SIGGRAPH (Special Interest Group on Computer GRAPHics and Interactive Techniques) and is a Special Interest Group of ACM (Association of Computing Machinery). Founded in 1947, ACM is a major force in advancing the skills of information technology professionals and students worldwide. ACM SIGGRAPH is dedicated to the generation and dissemination of information on computer graphics and interactive techniques. ACM SIGGRAPH is probably best known for the international conference, which bears its name. 

There are many events that make up SIGGRAPH. The most frequently attended area of SIGGRAPH is the trade show. All the top names from Adobe to Wacom made an appearance, many equipped with full classroom style seating (complete with individual computers outfitted with the latest gadgets) and huge over-sized displays. Other crowd favorites are the Art Gallery, the Studio, Emerging Technologies and the Electronic Theater. Other noteworthy events are the SIG kids (held this year at the Children’s Museum), Educators Program and the Job Fair. 

Many new technologies were unveiled at SIGGRAPH 2002. Wacom, manufacturer of graphics tablets, promoted the new Intuos2 professional graphics tablets and Cintiq interactive pen display. The Cintiq is an LCD screen that doubles as a drawing surface. You apply the pen directly to the screen to take advantage of your natural hand-eye coordination. 3D Systems displayed one of their most innovative tools, what’s known as a 3d printer. It’s actually a sculpting tool that automatically builds physical models from 3d data. Many glass display cases featured cartoon and video game characters, specialized mechanical parts and other models. Sometimes the simplest tools are the most practical. P.I. Engineering, Inc. featured the X-Keys programmable keypad. The 20 – 58 key console allows users to set up keyboard shortcuts for any application. Keypads can even be configured with a joystick or jog/ shuttle device for 3d and video applications, respectively. Many of the products at SIGGRAPH 2002 were aimed at high budget design firms. With prices starting under $100, the X-Keys programmable keypad was my favorite device: simple, practical and affordable.

Trade Show
Over 250 exhibitors were on hand for the trade show at this year's SIGGRAPH. The exhibit hall was a cacophony of music, people and demonstrations. Huge plasma screens and LCD projection systems were set up in every direction to compete for every ones attention. Product demonstrations were scheduled non-stop from 10 A.M. until 5 P.M for three days straight. The trade show ran from Tuesday through Thursday and showcased some of the hottest technologies around. Some exhibitors held contests in which attendees would compete with each other to create the best image with the vendors’ product. Prizes ranged from T-shirts to full versions of software or hardware. Although the Henry B. Gonzales convention center is not very large, the arrangement of so many displays made for a labyrinth of choices. The sights and sounds were quite overwhelming, even through the third day of exploring! 

My favorite booth was an installation for Avtoma, a visual effects group with offices in Milan, Italy, Montreal, Canada and Santa Monica, California. The Avtoma booth seemed to be more of an art gallery/ movie theater. A muted, pastel façade leaned forward about 30 degrees and required suspension cables to keep it upright. An enormous cascade of cycling water running between two translucent panels accented the dramatic angle. Each panel had images of past projects and Avtoma staff. An information desk lay at the foot of the water fall where Avtoma team members answered questions and gave away T-shirts and stylish satchels imprinted with the characteristic head and shoulders Avtoma logo. Stairs lead up to an elevated platform behind the screen. On the flip side of the façade was a projection surface where a demo reel played and a presentation was staged at regular intervals. The seating area fit about 10-15 people and was furnished in a retro style, complete with a computer workstation outfitted dentist chair. This quite unexpected mix of natural and digital media made for an elegant yet retro-hip display.
 
Art Gallery
An art gallery was on display during the entire conference with entries from the world over. Over 70 artists displayed digital artwork to celebrate the creative spirit by taking a look “behind the scenes” at the process of creating digital and electronic fine art. The theme in 2002 was to highlight the process that generates the work, demonstrating how digital artists create their artwork. Many of the installations were accompanied by artist notes, and pictured the piece in several states of evolution. Artists were also present to answer questions and to demonstrate how the more hands-on artwork functioned.

Much of the artwork was interactive. “A Virtual Tour of the Cone Sisters Apartments” by Dan Bailey featured a large touch sensitive plasma display as a portal into one of Baltimore’s greatest collections of Post-Impressionist and early modern art acquired by sisters Claribel and Etta Cone. The touch display allows users to walk through a virtual representation of the Cone apartments taken from 37 archival photos. Artwork which adorned the walls, now residing at the BMA’s (Baltimore Museum of Art) Cone Wing, was scanned in high resolution and placed in a 3d environment closely matching the apartment where the Cone sisters housed the artwork in the 1930’s. Users simply point in the direction they wish to go and a virtual camera wanders over and reveals each piece of artwork in great detail. While a piece of artwork is displayed full screen, users can prompt a display of text information about each piece of work. Dan Bailey, of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County says, 

Other installations required the viewer to simply watch. San Antonio based artist, Ned Nemness displayed his Unbound: Uncertainty Principle, a surrealistic digital landscape on paper. Fernando Orellana’s The Drawing Machine caught my attention, as its silvery shape gyrated across a sheet of paper. A sleek, chrome arm, outfitted with a ball point pen, is suspended above a drawing surface, while a gyroscope mechanism forces the contraption to draw interesting circular patterns. The Drawing Machine is influenced by the sound in the environment around it generating an audio portrait of SIGGRAPH. Fernando’s premise is to create art, with the human element removed, in other words, a machine that creates art.

Emerging Technologies
Recent advances and new experiments in technology were showcased in the Emerging Technologies exhibit. One of the most fun areas was Virtual Chanbara, a Samurai sword battle simulator featuring a force-feedback device to give the user the illusion of impacts during a sword fight. Developed at the University of Tokyo, the simulator was contained in an area about 10 feet by 10 feet. Users would don a Virtual Reality headpiece, complete with LCD display and headphones. Users held a large 18” wand with a sphere at the end as a sword. Two high-speed flywheels inside the sphere rotated either in the same direction or in opposing directions to simulate gravity and impacts. Users would engage ninja fighters who were armed with katanas. A large rear projection display showed a birds eye-view of the user battling the ninjas, ingeniously blue-screened so that an image of the actual user was superimposed with the computer generated battle environment. A smaller window showed what the user could see through the VR goggles.

SIGGRAPH 2002 was an awe-inspiring collection of events that showcases the state of the graphics industry today and the digital future is defined. From technical presentations to entertaining animations, SIGGRAPH represents all aspects of the graphics industry. Understanding how technical innovations are changing the graphics industry will be the key to creative breakthroughs in applied graphics. SIGGRAPH 2003, the 30th International Conference on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques, will be held in the San Diego Convention Center, 27-31, July 2003 in San Diego, California. The future is gleaming!

Sources

• www.3dsystems.com
• www.acm.org
• www.avtoma.com
• www.siggraph.org
• www.wacom.com
• www.ymouse.com