SIGGRAPH, held between August 4-9, at the Morial Convention Center, in New Orleans, is the world's largest and most prestigious computer technology event dealing with computer graphics and interactive techniques, of which animation plays a major part. The annual conference is put on by what was once known as the Association for Computing Machinery's Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics (i.e., SIGGRAPH). This year marked the 23rd running of the big daddy of all computer graphic conferences, which acts as a showcase for all the newest and greatest achievements in computerized visual arts, special effects and animation. This is a serious gig I tell you, nothing to take lightly! But through the heavy breakthroughs in technology and the advancements in software on display there is also plenty of partying as well.

SIGGRAPH 96 showroom floor. Photo by Kellie-Bea Rainey.

I've been going to SIGGRAPH since 1993, and I have been more and more active since my first year. Each year there is more to see and experience. Sure there's the new advancements in the technologies, this is expected, but there are educational demonstrations, courses, papers and panels. For instance, I went to Pixar's course on the "Making of Toy Story," where the production team talked about how they did problem solving and made creative "cheats" to reach their expected results. This sharing of creativity and learning curve ingenuity were invaluable and is widespread throughout the SIGGRAPH experience, and one major reason I attend each year.