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SIGGRAPH 2008 Blog - Tuesday, August 12, 2008 Tuesday Schedule:
Another incredible day of classes, conversations and presentations...until I got home and discovered the video camera I had borrowed from a friend was missing from my bag. I don't know if it was stolen or I misplaced it somehow in my weariness at the end of the day. I'll visit the lost and found tomorrow, but I don't have much hope. I'll replace it of course, but it's money I don't have. Bad news. Very early start this morning as I had some extra personal business to attend to and no time to do it during the day. Barely made it to the 8:00AM briefing by several chair persons who outlined what they were trying to do this year with SIGGRAPH 08. An articulate woman (the conference chair, Jacqueline Martino) was basically saying that in the past each separate section of SIGGRAPH (art, technical papers, animation festival, etc) was an entity unto itself and didn't have much interaction with other sections. This year they decided to bring all of the groups together and work at the same time. They feel that the convention this year is much better integrated. “We need to re-invent ourselves to fit with new mediaâ€, I think was the quote from one of the speakers. I enjoyed their presentation and could have stayed for a while asking questions. SIGGRAPH has a long history and it would have been interesting to hear more about how it has grown. There were a few older journalists who groused about the reduced amount of “art†in this year's SIGGRAPH, but I didn't take their comments seriously, especially when I wandered through the art exhibit later in the afternoon.   At the "Get the Job You Want in Computer Graphics" class  I then rushed over (so much of the day was spent rushing to places) to the “Get the job you want in Computer Graphics†class which was slow, but very useful. Two women taught the class in alternating sessions. Pamela Kleibrink Thompson and Fran Zandonella both have impressive careers in CG and have great confidence, as was apparent from their presentation. Two hundred people sat and listened to them say essentially that if you don't love computer graphics, you should be trying to get into the business. This was like a mantra through the whole presentation, which consisted of the correct resume forms, job descriptions, interview techniques and how to handle your workload. Essentially, it was a class in common sense (Don't use parchment paper for your resume because it copies badly, etc) which we all need to review at some point. I was impressed with their honesty and sense of commitment. I came out of the class with lots of notes and a good feeling. Rushing (again) to the “Introduction to Computer Graphicsâ€, I got there in time to get a good seat and a couple of pictures. The class was taught by Andrew Glassner, an energetic and funny man who with his enormous energy made the hour and a half fly by. Essentially, he used a demo of the new 3DSMax program to demonstrate how computer graphics works. It was a great method for teaching because he showed a 3d concept in practice before he explained it. He constructed a simple satellite, then a simple planet; lit them and then animated them so that one revolved around the other. Adding a wrinkle, he brought a huge teapot in for the satellite to curve around and just miss (the “conflict†as he called it). I think I learned more in this class than in any other tutorial or book I've ever read. A great class. Funny thing is, Mr. Glassner now makes his living as a novelist, and not a CG artist, although he stays up to date by doing these classes.   Maxon Cinema 4D Luncheon  The lunch given by Maxon for their release of Cinema 4D 11 was the high point of the day. A small (perhaps 25 people) group were all served a superb lunch while spokespersons for Maxon demonstrated the new additions to this very cool program. I won't list them all here but the changes in animation, global lighting and plug-in to allow for the use of renderman were the most interesting to me. There was also a very interesting demonstration by a Sony CGI guy (sorry for not getting your name) who showed a clip from Beowulf and explained how they used a new “projection geometry†feature in C4D to quickly make 3d geometry from detailed matte paintings. They were in a crunch and had to finish up backgrounds and landscape in a hurry. The demonstration of this method using a real pro matte painting was phenomenal, as was the Beowulf clip. Kudos to Maxon for creating such a great event and for providing a superb lunch. I had planned to listen to the second keynote address by Catherine Owens, but I happen to come across John Martin from Reallusion and Iclone, a terrific program to create animated movies. He had a room and was doing demos. After getting a quick bite to eat, I headed over and met with John and CEO Charles Chen (a very interesting guy who listens more than he speaks). A quick interview with John about the recent launch of Iclone3 and the new features got us both laughing and chatting so much we almost forgot about the interview. I'll have this up in a few weeks along with a review of this superb new version.   Charles Chen, CEO of Reallusion  We ended up chatting with Charles, John and some other Reallusion folks for almost an hour about machinima and Iclone and the future of both. I can't say it now, but there are some very neat plans that Reallusion is making for the future. I left the room feeling elated and inspired. Headed over to the huge Exhibition hall where the decibel levels increased dramatically and the energy was like being in Vegas. Yes, this is where people are selling things. But, as I wandered through the booths and displays, there were all kinds of conversations going on and connections being made, so in spite of the noise, I really started to pay attention to what was on display. Made it to the Renderosity booth and met up with the folks there. They were swamped and all looked tired. I'm not sure I'd like to head up a booth all day like that. We made plans to have dinner after the show on Wednesday. I'll be driving my car into downtown Los Angeles instead of taking the train, so we should be able to find a nice restaurant and get to know each other better.   Vicon booth at the SIGGRAPH Exhibition Hall  Somewhere around 5pm I hit a wall and had to go to the Media room to just get to a quiet space and rest. Sergio [nemirc] had warned me that Tuesday would be a killer and he was right. Eventually, having gotten my second wind I went back down to the Exhibition hall and spent some time with the art installations. I think this may be where I lost my camera, as I was filming a lot there. Some very beautiful artworks were elegantly presented, some with the artists themselves standing by to talk to you about the work. Textiles, sculpture, interactive exhibits, film, architecture...the variety was amazing. And it was very quiet there. I don't know how they did it, but in the middle of this loud hall they had an island of quiet. It was wonderful. Quick cup of coffee at a quarter to six and on to “Anti-Auteur: User Generated Content†which started with the surprising announcement that one of the panelists couldn't make it. So, they asked for a volunteer and someone went up and took over as panelist. And he was great! Basically, the event was a kind of review of the kinds of user generated content like game mods and virtual worlds. Frankly, I started to fall asleep after about a half hour and lost track of what they were saying. Eventually, I just had to give up and go home. I hope they talked about Machinima as user generated content. I'll bet they did since the guys running the thing were pretty hip.   Flavio, student of Animation  Nice surprise on the way home meeting a young animation student, Flavio, who is studying with Animation Master and will graduate in March. Sergio had told me earlier at lunch, he had interviewed several people that morning from Animation Master. I'll head over to their booth tomorrow. I recorded a short interview with Flavio and will provide it for you as soon as I can. Right now I've got to get some sleep and try to figure out how to tell my friend about his camera. Ah,well, tomorrow's another day. Cross fingers, head down and keep on going.   A sample of the art exhibition; textures and fabrics  Catch Ricky's previous day's SIGGRAPH experience here.**Renderosity is at Booth 451! If you are attending SIGGRAPH, be sure to stop by and say "Hello"!**  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. |
August 2008
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