The hordes converge on the convention floor. All photos unless otherwise marked © SIGGRAPH.

The first thing you noticed about SIGGRAPH 2003 when surveying the booths at the San Diego Convention Center was how energized and comfortable it was. Attendance was up from last year’s excursion in hot and humid San Antonio (reportedly 24,332), yet it didn’t feel crowded or claustrophobic. Yes, the number of exhibitors has dwindled in recent years and the booths may not be as large and as spectacular as in the past (there were even less goodies available, but Pixar won hands down with its popular Finding Nemo posters and collectible walking teapots). Still, there appeared to be greater diversity on the floor, which is a very good sign that 3D visualization is becoming more and more widespread and a lot more affordable.

Cheaper, quicker and more powerful best described the atmosphere, which is not a bad thing. It’s where the industry is at right now. SIGGRAPH 2003 was all about refinement of hardware and software capabilities by the big boys to answer the needs of studios and artists, and to counter the plethora of plug-ins. In the same vein, it was also about consolidation of functionality to simplify pipelines. On the other hand, SIGGRAPH 2003 was dedicated to more mass-market accessibility. In other words, less wow but strategic planning that makes both creative and economic sense.

That’s not to say there weren’t noteworthy developments from companies large and small. Alias’ Maya 5 offers a whole slew of rendering enhancements (including native support for mental ray and the ability to choose among four native renderers). Side Effects’ Houdini 6 delivers significant productivity and efficiency gains via digital assets and enhancements in global illumination, among other things. Discreet’s 3ds max 6 boasts advanced schematics for mental ray, vertex color painting, design visualization tools and other CAD-related solutions. New Tek’s LightWave 3D 7.5 allows for more direct manipulation of bones during rendering. Kaydara’s MotionBuilder 5.0 features a redesigned Storytelling Timeline that combines 3D animation with audio, video and camera shots. Version 1.2 of SplutterFish’s Brazil Rendering System provides a more stable and robust rendering toolset for added cross visualization throughout various markets.

Visitors check out the new develops from 3Dlabs.

But to have Stan Winston proclaim in a user group that everyone should learn Softimage|XSI gave the Canadian company SIGGRAPH bragging rights, especially on the heels of Animal Logic converting its pipeline from Maya to Softimage|XSI during mid-production of George Miller’s upcoming Happy Feet. Version 3.5 includes increased efficiency and accelerated productivity for the increasingly popular 3D production pipeline software. Plus on the gaming side, Softimage|XSI now allows heavy geometry with greater mapping, helping to close the gap between movies and gaming. Meanwhile, on the hardware side, AMD’s new 64-bit Opteron servers and workstations were a standout in terms of their previsualization assistance on the upcoming Star Wars: Episode III (performed by George Lucas’ JAK Films).

Martian Hydrous Tools on display at the show were used on X-Men 2. Photo credit: CINESITE.

Not surprisingly, one of the standout trends this year was in the area of fluid dynamics. Frantic Films is offering one such tool, as is Next Limit of Madrid (Realflow 2.5) and Martian Labs, which specializes in ocean surface software with its Martian Hydrous Tools that was used in X-Men 2.