SIGGRAPH Asia 2012: Bringing the World of Computer Graphics to Singapore

Singapore, December 2012 – The Singapore EXPO MAX Atria played host to SIGGRAPH Asia 2012. The conference and exhibition drew more than 4,250 attendees from 56 countries, of which 22 percent were students from educational institutions across the region. In all, 68 percent of all attendees came from outside Singapore.

"Having closed its fifth edition today, SIGGRAPH Asia has reconfirmed itself as the leading computer graphics and interactive techniques conference and exhibition in Asia Pacific," said the Chair of the SIGGRAPH Asia Conference Advisory Group, Professor Lee Yong Tsui. "While we have seen an increase in participation over past years, we expected an overall decrease for this year's edition in Singapore as compared to last year when SIGGRAPH Asia was held in Hong Kong. In terms of total numbers, North Asia, including the key markets like China and Hong Kong, Japan and Korea, draws a bigger pool of attendees for SIGGRAPH Asia but Singapore is unique because it allows us to reach out to new communities in South East Asia. This is an important segment for SIGGRAPH Asia for now and in the future. Most attendees tend to stay with us once they have experienced all the content, connections and vibes that SIGGRAPH Asia is about."

Overall, 321 presentations, talks and panels took place across all programs. Vibrant and engaging discussions on the developments, innovations and future trends of computer graphics and interactive techniques were seen by attendees from all around the world.

"Together with the introduction of a new program called Technical Briefs, SIGGRAPH Asia 2012 provided attendees with a rich set of programs and inspiring sessions that provided an enriching and fulfilling experience for everyone," said the SIGGRAPH Asia 2012 Conference Chair, Susanto Rahardja.

At the Art Gallery program, visitors were entertained by Coronado, a sound sculpture art work driven by three servo motors and a microcontroller that operates an ocean drum; The Gestus Project, a custom software presentation that searches for similar movements in video data sets; and the World Eco-tope, a project that enables the audience to feel distant country's real time weather personally, by simulating earth, plants, lighting and water circulation systems.

The Emerging Technologies submissions were as ground-breaking as they were entertaining. The Emerging Technology Prizes, awarded to novel, innovative and highly-applicable solutions to day-to-day situations went to – Second Surface, a multi-user spatial collaboration system based on augmented reality; 2x3D, a real time shader for simultaneous 2D/3D hybrid theater; ASIBO, an expression device that shifts its behavior by switching frequencies; Transparent Electro-Tactile Display for Mobile Surfaces, which introduced anelectro-tactile displays for mobile devices; FluxSketch, a sketching system that makes use of a magnetic stylus; and Flying Head, a body-synchronized robot control device for flying telepresence.

The winner of the Computer Animation Festival Best in Show Award was The People Who Never Stop by Florian Piento from Autour de Minuit Production. The winning submission told a story about a group of people who never seemed to stop, be it for better or for worse. The 2012 Computer Animation Festival Jury Award went to Oh Sheep! by Gottfried Mentor and Leonid Godik from Filmakademie-Baden-Württemberg. Oh Sheep! is a tale about two flocks of sheep searching for companionship. Their shepherds being at odds with each other, do everything to keep them apart.

"This year, we have brought the Computer Animation Festival closer towards an art festival where the technology is not really apparent," explained the Computer Animation Festival Chair, Nadia Magnenat-Thalmann. "What counts is the story, the message that is brought to the attendee. Oh Sheep! is a fantastic film rendered in a simple way but the message is very strong. The jury awarded this film the Jury Award for the message it brings to our young generation and for its simple but artistic graphics line."

Apart from the various juried conference programs, SIGGRAPH Asia also invited two featured speakers who provided their overview and insights into the trends within their field. They were the co-founder of PDI/DreamWorks Richard Chuang, and the 'Father of the MP3' Karlheinz 3 Brandenburg.

"The market for content is shifting towards the growing opportunities in Asia. The creators here have to accelerate their ability to reach out to the large community of distributed talents and develop the skills to manage, nurture and build the creative and innovative teams to compete with the creative industry from the rest of the world. The key is to value the culture and vision of each Asian culture while succeeding in entertaining the world."

Exhibition: A Convergence of the Industry, Art, Science and Technology

The SIGGRAPH Asia 2012 Exhibition brought together participants from Asia and beyond, presenting a myriad of the latest projects and technologies by Chaos Group, NVIDIA Corporation, Pixar Animation Studios, and Side Effects Software Inc., among others.

The support of the local industry was strong with exhibitors ranging from hardware and software vendors like EON Reality, IM Innovations, Veldis Experience and Voltrium Systems. They were joined by education institutes such as 3dsense Media and CG Protégé Animation. Game companies such as Red Hare Studio and Dark Potato Studios also exhibited.

Research institutions such as A*STAR – Institute for Infocomm Research, Fraunhofer IDM@NTU, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology and Visual Media Lab, KAIST showcased their latest research breakthroughs and innovations to attendees this year.

Reflective of the industry's growth, several established studios like Double Negative, Lucasfilm Singapore, Oriental DreamWorks and Pixomondo organized recruitment drives to attract the best talents. They shared works from the past years and in the coming months.

Capturing the attention of attendees was the latest collaboration between global software and visual technologies companies, Christie Digital Systems and TechViz. The Christie HoloStation was presented throughout the exhibition days at SIGGRAPH Asia 2012. Designed with TechViz XL's software, the personal visualization system can display up to 16.8 megapixels of data in stereoscopic and interactive tracked environments in a compact footprint, making it ideal for visualization in collaborative office spaces, production floors in factories and in engineering department laboratories.

SIGGRAPH Asia Returns to Hong Kong

The 6th ACM SIGGRAPH Conference and Exhibition on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques will be held in Hong Kong at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre from 19 to 22 November 2013. SIGGRAPH Asia 2013 will be chaired by Professor Wenping Wang from Hong Kong University.

SIGGRAPH Asia will continue its tradition of being the premier platform for the advancement of graphics, animation, art, and technology. Apart from maintaining its strong standing amongst the academic research community, SIGGRAPH Asia 2013 will also strengthen its foothold within related industries by adding more industry-relevant content such as Master Classes, Production Talks and Panels.

About SIGGRAPH Asia 2012

The 5th ACM SIGGRAPH Conference and Exhibition on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques in Asia will take place in Singapore at the EXPO Convention and Exhibition Centre from 28 November to 1 December 2012. This year, the line-up of conference programs will include the inaugural Technical Briefs, the continuation of the inspiring Symposium on Apps, the Art Gallery, Computer Animation Festival, Courses, Emerging Technologies, Posters, and Technical Papers. There will also be a trade exhibition from 29 November to 1 December 2012, offering participants from hardware and software vendors to studios and educational institutions a platform to market their products and services to computer graphics and interactive techniques professionals and enthusiasts from Asia and beyond.

About ACM

The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) SIGGRAPH sponsors SIGGRAPH Asia 2012. ACM is an educational and scientific society uniting the world's computing educators, researchers, and professionals to inspire dialogue, share resources and address the field's challenges. ACM strengthens the profession's collective voice through strong leadership, promotion of the highest standards, and recognition of technical excellence. ACM supports the professional growth of its members by providing opportunities for life-long learning, career development and professional networking.

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