SIGGRAPH: 'THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE PIXELS'
“Those probably account for 80 percent of our attendees,” says Masson of the research community, the production community — animation and visual effects — and education.
One new initiative supports “The People Behind The Pixels” theme. “SIGGRAPH Dailies” is geared toward the production community and gives artists a chance to show their work, much of which is unfinished.
“Any animation house that produces animation or visual effects, especially the bigger ones, have what they call ‘dailies,’ usually in the morning,” Masson explains. “It basically reviews the artists’ work every day. I, along with Bill Polson at Pixar, felt that the production artist did not have a specific venue where they could showcase their own personal work, with their own personal stories, at SIGGRAPH. You have the technical research papers, which are for academia, and at the other end of the spectrum you have the animation festival, which shows complete, finished work. But in the middle — if you are a texture artists or colorist at a post facility, or animator or technical director — you didn’t have any venue to show your work off. So that’s what Dailies is about.”
SIGGRAPH jurors selected approximately 35 submissions from throughout the community and are giving each presenter a three-minute window to showcase their work and tell their story.
“It’s not about the technology or the finished product,” Masson explains. “It’s about the people who create the work behind the scenes.”
Work spans the industry, though much comes from high-end VFX and animation facilities such as Disney, Pixar and Weta. The program is being presented in a lecture hall and Q&As follow each brief presentation.
“The point [is], it’s not a long, drawn-out process,“ Masson explains. “Dailies is just the craft — the story of the individual using existing tools in a very elegant and excellent way. And just like dailies, you only get a couple of minutes to state your case.”
Also new this year is the Animation Clinic, which allows animators to bring work in for critiquing by professionals.
Keynote highlights included speeches by Jim Morris, GM/EVP of production, Pixar Animation Studios, and Don Marinelli, EP, Carnegie Mellon Entertainment Technology Center.
SIGGRAPH 2011 will take place in Vancouver, marking the first time the time conference has been held outside the United States.
“It’s huge,” says Masson of the animation industry in Vancouver. “The Vancouver SIGGRAPH chapter is the most active in the world. I think it has surpassed LA in terms of active membership and high-profile meetings and sessions that they put on. There has never been a better time to go to Vancouver. Work is exploding up there. Digital Domain is opening up an office. Pixar is opening an office. It’s a year after the Olympics, so they’ve had a billion dollars put into their infrastructure. The city is absolutely gorgeous. We are educating people about getting their passports now — a year out. It’s going to be huge!”