with player control and combat systems. The second part focuses on the game environments, exploring different approaches used to create game levels from initial concept art.

Making "Avatar"

Joe Letteri, Senior Visual Effects Supervisor; Stephen Rosenbaum, Visual Effects Supervisor; Richard Baneham, Animation Supervisor, Weta Digital

"Avatar" is the first predominately digitally created film, shot and directed as a live action film. Key to the director's vision was having photorealistic, believable digital characters and environments fit seamlessly with live action. To accomplish this, Weta Digital, led by Joe Letteri, developed innovations that enabled the director and actors work as if they were in a conventional live-action movie, even when filming sequences that were entirely computer-generated.

For the audience to connect with the blue-skinned ten-foot-tall "Na'vi", they had to see the actor's soul shine through the character's eyes. This required increased realism in character animation, especially the facial animation. The emotional performances of the characters in "Avatar" are an achievement that have taken digital characters to a new level of believability and have, at the same time, enhanced story telling.

Animation Blockbuster Breakdown

Shawn Kelly, Lead Animator, Industrial Light & Magic; and Co-Founder, Animation Mentor
Carlos Baena, Lead Animator, Pixar Animation Studios; and Co-Founder, Animation Mentor
Eric Goldberg, Supervising Animator, Walt Disney Animation Studios
Michael Makarewicz, Supervising Animator, Pixar Animation Studios
Aaron Hartline, Animator, Pixar Animation Studios; and Animation Mentor

Animation industry veterans break down shots from your favorite animated films. In 10-minute presentations, they each show two animated shots from recent feature films, summarize the challenges they experienced with each shot, and reveal new ways to approach the craft of animation.

"The Last Airbender" - Harnessing the Elements: Earth, Air, Water, and Fire

Pablo Helman, Visual Effects Supervisor; Olivier Maury, R&D Engineer; Daniel Pearson, CG Supervisor, Industrial Light & Magic

To create the visual effects work for M. Night Shyamalan's "The Last Airbender", ILM developed a hybrid GPU-based simulation engine and renderer. In this session, the production team explains how this novel system allowed artists to achieve photorealistic results at exponential speed increases over previous methods of complex simulation. The team also sheds light on the vast 3D environments created for the show, dissects some of the more challenging effects sequences, and reveals how the results were achieved.

"Day & Night"

Teddy Newton, Director; Kevin Reher, Producer, Pixar Animation Studios

When Day, a sunny fellow, encounters Night, a stranger of distinctly darker moods, sparks fly! At first, they are frightened and suspicious of each other, and they quickly get off on the wrong foot. But as they discover each other's unique qualities and realize that each offers a different window onto the same world, their friendship helps both to gain a new perspective. The Stereo 3D screening of "Day & Night" precedes a presentation by the director, Teddy Newton, who explains his inspiration for the film, what it took to get a green light from the studio, and the challenges posed by such a technically ambitious process.

Live Real-Time Demos

This content showcases the very best of video games and real-time simulations. To help emphasize the difference between these works and pre-rendered works, real-time pieces are demonstrated live on their actual platforms without any post-production. In addition, a selection of these projects will be available for interactive demonstrations in The Sandbox--an open videogame play area.

Agenda Circling Forth

Fairlight and CNCD

A unique real-time demo that takes its inspiration from the Impressionist painters but with an innovative modern twist: it builds animated 3D scenes entirely from particles. Every pixel truly is alive in this piece.

GlyphSea

University of California, San Diego

Real-time demonstration of novel glyph-based visualization techniques. One of the scenarios shows the "Big One" earthquake simulation, highlighting effects on the Los Angeles region.

God of War III

Sony Computer Entertainment

God of War III is the latest entry in the successful God of War series and the first on PlayStation 3. It combines epic set pieces with exquisite fine detail, and its visuals display both technical and creative virtuosity.

Making Love

Quel Solaar

This demo is an exploration of the world of the procedural one-man indie "MMO LOVE". The demo also showcases the tools used to create assets, like sketch-based modeling, 100% automatic UV mapping, shader and asset management tools, and the layer-based procedural texturing tool.

Supersonic Sled

NVIDIA Corporation

The NVIDIA Supersonic Sled is a full physics simulation of a mechanical assembly subjected to heavy loads. Using PhysX, CUDA, and DirectX 11, this demonstration uses real-time simulation and graphics techniques to produce a realistic and exhilarating experience of driving a powerful machine on the edge of control.

SIGGRAPH Dailies!

This new program celebrates excellence in computer graphics by showcasing images and animations of power and beauty. Presenters will have one minute each to loop their animations and describe their work from video game characters to lighting. In a fun, compelling, and fast format, SIGGRAPH Dailies! allows attendees to participate in the vibrant production culture that surrounds presenting and reviewing work that was completed despite challenging obstacles.
View all of the SIGGRAPH Dailies! by clicking here.

Animation Clinics

New this year, industry leaders and masters will review students' final projects and offer creative, production, technical, and career advice. Each chosen work will receive 40 minutes of review during three public sessions open to conference attendees. Clinics are a great way to get direct, constructive feedback from industry experts.

Interview with SIGGRAPH 2010 Emerging Technologies Chair Preston Smith

2010-06-28T09:23:00.000-07:00

Following below is a brief conversation with Preston Smith, SIGGRAPH 2010 Emerging Technologies Chair from Laureate Institute for Brain Research, who shares his insights and expected highlights for this year's Emerging Technologies.

What various sciences and industries will be involved in the Emerging Technologies area this year?

• Haptics
• Display Technologies
• Interactive Techniques
• Immersive Techniques
• Augmented Reality
• Motion Capture Technologies
• Robotics
• Mobile Phone Technologies
• Laser Technologies

How is the 2010 Emerging Technologies different from previous years?

This year’s Emerging Technologies will be a focused, choice selection of the very best of what the industry has to offer. In 2010, we went through the same jury process as previous years except that this year the jury made a second round of selections to really show off the best of the best. Our goal was to engage attendees through diverse and original ideas.

What is the overriding message of Emerging Technologies demonstrations this year?

Beyond a doubt, our message this year is that innovation is alive and well in the computer graphics and interactive techniques world. We will showcase a wide variety of technologies that should surprise, inspire, and truly make people wonder.

What trends in technology, consumer products or other areas do you see indicated by the submissions for Emerging Technologies this year?

Display technology continues to be a hot subject and shows important innovation, plus interactive technologies are reaching new heights and spanning across all the human senses.

What implications does the Emerging Technologies venue have for artists and others working in the computer graphics industry?

This year’s message and implication for anyone in computer graphics is that today's ideas can be realized and can be tomorrow’s daily tool in computer graphics or interactivity. We hope that people walking through Emerging Technologies will leave inspired to push the envelope and be creative in their professional lives.

How did you become involved with SIGGRAPH, how many years have you been involved, and what led you to become the Emerging Technologies Chair?

I attended college later in my life than the typical student and was working with a large retail company when “Jurassic Park” came out, which inspired me to become a part of the computer graphics industry. So I went to college and happened to meet a professor who was a member and attendee of SIGGRAPH.

He informed me of the possibility of being a part of the conference as a student volunteer. So, in 1996 I submitted and was accepted as a student volunteer. That experience with the industry first hand, and with the incredible people behind it, was all it took to make me never want to miss being a part of this amazing and historical event. I have been a part of SIGGRAPH ever since.

From student volunteer to student volunteer team leader to subcommittee, every year’s participation has been incredible. So this marks my 15th year and every year I have played a role in Emerging Technologies. From my first year’s assignment (the Digital Bayou) up to my current role as Emerging Technologies Chair, my personal goal is to give my services and abilities toward making the conference a great experience for attendees, contributors, and volunteers alike.

You have served a few different roles on Emerging Technologies - what did you most gain or learn from each of these roles?

I seriously think the role of student volunteer is what sets the stage to truly learn to do every task to the best of one’s abilities. As a student volunteer, we tackle a variety of tasks – some mundane, which helps to establish the required humility and willingness to do anything all the while developing an appreciation for the many opportunities presented at SIGGRAPH. It is truly an experience that can have an immense impact on your professional life for many, many years.

Editor's note: To view the SIGGRAPH 2010 Emerging Technologies preview video, click here. For a full description of each technology that will be on display, click here.

SIGGRAPH 2010 Announces Computer Animation Festival Winners

2010-06-25T08:02:00.000-07:00

(Chicago, IL) - SIGGRAPH announces the Computer Animation Festival's Best in Show, Jury Award, and Best Student Project recipients for SIGGRAPH 2010 to be held in Los Angeles this July. Nominees were chosen from 750 submissions from around the globe, presented by both professional studios and students alike.

"It was difficult to narrow the pool of submissions because of the high level of quality and technical expertise," said Isaac Kerlow, Computer Animation Festival Director from The Earth Observatory of Singapore/NTU ADM. "Attendees will experience an endorphin rush as they watch the screenings of independent and commercial films, and will get a behind-the-scenes perspective from the planned Production Sessions featuring the visionaries behind some of this year's most successful Hollywood films. Whether you are an industry veteran or someone who just enjoys quality visual effects and animation, there is something for everyone this year."

In all, approximately 100 films will be shown during the Computer Animation Festival. The Electronic Theater, the iconic and tribal SIGGRAPH experience, features an identical program three nights in a row, including most of the Jury Selections. Four thematic Special Screenings show the best in TV Commercials and Cinematics, Long Shorts, Student Animations, and for the first time a special focus on Chinese Student Animations. Truly an international event, the festival had entries from 49 different countries and five continents. Fifty-two of the accepted entries are international, and 18 countries are represented in the final selection.

Some of the year's top visual effects for feature films are featured in the Computer Animation Festival including "Avatar", "The Last Airbender", "Sherlock Holmes", "Iron Man 2", "Prince of Persia", "2012", and "Alice in Wonderland". Plus, eight Live Real-Time Demos, ranging from mainstream to independent work, also contribute to making the Computer Animation Festival a memorable experience.

Since 1999, the SIGGRAPH Computer Animation Festival has been an official qualifying festival for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences "Best Animated Short Film" Academy Award®. The film "French Roast" became an Academy nominee in the Best Animated Short category after winning Best in Show at last year's Festival. For the third consecutive year, the Festival's screenings, panels and production sessions will be open to the public, allowing general audiences to get a glimpse behind the making of computer generated effects, visualizations, and animations that is rarely available.

A complete preview video of the 2010 Computer Animation Festival is available here.

For a complete list of films and images, click here.

Here are just a few highlights of this year's Computer Animation Festival films and Live Real-Time Demos:

BEST IN SHOW AWARD

"Loom"
(Germany)
Directed by Jan Bitzer, Ilija Brunck, and Csaba Letay
"Loom" tells the story of a moth being drowned in one of nature's complex cycles. "Loom" was the final project of Jan Bitzer, Ilija Brunck, and Csaba Letay at the Filmakademie Baden Wьrttemberg, Institute of Animation, Visual Effects and Digital Postproduction. The production time, including story development and preproduction, was one year. Credit: Loom © 2010 Ilija Brunck, Polynoid

JURY AWARD
"Poppy"
(New Zealand)
Directed by James Cunningham
"Poppy" is an independent short set on France's western front in World War One. Two New Zealand soldiers are trapped behind enemy lines. They find a baby in a muddy ditch, under its dead parents. One of the men wants to save it-the other does not. Based on true events, "Poppy" was written by the great-grandson of one of these soldiers. An innovative combination of motion capture with exquisite facial animation.

BEST STUDENT PROJECT PRIZE

"The Wonder Hospital"
(USA)
Directed by Beomsik Shimbe Shim, California Institute of the Arts
In this student project, a girl enters a mysterious hospital that alters her way of seeing beauty. She is given a choice between two images of her face, "Before" and "After". As she continues on this illusionary journey, she realizes that beauty is something very different from what she expected. Credit: The Wonder Hospital © 2010, all rights reserved by Shimbe

"2012" - The Last Fluid Simulation
(USA/Germany)
Visual Effects by Scanline VFX, Los Angeles/Munich
This reel shows the underlying technology that was used for more than 100 massive fluid simulation shots on "2012". Included are examples of fully computer-generated shots with massive tidal waves, simulated ice and snow, and, finally, the aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy smashing into the White House.

Assassin's Creed 2
(Hungary)
Cinematic by Digic Pictures for Ubisoft Entertainment
Stunningly rendered and animated, this cinematic narrative follows an assassin on the prowl in a street carnival, on his quest to reveal a secular conspiracy during the masquerades of the Italian Renaissance. Image courtesy of Digic Pictures © 2009 Ubisoft Entertainment. All Rights Reserved. Assassin's Creed, Ubisoft, Ubi.com, and the Ubisoft logo are trademarks of Ubisoft Entertainment in the U.S. and/or other countries.

"Animated History of Poland"
(Poland)
Directed by Tomek Bagi?ski, Platige Image
A tale about 1,000 years of Polish history in the format of a musical-visual poem. The story starts with the beginning of the Polish nation in the ninth century, and shows the most important events and processes that took place until the 21st century. The project is a presentation-educational piece produced for the EXPO 2010 in Shanghai. Credit: Animated History of Poland © 2010 Agnieszka Piechnik, Platige Image

"Guinness World"
(United Kingdom)
Commercial by The Mill for AMV BBDO
This commercial spot shows how a pint of Guinness comes to life when poured, opening with a man striking a match and lighting a rocket as a voiceover whispers, "It?s time to bring this place to life." There begins an exhilarating journey, bringing life to barren landscapes across the planet. Credit: Guinness World © 2010 The Mill

"Day & Night"
(USA)
Directed by Teddy Newton, Pixar Animation Studios
When Day encounters Night, sparks fly! At first frightened and suspicious of each other, they get off on the wrong foot. But as they discover each other's unique qualities?and realize that each offers a different window onto the world-the friendship helps them gain a new perspective.

"Suiren"
(Japan)
Directed by Tomoya Kimpara, wow.inc
"Suiren" is a poetic science-fiction visual music piece where the ocean is a symbol of life, and machine-seeds are born to devote themselves to the creation of beautiful creatures. Credit: Suiren © 2010 Tomoya Kimpara, wow.inc

"Upgrades"
(USA)
Directed by Anya Belkina, Emerson College
"Upgrades" is a hilarious and breakneck-paced animated parody chronicling major upgrades in computer graphics software. Set to the music of Rimsky-Korsakov's "Flight of the Bumble Bee".
Credit: Upgrades © 2010 Anya Belkina, Emerson College

"Making of Nuit Blanche"
(Canada)
Directed by Arev Manoukian, Visual Effects by Marc-Andrй Gray, Stellar Scene
In this reel we explore the making of "Nuit Blanche", an elegant and poetic short film that explores a fleeting moment between two strangers, revealing their brief connection in a hyper-real fantasy heavily dependent on visual effects.Credit: Making of Nuit Blanche ©2010 Marc-André Gray, Stellar Scene

"Visualizing Empires Decline"
(Portugal)
Directed by Pedro Cruz, Centre for Informatics and Systems of the University of Coimbra
This information visualization project narrates the decline of the top four maritime empires in the 19th and 20th centuries. A physics engine is used to build a visual mood that conveys the tone of the empires' decline.Credit: Visualizing Empires Decline © 2010 Pedro M. Cruz, Centre for Informatics and Systems of the University of Coimbra

"Cours Toujours"
(France)
Directed by Olivier Barrй and Elise Garcette, La Station Animation
An intrepid creature throws himself into a wild pursuit of a bird, which gets him into comically frantic situations. Credit: Cours Toujours ©2010 Olivier Barré, La Station Animation

"Making Love"
(Sweden, Live Real-Time Demo)
Quel Solaar
This game exploration demo is an exploration of the world of the procedural one-man indie "MMO LOVE". The demo also showcases the tools used to create assets, like sketch-based modeling, 100 percent automatic UV mapping, shader and asset management tools, and the layer-based procedural texturing tool.

God of War III
(USA, Live Real-Time Demo)
Sony Computer Entertainment of America
God of War III is the latest entry in the successful God of War commercial video game series and the first on PlayStation 3. It combines epic set pieces with exquisite fine detail, and its visuals display both technical and creative virtuosity.

SIGGRAPH 2010 Art Gallery Provides a Feast for the Senses

2010-06-22T08:22:00.000-07:00

Photo credit: From SIGGRAPH 2010 Art Gallery piece titled "hanahanahana" by Yasuaki Kakehi, Keio University; Motoshi Chikamori and Kyoko Kunoh, plaplax - details below.

(Chicago, IL) – From virtual bugs to wearable devices, the SIGGRAPH 2010 Art Gallery investigates the multi-sensory nature of human experience in a technologically enhanced environment. The official title is TouchPoint: Haptic Exchange Between Digits, and from more than 250 submitted pieces, the jury selected 14 to be featured at SIGGRAPH 2010.

“The exhibition becomes an interactive environment where the viewer or participant is essential to the manifestation of the work,” said Richard Elaver, SIGGRAPH 2010 Juried Art Chair from Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne. “This is art that immerses people, and the end result is an art experience that many have never encountered before.”

Works exhibited in TouchPoint are published in a special issue of MIT Press’s Leonardo, the Journal of the International Society of the Arts, Sciences and Technology. Peer-reviewed SIGGRAPH 2010 Art Papers will also be published in this special issue, which coincides with SIGGRAPH 2010 in July. A reception for the Art Gallery will be held Tuesday, July 27 from 2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. in Room 150 at the Los Angeles Convention Center, where attendees can talk with the artists, designers, and Art Papers authors about their work and meet the members of the SIGGRAPH 2010 committee who organized this year's Art Gallery.

The Art Gallery jury consisted of a wide range of the leading experts in haptics, design theory, architecture, and sculpture.

Highlights of the SIGGRAPH 2010 Art Gallery include:

Echidna ll
Tine Bech, University of the West of England and Tom Frame, Surrey Space Centre
This interactive sound sculpture is a fussy, tumbled creature that has an electronic voice. Undisturbed, it hums happily, but when it is touched it squeaks and reacts to human presence. The work combines a circuit that directly measures electrostatic changes in the environment and a custom-designed, phase-locked loop system that drives an audio speaker.

Glowing Pathfinder Bugs
Squidsoup
In this shared environment of a sandpit, virtual creatures and real people coexist and communicate. The sand operates as a tactile interface, allowing participants to define physical landscapes to which the digital creatures respond in real time. The result is a form of animal husbandry, a sense of controlling and caring for the bugs.

hanahanahana
Yasuaki Kakehi, Keio University; Motoshi Chikamori and Kyoko Kunoh, plaplax
To experience hanahanahana, the participant applies perfume to a leaf-shaped piece of paper and shakes it in front of a bud-like device. A flower appears and changes intensity according to the strength of the floating scent, while color and shape also vary according to the type of fragrance applied to the paper. Participants can enjoy temporal and spatial variations of floating air with olfactory sensations from the scent, visual sensations from the projection screen, and tactile sensations from the wind.

In the Line of Sight
Daniel Sauter, University of Illinois at Chicago and Fabian Winkler, Purdue University
In the Line of Sight is a light installation that uses 100 computer-controlled tactical flashlights to project low-resolution video footage of suspicious human motion into the exhibition space.

Tools for Improved Social Interacting
Lauren McCarthy, University of California, Los Angeles
This series of wearable devices (the Anti-Daydreaming Device, the Happiness Hat, and the Body Contact Training Suit) uses sensors to condition the wearer to better adapt to expected social behaviors. The work explores the potential for technology to shape how we think, feel, and act. It also questions our social expectations and attempts to improve our understanding of their function and worth.

View the entire Art Gallery here. Contact media@siggraph.org for high-resolution images.

Brief Q&A with SIGGRAPH 2010 Exhibits Director Mike Weil

2010-06-18T11:15:00.000-07:00

-What is your background in the industry?

I have been fortunate to be involved in SIGGRAPH since 1992. I have always been interested in seeing on the tradeshow floor today what will be available in the future. In 1992, high-definition television was demonstrated which in the last few years has become apart of everyday life.

This year I am interested in seeing the Artec booth. They develop and sell 3D scanners, also known as 3D cameras, which work in real time, and they are easy to use. Artec has a whole division dedicated to 3D face recognition technology. Biometric security, which measures physical characteristics of a person, is an emerging market. There appears to be a growing market for those interested in technology that allows for better recognition accuracy of physical features, convenience-in-use and spoof-protection.

-I understand the Exhibition attracts vendors from across the globe. How many exhibitors are expected for this year’s conference?

We are expecting 175 exhibitors. Currently 51 international Exhibitors or nearly 30% of the exhibitors are from outside the United States. Countries that will be represented on the exhibit floor include Korea, Costa Rica, Colombia, India, United Kingdom, Germany, Saudi Arabia and Bulgaria.

-How do you think the Exhibition appeals to a wide variety of people? What groups can benefit from attending this venue?

SIGGRAPH does indeed attract a wide variety of attendees. The groups that appear to benefit the most are animators, artists, engineers, and game developers.

-Which target audience do you believe will be the highlight for this year’s exhibition? Which ones are you most excited to see and why?

The exhibitors that target animation and special effects seem to enjoy when we are in Los Angeles the most. Being in Los Angeles allows the many local studios in the area to send their employees to see the Exhibition for the day. Knowing the eyes of the top Hollywood studios will be focused on SIGGRAPH 2010 many exhibitors push their developers to have new products ready to be launched at SIGGRAPH each year. There is a lot of incentive to get in front of the SIGGRAPH audience as 20% annually spend more then $100,000 per year on products they see at the Exhibition.

Emerging Technologies Video Now Live

2010-06-09T11:08:00.000-07:00

Recently, SIGGRAPH 2010 posted the Emerging Technologies preview video. It has already created quite a buzz online. Click here to review. Contact brian_ban@siggraph.org for still images or more details.

SIGGRAPH 2010 Program Content Released, Early Registration Ends this Friday

2010-06-02T10:18:00.000-07:00

(Chicago, IL) – SIGGRAPH 2010, held Sunday, 25 July through Thursday, 29 July 2010, will bring approximately 25,000 computer graphics and interactive technology professionals from around the world to Los Angeles. The SIGGRAPH 2010 Advance Program is now available online, announcing session content across Art Papers, Courses, Game Papers, Panels, Talks, Technical Papers, and more.

Two preview videos have also been released to highlight the Computer Animation Festival and Technical Papers.

“SIGGRAPH 2010 is the best place in the world to experience the ‘People Behind the Pixels’,” said Terrence Masson, SIGGRAPH 2010 Conference Chair from Northeastern University. “I highly encourage everyone to attend to meet the personalities, hear the stories, and learn the history behind the most unique and excellent content in CG and interactive techniques. Those wanting to maximize their savings should register by this Friday before the early bird discounts expire.”

Attendees are able to choose from a variety of registration categories that start as low as $45 per day. After Friday, 4 June, the cost of Full Conference Access, Full Conference One Day, and Basic Access passes increase dramatically.

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About SIGGRAPH 2010
SIGGRAPH 2010 will bring approximately 25,000 computer graphics and interactive technology professionals from six continents to Los Angeles, California, USA for the industry's most respected technical and creative programs focusing on research, science, art, animation, music, gaming, interactivity, education, and the web from Sunday, 25 July through Thursday, 29 July 2010 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. SIGGRAPH 2010 includes a three-day exhibition of products and services from the computer graphics and interactive marketplace from 27-29 July 2010. More than 200 international exhibiting companies are expected. More details are available at www.siggraph.org/s2010

About ACM SIGGRAPH
The ACM Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques www.siggraph.org is an interdisciplinary community interested in research, technology, and applications in computer graphics and interactive techniques. Members include researchers, developers and users from the technical, academic, business, and art communities. ACM SIGGRAPH enriches the computer graphics and interactive techniques community year-round through its conferences, global network of professional and student chapters, publications, and educational activities.

About ACM
ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery www.acm.org is the world's largest educational and scientific computing society, uniting educators, researchers and professionals to inspire dialogue, share resources and address the field's challenges. ACM strengthens the computing profession's collective voice through strong leadership, promotion of the highest standards, and recognition of technical excellence. ACM supports the professional growth of its members by providing opportunities for life-long learning, career development, and professional networking.

Disney•Pixar Executive Jim Morris Chosen as a SIGGRAPH 2010 Keynote Speaker

2010-05-24T16:41:00.000-07:00

(Chicago, IL) – ACM SIGGRAPH announces the selection of Jim Morris, General Manager and Executive Vice President of Production at Pixar Animation Studios, to give one of the keynote presentations at SIGGRAPH 2010, the 37th International Conference and Exhibition on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques.

At Pixar since 2005, Morris has worked as a producer and production executive in the motion picture industry for more than 23 years. As part of Pixar’s executive team, he has served as production executive on many of Pixar’s most successful films including “Ratatouiile,” “Up,” and the upcoming “Toy Story 3.” In 2009, he produced Disney•Pixar’s highly acclaimed, “WALL•E,” which won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature and garnered him the Producer of the Year Award in Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures from the Producer’s Guild of America. He is currently producing Disney’s much anticipated “John Carter of Mars,” which is scheduled for release in 2012.

“As an industry leader and visionary, Jim’s keynote will be one of many ‘can’t miss’ moments of SIGGRAPH 2010,” said Terrence Masson, SIGGRAPH 2010 Conference Chair from Northeastern University. “His contributions over the years have moved the industry forward in ways we never imagined. His impact will be felt for decades to come. With his breadth and depth of experiences, he truly is the epitome of this year’s underlying focus of the ‘People Behind the Pixels.’”

Prior to Pixar, Morris worked for Lucasfilm and its divisions for 17 years. He served as president of Lucas Digital Ltd. for 11 years, where he was responsible for Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), Lucasfilm Animation, and Skywalker Sound. At that time, Morris served as ILM's general manager, where he supervised a staff of more than 1,400 artists and technicians, and guided the largest visual effects facility in the entertainment industry. Under Morris’ leadership, ILM created the groundbreaking and Academy Award®-winning visual effects seen in “Jurassic Park,” “Death Becomes Her,” “Forrest Gump,” and more than 150 other films.

Morris had previously supervised all of ILM’s production, including “Terminator 2: Judgment Day,” which won an Oscar for Best Achievement in Visual Effects, “Hook,” “Star Trek VI,” “The Rocketeer,” “Backdraft,” “Die Hard 2,” and dozens of other successful film projects.

Morris first joined ILM in 1987 as a producer of visual effects for films and commercials. Among other films, Morris produced effects for James Cameron’s “The Abyss,” which also earned an Academy Award® for Best Achievement in Visual Effects, and Steven Spielberg’s “Always.”

Morris earned a B.S. degree in film from the Newhouse School, Syracuse University, and holds a M.S. in television and radio from the same institution. He has served as president of the San Francisco Film Commission and was the founding chair of the Visual Effects Society (VES). Morris is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Producers Guild.

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About SIGGRAPH 2010
SIGGRAPH 2010 will bring approximately 25,000 computer graphics and interactive technology professionals from six continents to Los Angeles, California, USA for the industry's most respected technical and creative programs focusing on research, science, art, animation, music, gaming, interactivity, education, and the web from Sunday, 25 July through Thursday, 29 July 2010 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. SIGGRAPH 2010 includes a three-day exhibition of products and services from the computer graphics and interactive marketplace from 27-29 July 2010. More than 200 international exhibiting companies are expected. More details are available at www.siggraph.org/s2010

About ACM SIGGRAPH
The ACM Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques www.siggraph.org is an interdisciplinary community interested in research, technology, and applications in computer graphics and interactive techniques. Members include researchers, developers and users from the technical, academic, business, and art communities. ACM SIGGRAPH enriches the computer graphics and interactive techniques community year-round through its conferences, global network of professional and student chapters, publications, and educational activities.

About ACM
ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery www.acm.org is the world's largest educational and scientific computing society, uniting educators, researchers and professionals to inspire dialogue, share resources and address the field's challenges. ACM strengthens the computing profession's collective voice through strong leadership, promotion of the highest standards, and recognition of technical excellence. ACM supports the professional growth of its members by providing opportunities for life-long learning, career development, and professional networking.

SIGGRAPH 2010 Emerging Technologies Range from Robotics to Human Taste Simulations

2010-05-20T12:38:00.000-07:00

SIGGRAPH 2010's Emerging Technologies presents innovations across a broad range of applications, including displays, robotics, input interfaces, vision technologies, and interactive techniques.

Presented in a combination of technologies chosen by the organizers and works selected by a jury of experts, the 22 selections came from more than 107 international submissions and will be on display and available for interaction with attendees in Los Angeles this summer.

"With every passing year, the technologies presented at SIGGRAPH become more and more astonishing," said Preston J. Smith, SIGGRAPH 2010 Emerging Technologies Chair from Laureate Institute for Brain Research. "This year is no different as conference attendees will experience first-hand the latest achievements across science, commercial, and research fields. In some instances, these technologies are making their first public appearance and are coming to SIGGRAPH directly from research labs."

Listed below are just a few highlights from the SIGGRAPH 2010 Emerging Technologies.

Acroban the Humanoid

Olivier Ly, INRIA/LaBRI; Pierre-Yves Oudeyer, INRIA

Acroban is the first humanoid robot able to demonstrate playful, compliant, and intuitive physical interaction with children while moving and walking dynamically. Also, it is able to keep its equilibrium when moving even if unpredicted physical interactions are initiated by humans.

Potential Future Use:
The system is presented in an entertainment human-robot interaction context specifically meant to engage children. In this demonstration, the robot has a range of behaviors that it combines in order to react intuitively, naturally, and creatively to uncontrolled external intervention.

A Fluid-Suspension, Electromagnetically Driven Eye with Video Capability for Animatronic Applications
Lanny Smoot, Disney Research; Katie Bassett, Yale University; Marcus Hammond, Stanford University

This compact, fluid-suspension, electromagnetically gimbaled animatronic eye requires minimal operating power, a range of motion, and saccade speeds that can exceed those of the human eye without the traditional frictional wear points.

Potential Future Use:
In a special application, the eye can be separated into a hermetically sealable portion that might be used as a human eye prosthesis, along with an extra-cranially-mounted magnetic drive.

Gesture World Technology
Kiyoshi Hoshino, Motomasa Tomida, Takanobu Tanimoto, University of Tsukuba

This technology allows people to control devices such as computers, household appliances, and robots by means of everyday gestures without using sensors or controllers, which employs the high-speed and high-accuracy computer vision technology capable of estimating the hand and arm poses captured by a compact high-speed camera.

Potential Future Use:
This technology could be applied in a wide range of areas, such as gesture-based computer operation, virtual games, remote control without a remote controller, digital archiving of artisan skills, and remote robot control.

360-degree Autostereoscopic Display
Hiroki Kikuchi, Katsuhisa Itou, Hisao Sakurai, Izushi Kobayashi, Hiroaki Yasunaga, Kazutatsu Tokuyama, Hirotaka Ishikawa, Hidenori Mori, Kengo Hayasaka, and Hiroyuki Yanagisawa, Sony Corporation

This autostereoscopic display is a compact, cylindrical display, which can show full color, high quality, volumetric, 3D images, videos, and interactive animation viewable without glasses from any angle (360 degrees).

Potential Future Use:
This display has many potential applications, such as amusement, professional visualization, digital signage, museum display, video games, and futuristic 3D telecommunication.

Meta Cookie
Takuji Narumi, The University of Tokyo; Takashi Kajinami, The University of Tokyo; Tomohiro Tanikawa, The University of Tokyo; Michitaka Hirose, The University of Tokyo

"Meta cookie" is a novel pseudo-gustation system to change perceived taste of a cookie when people eat by overlaying visual and olfactory information onto a real cookie with an augmented reality (AR) marker by using AR and olfactory display technology.

Potential Future Use:
"Meta Cookie" combines augmented reality technology and olfactory display technology. Merging these two technologies creates a revolutionary interactive gustatory display that reveals a new horizon for computer-human interaction.

In-air Typing Interface for Mobile Devices with Vibration Feedback
Takehiro Niikura, Yuki Hirobe, Alvaro Cassinelli, Yoshihiro Watanabe, Takashi Komuro, Masatoshi Ishikawa, and Atsushi Matsutani, The University of Tokyo

This vision-based 3D input interface for mobile devices does not require space on the surface of the device, other physical devices, or specific environments. Based on a camera with a wide-angle lens, it can operate in a wide 3D space.

Potential Future Use:
This device could one day replace the need for physical keyboards across all hardware.

A complete listing of all the Emerging Technologies presented this year's program is available here.

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About SIGGRAPH 2010
SIGGRAPH 2010 will bring approximately 25,000 computer graphics and interactive technology professionals from six continents to Los Angeles, California, USA for the industry's most respected technical and creative programs focusing on research, science, art, animation, music, gaming, interactivity, education, and the web from Sunday, 25 July through Thursday, 29 July 2010 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. SIGGRAPH 2010 includes a three-day exhibition of products and services from the computer graphics and interactive marketplace from 27-29 July 2010. More than 200 international exhibiting companies are expected. More details are available at www.siggraph.org/s2010

About ACM SIGGRAPH
The ACM Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques www.siggraph.org is an interdisciplinary community interested in research, technology, and applications in computer graphics and interactive techniques. Members include researchers, developers and users from the technical, academic, business, and art communities. ACM SIGGRAPH enriches the computer graphics and interactive techniques community year-round through its conferences, global network of professional and student chapters, publications, and educational activities.

About ACM
ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery www.acm.org is the world's largest educational and scientific computing society, uniting educators, researchers and professionals to inspire dialogue, share resources and address the field's challenges. ACM strengthens the computing profession's collective voice through strong leadership, promotion of the highest standards, and recognition of technical excellence. ACM supports the professional growth of its members by providing opportunities for life-long learning, career development, and professional networking.

SIGGRAPH 2010 Computer Animation Festival Preview Video Live

2010-05-18T08:25:00.001-07:00

SIGGRAPH 2010 has released a preview video for the upcoming Computer Animation Festival in Los Angeles.

Link to it or watch it here!

SIGGRAPH 2010 Technical Papers Focus on Technology and Advanced Techniques

2010-05-12T11:20:00.000-07:00

(Chicago, IL) - The SIGGRAPH 2010 Technical Papers program is the premier international forum for disseminating new scholarly work in computer graphics and interactive techniques. Topics range from a new application for browsing street-level imagery to new advancements in architecture demonstrating that curved surfaces can be just as rigid as traditional designs. A total of 390 submissions were reviewed by a distinguished panel of 49 jurors, and 103 papers were selected for presentation at SIGGRAPH 2010.

"SIGGRAPH 2010 will feature a vibrant field of technical presentations," says Tony DeRose, SIGGRAPH 2010 Technical Papers Chair from Pixar Animation Studios. "We are most excited by the extraordinary breadth of topics as well as the fascinating achievements in many fields from architecture to photography."

Papers cover core topics of computer graphics, such as modeling, animation, rendering, imaging, and human-computer interaction, and also explore related fields of audio, robotics, visualization, and perception. Presenters are from all around the globe?from Bangladesh to Switzerland.

Based upon the popularity of the program at SIGGRAPH 2009, this year?s Technical Papers program is once again expanding to include 33 conference presentations for each paper published this year in the journal ACM Transactions on Graphics (TOG). For the first time in SIGGRAPH?s history, the TOG Papers and the Technical Papers will be combined to create sessions with more coherent themes.

Listed below are a few highlights from the SIGGRAPH 2010 Technical Papers Program:

Street Slide: Browsing Street-Level Imagery
Street Slide is a novel browsing interface for street-level imagery that combines the best aspects of the immersive nature of bubbles with the overview provided by multi-perspective strip panoramas.

Authors:
Johannes Kopf, Microsoft Research Redmond
Billy Chen, Microsoft Corporation
Richard Szeliski, Microsoft Research
Michael F. Cohen, Microsoft Research

Parametric Reshaping of Human Bodies in Images
An easy-to-use image retouching system that allows users to easily reshape a human body in a single image by simply manipulating a small set of sliders corresponding to semantic attributes such as height, weight, and waist girth.

Authors:
Shizhe Zhou, Zhejiang University
Hongbo Fu, City University of Hong Kong
Ligang Liu, Zhejiang University
Daniel Cohen-Or, Tel-Aviv University
Xiaoguang Han, Zhejiang University

Video Tapestries with Continuous Temporal Zoom A novel approach for summarizing video in the form of a multi-scale image that is continuous in both the spatial domain and across the scale dimension: there are no hard borders between moments in time, and one can zoom smoothly into the image to reveal additional temporal details.

Authors:
Connelly Barnes, Princeton University
Dan Goldman, Adobe Systems Incorporated
Eli Shechtman, Adobe Systems Incorporated
Adam Finkelstein, Princeton University

The Frankencamera: An Experimental Platform for Computational Photography
Experimentation in computational photography is hindered by a lack of portable, flexible, and open photographic platforms. This paper presents Frankencamera, an architecture for programmable cameras, and demonstrates sample applications on two hardware implementations, a custom F2 camera and the Nokia N900 smartphone.

Authors:
Andrew Adams, Stanford University
Eino-Ville Talvala, Stanford University
Sung Hee Park, Stanford University
David E. Jacobs, Stanford University
Boris Ajdin, Universitдt Ulm
Natasha Gelfand, Nokia Research Center Palo Alto
Jennifer Dolson, Stanford University
Daniel Vaquero, University of California, Santa Barbara J
ongmin Baek, Stanford University
Marius Tico, Nokia Research Center Palo Alto
Hendrik P. A. Lensch, Universitдt Ulm
Wojciech Matusik, Disney Research Zьrich
Kari Pulli, Nokia Research Center Palo Alto
Mark Horowitz, Stanford University
Marc Levoy, Stanford University

Multi-Scale Image Harmonization
Compositing images that differ significantly in appearance often produces unrealistic results. This framework matches the visual appearance of images, including contrast, texture, noise, and blur, by manipulating their pyramid representations and blends them with alpha-based and seamless boundary constraints to produce highly realistic composites with minimal user interaction.

Authors:
Kalyan Sunkavalli, Harvard University
Micah K. Johnson, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Wojciech Matusik, Disney Research
Hanspeter Pfister, Harvard University

OptiX: A General Purpose Ray Tracing Engine This paper presents the design and implementation of the OptiX engine, a programmable architecture for interactive parallel ray tracing. By exposing a small set of programmable operations for ray generation, material shading, object intersection, and scene traversal, OptiX enables a diverse set of rendering and non-rendering algorithms.

Authors:
Steven Parker, NVIDIA Corporation
James Bigler, NVIDIA Corporation
Andreas Dietrich, NVIDIA Corporation
Heiko Friedrich, NVIDIA Corporation
Jared Hoberock, NVIDIA Corporation
David Luebke, NVIDIA Corporation
David McAllister, NVIDIA Corporation
Morgan McGuire, NVIDIA Corporation
R. Keith Morley, NVIDIA Corporation
Austin Robison, NVIDIA Corporation
Martin Stich, NVIDIA Corporation

A complete listing of all the papers presented in this year?s program will be available in late May at: http://www.siggraph.org/s2010/for_attendees/technical_papers

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About SIGGRAPH 2010
SIGGRAPH 2010 will bring approximately 25,000 computer graphics and interactive technology professionals from six continents to Los Angeles, California, USA for the industry's most respected technical and creative programs focusing on research, science, art, animation, music, gaming, interactivity, education, and the web from Sunday, 25 July through Thursday, 29 July 2010 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. SIGGRAPH 2010 includes a three-day exhibition of products and services from the computer graphics and interactive marketplace from 27-29 July 2010. More than 200 international exhibiting companies are expected. More details are available at http://www.siggraph.org/s2010

About ACM SIGGRAPH
The ACM Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques www.siggraph.org is an interdisciplinary community interested in research, technology, and applications in computer graphics and interactive techniques. Members include researchers, developers and users from the technical, academic, business, and art communities. ACM SIGGRAPH enriches the computer graphics and interactive techniques community year-round through its conferences, global network of professional and student chapters, publications, and educational activities.

About ACM
ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery http://www.acm.org, is the world's largest educational and scientific computing society, uniting educators, researchers and professionals to inspire dialogue, share resources and address the field's challenges. ACM strengthens the computing profession's collective voice through strong leadership, promotion of the highest standards, and recognition of technical excellence. ACM supports the professional growth of its members by providing opportunities for life-long learning, career development, and professional networking.

SIGGRAPH 2010 Media Registration Now Open

2010-05-03T10:28:00.000-07:00

SIGGRAPH 2010 in Los Angeles, 25-29 July is the best place in the world to experience the explosive evolution of computer graphics and interactive techniques. See, meet, and interact with the "People Behind the Pixels" who are creating the next wave of international excellence in research, animation, art, software, visualization, hardware, games, visual effects, and education.

Online media registration is now open. Register by 25 June to assure your spot on the media list sent to SIGGRAPH 2010 exhibitors. Please note: Even if you have qualified for a SIGGRAPH media badge in the past, you must re-qualify for SIGGRAPH 2010. For assistance with your pre-show coverage, contact: media@siggraph.org

SIGGRAPH 2010 Media Highlights include:
• Technical Papers: This year's Technical Papers program is wonderfully diverse and inspiring covering a wide range of topics including: automatic illustration, physical simulation, automatic control of humanoid characters and many more
• SIGGRAPH Dailies! celebrates excellence in computer graphics by showcasing images and short animations of extraordinary power and beauty. Approximately 60 presenters will have one minute each to loop their animations and describe their work while demonstrating the very best of computer graphics in a fun, fast format.
• Animation Clinic - in this new program, industry leaders and masters review student final projects and offer creative, production, technical, and career advice.
• Expert Panels - leading international experts gather to discuss insights and opinions across a diverse range of subjects such as Ed Catmull and Richard Chuang presenting "CS 292: The Lost Lectures Computer Graphics People and Pixels in the Past 30 Years", a historical perspective on computer graphics over the past 30 years.

For complete details on all of the dynamic content available at SIGGRAPH 2010, or to register as media for the event, visit the For Media section of the SIGGRAPH 2010 web site.

New SIGGRAPH 2010 Submission Deadline for Live Real-Time Demos

2010-04-15T11:10:00.000-07:00

Deadline Extended to 28 April 2010

Over the last many years, the role and impact of interactive and real-time graphics have grown substantially to affect SIGGRAPH attendees from film production to academia. Building on the debut of Real-Time Rendering at the 2009 Computer Animation Festival, SIGGRAPH 2010 is continuing this new and exciting addition to the conference.

Click here to check out the latest video.

SIGGRAPH 2010 is seeking cutting-edge examples of video games and real-time simulations and graphics in several categories: commercial video games, experimental or prototypes games, software applications, interactive data visualizations, and information aesthetics, among others. As long as the submission is interactively controlled and rendered in real-time, and can be repeated in front of a live audience, it will be considered. Accepted work will be demonstrated live, in real time on a PC, Macintosh, or game console. While we expect many entries will be games released in 2010, we also encourage submission of non-commercial projects such as:

*Game explorations
*Student game projects
*Mathematical or other industrial simulations
*Research projects
*Real-time art explorations
*New uses of pioneering technology
*Scientific visualizations: medical science, astrophysics, astronomy, physical science
*Interactive data visualization and/or interactive information aesthetics

For complete submission details, click here

Disney Research Unveils Technology Competition to Focus on Youth Education at SIGGRAPH 2010

2010-04-14T08:30:00.000-07:00

(Chicago, IL) – ACM SIGGRAPH announces the launch of the Learning Challenge at SIGGRAPH 2010 – an open competition sponsored by Disney Research with the goal of finding new and creative ways to use technology to make learning fun for children. Based on the principle that fun and learning should not be contradictory, teams are asked to develop an engaging, computer-based learning application that will delight, inspire, and reveal key learning concepts for children ages 7-11.

The learning application must be a layered activity that moves a child from minimal knowledge to active knowledge in one or more learning concepts via entertaining interactions on computers. The subject matter should be in the areas of math, art, science, music, or reading/writing and involve at least one of 10 key learning concepts.

“Pushing the boundaries of computer graphics and interactive techniques is a core part of SIGGRAPH,” says Terrence Masson, SIGGRAPH 2010 Conference Chair from Northeastern University. “We are thrilled that Disney Research has chosen SIGGRAPH 2010 as the location for such a noble competition with a goal improving youth education through the use of technology and creativity. We anticipate a fantastic response from both the academic and professional communities.”

The competition is open to individuals or teams (from collegiate students working with faculty advisors to working professionals) who must submit work by 7 June 2010. A complete submission includes a one-page abstract, one representative image suitable for use in promotional materials, and up to six supplementary images and/or a maximum five-minute supplementary video. The submission will be judged by a jury of industry leaders and experts.

Twenty finalists will receive travel grants of $1,500 per team and free SIGGRAPH 2010 registration. The winners will be announced 28 July at SIGGRAPH 2010 in Los Angeles and will be eligible to receive a $10,000 cash prize, Disney R&D Tours, Disney Animation Tours, and Walt Disney Studio Tours.

For complete details, visit www.learningchallenge2010.com