files/pictures/picture-35.jpgPress Release from SIGGRAPH Asia 2010
The computer graphics and interactive techniques community in Asia is already abuzz with the anticipation of the upcoming SIGGRAPH Asia 2010. From 15 to 18 December, more than 6,000 artists, designers, researchers, scientists, manufacturers, developers as well as trade visitors from over 40 countries will be gathering at the Coex Convention and Exhibition Center Seoul, Korea, for a spectacular showcase of the best works and speculative ideas in the global digital media landscape.
This year's event promises an array of innovations in core programs such as the Computer Animation Festival, Courses, Technical Papers, Technical Sketches and Posters as well as Trade Exhibition. In keeping with the cultural and technological traditions of its host, SIGGRAPH Asia 2010 will also feature an enriched content, focusing on digital media creations in hot fields within the industry, such as gaming and computer-generated animation. To inspire future breakthroughs, the event will also present platforms for inspiring discussions on emerging technologies and techniques in areas such as stereoscopic 3D, augmented reality and scientific visualization.
In total, more than 200 well-known organizations from leading commercial production houses to acclaimed research and educational institutions will be represented at the biggest computer graphics conference and exhibition to be staged in Asia in recent years.
Putting games development center stage
A hotbed for gaming innovation, Korea’s local gaming industry recorded revenues of over USD1.09 billion in 2009 alone. From game development to in-game cinematics, SIGGRAPH Asia 2010 will present multiple facets of the industry, showcasing the finest pieces and offering sharing sessions from companies such as Blizzard Entertainment, Capcom Entertainment, Inc., Digic Pictures, NCsoft and Square Enix Co., Ltd.
Riding on Korea’s passion for gaming, SIGGRAPH Asia 2010 is set to excite audiences with the following showcases:
* “Gimmee Somethin' to Shoot”: Filming the Cinematics for Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty: Blizzard Entertainment, Inc., will reveal some of the secrets to creating the on-screen magic for this popular game. Covering the creative and technical process, from story to completion, this session will shed some light on sequences rendered in the games engine that allow it to create the rich content that Blizzard is well-known for. Audiences can also view a clip from StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty in the Computer Animation Festival showcase.
* Civilization V: In this Computer Animation Festival entry, Digic Pictures continues to display its signature world-class rendering of a beautifully detailed and realistic living world, clear cinematography and amazing surfacing. Having won the Best Technical Piece award at SIGGRAPH Asia 2009, Digic Pictures once again clinched this title at the SIGGRAPH Asia 2010 Computer Animation Festival, prominently setting itself apart in the use of computer graphics technology in storytelling.
* Creating New Games from Lucasfilm Favorites: In this Special Session, LucasArts Singapore takes audiences through the production of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II, the highly anticipated sequel to the fastest selling Star Wars game ever created.
* Visual Works of Blade & Soul: Hyung-Tae Kim, Art Director at NCsoft will share his experience in the production of the highly anticipated massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), Blade & Soul. In an exclusive sneak preview through his Featured Speaker session, Kim will reveal some of the first visual elements from the popular game.
The mind-blowing immersion in gaming cinematics will be complemented by interactive sharing sessions from renowned gaming experts. Presenting a publisher’s perspective in the gaming industry, the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences will take audiences through four key questions in the business of game publishing in the session East Meets West: The Power of the Pitch. Game developers keen to keep up-to-date on the latest in game technology should attend the Recent Advances in Online Game Technology session, which will gather key experts from Intel Corporation, Crytek GmbH, Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) Korea as well as NCsoft. The session will discuss the current state-of-the-art technologies in games development, touching on the latest from clients to servers. Of Agony and Ecstasy: An Exploration of Artistic Development and Direction in Video Games will explore and contextualize the complex process of big-budget, 21st-century game development.
Movie magic unmasked
The use of computer graphics in movies continues to captivate special effects and animation fans worldwide with ever-advancing cinematography techniques, realistic rendering and life-like simulations. SIGGRAPH Asia 2010 presents computer graphic enthusiasts with the latest innovations and techniques that are helping to push the possibilities in production.
Through more than 100 spellbinding clips from established studios and emerging talents, SIGGRAPH Asia will present visitors with an update of the latest benchmark in computer generated storytelling. Additionally, leading production houses such as Disney Animation Studios, Industrial Light & Magic, OLM Digital, Inc. and Pixar Animation Studios will be present at SIGGRAPH Asia 2010 to share their experiences and latest successes in recent landmark productions.
Among the sessions to note is “Toy Story 3” Double Feature: Characters and Lighting which will explore how Pixar Animation Studios rebuilt and relighted the characters and sets in Toy Story 3 using the latest in technology available today. In the Session Geometry Simulation for Feature Films, Seunghun Lee, the lead creative technical director from Industrial Light & Magic will introduce how simulations use flesh mesh, cloth mesh and rigid bodies in VFX movies such as Avatar, Terminator, Indiana Jones and Transformers.
SIGGRAPH Asia 2010 also seeks to bring audiences closer to tomorrow’s technologies through transitional concepts and ideas that have the potential to impact the future of movie-making. In its CUDA Workshop, NVIDIA will be holding a talk entitled Using 3D Stereoscopic Solutions in Broadcast and Film Production. The leading visual computing company will also present a case study from Avatar, which will describe how it has successfully overcome the complex rendering and lighting required by leveraging on sophisticated algorithms and techniques.
The complementing Technical Papers sessions will feature several research works aimed at making computer-generated images more realistic through enhancements in modeling, rendering and sophisticated animation techniques. Highlights include Animation Wrinkling: Augmenting Coarse Cloth Simulations with Realistic-Looking Wrinkles; Motion Fields for Interactive Character Animation; Morphable Crowds and MovieReshape: Tracking and Reshaping of Humans in Videos.
Thorsten Thormählen, Team Leader at the Max-Planck-Institut für Informatik in Germany explains, “The Technical Paper we are presenting at SIGGRAPH Asia 2010, MovieReshape: Tracking and Reshaping of Humans in Videos, presents a method for quick and easy manipulation of the body shape and proportions of a human actor in a video footage. In the past, this was only possible in still images. With the new technique developed by researchers in our laboratory, the body shape of humans in videos can be manipulated too. Today, Hollywood actors and actresses have to visit the gym or go on a diet to bring life to some of their roles. With this revolutionary technique, a muscular body can be just a mouse click away.”
In all, 190 leading computer graphics professionals and academics representing close to 80 research and education institutions will share their knowledge and insights into new ideas through 50 Technical Papers presented at SIGGRAPH Asia 2010.
Innovations in computer graphics applications
Beyond animation and gaming, computer graphics design and analysis is becoming a prevalent technology tool in many industries today. From healthcare and construction to security and environmental studies, computer graphics has a role to play in creating new realities.
SIGGRAPH Asia 2010 seeks to underline this development through several carefully selected sessions. Featured Speaker Frank Stephenson, Design Director, McLaren Automotive will take audiences into one of the world’s most technologically advanced automotive design studio, where digital tablets and digital three-dimensional modeling have replaced hand-drawn sketches and clay modeling. Stephenson will also explain how computer graphics has allowed his design team to consistently push the limits in automotive design.
From the glamor of automotive design, computer graphics has also made its way into the glory of old masters’ paintings. Recent studies have shown that modeling artists’ studios have allowed scholars to address a number of vexing problems in the history and interpretation of art, particularly those related to old masters' working methods. In recent years, computer experts and art scholars have built such computer graphics models to gain insights into how some of the world’s most famous paintings were created. Using illustrations from key pieces such as Jan van Eyck’s Portrait of Arnolfini and Parmigianino’s Self Portrait in a Convex Mirror, David G. Stork, Chief Scientist from Ricoh Innovations, will elaborate on some of the mysteries surrounding these works that have since been solved by computer graphics modeling. This intriguing Special Sessions talk will also end with a number of unsolved problems in the history of art that seem amenable to the modeling methodology.
Other potential applications of computer graphics in tomorrow’s technologies which will be explored at SIGGRAPH ASIA 2010 include:
* Understanding Ohm’s Law – Enlightenment Through Augmented Reality: This Technical Sketch by Fraunhofer IDM Center @ NTU presents a new application of augmented reality technology in the teaching of the physics of electrical circuits.
* Chladni Satellite: Converting Real-Time Information on Solar Wind into Aural and Visual Experience: This interactive installation from Yuan Ze University provides an environment for visitors to feel various changes in space “weather” directly on earth.
* Automatic Generation of Destination Maps: This Technical Papers session will present a system of navigational aids designed to show anyone within a region how to reach a small set of locations. This research is presented by Adobe Systems, Incorporated; Microsoft Research and University of California, Berkeley.
The Invitation – Asian Universities in Art and Technology
To inspire and help shape future talents that will drive the industry, close to 20 universities from China, Japan, Korea and Singapore will showcase the creativity and technological excellence of their faculty and students at SIGGRAPH Asia 2010. Presenting universities will include Beijing Film Academy, Ewha Womans University, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Korea National University of Arts, Pohang University of Science and Technology, Seoul National University, Tokyo University, Tokyo University of Arts, Tsinghua University, Yonsei University and many more.
Jungmin Lee, Executive of Koreagraph and Professor at Korea National University of Arts explains, "The Invitation is an excellent opportunity for university participants to network with the international audience, while providing an opportunity for the global computer graphics community at SIGGRAPH Asia 2010 to see and experience the developments in Arts and Technology in some of Asia’s top institutions. We are proud to be introducing The Invitation at SIGGRAPH Asia 2010 and hope that it may spark future collaborations for participants.”
A global gathering not to be missed
Visitors walking through the SIGGRAPH Asia 2010 will quickly gain insights into new technology solutions from leading brands in the Asian computer graphics industry. With hardware and software companies such as Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD), Autodesk, Intel Corporation, and NVIDIA, universities and research institutions such as Carnegie Mellon Entertainment Technology Center, Academy of Art University and Kanagawa Institute of Technology, as well as numerous visual effects specialists and leading production houses such as Crytek GmbH, Lucasfilm Animation Company Singapore B.V., and SAMG Games, SIGGRAPH Asia 2010 is a global gathering of the top industry players.
As host for SIGGRAPH Asia 2010, Korea will be represented by exhibitors such as Big I Entertainment, GPLUG, GYROSOFT, SiliconStudio Korea, and V3D. The three government related organizations, namely, Seoul Business Agency, Korea Creative Content Agency, and Goyang Industry Promotion Agency are further leading exhibition pavilions, gathering members from the local industry and academia.
“Seoul is excited to welcome the world’s animators, developers, artists, researchers and manufacturers in the field of computer graphics and interactive techniques. With a strong line-up of the most inspiring works, research, concepts and ideas congregating in a single location, SIGGRAPH Asia 2010 is set to push the computer graphics and interactive techniques industry further in Asia, as the region showcases to the world its emerging talents and world-class intellectual properties,” said Hyeong-Seok Ko, Conference Chair, SIGGRAPH Asia 2010 and Director, Graphics & Media Lab, Seoul National University.
For more information on SIGGRAPH Asia 2010, please visit
www.siggraph.org/asia2010 .
About SIGGRAPH Asia
The 3rd ACM SIGGRAPH Conference and Exhibition on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques in Asia will take place in Coex Convention and Exhibition Center Seoul, Korea. Featuring an international conference from 15-18 December 2010, SIGGRAPH Asia 2010 offers works that provoke thought, explore ideas in innovative ways, address contemporary issues, interactively engage viewers in discovery, and stimulate their intellect and creativity through art, computer animation, courses, education, new technologies, technical papers as well as technical sketches and posters.
To be held from 16-18 December 2010, SIGGRAPH Asia 2010 also features a trade exhibition of products and services from the computer graphics and interactive marketplace. Sponsored by ACM, SIGGRAPH Asia 2010 is expected to bring together over 8,000 computer graphics and interactive technology professionals and enthusiasts from Asia and beyond. For more information, please visit
www.siggraph.org/asia2010 .
SIGGRAPH Asia 2009 was a resounding success. Artists, researchers, developers, gaming experts, filmmakers, as well as academics from over 50 countries gathered in Yokohama, Japan, over four exciting days to discover new products, talents, technology and techniques in the digital media industry. For more information, please visit
www.siggraph.org/asia2009 .
About ACM
The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) SIGGRAPH sponsors SIGGRAPH Asia 2010. ACM is an educational and scientific society uniting the world's computing educators, researchers, and professionals to inspire dialogue, share resources and address the field's challenges. ACM strengthens the profession's collective voice through strong leadership, promotion of the highest standards, and recognition of technical excellence. ACM supports the professional growth of its members by providing opportunities for life-long learning, career development and professional networking.
