Art Papers Chair Victoria Szabo Shares What Makes the Program and SIGGRAPH Special

SIGGRAPH 2015 Art Papers Chair Victoria Szabo explains the important role of artists and draws attention to what this unique program offers the community at large.

Reminder: Art Papers submissions are due 22:00 UTC/GMT, 27 January 2015.

What is your vision for SIGGRAPH 2015’s Art Papers program?

For 2015, the Art Papers focus is on “critical making,” which reflects the conference theme of Xroads of Discovery. We are especially interested in papers that reveal and exploit the unique affordances of emerging media forms through artistic practice. If Emerging Technology shows us what comes next technologically, Art Gallery demonstrates the creative use of those possibilities. And if the Studio offers the opportunity to explore new tools firsthand, then Art Papers document those innovations and guide us in our aesthetic and technical interpretations of digital art.

The process of critical reflection on computer-mediated artwork is relevant not only for artists, but for the whole community. Artists are often the first to see the social and cultural implications of new technologies, and can push the boundaries of technological development through their imaginative transformation of existing tools and techniques. They can also offer early warning systems for maladaptation.  This feedback loop between artists and technologists is one that SIGGRAPH nurtures.

How have you seen the Art Papers program develop in the last few years?

During the past seven years, the Art Papers program has developed into an important new venue for technically-informed conversations around media art making and critique. The SIGGRAPH community is distinctive for its combination of technical rigor and artistic excellence. Our partnership with Leonardo/ISAST for the print publication has reinforced our expectation that Art Papers speak to both the artistic and the scientific communities—and to help nurture the community of practice who consider themselves part of both worlds. Publication in our special issue of Leonardo is a professional coup for our writers, and we have continued to work to make media artists more aware of the opportunities SIGGRAPH and our Art community have to offer.

Art Papers authors are invited to join the Arts community in formal and informal gatherings.  Art Papers has also benefited from closer integration with the rest of the conference. Our papers are presented in regular conference sessions, which draw in a wider crowd than the self-identified “art” group we are nurturing. This is a tremendous benefit to everyone in that crosstalk; it enriches the discussion and provides everyone with extra stimulation for future development.

Similarly, how have you seen the role of artists develop over time?

The role of artists in the SIGGRAPH community has only grown in importance over time. While the Arts have been visible at SIGGRAPH for many years—the first Art Gallery was more than 30 years ago!—over time we have been able to establish a multi-generational community that includes some of the first innovators in the field as well as some of the latest up-and-coming practitioners. The Digital Arts Community (DAC) offers a space for everyone interested in the field, whether as a critic, an artist, a technologist, or all of the above. And that "all of the above" is what I really want to highlight.

SIGGRAPH artists are deeply engaged with theory and practice, with aesthetic exploration and computational virtuosity. The boundaries between art and science are porous, and never more so than at the bleeding edge of innovation. Whether you are watching the latest achievements in computer animation, testing out the latest haptic interface, marveling at an ingenious rendering algorithm, or admiring a complex digital installation, you are seeing that phenomenon in action. By attracting the best and brightest in this crossover field, we are witnessing firsthand the next stages in the evolution of our technoculture. For artists, SIGGRAPH is an exciting place because you can see what is happening in all these cognate fields while at the same time developing your own core interests.

What advice would you give to a first-time submitter?

First-time submitters to Art Papers should be aware that we have a diverse readership, and so they will need to be able to communicate across disciplinary boundaries. If you use specialized terms and acronyms, explain what you mean. At the same time, however, our readers are a smart bunch, and very aware of the histories and latest developments in their fields of origin. They will want and need for you to acknowledge those precedents and considerations. Some of what we are looking for are critical project write-ups. These provide an explication of the goals, design, and impact of project, as well as technical details of interest to fellow-travelers. We want to know how you are innovating with computer graphics and interactive techniques in your art (or that which you describe), and to understand where your particular intervention is taking the field. The site of innovation does not need to be expressed on every front, but we do expect a level of mastery and accomplishment throughout the work you document.

For those writing a paper with a more historical or theoretical focus, I would say again to remember the audience you are addressing, and to be sure you are telling a story or providing a framework that builds upon conversations already taking place in the field. There may occasionally be the odd work of genius that does not fit any categories yet demands to be known, but even this wonder can be presented in a way that contextualizes it for the reader. Also, be aware that we are providing an option to include a digital supplement. This can enrich the work as well.

Other than Art Papers, what are you most looking forward to at SIGGRAPH 2015?

I very much enjoy all the Art venues at SIGGRAPH—the Art Gallery, Emerging Technologies, the Studio, and the Animation Festival. The keynote is always a highlight for its scope, splendor, and chance to experience what SIGGRAPH has to offer en masse. The bookstore is always inspiring.

I also love popping into the odd panel where I have almost no idea what is being said, but yet I take away a kernel, concept, or idea that stays with me. I also enjoy meeting up with my SIGGRAPH family, and having those wonderful, wide-ranging conversations that happen when you mix up a bunch of smart people and stimulating content together.

What does your involvement with SIGGRAPH mean to you?

For me, SIGGRAPH is a place where I can express my artistic and my geeky sides all at once. Several of the recent conference themes have reflected this idea—I am Art; I am Science. And, I am lucky enough to work in a highly interdisciplinary environment at my home institution, Duke University. At work, I don’t always have the time to mingle and explore new ideas and connections. SIGGRAPH is an annual buffet of ideas and sensory treats.

This year’s conference celebrates the intersections of disciplines and the opportunity for discovery across many different areas.  How do you feel your work is inspired by other disciplines and can you share a story of when reaching outside your comfort zone led you to a new discovery?

In my day job I teach Visual and Media Studies and run a program called Information Science + Information Studies. However, I went to graduate school for Victorian Literature. My side job was in the Library, where I was asked to help think about whether the WWW might be useful for libraries (this was in the 90s). I learned HTML, helped create archives of Arthurian texts and images, and became extremely excited by the idea that otherwise inaccessible texts could be made available in digital form. (As someone who was writing a dissertation that involved reading obscure novels on microfilm—this was a heady idea.)

All the most interesting things I’ve done since then have started as things I did “on the side”—including participation in SIGGRAPH. I became interested in information visualization because I had a colleague who was teaching it and I liked the idea of revealing hidden patterns through transmediation. A couple years later, I went on to Chair the Information Aesthetics Showcase at SIGGRAPH 2009. Right now I am doing a lot of work with augmented reality applications. This somewhat inobviously grows out of work I have done with colleagues in digital mapping and virtual worlds, and reflects my desire to reconnect the virtual world with lived experience in time and space. So now I’m all excited about game design and what it can tell me about multimodal user experience design for hybrid reality systems. The connections are there, despite seeming disciplinary differences. You never know what you will discover, and what fellow travelers you might meet, when you hang out at the crossroads!

Real-Time Live! Submission Deadline Approaching

Are you an Evil Genius? Mad Scientist? Creative Computer God?

If so, we want YOU! 

The submission deadline for the Real-Time Live! program is fast approaching. Submit your work by Tuesday, 1 April, 22:00 UTC/GMT, for consideration to present at SIGGRAPH 2014!

Real-Time Live! remains the premier showcase for the most innovative and interactive real-time graphics created in the last 12 months, packaged into a diverse and fast-paced show.

We are seeking the latest examples of real-time graphics, interactions and simulations, including:

• Computer games
• Real-time art explorations
• Research projects
• Military or industrial simulations
• Interactive animation and graphics
• Scientific visualizations: medical, astrophysics, astronomy
• Interactive data visualizations and information graphics
• Armies of autonomous penguin drones with shrink-ray bowties

As long as the submission is interactively controlled, rendered in real time, and repeatable for a live audience, it WILL be considered. Accepted work is demonstrated live on stage with a PC, game console, or telepathic device.

This year, the show will be an extravaganza with a mad science noir, fun-filled fanfare, and prizes!

What are you waiting for? 

Submit your work today!

We are looking forward to all of your submissions. Please contact the Real-Time Live! Chair if you have any questions about presentation opportunities at SIGGRAPH 2014.

Q&A with SIGGRAPH 2012 Games Chair Naty Hoffman

Naty Hoffman - the 2012 Games Chair

Following is a brief conversation with Naty Hoffman, the SIGGRAPH 2012 Games Chair and Technical Director at Activision, regarding games and SIGGRAPH 2012. Please check back later this week for an article summarizing all the game industry content at SIGGRAPH 2012.

How does games content fit into SIGGRAPH and what are the can’t-miss sessions for this year?

Games are a core SIGGRAPH constituency, just like animation, VFX, fine arts, and research. As such, game content can be found in all the SIGGRAPH programs. There is a lot of great games industry content this year - please check out the full list. If I had to pick just one or two key sessions from each program, I would mention the "Advances in Real-TIme Rendering" Course, the "Game Worlds" and "Surf and Turf" Talk sessions, Ninja Theory's Production Session on "DmC Devil May Cry: Breathing Life Into Video Games", the "Battle for Motion-Controlled Gaming and Beyond" Panel, the "Big Game" Studio Talk session, the "VFX for Games: Pre-Baked Destruction" and "Building a Game Level" Studio Workshops and the SIGGRAPH Dailies! and Real-Time Live! sessions. 

Given the increasing convergence between the industries, I also recommend that game industry attendees check out some of the amazing and relevant content from the film industry, such as courses on cinematography and matte painting presented by legends in their respective fields, as well as Talks and Production Sessions by companies such as Dreamworks, ILM, and Pixar.

What are your thoughts on the growth of casual and mobile gaming, particularly as it relates to the new SIGGRAPH Mobile program?
Casual and mobile gaming are an immense growth area and we have been making special efforts (such at the Mobile Symposium) to bring related content to the conference. I hope we will continue to see more content in these areas at future SIGGRAPHs.

What do you think is the next big technology that will be featured in mainstream games? In your opinion, what is the key to next-gen success for console gaming?
While cutting-edge technology will always be a big part of game development, I feel that the next generation will bring a renewed emphasis on the importance of art - supporting talented artists with solid and powerful tools, workflows and best practices will be no less (and probably more) important than having the latest whiz-bang engine feature.

The industry has been buzzing about free-to-play games recently. How do you think this will affect game development? 
I think it's always good to have new ways to reach customers and fund development, though I believe that the traditional models will continue to thrive for a while yet.

SIGGRAPH 2012 Showcasing Advancements in Real-Time Graphics

SIGGRAPH Real-Time Live! is the premiere showcase for the latest trends and techniques for pushing the boundaries of interactive visuals. A series of 10 international jury-selected submissions will be presented in a fast-paced, 90-minute show of cutting-edge, aesthetically stimulating real-time work at SIGGRAPH 2012, 5-9 August at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

“As the momentum behind real-time photorealism accelerates, Real-Time Live! 2012 presents multiple projects pushing human character performance alongside physically based lighting and shading techniques,” said Jason RM Smith, Real-Time Live! Director and Digital Production Supervisor at LucasArts. “The show retains a strong breadth of diversity with breakdowns of an  audio-driven procedural graphics engine, an augmented reality gesture-based control solution, proprietary and commercial rendering engines, and a number of unreleased games titles.”

Pulling from a range of industries, this year’s selected submissions showcase the latest advances in real-time graphics; much of the content has never been displayed before and is exclusive to SIGGRAPH 2012.

SIGGRAPH 2012 Real-Time Live! Highlights:

Uncharted 3 Visual Effects
Mohammed Ikram, Naughty Dog


For Uncharted 3, Naughty Dog tackled the challenge of rendering multiple environmental effects, such as fire, water, and sand in the game set pieces. The biggest challenge was delivering high-quality visual effects in real time while keeping the strict cinematographic and artistic style of the game.

Unreal Engine 4 Elemental
Paul Oliver, Epic Games, Inc.


Developed by Epic Games, Elemental is the first real-time demonstration showcasing its next-generation Unreal Engine 4 technology. The demo presents rendering features utilizing DirectX 11 hardware. It takes per-pixel deferred shading to the next level: energy-conserving specular highlights from area lights and shadowed reflections from emissive materials creating area lights with shadowing, dynamic global illumination that affects both opaque and translucent materials, glossy surfaces that feature accurate reflections, subsurface scattering, and deferred decals. All lighting is complemented by the new GPU-accelerated particle simulation and the new post-processing pipeline.

Star Wars 1313
Lutz Latta and Roger Cordes, LucasArts

Star Wars 1313 delivers a cinematic experience by bringing traditional film techniques to real-time. Full-body performance-capture digitizes an actor’s appearance with complete body and facial realization; physically-based materials and lighting are calibrated to match the real world with indirect illumination and soft shadows. Visual effects model light emission, transmission, and scattering, allowing realistic fire, smoke, and particles to provide the gritty feel of the Coruscant underworld.

The compelling cinematic feel is completed with a number of post-process effects that simulate the behavior of real-world cameras. Star Wars 1313 is an integrated development that brings together great artists across the Lucasfilm organization, including LucasArts, Industrial Light & Magic, Lucasfilm Animation Ltd. and Skywalker Sound.

View the full list of this year’s presentations at Real-Time Live! 2012.

Q&A with SIGGRAPH 2012 Real-Time Live! Chair - Jason RM Smith

Jason RM Smith, SIGGRAPH RTL! Chair

Following below is a brief conversation with Jason RM Smith, SIGGRAPH 2012  Real-Time Live! (RTL!) Chair and Digital Production Supervisor at LucasArts. 

Real-Time Live! is the premiere showcase for the latest trends and techniques for pushing the boundaries of interactive visuals. As part of the Computer Animation Festival, an international jury selected submissions from a diverse array of industries to create a fast-paced show of cutting-edge, aesthetically stimulating real-time work.

Here is the link to this year's content.

Why is SIGGRAPH's Real-Time Live! (RTL!) program relevant?

Real-time graphics is a growth engine of almost all CG-based industries and many other industries that embrace computer graphics anywhere in their process.  We see techniques running in real time now that were only recently being pioneered into a pre-rendered pipeline; the progress is staggering.

Ultimately real-time graphics allow creatives to be creative faster; improving iteration speeds by hundreds, thousands, sometimes tens-of-thousands of times, drastically driving up quality and reducing costs.  Looking at where the show has come—in five short years, it’s clear the pace is picking up; it’s hard to imagine what RTL! will look like in a few years from now, let alone another five.

How has your role changed this year in comparison to last year?

Last year involved outreach across industries, establishing a sub-committee and building recognition around the show.  This year has been more focused on evolving the show to be able to support the most cutting-edge work available.  It’s more of a challenge from a logistical standpoint; we have presentations requiring prototype hardware and complex machine configurations in addition to bleeding edge software builds.  More risk, but considerably more reward; there’s no doubt it’s what SIGGRAPH attendees expect and it makes for a much more exciting show.

Is there content that would appeal to both novice and expert?

One of the strongest and most unique pieces of the show is the format – it really helps ensure every project is accessible.  It’s informal; no slides – just the artists and engineers with their projects breaking down their approach and techniques used in creating the work.  When the presenters get technical, there are relevant and interesting visuals on screen supporting the dialogue; in terms of content delivery, RTL! is  as practical as it gets.

We have 10 pieces showing this year and have doubled the length of presenter time from four to eight minutes each.  It will make a difference to the depth of each talk but still allows us to cover a good number of projects.

Here's the video of highlights from 2011:

Any trends in RTL! content this year?

Yes!  The next generation of rendering engines, both commercial and proprietary, are really making a big play this year – we had so many strong game technology submissions that they could have filled their own show.

Then there are the projects built from the technology; we actually received more entries for unreleased games this year than released titles - another first.  I think it goes to show we’re really at a transitional point in the games industry right now as the hardware and software progression enables a very noticeable jump in visual fidelity.

To complement the heavy games focus, we received a number of real-time movies alongside a wide range of unusual, thought-provoking and entertaining projects like Beauty: Real-Time Visuals and the augmented reality gesture-based project, Arcade.

Switching gears a little, did the selection of Jane McGonigal as keynote speaker surprise you?

Not at all!  Jane’s knowledge, passion, and drive epitomize everything SIGGRAPH represents – she’s the perfect keynote. I’m planning on getting there early, because it’s going to fill up quick.

Do you share her philosophies about the potential for game development/gaming to solve real-world problems?

Absolutely; humans have been using games to solve problems for many years.  It is well proven that learning through an enjoyable experience is significantly more productive, and we achieve more through competition than without it.  There is definitely still work to be done, but Jane makes a very compelling case that it can be done— and it’s more a question of when.  Original thinkers with contagious attitudes, like Jane, are catalysts to make things happen.  The more people are aligned with this way of thinking, the sooner we’ll see previously unimaginable, world-changing results.  I’m on board!

So, to round up… how does the SIGGRAPH RTL! program differ from things like GDC and E3? What more does it have to offer?

There’s a number of differences, the first being the diversity and breadth of content.

RTL! accepts submissions from any area of research or industry.  This means we see incredible, 100-million dollar commercial projects and amazing independent, solo projects from completely different industries side-by-side on stage.  The breadth and quantity of submissions ensures there are always world-exclusive showcases for interesting and groundbreaking projects.

The second reason speaks to SIGGRAPH’s roots around sharing knowledge.

RTL! allows the project creators to present their tricks, techniques, and solutions with peers from all areas of computer graphics, and probably even beyond CG.  Last year we had a line of attendees speaking to the presenters after the show; there was a great buzz.  SIGGRAPH has always felt like a community, and like many other programs, RTL! carries the same vibe with the underlying goal of sharing knowledge.  It’s the cross-over with education, research, and many types of industries, both on-stage and with the attendees, that makes it unique.

Finally, what newsworthy / big announcements are you excited about with this year's content?

World exclusives!  Never-before-seen footage and breakdowns from a number of huge titles and technology projects, including Square-Enix, LucasArts, Epic Games, and Unigine to name a few.

RTL! provides the first opportunity to peek behind the curtain on these new projects – it’s fantastic that these studios and individuals are being so open and forthcoming with new intellectual property, ideas, and techniques. It’s a genuine privilege and very exciting to have them on stage at SIGGRAPH 2012.