James L. Mohler, graciously took time out of his busy schedule
to advise conference goers on how to get the most out of this
years SIGGRAPH event. James is an award winning graphic artist, as
well as a faculty member at Purdue University, and was instrumental
in the development of many new innovative courses. To add to this,
James is currently serving a 4-year commitment as the SIGGRAPH 2005
Conference Chair.
Can you give our readers a brief the history of SIGGRAPH?
SIGGRAPH is the name of the annual conference on computer graphics
and interactive techniques convened by the ACM SIGGRAPH
organization. The first SIGGRAPH conference was in 1974. The
conference is attended by tens of thousands of computer
professionals, and has most recently been held in Los Angeles. Past
SIGGRAPH conferences have been held in Dallas, Boston, Seattle, New
Orleans, San Diego and elsewhere across the United States. Last
year, Newsweek described the SIGGRAPH Conference and
Exhibition as the Woodstock of computer graphics and interactive
techniques. SIGGRAPH 2005 will be held from July 31st to August
4th at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Whats new for
SIGGRAPH in 2005? Aside from the traditional programs and the
outstanding content juried and curated within them, SIGGRAPH 2005
presents several new venues and experiences for the attendee. These
include:
- Access Grid, which provides a global collaborative
performance piece, international art panels and multi-site
community interaction. This emerging, scalable teleconferencing
technology enables interaction between individual desktops,
3,000-person theaters, and everything in-between.
- Full Dome, which is a rapidly growing medium with
over 125 immersive displays deployed worldwide in planetariums and
special-venue theaters. The venue presents the world's best
Full-Dome animations from DomeFest 2005.
- Implementation Sketches, which are sketches that
are accessory to a paper presentation. They deal with technical
details and non-trivial issues regarding the implementation of the
technique presented.
- Educators Incubator, a demo space for interactive
educational products.
- Storyboard art from selected Electronic Theater pieces will be
presented in the Art Gallery.
- High-definition projection (1080i and 1080p) within the
Electronic Theater.
- Bilingual guided tours of the Art Gallery and
Emerging Technologies venues provided by the International
Center.
- A special selection of courses that explore innovation and
practice in open source computer graphics. There are so many
exhibits, presentations, and events this year, how would you
recommend a visitor get the most out of their SIGGRAPH 2005
Convention experience? The biggest thing a visitor should do is
plan their time at SIGGRAPH. Whether one uses the web site before
arriving in LA or the Program and Buyers Guide onsite, it is
important that you have a plan of attack. There is a lot that goes
on in the five days of SIGGRAPH and if you dont make a plan, you
will inevitably miss something you wished you would have attended.
For first time attendees, one of the best ways to plan the week is
to start by visiting the Pathfinders booth in the South Lobby at
the conference. Pathfinders is the place where experienced SIGGRAPH
attendees volunteer their time to help newcomers get familiar with
all that is going on. With the release of Star Wars III, how did
the SIGGRAPH committee get the extremely busy George Lucas, to
accept your invitation to be this years Keynote Speaker? What
night will he be speaking, and are their any seats left? A
series of fortuitous events led to our being able to host Mr. Lucas
as our keynote speaker this year. Like most everything else at
SIGGRAPH, it was all teamwork and timing. Though the conversation
was started by one of our program chairs, it was really through the
cooperation and collaboration of some incredible folks at ILM and
LucasFilm, combined with the knowledge that this is the perfect
time for Mr. Lucas to address the community he's inspired for over
30 years.
Photo by Keith Hamshere Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All
Rights Reserved.
The Keynote session this year is on Monday, August first, from
1:15-3:15. We have greatly expanded the live session room to seat
4,000 people. The live session room will be reserved for Full
Conference attendees only. We have 3 other rooms that will provide
simulcast of the session, which will hold a nearly 4,500 people and
is reserved for Conference Select and Exhibits Plus registration
levels. We do indeed expect the session to be very popular. What
in the world is a SIGGRAPH 2005 Flying logo, and how do convention
visitors get a chance to animate one? Flying Logos was an
initiative of the Computer Animation Festival. At SIGGRAPH 2004,
the conference and the organization unveiled a new, unified
identity system that provided a common design element for use by
the organization and the conference, as well as conference to
conference. The Flying Logos initiative gave contributors the
opportunity to use imagination and creativity with the SIGGRAPH
identity. What kind of resources will be available for
International visitors? Will there be translators?
International visitors are able to connect with colleagues and
friends from their native region or country in the SIGGRAPH 2005
International Center. The multi-lingual International Resources
Center staff will answers attendee questions and the site will also
host presentations for attendees from specific countries and
regions, offer space for talks and demonstrations, and provide
informal translation services. One exciting new component this year
is the addition of bilingual guided tours of the Art Gallery and
Emerging Technologies exhibition spaces. Can you give our
readers the top ten cant miss experiences in SIGGRAPH this
year? A Sample of 10 Random SIGGRAPH Cant Miss Items (Chosen
from 10,000) 10. Work one-on-one in the Guerilla Studio 9.
Storyboard Art from CAF in the Art Gallery 8. See the nitty-gritty
of papers in Implementation Sketches 7. Immerse yourself in the
Full Dome theater 6. Participate in worldwide events in the Access
Grid 5. Latest in realism, physics simulation, and image/video
processing in Papers. 4. Networking opportunities at the Reception.
3. Special Sessions covering the past, present and future of CG&IT
2. Electronic Theater in High Definition 1. Keynote session with
George Lucas
SIGGRAPH 2005 Links of Interest
Geaorge Lucas' image featured in the
above article Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved and ...
was used by written permission from LucasFilm James L. Mohler image
James L. Mohler/SIGGRAPH and was used by written permission.
Neither images can be printed, copied, or reprinted without written
permission from the artists.
 "Lets Talk" with Dee-Marie
is a monthly featured column
by Dee-Marie:
Senior Staff Writer, and Managing Editor of
Renderosity's Front Page News July 11,
2005 |
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