Siggraph 2024 - Denver Colorado - Recap by Edd D-T

TLDR

• Community is everything, great to?be in person sharing our passion for CG
• Not as much AI as I expected, although definitely present
• USD is going to keep?gaining adoption
• SPAM is still funny

Preface

Siggraph was a childhood dream of mine. I first wanted to?go around 1997?when I was?doing my Computer Science degree, and I had graphics lectures from Alan Chalmers and Paul Debevec. I finally got to go in 2008 and actually had an exhibition for the whole week with my old crew The Sancho Plan and our Spacequatica installation . After that we went up to PIxar and then I ended up at Burning Man, but that's a whole other story..

It was wonderful to be back! Covid took her out for a minute there, and its noticeably smaller still, but?I almost wonder whether its better, more focused and easier to meet people now. This year was in Denver Colorado, and spanned almost a week, or workshops, talks, Birds of a Feather's,?showcases, Electronic Theater, Art, Parties, Emerging tech, Real Time Live, Dinners, VR theater, Papers, Keynotes the list goes on!

It was amazing to see so many graduates from CG Pro, friends, collaborators, partners, clients and new friends. Community is what makes everything work. We can't do anything great without each other, and especially in challenging times it's even more important to stay close and discuss ideas and life balance together. The job fair was small which was telling of the current climate, but the passion was strong and it gave me a lot of hope that we will figure out whatever challenge comes out way, and that art comes from artists.

Talks and exhibition floor

Siggraph was split into sections: the main floor, emerging media, art, and VR theater. I mainly spent time (when I could) walking a few steps before someone from the school?ran up to say hi!?A few highlights were?seeing the advances in Mocap from Vicon, and the generative 3D?from TurboSquid / Shutterstock ?was very interesting. CenterGrid was my home base, and after the talk was done I kept coming back to check in. We did a panel on cloud virtual studios for virtual production which was really interesting,?and some huge advances mean that studios can affordably startup their own studios without buying huge amounts of equipment. Additionally, big studios can burst to larger capacity when needed. Exciting times, especially I think for the entrepreneurially minded artist!

Emerging media, papers, art

Simulation is usually found in?the technical papers and posters?as that's where CG continues to innovate the most. But AI was also present through advances in computer vision for Autonomous driving and some work on character animation. Although there was not much on generative AI in the papers, which was interesting given all the hype surrounding it.?We had our exhibition in the art area in 2008 and I had to drop in. I think the SPAM installation won the prize for me. It's so cool to see all the crazy things people make! The VR theater was also cool. VR went through its hype phase like AI is currently. It came down, but kept going, and seeing the advances like the affordability and quality of the Quest3 and Vive solutions excited?me. Love the new all purpose?trackers from Vive , and I loved showing the Sony Mocopi ?and Stretch Sense Gloves to everyone at the event. People couldn't believe how small and affordable they are and remarkably good quality for doing full body and hands mocap. I loved the work from UltraLeap and tried the open source AR headset. 3D print your own for $250!?The event was smaller but mighty and there was just too much to take in as always!

Keynotes

NVidia was the main sponsor, and the keynotes were from Jensen Huang and Mark Zuckerberg, which was in itself interesting -- and unusual. It was clearly all about AI?and made sense, as Meta is a pioneer there (which many don't realize) through PYTorch and Llama , which power most AI / ML today. The talks were not hugely revealing, which I was hoping for, and so?was the huge crowd of people queuing for them. It was clear that?that NVidia is all in, but strangely the show floor didn't really represent?their vision as much as I had expected.? Omniverse is very powerful and still probably only focused on the industrial use cases due to the pricing. I personally would focus on USD in the M&E space for the moment.?Omniverse is?an incredible tech for those with larger budgets though and you can try it for free?for up to two people.

Conclusion

I am?excited and also have no idea where media and entertainment is going. But I do believe in people, and without artists?like us?AI feels?a bit hollow. So I think artists will drive the next phase, and heart, creativity, and curiosity might lead us to wondrous new places we have not been before. I can't wait for next year in Vancouver! Until then, keep your eyes peeled, don't fall behind, pay attention, follow your passion, and create!

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