SIGGRAPH 2008 Blog - Sunday, August 10, 2008
Got your Press Pass?

 

 

Ah, the day before the big bad Siggraph 2008. I spent most of my Sunday reviewing my schedule and getting my press pass all ready to go. Since it’s taking place at the convention center in downtown Los Angeles and I live in North Hollywood (the “Valley”), I’ll be taking the new metro subway downtown. Check-in for the press is from 5-7PM today, so my partner, Lisa, and I thought we take a test run of the subway and see how long it would take. I’ve been a big fan of the subway since it opened a few years ago and try to take it as often as I can. So, we parked at the lot and bought a day pass, then hopped on the train to downtown. Compared to the subway in New York, these are a dream. It even smells decent.

25 minutes later and one transfer we were walking into the huge convention center in search of room #301. After a very long walk, we found the check-in area and, surprisingly, I had my press package and my badge in about 5 minutes. Damn, this place is organized. Since I had pre-registered a month ago, there was no need for me to fill out all the forms and provide proof that I am actually a journalist, which several of the people in line were doing. But the women who ran the check in booth (why is it always women who run these things so well?) made it easy for everyone, so there was no stress. Siggraph management has obviously honed this down to a science.

I did have to fill out a special form in order to take pictures and film at the event, and there were many restrictions on where and how I could film. But, I plan on being very careful about filming, so I should be able to come up with some nice recordings, stills and a little bit of film. The real focus is on the events and people. That’s what I’m here for.

We then set up my partner’s laptop (she’s loaning it to me for the week) and check the wifi at the convention center. Bling! It popped right up and after a few clicks I was typing in renderosity.com and checking the forum. Nice job, Siggraph!

We wandered around a bit after that; checking out the north and west buildings and eavesdropping on conversations we heard as we walked by booths and rooms that were being set up for the week. A surprising amount of people were present, all with looks of wonder (and occasional boredom) on their faces. There were lots and lots of cell phones and laptops in use all around me. I had a long look at the Siggraph store (reminding myself to be sure and buy a t-shirt) and at the bookstore (not quite open yet). Ed Catmull, one of the keynote speakers, is having a signing for his book, To Infinity and Beyond! on Tuesday afternoon. I quickly made a mental note to find the time to buy the book and stop by to have it signed. After reading the Pixar Touch (see my review here a month ago), I very much want to shake Mr. Catmull’s hand. What an amazing career he’s had.

And then it’s back home to write this on the laptop (not quite used to the keyboard yet), organize my papers and go over the schedule for tomorrow. I’m very interested in this event. I plan on attending some classes, interview interesting people, take some photos, watch cutting-edge demos and film screenings and meet as many people as I can. My sincere thanks to Nick and the gang at Renderosity for making it possible for me to be here.

You’ll be able to follow my experiences each day via this blog. So, stay tuned! I can’t wait to get started.

P.S.

6AM? Wait..I have to get up at 6AM to catch the train by 7AM? Oh, man, this is going to be tough…

SIGGRAPH 2008 Blog - Monday, August 11, 2008

Monday Schedule:

• 8:00 AM Media Room: Coffee & Review Schedule
• 8:30-12:15 Festival Talk: "Process of Animation" w/Frank Guthrie
• 1:30-3:30 “Keynote: Ed Catmull of Pixar”
• 3:45 -4:30 3d for Gaming and Alternative Media” w/Neil Schneider & Mark Rein
• 4:30 –5PM “Ed Catmull book signing”
• 5:00 –5:30 “Re-cap/Review Notes in Media Room”

The first day of Siggraph08 was more than I expected...and then some. I've been to a lot of large scale conventions before, but I don't think I've ever attended one as well organized and as exciting as Siggraph. I suppose the only thing that was not enjoyable was standing in line, although since I am a people watcher and an eavesdropper it actually wasn't so bad. The crowds were huge, but they were so well-managed and well-behaved that it really wasn't a problem. I'd just forgotten how well attended this event was going to be.

 

 

I'm not usually an early riser, but I was up before the alarm went off and out the door too early to think about. The subway was an easy 25 minute ride with the “Lost Highway” soundtrack to fill up the time as I thought about the day ahead of me. I had a kind of revelation on the way into the Convention that was only confirmed by the day's events. I realized that I want to work professionally in computer graphics and that I was coming to Siggraph not only to report for Renderosity, but to find inspiration and perhaps some guidance for my new career. I'd been thinking about it for months, but it was only on the subway ride in with Bowie crying out, “cruise me, cruise me, cruise me, baby”, that it became crystal clear to me what I wanted to do. I'm glad it came to me on Monday morning instead of on Friday afternoon!

Arriving too early for the Media room to be open, I checked my email on my laptop and caught up on the days news. Eventually, I got into the lounge, and after a much needed cup of coffee, I got my schedule out and immediately decided to change it. The “Process of Animation” sounded much better to me than going to a Siggraph “orientation”, so I headed over to West Hall (the Convention has two huge buildings, South Hall and the West Hall) following a growing stream of people. Everything is marked so well, it was no problem finding the large room (200+ seats). I got settled in and immediately realized I had forgotten to bring paper to take notes (sigh). Using the back of some fliers I had picked up in the Media room, I took notes for approximately three hours while Frank Guthrie from Nickelodeon gave a class/talk in what really amounted to lessons in how to use Photoshop for Storyboards.

Frank is a funny, smart guy who used some pretty cool tech to project his Mac Book Pro and his huge, flat monitor. He covered the basics of Animation production, but really spent most of his time on Photoshop. Surprisingly, he said that Nickleodeon basically used Photoshop for all of their storyboard creation. He emphasized the used of “actions” and “brushes” to reduce the work time for storyboard artists. He also pointed out that Nickelodeon wouldn't even consider hiring anyone who didn't know Photoshop well. It made me want to learn the program on a much deeper level. He thought it was ironic that a program built to alter/re-touch photos is being used as an animation tool.

Frank's talk was rambling a bit towards the end. That and the intensely cold air-conditioning caused some people to leave early, but I was very taken by his talk. He wasn't able to cover the actual “animatic” part of his talk, but promised that he would make available a video + additional materials in a month or so via the Siggraph website.

 

 

After thawing out in the sun a bit, I decided to skip lunch (bad idea) and get in line for the big Ed Catmull Keynote address. I'm glad I did because the crowd was five times the size of the previous talk. I guess around 300 people stood in line in front of the large hall for about 40 minutes. As we were let in and everyone ran for a good seat, I heard a young woman behind me say, “Wow! It's like coming to see a rock star.” I chuckled and under my breath said, “You're right. It is.”

While waiting for the talk to begin, I struck up a conversation with a young man sitting next to me. His name was Ankit Gupta. A doctoral candidate in 3d technology (I forget the exact term), he had been sent by the University of Washington for the week and was there because he admired Ed Catmull and wanted to hear what he had to say. I taped a brief interview with him, but unfortunately a technical problem with my recording device ruined all of my recordings for the day. My apologies to Ankit. But I did get a nice picture.

 

 

I was impressed with Ankit's goals; he wants to “develop 3d technology to help people”, he said. Talking to him and listening to the brief speeches of several award winners handed out before the Keynote address made me realize that computer graphics are much more pervasive than I realized. Maneesh Agrawala, Ken Perlin and Stephen Spencer all won awards for significant achievements in their respective fields. Ken Perlin's speech was particularly exciting and thought-provoking. His final sentence, “to fight against the world's foolish belief that art and science are separate disciplines” just took the air out of the room, I thought. Bravo!

Ed Catmull was introduced to the sound of wild rock guitar music (another “rock star” reference, I suppose) and spoke for the better part of an hour on a topic he had obviously put a great deal of thought into: “Managing the Creative Environment”. But, like the earlier talk, his subject was more focused than that. He was really talking about the history of Pixar and it's people. While Ed appeared frail at times, there was no missing the passionate intensity of his ideas. Three or four separate monitors showed him in hi-def, but I got the feeling you could have taken the mic and cameras away and he still would have been effective.

 

 

I won't go into detail here, as I plan on writing a separate entry on Ed's speech, but I will say that he centered his comments around his response to a high-level level Hollywood studio head's comment that “our central problem is not finding good people, but finding good ideas”. So, it's a question I ask you, dear reader, what do you think about this comment? True? Ed Catmull kept us in suspense about the answer for almost an hour.

After that incredible speech, it was hard to want to see anything else (the A/C was a lot better, too). But, I raced over to catch the “3d for Gaming and New Media” talk after waiting in line for 20 minutes (why did I “race” over?). I've been interested in 3d ever since I saw “Ghost House” in the fall, which was the best 3d movie I have ever seen. After being given a quick history of 3d in gaming (what happened to the “new media”?) and a bit of a sales pitch, Mark Rein, the head of Epic came on and gave us all a treat.

We were given light, 3d glasses when we came in and after Mark told us all to put the glasses on, the lights went down and we watched him play Unreal 3D! This was an exclusive, never presented to the public kind of thing and we were all knocked out by the quality of the 3d. After about 10 minutes of play he answered a few questions and then had to shut down for the next talk. Too bad, because I could have stayed and listened to Q&A for another hour. Basically, 3d just needs to be embraced by more developers to become popular. Computing power is a bit of a problem since the 3d scene has to be rendered twice, but in another few years that problem will be solved and I think 3d will become a standard option in PC games. It doesn't appear headed for consoles though. I would have liked to ask why, but they didn't have enough time. Man, no wonder Mark Rein has such a good reputation; he's like the Jack LaLanne of the gaming industry: high energy, witty and lots of fun.

 

 

Finally, after a short trip to the Siggraph bookstore (drool, drool) I made my way up to get my copy of "To Infinity and Beyond: the Story of Pixar Films" signed by Ed Catmull. Sigh. Another line and a 40 minute wait, but it was worth it to shake his hand and thank him for his incredible contribution to animated film and computer graphics. His handshake was firm and his gaze was direct. God, I would give anything to work for that guy.

At the end of the day, I headed back up to try to catch the other Renderosity dude, Sergio [nemirc], at the media room, but I missed him apparently. I did pick up a lot of flyers and hand-outs that were smartly laid out in large alphabetically arranged cubes (by company). A quick Coke; re-arranged my pack, and it's off to the Pantry (my favorite Los Angeles restaurant) for dinner and then the subway home.

While at the Pantry, I struck up a conversation with Tom, a guy who is involved in virtual worlds and 3d technology for the U.S. Armed Forces. We chatted for half an hour while our dinners grew cold. I wish my recording device was working because I would have loved to do a quick interview with him. It was his first Siggraph and he was as wildly enthusiastic as I was. I gave him my card and we shook hands hoping to run into each other again. I also gave him the name of a great Mexican restaurant ( El Coyote) in Hollywood that he promised to go to later in the week.

With a very heavy pack, I walked to the subway and headed on home to write this blog and to capture all of the stills and video I took during the day. Looks like Sergio has left a message on my cell phone – got to go!

Look out Tuesday, here I come.

Catch Ricky's SIGGRAPH Day Two experience here.
 

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Ricky Grove [gToon], Staff Columnist with the Renderosity Front Page News. Ricky Grove is a bookstore clerk at the best bookstore in Los Angeles, the Iliad Bookshop. He's also an actor and machinima filmmaker. He lives with author, Lisa Morton, and three very individual cats. Ricky is into Hong Kong films, FPS shooters, experimental anything and reading, reading, reading. You can catch his blog here.