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ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE - ISSUE 4.6 - SEPTEMBER 1999

SIGGRAPH '99: Where's the Rest of the Zoo?

by Jennifer Champagne

SIGGRAPH `99 was filled with the usual suspects -- the gimmicks and giveaways to draw one into particular booths on the exhibition floor, phenomenal screenings of the best of the best in computer graphics, and world class experts discussing the latest advancements through papers and in panels and presentations. However, it was somewhat of a disappointment for me. I'm really used to the event taking up the entire Los Angeles Convention Center, where you have to spend five days to look at everything. While we always complain that SIGGRAPH is a zoo, I think we all secretly look forward to it for just that reason. This year, the Expo especially, was sadly lacking in volume. However, the quality of what was there for perusal was definitely worth the time. I'll go through the highlights of what I found was the most interesting of show for animation type folks.

The exhibit floor at SIGGRAPH `99. All images are courtesy of SIGGRAPH.

That Ol' Expo Floor
On the floor, there was a nice change from the smoke machines, disco lights and techno music. It seemed as if this year was focused on the style of presentation rather than how loud you can present it. Intergraph had a sleek yet large booth sporting their goods from the new 650s to machines equipped to handle HDTV throughput without a second thought. Across the way was Newtek, showing off their latest release of Lightwave, utilizing the talent from Station X Studios, the primary proponent of the product. The rest of the displays became a blur with the exception of a select few.

Gentle Giant wins the award in my book for the most hospitable and unique booth. They were giving away hats with a successful free-throw shot into the nerf hoop set up on their motorhome/production vehicle. Aside from that, they rank as unique because of the services they offer. In a sea of digital artwork and animation, gadgets and gizmos, mechanical armatures that look like they are pulled from a Cronenberg film, yet are actually used to record human motion -- Gentle Giant provides sculptures and maquettes for character visualization and prep for digitizing. These guys still actually use clay rather than CVs, and they are coming from the art background that so many computer artists unfortunately lack. They integrate the digital realm with a portable Cyberware scanner in the back of the motorhome, so that they can be onset with your production to meet immediate needs. For instance, they can scan an actor who has been in a make-up chair for six hours, who does not want to come down to the studio to go through the entire process again just for digital scanning. Really, my Gentle Giant cap is off to Gentle Giant who had the courage and insight to show up with traditional art tools at a digital show.

The most ingenious marketing goes to Sony Imageworks with their Figure Drawing class. Imagine: a Sony Imageworks shirt is given to you (a good thing in itself), and then you use it as a canvas as an art instructor steps you through the process of figure drawing as a model stands in front of you. This has nothing to do with Imageworks' ability to provide digital visual effects (if you've seen anything from Stuart Little, you don't need any more convincing), but it sure brought people into the booth.


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