SIGGRAPH announces the selection of Steve Duenes, a leader in transforming complex data into understandable graphic journalism, as a keynote speaker for SIGGRAPH 2009, the 36th International Conference and Exhibition for Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques.

MetroCAF 2009
Deadline: June 1, 2009
October 1, 2009

While SIGGRAPH 2009 may still be a few months away (the first week of August in New Orleans), Conference Chair Ronen Barzel provides an exclusive sneak peek of this year's "Network Your Senses" theme, including more emphasis on music and audio, greater integration of gaming, continued expansion of the Computer Animation Festival, elevating digital art to the same level as technical research, highlighting the new field of Information Aesthetics and connecting once again with the cultural richness of New Orleans, despite the challenges of the economic downturn.

SIGGRAPH announces the launch of GameJam!, a new international videogame competition to be held at SIGGRAPH 2009, the 36th International Conference and Exhibition on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques.

fmx/conference presents and reflects upon the latest trends in an extraordinarily dynamic industry. And one trend can be seen very clearly throughout animation, visual effects, games and postproduction: story is king. Computer-generated imagery or effects are only effective to the degree that they serve a suspenseful and overwhelming narration. A few highlights from the conference (held May 5-8 in Stuttgart, Germany), include:

Allan McKay, director at Catastrophic FX, has officially announced the new FUME FX ADVANCED DVD. The follow-up to FUME FX ESSENTIALS, the new training DVD is aimed at advanced fluids for feature film visual effects.

It's been a busier GDC than usual for Autodesk, which was expected after the recent Softimage purchase. First came the announcement of 3ds Max 2010, followed by new versions of its two runtime technologies for the game engine -- HumanIK 4 animation middleware and Kynapse 6 artificial intelligence (AI) middleware -- as well as Softimage Mod Tool 7.5 software (formerly SOFTIMAGE|XSI Mod Tool), the free 3D modeling and animation package for aspiring artists.

Randy Thom, a pioneer in sound and a two-time Academy Award winner, will give a keynote presentation at SIGGRAPH 2009, the 36th International Conference and Exhibition for Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques.

Videogame designer Will Wright, creator of the popular SPORE and THE SIMS series, will give a keynote presentation at SIGGRAPH 2009, the 36th International Conference and Exhibition for Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques.

e-on software is seeking submissions for its upcoming 2009 show reel. This year, e-on software would like to invite all Vue artists to submit recent commercial projects that involved Vue or Ozone for inclusion in the 2009 show reel (list all third party applications used alongside Vue or Ozone), whether film, commercial, TV show, broadcast, music video, game cinematic, architectural walkthrough, or any other form of commercial animation project.