SIGGRAPH Releases Technical Papers Preview Video

The SIGGRAPH Technical Papers program is the premier international forum for disseminating new scholarly work in computer graphics and interactive techniques. Here's the latest preview of the amazing 2013 technical papers content. To review more content, click here.

SIGGRAPH 2013 Technical Papers Preview

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The SIGGRAPH 2013 Technical Papers program is the premier international forum for disseminating new scholarly work in computer graphics and interactive techniques. The 40th International Conference and Exhibition on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques, 21-25 July 2013 at the Anaheim Convention Center in California, received submissions from around the globe and features high quality and never before seen scholarly work. Submitters are held to extremely high standards in order to qualify.

Marc Alexa

“Computer Graphics is a dynamic and ever-changing field in many ways,” says Marc Alexa, SIGGRAPH 2013 Technical Papers Chair from Technische Universität Berlin. “The range of ground-breaking papers presented at SIGGRAPH is getting broader every year, now also encompassing 3D printing, and fabricating realistic materials as well as generating ever more realistic images of complex phenomena.”

SIGGRAPH accepted 115 technical papers (out of 480 submissions) to showcase this year representing an acceptance rate of 24 percent (one percent higher than 2012). The selected papers were chosen by a distinguished committee of academia and industry experts.

This year's Technical Papers program also includes conference presentations for 37 papers published this year in the journal ACM Transactions on Graphics (TOG).

Highlights From the SIGGRAPH 2013 Technical Papers Program:

OpenFab: A Programmable Pipeline for Multi-Material Fabrication
Authors: Kiril Vidimce, Szu-Po Wang, Jonathan Ragan-Kelley and Wojciech Matusik, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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This paper proposes a programmable pipeline, inspired by RenderMan, for synthesis of multi-material 3D printed objects. The pipeline introduces user-programmable fablets, a corollary to procedural shaders for 3D printing, and is designed to stream over arbitrary numbers of voxels with a fixed and controllable memory footprint.

Opacity Optimization for 3D Line Fields
Authors: Tobias Günther, Christian Roessl, and Holger Theisel, Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg

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For visualizing dense line fields, this method selects lines by view-dependent opacity optimizations and applies them to real-time free navigation in flow data, medical imaging, physics, and computer graphics.

AIREAL: Interactive Tactile Experiences in Free Air
Authors: Rajinder Sodhi, University of Illinois; Ivan Poupyrev, Matthew Glisson, Ali Israr, Disney Research, The Walt Disney Company

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AIREAL is a tactile feedback device that delivers effective and expressive tactile sensations in free air, without requiring the user to wear a physical device. Combined with interactive graphics and applications, AIREAL enables users to feel virtual objects, experience free-air textures and receive haptic feedback with free-space gestures.

Bi-Scale Appearance Fabrication
Authors: Yanxiang Lan, Tsinghua University; Yue Dong, Microsoft Research Asia; Fabio Pellacini, Sapienza Universita’ Di Roma, Dartmouth College; Xin Tong, Microsoft Research Asia

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A system for fabricating surfaces with desired spatially varying reflectance, including anisotropic ones, and local shading frames.

Map-Based Exploration of Intrinsic Shape Differences and Variability
Authors: Raif Rustamov, Stanford University; Maks Ovsjanikov, École Polytechnique; Omri Azencot, Mirela Ben-Chen, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology; Frederic Chazal, INRIA Saclay - Île-de-France; and Leonidas Guibas, Stanford University

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A novel formulation of shape differences, aimed at providing detailed information about the location and nature of the differences or distortions between the shapes being compared. This difference operator is much more informative than a scalar similarity score, so it is useful in applications requiring more refined shape comparisons.

Highly Adaptive Liquid Simulations on Tetrahedral Meshes
Authors: Ryoichi Ando, Kyushu University; Nils Thuerey, ScanlineVFX GmbH; and Chris Wojtan, Institute of Science and Technology Austria

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This new method for efficiently simulating fluid simulations with extreme amounts of spatial adaptivity combines several key components to produce a simulation algorithm that is capable of creating animations at high effective resolutions while avoiding common pitfalls like inaccurate boundary conditions and inefficient computation.

Editor's Note: Preview all the amazing SIGGRAPH 2013 Technical Papers here.

SIGGRAPH 2013 Computer Animation Festival and Real-Time Live! Deadlines Approaching

SIGGRAPH 2013, taking place 21-25 July in Anaheim, California, seeks cutting-edge content for computer graphics and interactive techniques across several areas. The deadline for two of the most notable features of the conference, Computer Animation Festival and Real Time Live! is 5 March 2013 (22:00 UTC/GMT). Only finished works will be considered for inclusion, and all submissions must be uploaded at final resolution.

The SIGGRAPH Computer Animation Festival is the world's most innovative exploration of computer-generated animation and visual effects. The four-day, international event is a glimpse into the most talented technical and artistic minds of the industry. 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.

The festival accepts Computer Animation Festival submissions in 10 distinct categories:

•    Computer Animation Shorts
•    Music Videos
•    TV and Web Commercials
•    Visualizations and Simulations
•    Student Projects
•    Animated Feature Films
•    Visual Effects for Short Films and TV Programs
•    Visual Effects for Live-Action Feature Films
•    Real-Time Graphics
•    Miscellaneous

Real-Time Live! is the premier showcase for the most innovative and interactive real-time graphics created in the last 12 months. 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 a PC or game console. 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 a PC or game console in front of an audience. The result is an entertaining, informative, and engaging experience. 

Submission examples of real-time graphics and simulations, 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

Information must be submitted by the March 5 deadline. For more information on how to properly submit, visit the Computer Animation Festival or Real-Time Live! websites.

SIGGRAPH 2013 Computer Animation Festival Seeks Cutting-Edge Content

Artist Meats Meier recently completed this year's version of "Animation Mother",

Celebrating its 40th year, the world’s most innovative exploration of computer-generated animation and visual effects will be on display at SIGGRAPH 2013 in Anaheim, California this summer. The four-day, international event (21-25 July) spotlights the most prestigious innovators of technical and artistic short films. The festival showcases everything from student films to blockbuster visual effects and mainstream commercials.

Furthermore, 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.

“As a qualifying venue for the Academy Awards, our jury judges on various criteria including the quality of technical submissions, creativity, and the art of storytelling,” said Jason R.M. Smith, SIGGRAPH 2013 Computer Animation Festival Director from LucasArts.  “And we encourage submissions from a wide variety of sources whether you are a global studio, a small start-up, or a student team, there is a place for you at SIGGRAPH.” 

The festival accepts submissions in 10 distinct categories:

• Computer Animation Shorts
• Music Videos
• TV and Web Commercials
• Visualizations and Simulations
• Student Projects
• Animated Feature Films
• Visual Effects for Short Films and TV Programs
• Visual Effects for Live-Action Feature Films
• Real-Time Graphics
• Miscellaneous

Stereo 3D work will be considered and can be entered in any of the above categories. Shot breakdowns to fully illustrate the amount of CG work involved in photo-real submissions are encouraged.

All entries must be uploaded by 5 March 2013 (22:00 UTC/GMT). Only finished works will be considered for inclusion, and all submissions must be uploaded at final resolution.

View detailed information on how to submit Computer Animation Festival content.

SIGGRAPH Computer Animation Festival 2012 Preview Video Is Now Live

The SIGGRAPH Computer Animation Festival is the annual festival for the world's most innovative, accomplished, and amazing digital film and video creators. An internationally recognized jury receives hundreds of submissions and presents the best work of the year in daily Festival Screenings and the Electronic Theater. Selections include outstanding achievements in time-based art, scientific visualization, visual effects, real-time graphics, and narrative shorts. Here is this year's preview video:

SIGGRAPH 2012 Computer Animation Festival Trailer

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 year’s 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.

Interesting statistics from this year's amazing content:

• Total Juried Submissions – 601
• Student Entries – 289
• Jury Selections – 81  
• Total Computer Animation Festival Selected Entries – 370+
• Number of Countries Represented – 43 

The Festival is open to the public and a one day pass is available for $50 [includes access to Birds of a Feather, Computer Animation Festival, Exhibitor Tech Talks, Keynote Speaker, Job Fair, Real-Time Live!, SIGGRAPH Dailies!, Technical Papers Fast Forward, and the Exhibition (Tues-Thurs)].

SIGGRAPH 2012 takes place 5-9 August in Los Angles, California. Visit the SIGGRAPH 2012 website to learn more.