SIGGRAPH: Monday, July 26

Posted By Damijan Saccio on July 27, 2010 12:00 am | Permalink
The exhibition floor does not open until Tuesday, so a wise SIGGRAPH attendee spends Monday catching up on the Art Gallery, the Emerging Technologies, the Studio, and of course the Animation Festival. We certainly got our fill of the latest and greatest animations on show this year. There definitely seems to be a slightly depressing theme going through many of them. This is of course not a surprise after what the world has gone through this past year.

One part of the conference that I always particularly enjoy is the Emerging Technologies area.  This is a place where researchers, professors, and scientists are able to showcase their new technologies and inventions regardless of whether they have any practical applications yet.  I can't tell you how many times I've seen great ideas here that years later finally find practical applications and become wildly popular. Quite a number of years ago, I saw the first steps towards multi-touch displays, which now every iPhone user feels is second nature.

This year, a big trend seemed to be devices Persistence of Vision. Many presenters used devices where persistence of vision  would allow for a three dimensional experience (see photos below)






One of these exhibitors that used persistence of vision to show cool graphics is Monkeylectric LLC.  Their product has already 'emerged' and is actually part of the 'Studio' section.  They sell two main varieties of LED lights that one can afix to one's bicycle wheel to produce an interesting set patterns and another that is more sophisitcated and allows for one to show any artwork of one's choosing.  They even let viewers draw their own designs and were able to show them on one of their bicycle wheels within a minute or two. The simpler model for a bike is available for only $60.  It's a great safety feature for riding at night and also will turns a few heads.  MonkeyLectric was definitely one of the more interesting exhibits.  You can view a movie here: BikeWheel Movie and a sample image here:



Stay tuned for tomorrow when I'll write about my favorite exhibitor from the Emerging Technologies area!\