SIGGRAPH Mobile Presents Latest Advances in Handheld Technology

Sphero Augmented Reality: When Balls Become Beavers

Now in its second year, the SIGGRAPH Mobile program presents the latest advances in mobile technologies, graphics, and apps. In talks, workshops, panels, and demonstrations, mobile innovators from around the world explore powerful new graphics techniques, game production for handheld devices, visualizations with augmented reality, and how mobile games can help save the world's rainforests.

Lars Erik Holmquist

“We are very excited about this year's SIGGRAPH Mobile program. We are seeing a lot of innovation in graphics as well as mobile applications, and it is clear that mobile is now an established part of SIGGRAPH,” said Lars Erik Holmquist, SIGGRAPH Mobile Chair and Principal Research Scientist at Yahoo! Labs. “Some of the top companies in mobile graphics hardware will present their latest technologies, including ARM, NVIDIA, Intel, and QUALCOMM.”

According to Holmquist, some of the interesting application areas include mobile games for positive change, augmented reality for museums, and new ways to take digital photographs. There will also be workshops and talks about how to make mobile graphics and apps across many platforms. Plus, there will be a theatre group that uses iPads in live performances and a toy robot anyone can control with a mobile phone in addition to a hands-on, interactive area.

SIGGRAPH Mobile Highlights:

Challenges With High-Quality Mobile Graphics
Sam Martin, Geomerics Ltd.; Marius Bjørge, Sandeep Kakarlapudi, Jan-Harald Fredriksen, ARM Holdings, plc.

Click on image to enlarge.

This talk identifies and explores potential solutions to the challenges that exist in bringing AAA-quality graphics to mobile, including the new features exposed by OpenGL ES 3.0, the trend to high-resolution screens, and a novel "on chip" deferred-rendering technique for Mali GPUs.

Mobile Visual Computing in C++ on Android
Yun-Ta Tsai, Orazio Gallo, David Pajak, Kari Pulli, NVIDIA Research

Click on image to enlarge.

This workshop teaches the basics to get started quickly with your visual-computing project on Android using native C++ code, from setting up tools to running your first native application, and it dives into deeper topics, including computer vision with OpenCV, camera control on FCam, and performance tuning.

New Directions and Developments in Mobile GPU Design
Eric Demers, QUALCOMM Incorporated; Barthold Lichtenbelt, NVIDIA Corporation; David Blythe, Intel Corporation; Dave Shreiner, ARM Inc.; James McCombe, Imagination Technologies Limited; Anand Shimpi, AnandTech, Inc.

This panel is designed for advanced programmers who want to learn more about taking full advantage of the latest GPU design and implementations to deliver the most advanced graphics for smartphone and tablet users.

Red Ball - Performing With iPads
Marla Schweppe, Rochester Institute of Technology; Darren Stevenson, PUSH Physical Theatre

Click on image to enlarge.

PUSH Physical Theatre, a Rochester-based group, added iPads to their traditional tools of magic, mime, and movement in the performance of Red Ball.  They added five iPads to the mix, performing with graphics created by Marla Schweppe.

Social Reform Through Mobile Gaming (Seed.Genesis)
Alexis Polanco, Danielle Esmaya, Nathaniel Martin, Bradley Chun, Mateusz Mrowiec, Joseph Hewitt, New Jersey Institute of Technology

Click on image to enlarge.

Team Seed believes that mobile games provide the level of immersion required to renew society's interest in protecting our rainforests.

Sphero Augmented Reality: When Balls Become Beavers
Jonathan Carroll, Fabrizio Polo, Orbotix, Inc.

Click on image to enlarge.

The moving robot “fiducial” takes augmented reality on mobile devices to an entirely new level.

The Collaborative Composite Image, the MAG Project
Susan Lakin, David Halbstein, Rochester Institute of Technology

Click on image to enlarge.

A collaborative project involving students and faculty in the School of Photography and the 3D Digital Design Department of the School of Design at Rochester Institute of Technology with the curators of the Memorial Art Gallery (MAG) in Rochester created an augmented-reality experience using paintings from the MAG's permanent collection.