SIGGRAPH 2014 to Demo Latest Real-Time Advancements

Destruction Sequences in "Call of Duty: Ghosts" (see below for description)

The SIGGRAPH 2014 Real-Time Live! program will present a 90-minute show of the most cutting-edge real-time work from the past year. Real-Time Live! is part of the Computer Animation Festival and is the premier showcase for the latest trends and techniques for pushing the boundaries of interactive visuals.

"For one night only, SIGGRAPH attendees will enjoy a unique and fast-paced display of the most innovative real-time techniques for interactive systems and computer graphics,” said Nicolas Gonzalez, SIGGRAPH 2014 Real-Time Live! Chair from Deloitte Consulting. "Our international jury truly outdid itself as this year's show is mind-boggling with fascinating advancements that we cannot wait to show off."

The 2014 Real-Time Live! program will take place on Tuesday, 12 August at 5:30 p.m. PST in the West Building of the Vancouver Convention Centre. Each live presentation lasts less than 10 minutes and is presented by the original artists and engineers. As an added bonus, the 2014 Real-Time Live! program includes presentations from the Augmented/Virtual Reality Contest finalists, a brand-new conference event.

For more information on Real-Time Live! and the Augmented/Virtual Reality Contest, visit s2014.siggraph.org. Tickets to Real-Time Live! are available at the Full and Select Conference registration levels and start at $230 USD.

SIGGRAPH 2014 Real-Time Live! Highlights:

Destruction Sequences in "Call of Duty: Ghosts"
Presenters: David Johnson, Alessandro Nardini, Infinity Ward

In an effort to raise the bar for destruction sequences in a real-time game engine, non-localized particles, "instant pop," low density, generic fracturing, and more were identified and addressed through several artistic techniques and technical advancements for "Call of Duty: Ghosts".

NVIDIA FlameWorks: Real-Time Fire Simulation
Presenters: Simon Green, Nuttapong Chentanez, Aron Zoellner, Johnny Costello, Kevin Newkirk, Dane Johnston, NVIDIA Corporation

FlameWorks is the first system to bring cinema-quality volumetric fire, smoke, and explosion effects to real-time graphics. The demo simulates and renders more than 32 million voxels per frame, at around 30 frames per second.

Real-Time Animation of Cartoon Character Faces
Presenters: Emiliano Gambaretto, Charles Piña, Mixamo, Inc.

This live demo allows a viewer to stand in front of a webcam and animate a 3D character in real time. The video stream is processed by Mixamo Face Plus proprietary technology, the facial expression of the user is extracted, and the emotional facial information is transferred to the 3D character.

AR/VR Contest Deadline Extended to 25 June - DK2s Added as Prizes

A scene from last year's Real-Time Live!

SIGGRAPH 2014 is conducting an augmented reality - virtual reality contest in order to showcase the best augmented/virtual reality experiences to date.  The contest is open to anyone interested in augmented/virtual reality: researchers, students, hobbyists, and professionals. Contestants can use any software and hardware they choose.

Up to three finalists will be selected to demonstrate their technology at SIGGRAPH 2014, during Real-Time Live! The winning team will then be announced from the Real-Time Live stage!

All finalists will also have the opportunity to demonstrate their system to attendees during SIGGRAPH 2014's new networking event "Appy Hour," Wednesday, 13 August, 5:30-7:30 pm.

Oculus VR is on board to provide DK2s to the top-three finalists, with one of them being signed for the grand prize. The DK2 is the latest development kit for the Oculus Rift that allows developers to build amazing games and experiences for the consumer Oculus Rift. 

The new deadline to submit is 25 June 2014.

For more information and to submit your work to the contest, click here.

SIGGRAPH 2014 Announces New Augmented Reality - Virtual Reality Contest

A scene from last year's Real-Time Live!

SIGGRAPH 2014 is conducting an augmented reality - virtual reality contest in order to showcase the best augmented/virtual reality experiences to date.  The contest is open to anyone interested in augmented/virtual reality: researchers, students, hobbyists, and professionals. Contestants can use any software and hardware they choose.

Up to three finalists will be selected to demonstrate their technology at SIGGRAPH 2014, during Real-Time Live! The winning team will then be announced from the Real-Time Live stage!

All finalists will also have the opportunity to demonstrate their system to attendees during SIGGRAPH 2014's new networking event "Appy Hour," Wednesday, 13 August, 5:30-7:30 pm.

The deadline to submit is 20 June 2014.

For more information and to submit your work to the contest, click here.

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.

SIGGRAPH 2013 Showcases the Latest Real-Time Developments

Real-Time Live! is the premier showcase for the latest trends and techniques for pushing the boundaries of interactive visuals. As part of the Computer Animation Festival, an international jury selects submissions from a diverse array of industries to create a fast-paced, 90-minute show of cutting-edge, aesthetically stimulating real-time work.

"Celebrating its 5th Anniversary, Real-Time Live! 2013 is a can't miss, one night only event at SIGGRAPH," said Abe Wiley, Real-Time Live! Chair from AMD.  "This year's show is as diverse as ever and attendees will have their minds blown by live, interactive demonstrations of the latest advancements in photorealistic facial animation, medical visualization, crowd simulation, hair rendering, massive destruction, real-time cinematics, and more!"

Each live presentation lasts less than 10 minutes, and is presented by the artists and engineers who produced the work.

SIGGRAPH 2013 Real-Time Live! Highlights:

Digital Ira: High-Resolution Facial Performance Playback
Graham Fyffe, USC Institute for Creative Technologies; Jorge Jimenez, Activision, Inc.; Oleg Alexander, Jay Busch, Paul Graham, Borom Tunwattanapong, Koki Nagano, Ryosuke Ichikari, Paul Debevec, Andrew Jones, USC Institute for Creative Technologies; Javier von der Pahlen; Etienne Danvoye; Bernardo Antoniazzi; Michael Eheler; Zbynek Kysela, Activision, Inc.; Curtis Beeson; Steve Burke; Mark Daly, NVIDIA Corporation

Video performance capture drives a facial blendshape model made from high-resolution facial scans that are compressed and realistically rendered in a reproducible game-ready pipeline designed for current-generation PCs and next-generation consoles.

Butterfly Effect
Renaldas Zioma, Unity Technologies

Butterfly Effect is a real-time-rendered short developed in a collaboration among Unity Technologies, Passion Pictures, and NVIDIA. During development, many traditional offline CG techniques were adopted for real-time rendering: physically based shading, Catmull-Clark subdivision, texture-space diffusion for subsurface scattering, pyroclastic noise-based volumetric effects, etc.

Unreal Engine 4 Infiltrator Demonstration
Dana Cowley, Brian Karis, Epic Games, Inc.

Infiltrator, Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 4 real-time demonstration, presents high-end rendering features including physically based materials and lighting, full-scene HDR reflections, advanced GPU particle simulation, adaptive detail with artist-programmable tessellation and displacement, dynamically lit particles that emit and receive light, and thousands of dynamic lights with tiled deferred shading.

Square
Thomas Mann, Still; Daniel Szymanski; Andreas Rose, Framefield GmbH; Wolf Budgenhagen, Still

Square is a Demoscene project that harnesses the power of mandel-box-fractals and real-time raymarching to create a series of stunningly beautiful, ever-changing, procedural environments.  The cinematic experience is set to music by Wright and Bastard, but the true power of the techniques are exposed by hooking up a LEAP controller to the custom Tool2 software to allow for camera control and dynamic interaction with the fractals.