SIGGRAPH 2010 Highlights from Los Angeles

(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

(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.

Download photos from SIGGRAPH 2010 at http://www.siggraph.org/photos

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

"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 DomainSteve 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

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

**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

(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 MonkeysJ.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 PixelsRamon 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

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

(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 MapsGino 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.