Hello all,

All may know our ZeptoPad and ARider. They were exhibited in SIGGRAPH ASIA 2009 during these 3 days, 17th – 19th.

We brought a set of real ARider devices so you could try it on actually there.

Thousands of people came to the event and many of them visited our digital stand!

And we could hear their “WOW” (especially when they see the helmet of ARider) directly. We thank many people for coming and giving opinions to us!

As I said before, we are now developing some systems for touch screen. So with Pioneer’s  single touch screen, CYBER BOARD, the demo of SiteSneaker2007 was also exhibited.

Site Sneaker 2007 is the web browsing system to search and select web pages like when you chose some books at a bookshop.

Today, two years after its originally development, the system was again refined by Makoto’s live coding.

So there PDW cycle realized again like when we were in Macworld 2009.

Presentations were all exciting!

Mr Takahashi of Robo Garage gave a demonstration of ROPID. The robot’s actions of running and jumping were so smooth and cute! Also, the robo nodded when Mr Takahashi told it to do an action.

Works in Art Gallery space were so crazy and beautiful.

The above is the string display which Ryo bought at the first sight!

Other booths were also interesting!

Here some pics of works for Emerging Technology.

Works at digital stands (including us?) were unique and funny.

This is the devices to robotize note PC. Thought, there are similar other devices made in Hong Kong, but the devices at the stand was only 10,000 yen! It costed much more several years ago, so Ryo take it and actually ordered it!

We would not see so many booths, things and presentations like Lucas Film which recruited people there.

We haven’t seen such a many innovations at the same time. Usually the SIG is took place in America, but this year Asia one is took place in Yokohama, JAPAN, and the quality was almost the same! It was really wonderful opportunity for us to go there much more easier.

We hope this SIG will be taken place in Japan again.

Many thanks again everyone for coming and seeing us!

Take a nice girl. Make her don various head mounted displays. There, you’ve just invented a new fetish. Did I say the girl speaks only Japanese?

Filmed at SIGGRAPH Asia 2009 that ended today, the video below shows various AR and VR applications using head mounted displays. The reporter from ASCII magazine slays virtual samurai warriors in a game named Kaidan by Ritsumeikan University, draws with virtual ink on plates and plays with Franz Lasorne’s war game.

Head to ASCII to see all five videos it has taken at SIGGRAPH, including weird gadgets, augmented t-shirts (by Julien Pilet), a Micheal Jackson dance room and two more head mounted displays (one with cameras placed on your hands). Via Development Memo For Ourselves.

In 2004, Stephen Chenney of the University of Wisconsin published a paper in SIGGRAPH Animation titled “Flow Tiles” that brought the idea of terrain editing to scenarios that require objects to flow through a multi-dimensional space.

As part of my Advanced Computer Graphics course (CSE872) at Michigan State University, two classmates and I implemented this paper. Please watch our video below and let me know what you think of it in the comments section (you can compare it to Stephen’s results):

The video was recorded with TechSmith’s Jing Pro and I used a free text-to-speech system called vozMe to create the narrative of the video since I didn’t have a microphone at hand. I then used ffmpeg to merge the audio and video together to create the final output video.

The source code for this project is available at Google Code. If you would like to help reduce some of the technical debt that exists in the code, I would be happy to help you with any questions

A Huge iPhone?

What is this? Is this a huge iPhone???

Of course not. This is a really wide and big desk type (single) touch screen. It is a very future style product, CYBERBOARD,  made by Pioneer. Though it is usually set vertically but we set it horizontally.

Originally such desk-type plasma screen was for sale, and recently Pioneer’s developing one for multi-touch.

This touch-screen is used for the meetings of big companies. When plan sheets of a bicycle, a car or a building, maps or paper are used in meetings, usually people unfold them on desks and will talk about their plan with pointing them directly. Though video chat is not suitable for such use, the screen is.

People are around the screen and directly talk about and point at it. Face to face is necessary for meetings, but also sharing the contents will make the meeting more effective.

When we saw Pioneer showed the demo of that at CEATEC, we couldn’t but drop there as we develop the white board application, ZeptoPad. These devices are necessary for our development. We originally developed multi-touch screen with glass table, DILAD screen, Ir camera and a projector bought at IKEA a year before iPhone was released in Japan.

When we said such thing to the staff of Pioneer, he said he had ZeptoPad! So we found a kindred spirit each other and sought something our cooperation.

The Plasma Came

Such meeting cause good boon for us and we could borrow the fantastic plasma touch screen.

So we tried some things with it.

Firstly, we tried Google Earth. It is orthodox experiment, isn’t it?

(We tried with MacBookPro at first, but the driver seemed not to support correctly, so it does not work.)

The impression of seeing Google Earth on the horizontal screen is different from doing it on the vertical one.

The Keyboard we used was Window’s XP’s software keyboard. But when it is displayed in full-screen, ESC key is lost. So  we directly used PC’s one instead.  Maybe non-wire keyboard attachment is better for its use.

As our experiment, we surfed a certain Flash web sites. Touch screen is really suitable such sites since they are developed for mouse controlling. It is really regrettable that iPhone does not support Flash… X(

A desk type screen is useful to see sites such as to search and select among many pictures.

The site above is created in Flash, and it is the UI to thumbnailes American social news site, Digg.

Though the screen is useful for the people standing bottom side of it, it is not perfectly useful for those who standing at opposite side. Letters can be placed around the screen to be seen easily by every people around it. But ones near the center should be placed in one direction… how should we solve the problem…?

By seeing on the wide screen set horizontally, We felt something fresh even see the same thing as usual.

Board games or simulation games would become more fun on this screen.

We will play continually on this screen to have fun for our research and to reply some feedback to Pioneer in return for their kindness. We are excited that it would expand the possibility of game and web contents even only with Flash.

Announcement

We are exhibiting at SIGGRAPH 2009 ASIA, at Pacifico Yokohama, between 17th-19th December 2009. SIGGRAPH is the world-wide event of computer graphics, and recently is becoming as the place of user interface and new technology.

UEI’s ZeptoPad and ARider will appear at one of  ”digital stand” there. Also, you can touch the wide screen above there!

See you at SIGGRAPH:D

Now I remember why I dislike academic conferences so much:
1. I don’t like having papers read to me (does anyone?).
2. I don’t like having one image projected on a screen and never changed for the 15 minutes when someone is reading to me.
3. I don’t like time hogs who use up discussion time: there is never time for discussion
4. I don’t like constant references to failed technology or unfamiliarity with projectors, computers, presentation software, or DVDs.
5. I don’t like that most presenters have no clue how to construct a text slide: your squinting audience is not proof that they are intensely interested. The fact is they can’t see what you wrote in your 12 point type.
6. I don’t like …, well, you get the idea.

The academic conference is a time-honored ritual that needs a facelift. Who could possibly think it is interesting to have someone read a paper to you? At least tell me about your research, like you were giving a lecture in one of your classes. I don’t need the citations and requisite references to this philosopher and that theoretician. TELL ME what you do and why it is important. Put the paper online so I can read it if you have convinced me.

For god’s sake learn to make visual presentations and how to run them. There are tons of websites that tell you how to do this and if you just use the simple rule that a picture really really helps get your idea across, you will awaken true gratitude in your audience. Don’t know what button to push to advance your images? You are not ready to face an audience.

The fact is, I am spoiled. I have been going to digital media conferences (SIGGRAPH, for example) and popular media conferences (Comic-Con, for example) for several years and there, performance is everything. You convince people of your ideas by demonstrating them, verbally and visually. You talk and joke and lighten up. They have billions of dollars at stake and they can do that. Why can’t we?

So here is my strategy for a much improved AAA meeting:
1. Have 3 sessions a day. That’s it. Sessions everyone comes to. Make them big, raucous exchanges. Have the presenters give examples of the most current ideas and most interesting trends in the field. Then open it up to discussion. A big, raucous, out-of-control discussion (with a great moderator to keep it semi-confined). Comic-Con style, people get in line at the microphone and are projected on the screen when they are asking a question. Nothing anonymous about it. As at Comic-Con, you would not be allowed to ask the presenters for an autograph or if you could have their baby.

2. Have the presenters in those three session do dynamic visual presentations designed to get people thinking. If they don’t know how to do this, I’ll show them. These should be prepared weeks ahead of time and refined by presentation date, not done on the airplane ride to the conference.

3. Provide a virtual conference online where those adored papers are posted and where everyone at their own time and place can read and comment on them. Have at least one session a day comment on the most interesting posted papers.

4. Have a big-name lecturer who gets people going and thinking. I remember the year Stephen J. Gould was there. The place was all abuzz after that.

5. Have Michael Herzfeld from Harvard be the Master of Ceremonies. I have never heard a more gracious, interesting, or smart discussant (he was the discussant in session 2-176 on Friday). And he has a great voice. I just hope he likes to sign autographs. http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~anthro/social_faculty_pages/social_pages_herzfeld.html

6. Have Tom Boellstorff provide everyone with a metaphor so their presentations are more meaningful. He gave a talk on cloud computing (sounds dull, huh?) that was delightful and structured by a cloud metaphor and it all made sense. http://www.anthro.uci.edu/faculty_bios/boellstorff/boellstorff.php

7. Have Ruth Behar direct a photographer and/or videographer to record the whole thing and then post it online so we can all comment on it. Ruth showed her work with Cuban Jews (cool topic, eh?) and accompanied her talk with the most amazing photographs (taken by another photographer under her direction) and personal reminiscences. Ruth could direct it all and make it both beautiful and meaningful. Ruth Behar: http://www.ruthbehar.com/

8. Have a digital “film festival” in which everyone who wants can try to show their research in a one minute digital video. The model can be a video Faye Ginsburg showed by a man with ADD. It was brilliant and really immersed the viewer into his world. See Scott Logon’s work at: http://www.ligon-art.com/scottvideo.html (why aren’t we making videos like this????). Faye Ginsburg: http://as.nyu.edu/object/fayeginsburg.html

9. If there are still going to be thousands of papers, use an idea from SIGGRAPH (a very competitive, high-end, very technical digital technology conference): run a “Fast-Forward” session the first day. In this session, everyone has 30-60 seconds in which to present their main idea and get people to come hear their presentation. It is fascinating, funny, informative, exciting, and sometimes weird and it helps make conference planning easy. You also get to present your ideas to a huge audience even if they don’t come to your session. See it at: http://www.siggraph.org/s2009/performances_special_events/fast_forward/index.php

10. I could go on but other ideas, like getting the Family Guy  cast to read all the papers, just might not be practical but would be a lot more interesting and thought provoking. But now I remember why I don’t like the AAA meetings. Thanks for the memories…

On 16-19 December Yokohama, Japan plays host to Siggraph Asia 2009, the 2nd ACM Siggraph conference and exhibition in Asia. Regarded as one of the most important education platforms for graphic design and art in Asia, Siggraph Asia 2009 is expected to attract over 8,000 industry professionals, creating a hub in which a wealth of ideas on technology, art, culture and science are conceived.

Some of the main attractions include an art gallery displaying various works from digital art to photo-manipulation, a computer animation festival that features cutting-edge digital visuals and guest speakers such as David Kirk, a former Chief Scientist at NVIDIA, and Joe Rohde, Senior Vice President at Walt Disney Imagineering.

As well as this, the Emerging Technologies exhibition shows how breakthroughs in art and technology can be utilised alongside computer graphics and interactivity to deliver visual products to tomorrow’s consumer, while the Networked Dome Theatre is a demonstration of very-high-resolution images in a nine-metre dome by the Graduate School of Media Design at Keio University. The demo features spherical images of a solar eclipse and other celestial imagery streamed over a 10-gigabit network from Osaka.

The idea behind the Siggraph Conference & Exhibition is to stimulate the intellect and creativity of the attendees through art, computer animation, courses and lectures from industry luminaries. The conference also acts as a recruitment centre, providing an open forum for jobseekers to meet with potential employers.

Full details of the conference and exhibition can be found on the Siggraph website.

James

Con el título “The best of us” el Comité Olimpico Internacional ha lanzado este comercial para promocionar los próximos juegos de Londres 2012. Después del desencuentro por el diseño del logotipo de estos juegos realizado por el diseñador gráfico Wolf Olins y que parece no tener muchos adeptos, con este comercial realizado completamente en 3D se apuesta por una estética más actual, con personajes muy al estilo de Dreamworks. Se trata de unos auténticos superatletas que no se dan por vencidos hasta juntar los 5 continentes. La agencia que ha realizado el corto es la productora Nexus y la dirección corre a cargo del genial duo compuesto por Fx and Mat de la escuela de animación Supinfocom. Ya contaban con trabajos previos de gran calidad como el corto “En tus brazos” premiada en el último Siggraph y que ya había recogido en el blog en post anteriores.

ACM SIGGRAPH (Association for Computing Machinery’s Special Interest Group on Graphics and Interactive Techniques)

Second ACM SIGGRAPH Conference and Exhibition on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques in Asia

SIGGRAPH Asia 2009, 16-19 December, 2009

Date:  Dec 16 (Wednesday) to Dec 19, 2009 (Saturday)

Venue:  Pacifico Yokohama (Yokohama, Japan)

Address:  1-1-1 Minato Mirai Nishi-ku Yokohama

The ACM Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques www.siggraph.org  is an interdisciplinary organisation concentrating on research, technology, and applications in computer graphics and interactive techniques. Members include researchers, developers and users from the technical, academic, business, and art communities. SIGGRAPH provides information for the computer graphics community through its annual conference, publications and the SIGGRAPH Video Reviews.

The ACM SIGGRAPH Distinguished Artist Award is presented annually to an artist who has created a substantial and important body of work that significantly advances aesthetic content in the field of digital art.  Nominations for the 2010 award are accepted until November 1, at www.siggraph.org/programs/awards

SIGGRAPH is the best exhibition to meet the world’s leading experts on computer graphics and interactive techniques, to see international of art and animation and tomorrow’s technologies today.  You can find the products and services you need to achieve your creative visions and help with corporate growth. There will be thousands of researchers, developers, producers, providers of computer graphics and interactive techniques on display.

SIGGRAPH Asia 2009 Computer Animation Festival award ceremony will be held on 17 December 2009 to honor the well-deserved award winners!

Speakers

Jun Rekimoto (The University of Tokyo and Sony Computer Science Laboratories Director)

David Kirk (NVIDIA Fellow and former NVIDIA Chief Scientist)

Joe Rohde (Executive Designer and Senior Vice President, Walt Disney Imagineering)

SIGGRAPH este cea mai importanta conferinta in materie de grafica si animatie pe calculator si, an de an, organizeaza si un festival de filme de scurt-metraj, unde se prezinta participanti foarte diversi, de la studenti la studiori de efecte speciale de la Hollywood. Cum SIGGRAPH are o reprezentanta oficiala la Bristol, lunea asta a trecut pe la noi directoarea festivalului din America si a adus cu ea doua ore de filme prezentate la SIGGRAPH 2009 (care s-a tinut la New Orleans, daca intereseaza pe cineva).

Filmele au fost “crema” competitiei, in sensul ca au fost selectate de juriu ca fiind cele mai bune sau macar cele mai reprezentative. Nu pot sa neg ca toate au fost impresionante (mai ales dat fiind ca multe erau facute de studenti), dar trebuie sa ma declar enervat de faptul ca ultimul film difuzat a fost unul de la Pixar. De ce atata frustrare? Pai filmele de pana atunci au fost bune spre excelente, dar cel de la Pixar (deloc surprinzator) le-a facut sa para niste incercari de amatori…

In fine, iata cateva din scurtmetrajele prezentate:

Trailer pentru Alma, un film dulce si foarte impresionant din punct de vedere tehnic, dar surprinzator de trist. As zice chiar ca e un film de groaza.

Window Pains, filmul la care sala a ras cel mai mult. Veti intelege de ce.

Pigeon Impossible, poate nu tocmai original, dar destul de amuzant.

Unbelievable Four, un thriller politic cu un final neprevazut

Trailer pentru French Roast, cel mai bun film prezentat… daca n-ar fi fost…

…Partly Cloudy de la Pixar. Scuzati calitatea mediocra a imaginii.

Pentru ca e tarziu si pentru ca tocmai m-am intors de la un festival de scurtmetraje generate pe calculator (mai multe despre asta maine) SI pentru ca nu am mai scris articole despre top in ultimele zile, am sa va fac o surpriza

Videoclipurile mele preferate ale deceniului:

Justice – “D.A.N.C.E.” si “DVNO”

animatii de So-Me, Franta, 2007

Haideti, chiar aveti nevoie de comentariu? Priviti doar si va bucurati.

The Chemical Brothers – “Star Guitar”

regia Michel Gondry, Franta/Marea Britanie, 2006

Gondry ne aratase cu zece ani inainte ca este maestrul potrivirii sunetului cu imaginea, dar aici s-a intrecut pe sine.

Simian Mobile Disco – “I Believe”

regia Romain Gavras, Franta/Marea Britanie/…Romania, 2007

Imi aduc aminte cum eram cu Edy in Ungaria in vara lui 2007 si am vazut prima data clipul asta la TV. Socant prima data cand il vezi (:P), dar excelent regizat si filmat.

Junior Senior – “Move Your Feet”

regia Shynola, Marea Britanie/Danemarca, 2003

Comedie animata in stilul graficii de console video retro? Si totul facut cadru cu cadru, desen cu desen, pixel cu pixel? Si te mai si face sa razi copios? Dap.

U2 – “Window in the Skies”

regia Gary Koepke, SUA/Irlanda, 2007

Super-arogant din partea celor de la U2 sa se introduca asa in istoria muzicii contemporane, dar Doamne! imaginile sunt superbe.

The White Stripes – “Fell in Love with a Girl” si “The Hardest Button to Button”

regia Michel Gondry, Franta/SUA, 2001 si 2003

Inca doua clipuri care arata cate de adanca si stranie e imaginatia lui Gondry. Uatzafac, intr-adevar.

Fatboy Slim – “Weapon of Choice”

regia Spike Jonze, SUA, 2001

Si premiul pentru coreografie se acorda… unui videoclip cu un singur dansator amator.

Jay-Z – “99 Problems”

regia Mark Romanek, SUA, 2004

Pentru sufletele nefericite care cred ca filmul alb-negru “e invechit” si ca “nu merita vazut”, priviti va rog clipul de mai sus. Imaginea alb-negru e perfecta si trebuie sa recunoasteti ca, daca ar fi fost filmat in culoare, clipul ar fi fost de un milion de ori mai slab.

Bonusuri – o idee face totul

OK Go – “Here It Goes Again”

Daca nu ati intrat pe YouTube in ultimii 4-5 ani…

The BPA (feat. David Byrne & Dizzee Rascal) – “Toe Jam”

Fatboy Slim, David Byrne si Dizzee Rascal intra intr-un bar…

This funny and well-executed six-minute animation is a labour of love that took five years. Pigeons, things that explode and a great ending: what more could you want?

Okay, it’s an advert, but it made me laugh.

In a computer-animated music video, Bush, Cheney, Rice and Rumsfeld are rock-star Matrix-inspired superheroes saving the world to a thrilling ’80s soundtrack. Okay, as satire it’s out of date, but the direction and animation more than make up for it.

I have a terrible headache, not in the mood for gawd stuff.. so here is something else.

A rookie secret agent is faced with a problem seldom covered in basic training: what to do when a curious pigeon gets trapped inside your multi-million dollar, government-issued nuclear briefcase.

Mancano pochissimi giorni a venerdì 6 novembre.

Siete pronti a meravigliarvi?

A partire dalle 21:00, a Palazzo Giureconsulti in Via dei Mercanti, 2. ACM Siggraph Milano apre le porte all’immaginazione.

Vieni a dare un’occhiata al meglio del digitale da tutto il mondo

Alma - Rodrigo Blaas - Spagna

Spent most of the day reading up on CryEngine 3 and the exciting technologies used there. Thankfully Crytek is somewhat open about what they do (much appreciated). Simple things to implement would be the Screen Space Ambient Occlusion which is described here. Martin Mittring is one smart person (although I think he didn’t take full credit for the whole SSAO story). Anyway, the extended the SSAO to be some form of Screen Space Global Illumnation (I love screen space operations) which evolved from Screen Space Directional Occlusion. If I could only remember the link.

Still a bit unclear on how they do the Global Illumnation in CryEngine 3 using light volumes. What I gatherd from their SIGGRAPH paper they use a 32×32x32 3D texture where they store spherical harmonics. This cube they translate (and also use techniques similar to Cascade Shadow Maps?) to follow the camera. I can see how this would work for smaller scenes (or confined spaces with portals at least). But outdoors? Interesting never the less, although a bit too complicated to implement for me at the moment.

Now if only Carmack could tell me how to do those Mega Textures! Although someone seems to have the right idea.

For research into both my Specialist Project and my Dissitation I have been looking at various recourses, one of which I tried was the Siggraph website I previously mentioned as something worth looking into. This is the website for the annual computer graphics and technology convention, which has been stated as being at the forefront of the industry. Unfortunately, having briefly shuffled through their website I have found nothing particularly useful, the website is pretty frustrating to navigate and there doesn’t seem to be any intuitive method for searching through the journals published.

Interestingly enough, I have looked into Siggraph before, as they released a number of videos over the summer that provided quite interesting glimpses as to where computer recourses may be spent in the near future. Here is one of the videos:

Ultimately, I found Siggraph interesting, but contextually unhelpful. Luckily I am not hoping to focus on graphics specifically, so I can leave this one as tried and unsuccessful.

Siggraph 2009, Special Interest Group on Graphics, e’ presentato da Meet the Media Guru/ MGM Digital Communication Srl./ patrocinio della Camera di Commercio di Milano.

Il principale appuntamento internazionale dedicato alle immagini e alle tecnologie digitali applicate ai diversi settori della comunicazione e dell’audiovisivo in particolare, arriva in Italia con due appuntamenti a Milano e Torino in novembre.

Milano, ottobre 2009 – Nato nel 1974 il Siggraph – acronimo di Special Interest Group on Graphics – si è guadagnato negli anni il ruolo di ritrovo d’elezione per il gotha mondiale della computer graphic applicata al cinema, ai videogiochi, alla fotografia, alla multimedialità. Organizzata annualmente negli Stati Uniti dall’ACM SIggraph (Associazione per la Computing Machinery), presenta ogni anno i progetti di computer graphic più interessanti, provenienti da tutto il mondo.

Grazie al capitolo italiano di ACM Siggraph, la manifestazione sarà presentata anche quest’anno in Italia con l’obiettivo di promuovere e diffondere le ultime novità in materia di computer graphic e tecnologie interattive anche nel nostro paese.

Milano e il suo territorio rappresentano un centro riconosciuto per la creazione e la diffusione di contenuti digitali e l’edizione italiana del Siggraph rappresenta oggi un importante momento di confronto annuale, capace di generare – proprio come accade per l’evento internazionale – nuove idee e proporre confronti produttivi.

Per l’edizione 2009 ACM Siggraph Milano raddoppia gli sforzi e sarà presente non solamente a Milano – promosso da Meet the Media Guru e realizzato grazie al patrocinio della Camera di Commercio di Milano – ma anche a Torino, all’interno del calendario delle manifestazioni previste per Contemporary Arts Torino Piemonte, il marchio promosso dalla Città di Torino, Regione Piemonte e Provincia di Torino che raccoglie in un unico calendario autunnale iniziative finalizzate alla promozione e alla valorizzazione delle arti contemporanee.
(http://www.contemporarytorinopiemonte.it/index.shtml)

Inizia Torino Domenica 1 novembre alle 16:00 al Cinema Massimo di Via Verdi 18, con uno screening del meglio del Festival e le ultimissime novità in materia di effetti speciali, animazione, musica visuale, lavori sperimentali, simulazione, arte, design, architettura e urbanistica. Allo screening farà seguito un seminario tenuto da S. Carlye Archibeque – Produttore Esecutivo del Siggraph Computer Animation Festival – intitolato How to Get Nominated for an Academy Award & Anatomy of 2009 Siggraph Computer Animation Festival.

A Milano Siggraph andrà in scena il 6 novembre a Palazzo Giureconsulti a partire dalle 15:00 con un incontro fra la Camera di Commercio di Milano e i professionisti presenti sul territorio lombardo con l’obiettivo di aprire un tavolo di discussione che approfondisca le esigenze del settore.

Alle 17:00 Carlye Archibeque sarà protagonista di un workshop che vedrà coinvolti importanti professionisti ed esperti del settore delle nuove tecnologie quali Franz Fischnaller, Art Director selezionato per l’edizione 2009 di New Orleans, Chiara Boeri, Christian Jezdic, Studio Bozzetto, tutti chiamati a illustrare le tendenze più recenti nel digitale e presentare case study italiane da mettere a confronto con i contenuti del Siggraph.

Infine, dalle 21:00 avrà inizio la serata/evento – aperta al pubblico – di presentazione dei contenuti più innovativi del Siggraph Computer Animation Festival 2009, che anche quest’anno ha coinvolto il meglio della produzione dell’industria dell’arte, della tecnologia, dell’animazione interattiva, del cinema, degli effetti speciali, dell’animazione, della musiva visuale, dei video game, della simulazione in tempo reale, dell’architettura e dell’urbanistica. I protagonisti dell’edizione 2009 del Siggraph Computer Animation Festival sono stati scelti fra 770 studi professionali, produttori, autori e studenti di tutto il mondo che hanno fatto domanda di partecipazione.

Presidente della Giuria del Siggraph Animation Festival è stato quest’anno Miles Perkins, Direttore Marketing della Industrial Light & Magic. La giuria era composta da Ron Fedkiw della Lucasfilm Ltd; Cindy Grimm, della Washington State University di St. Louis; John Knoll della Industrial Light & Magic; Henry La Bunta di Electronic Arts; Dennis H. Miller, della Northeastern University; Mark Osbourne, della Bad Clam Production Inc; Rebecca Strzelec, di Penn State Altoona; Tom Pereira della LightStage LLC; Sophie Revillard di Connecting Worlds; Isaac Kerlow della Nanyang Technological University.

Partner dell’iniziativa è Televisionet (www.televisionet.tv), realtà editoriale milanese che offre a livello internazionale servizi di comunicazione integrata attraverso la creazione e lo sviluppo di contenuti, strategie di marketing e soluzioni innovative di alta qualità.

• IMPORTANTE:  L’evento è pubblico. Ci si può iscrivere via FB oppure scrivendo direttamente una mail a: info @ mgmdigital.com specificando nell’oggetto : SIGGRAPH a Milano.

Per ulteriori informazioni:
MGM Digital Communication
Tel. 02 – 798760
giuseppe.lucido @ mgmdigital.com
beatrice.tinti @ mgmdigital.com

Finally, an end to the silence.For those of you who paid visit to this page more often, I hope the passive state that existed for more than two weeks didn’t disappoint you. Been there at the python conference that was conducted for the first time in India, the enthusiasm from the open source fraternity urged me to explore new realms of film making too. The days that followed were spend at the doors of google with just one goal; To come up with the best available tool set for open source film making. And all the doors led to one ultimate tool, BLENDER!!!. Even though I used to keep track of the recent advances in this wonderful animation package, the enthusiasm couldn’t be carried over to the next level since once you get back to work, you were always provided with the ones from software giants like Autodesk. But Pycon ignited a new fire in me to explore more in this direction and come up with a feasible solution for use in production. It was quite inspiring to find lot of actvity going on in this direction in online forums. Among those the one which caught my attention the most was the Blender to Renderman Artist Tools. I had a tough time getting a copy of the same since there were torrent links that were having very few seeders and also the ISO link that was provided was not working at all. Anyways now that I got a copy with me I thought it would be better to make it available for the ones who are already looking for a copy.Below listed are the contents of brat .5 rc2.

Compiled and sources of Blender 2.48, Aqsis 1.4.2, Pixie 2.2.5
Mosaic 0.2 Beta
Python 2.5.4 (installation for Windows – Linux already has it)
CGKit 2.0
Shaderman 0.7 and ShadermanNEXT
SLer
Shader sources (hundreds of them!!)
Shaderman shader projects
OpenEXR 1.4.0 (Windows install, Windows and Linux source)
OpenEXR 1.4.0 sample images
Dr. Queue (compiled and source)
Cutter
GIMP
Cinepaint (Linux only!! There is no recent Windows build)
Documentation from Pixars Online Research library as well as SIGGRAPH papers
Crimson Editor (Windows code editor)
Dev C++ and MinGW (Windows only, Linux has gcc which is the basis for all Linux builds)
Python scripts for Blender (various usefull ones not released with Blender)
Voodoo (for visual effects camera matchmoving)
Blender files (examples and test files)
Some usefull textures

You can download the ISO here or using the  the widget  on the sidebar

Chris will show how his team modeled and animated the complex, detailed characters in his film, he’ll talk about the challenge of the “Uncanny Valley” (the creepy effect of making CGI characters that are too realistic) and how The Spine attempts to avoid this problem. He’ll also be showing how his animators used a Method-acting approach to mimic subtle gestures, ticks and micro-expressions in their characters’ faces and bodies, and explain how his crew balanced realism and stylization to create characters that are Uncanny in a positive way.

Free Event – registration required at http://www.siggraph.ca

Doors open 6.30pm. Mixer with licensed cash bar.

View more info and the trailer for The Spine at http://films.nfb.ca/the-spine/

Photosketch trasforma semplici schizzi disegnati in complessi fotomontaggi con pochi clic! Il video della presentazione al Siggraph dopo il salto

Il team di sviluppo del programma, composto da 5 studenti cinesi della Tsinghua University e della National University di Singapore, ha dichiarato che, per raggiungere tale risultato, hanno utilizzato una vasta libreria di immagini per mappare gli schizzi disegnati e sviluppare dunque l’algoritmo.

Il programma può analizzare ogni sketch con su un’etichetta, per trovare la relativa corrispondenza  con immagini sul web che contengono tale etichetta, così da provvedere ad un ritaglio automatico (grazie ad un algoritmo di rilevamento dei contorni di buona fattura a quanto pare) ed a un montaggio secondo la disposizione dettata dallo schizzo!

Fonte: Telegraph.co.uk