The SIGGRAPH '99 Exhibition: Summer Of Sim
Welcome
to The Show. On the face of it, I guess I'd rather do SIGGRAPH than
any other conference, even NAB. It is so vast, so overwhelming, so,
well, over the top, that if I had to compare it to anything else,
I'd have to say it's most like a circus that's just come to town.
It's six days of sketches, applications, papers, workshops, lectures,
panels, galleries, animation festivals, demos, exhibits, meetings,
reunions, hugs, kisses, blisters, calluses, blown tempers, soothed
souls, new friends, old lovers, ad nauseam, ad infinitum and all of
this is in three large halls with twenty-five different venues in
all. Cool, huh? Sure it is. But the thing that can wear down my cool
and get me hot under the collar is time wasted trying to do part or
all of every one of those twenty-five different venues. You just can't
do it all. SIGGRAPH is just that big. For all you other veterans out
there, you know what I'm talking about. All those papers, panels,
sketches, applications, courses, technical programs etc., can add
up to make the SIGGRAPH convention what it shouldn't be -- a hectic
rush; and that can be downright exhausting if you're doing all six
of those days during a hot summer (witness SIGGRAPH '97 in L.A. and
SIGGRAPH '98 in Orlando). For my money, I'd rather cool my heels and
pad down to see the new sights and sounds of the Exhibition and I
suspect that, though most of you returnees would probably deny it,
the real draw of any SIGGRAPH is that you're there to check out what's
happening on the exhibits floor. You're there for The Show.
The Show
The demographics on paper support the statistical fact that, despite
the Electronic Theater, despite all the other little animation theaters
sprinkled throughout all three halls, despite the academic decorum
of the panels and papers, and despite mitigating factors such as what
sex you are, how much money you make, whom you prefer to date, etc.,
the SIGGRAPH accountants have done the math and know that 80% of those
of you who do SIGGRAPH do it because you want to see The Show. You
want in on the latest and the greatest in the world of computer graphics.
You want to see if Softimage really does have a product called Sumatra
and if it really is coming out sometime this year. You really do want
to tell someone at the SGI booth that they're charging too damned
much for their new NT workstations. You're going `cause you, or maybe
your ride home, have a deep need to see scantily-clad girls (or, should
they be your preference, boys) doing mind boggling, moral bending,
gymnastic demonstrations with the latest, greatest motion-capture
equipment. And these, at the bottom of it all, are the real
reasons you attend. Don't deny it, dear reader. You like The Show.
The SIGGRAPH `99 Exhibition
From Tuesday, August 10th to Thursday, August 12th, we are talking
a major floor show that will run from 10 am to 6 pm daily (and well
into the night for those fortunate enough to get tix to off-location
after-hours events, such as late night parties at the House of Blues,
etc.). On hand will be hundreds of exhibitors ranging from 3D Labs
to Zackback International. Auto.des.sys to Wacom Tech. Alias|Wavefront
to the Walt Disney Company. All the hardware manufacturers, software
companies, effects companies, post-production houses -- anybody who's
anybody in this business -- will descend on South Hall like so many
hungry flies on fresh meat. Among those there who are not vendors
will be schools such as Cogswell College, and trade guilds and associations
such as IATSE Local 16 and SMPTE, in addition to booths dedicated
to trade publications such as The Hollywood Reporter and 3D
Design. Plus, for new and upcoming companies there is an added
bonus for participating in the conference this year; a cool thing
called Startup Park, which is designed to provide small, first-time
exhibitors, who are introducing their technologies at this year's
show, a way of demonstrating products and services that may well dominate
future Siggraph Exhibitions of Y2K and beyond. All this for three
days and only $50! Even if that's all you're going for, that's still
quite a deal. (Quick hint: Tell any of the vendors listed on the website
www.siggraph.org/s99 that you are interested in seeing them and I
bet you can finagle a way to get in free.)
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