.SIGGRAPH 2004.
Other .
Exhibition




The Exhibition at SIGGRAPH is big business for many (description below). With everyone there from Apple, IBM, Microsoft, to Pixar, Disney, Industrial Light and Magic, Sony, to AMD, ATI, Alias, Adobe and on and on (for a complete listing visit here).

This particular portion of SIGGRAPH holds little interest to me. I normally put aside 1/2 a day to visit the Exhibition, but this year I only spent about 45mins there as there was really too much else to do and see. It's nice to walk around and see some of the lessons etc that are taking place, but mostly it's companies trying to sell their products and I'm not about to up and buy Maya or anything. Nor am I so interested in their free give-away's which have become cheaper and cheaper since the big tech crash. I renewed my personal subscription to IDN Magazine (they have great bundle deals at SIGGRAPH), wandered around a bit, saw some interesting visuals, listened to some of the buzz and then got back to the conference.

Some pics:

Disney Booth - Here visitors are able to watch some behind the scenes magic on Shrek 2 and other animations


AMD Booth - Demo of Real Time Motion Capture (animated figure on screen, dude in Black suit with glowing capture points).


Electronic Arts Booth - Here visitors could play the latest not yet released games (Playstion 2 and XBox) or watch demos from their upcoming games.


Sony Imageworks Booth - Attend a course on how to properly illustrate the human form for later use in animation.


Hey, who doesn't like grilled cheese sandwiches?!

By its very nature, SIGGRAPH attracts an exclusive group of buyers from around the world, across all facets of this expanding technology. Much of the research in computer graphics is exploding into everyday products that are vital in today's technology-hungry culture. Organizations that support the tools used in computer graphics and interactive techniques are eager to take advantage of future opportunities.