Dave Geldart, an animator and owner of Toronto’s Waveform Digital Productions, was in Los Angeles earlier this month to check out this year’s siggraph convention and trade show. He files this report.

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Siggraph is the ‘special interest group for graphics’ of the Association of Computing Machinery. But you wouldn’t know it was a special interest group by looking at the size of the crowds at the 24th annual conference on computer graphics and interactive techniques ­ and you don’t have to be a member to attend.

When Los Angeles is the site (as it is every other year), the crowds are huge. This year’s attendance by over 48,700 people, strolling 182,600 square feet of exhibit space checking out the wares of 359 companies marked a record-breaking year for the landmark show.

siggraph is a mecca for anyone with a serious interest in computer graphics and animation. Every year, the hordes come from all over the world to make their annual pilgrimage to the week-long conference and trade show.

This year, computer animators, facility managers, software developers, researchers, and the rest of the digerati converged on the Los Angeles Convention Centre Aug. 3-8 to learn new techniques, see new developments in software and hardware, and of course, to party.

The show featured the regular full schedule of conferences, papers and panels, and exhibitions which delved deeply into the technical, and sometimes the philosophical, underpinnings of the graphics world.

Thirty-five courses were offered this year on topics like motion capture in practice, designing realtime graphics and digital color.

In the keynote address, titled ‘Storytelling: The World’s Oldest Profession,’ Brian Ferren, executive vp for creative technology and r&d at Walt Disney Imagineering, cited the overwhelming significance of the Internet to culture, comparing its importance as a technological invention to the printing press.

Trade show

Yet given all these gems, people consider the trade show to be the main event. Filling two floors of the Convention Centre, the show was loud, hot, crowded, and lots of fun.

On the main floor, there seemed to be a contest among exhibitors as to who could build the highest booth. Digital Equipment, Silicon Graphics and Discreet Logic were among several towering landmarks dwarfing their neighbors. As well, many software exhibitors such as Side Effects Software, Alias/Wavefront and Microsoft Softimage had ‘public’ demos which attracted large crowds that sometimes blocked the aisles.

A strong continuing trend was the growth of Microsoft’s Windows nt operating system as a viable platform for serious computer graphics and animation tasks. Eyeon Software demonstrated a robust image compositing system called Digital Fusion, while Discreet Logic showed nt and Mac-based offerings from its new Illuminaire product line. This software performs many of the paint, compositing and image processing tasks of its Silicon Graphics-based brethren, but at a fraction of the cost. Of course, there are some trade-offs in terms of speed and flexibility, but in general, it offers remarkable performance for the price.

Discreet Logic also launched its Flint compositing system into a larger market, announcing it would now be available for use on the SGI 02.

The Chyron Corporation expanded its own influence in high-end video graphics to a new market segment with the announcement of a new business unit called Concerto, designed to attack the desktop video and corporate worlds.

New animation tools

Many computer animators attend siggraph to learn about new developments in 3D animation software, and to compare packages feature for feature.

At the Side Effects booth, refinements and extensions to their pioneering work in the ‘procedural animation’ paradigm were featured. New ‘op’ sub-systems for particles and animation channels were of special interest. Side Effects also announced Houdini nt, in a beta release.

Alias/Wavefront demonstrated a beta version of Maya, its upcoming procedural-based animation software, due for release February 1998.

Microsoft’s Softimage drew the usual strong interest, as they demonstrated features from version 3.7, showed their Digital Studio compositing solution, and talked about the next generation of code, called Sumatra.

Also at the Softimage booth, Puppetworks showed a unique technology that allows animators to pose and manipulate a puppet-like figure in realtime. This facilitates character animation and allows hands-on control of any animation parameter. A motion-capture suit version is also available, and plug-ins are in development for all the major animation software packages.

On the nt side, 3DStudioMax is another hot contender that includes a ‘procedural’ approach. Several interesting plug-ins from REM Infographica were shown that simulate cloth, dirt, and cartoon looks.

Of course, Lightwave fans were out in force as well. Lightwave wins the award for the most-ported piece of software ­ it seems to run on just about everything but the Commodore 64.

Career fair

Another big reason to attend siggraph was to look for a job.

This year, the Career Fair was bigger than ever. While the big cgi production companies like Digital Domain, ilm and PDI/Dreamworks had recruiting booths on the main floor, there were even more students. It seems that the supply of animators is beginning to catch up with the demand, at least at the entry level.

As well, siggraph has become a place for animation companies to exhibit their wares. This year, the Ontario Film Development Corporation sponsored a booth showcasing a number of Toronto-based digital animation companies, as well as two schools. In attendance were C.O.R.E. Digital Pictures, Calibre Digital Design, Command Post/The Toy Box, Dan Krech Productions, Gajdecki Visual Effects, Spin Productions, Seneca College, Sheridan College, Soho Post and Graphics, TOPIX Computer Graphics and Animation/ Mad Dog and Waveform Digital.

Although the big, flashy, loud booths got the most attention, many useful and interesting things were found at the smaller booths. For instance, Newfire introduced an innovative software development kit that can drastically reduce the amount of time required to program a great looking 3D game to be played over the Internet. Balboa Capital offered lease terms for any piece of gear shown on the floor, while p&c gave out magazines and guidebooks that covered all the Spanish-language production markets.

The Electronic Theatre is always a highlight of siggraph, and this year was no exception. Held offsite at the inimitable Shrine Auditorium, it offered two solid hours of cutting-edge 3D animation and special effects on the big screen. Scenes from blockbuster movies such as Lost World and Fifth Element were featured, as well as a little sneak preview from James Cameron’s Titanic.

Some of the research and academic work was equally stunning, such as a visualization of dna replication, and a 3D animated fly-through of a city, generated entirely from a series of 20 photographs.

And if that wasn’t enough fun, there were the parties.

Traditionally, many of the bigger companies host parties, and it becomes a bit of a game to snag an invitation. At the vifx party, film loops of surfer dudes and underwater imagery pulsed on the walls, while a couple of bands kept things hopping. By 2:30 a.m. the revelers gradually filtered out to prepare for another big day on the trade show floor.

For the most part, siggraph attendees have only one complaint about the show – it’s all over too fast.