SIGGRAPH 2007: Day 4
Motion Portrait
Silicon Studio presented a brand new piece of software that can convert a single digital photo into a rigged 2D facial animation system with a full range of expressions, eye movement, and fairly substantial head turns. They had me pose for a quick photo, and within seconds they had a photoreal avatar that was looking about, making funny faces, and sneezing! I just about died laughing. A super-cool tool that will no doubt find its way into web animation. As a bonus, the software can take any photo and make it come alive. For example, they used pictures of an Easter Island stone head, a cat, and an anime girl.
The author as an avatar, upper left.
ZBrush 3
Alright, I’m revising my opinion about ZBrush. I hated the 2 1/2 D canvas interface with version 2. However, version 3 has gone full-on 3D and behaves more like a standard 3D program. It all makes for a good workflow. And, of course, the sculpting brushes have gotten more powerful.
Animation Theater with 4K
A special session of the Theater featured 4K projects with 4K projection, including a short film by Peter Jackson. It looked as good as 35mm, but without the grain, scratches, or dust. There was a tiny bit of stairstepping on thin, diagonal, high-contrast lines. However, those artifacts would be hard for the average person to spot. Without a doubt, motion picture film is pretty much dead as soon as digital delivery formats are agreed upon by studios and theaters. By the way, Peter Jackson’s film was shot with the new “Red” camera. Very sweet indeed.
The invasion has begun: Insanely large high-def projectors
Book Signings
I participated in two author appearances. One with Wiley & Sons / Sybex and one with the Breakpoint bookstore. Only a few Maya groupies showed up, I’m afraid to say. The CS author who wrote about three-dimensional information ordering has a cult following - the lucky bastard. Nonetheless, Beakpoint did sell all the copies of both my books, which is always a good thing.
Contributor Reception
Perhaps the best party of the conference was the one created for the thousand or two contributors. It was held in a little peninsula park a block from the Marriott. There was so much food that you were given a map to all the food stations at the entry. Tables were set up along the ocean, so it was super-nice to sit, watch the sunset, and enjoy the cool breeze. They even threw in a precision performance by four vintage WWII fighter-trainers. I assume Siggraph arranged for the aerial show - otherwise the goverment was spraying the world’s top computer jockeys with some experimental chemical (”Damn those geeks and their precious iPhones and knowledge of Linux!”). I sat down at a table alone, and became the anchor for a group of individuals who had arrived on their own. A computer science professor from Belgium, and game programmer from Sweden, a student from Japan, a research associate from IBM, a Photoshop master from Seattle, and an experimental video artist from New York filled the seats. The IBM man had constructed a stereo microscope from scrap video camera parts and was working the eTech show. The Photoshop master, Barry Scharf, was also a fine artist who has paintings hanging at the Los Angeles County Museum. An interesting bunch. That’s the great thing about the event - it’s very easy to talk to just about anyone.
Down by the ocean…
SoftImage House of Blues Party
Here’s a party that was the exact opposite of the Contributor Reception. It was the loud. Loud enough to make your ears bleed with techno of some type pounding the very foundation of the building. There were go-go dancers in fur boots gyrating the voyeurs sitting in balcony seats. Siggraph attendees were also dancing - so close to the speakers that I was afraid their heads would explode. Of course, there was a painfully-long line to get in. Once you were in, it was difficult just to walk down the hall for all the people who you could barely see because the lights were restricted to a “horror film” theme. Not that I don’t like that environment (I’ve done my share of dancing to trance music in the early a.m.) - I only wish the music was a few hundred decibels lower and I didn’t need a flashlight to find the bar.
“When Programmers Go Wild”
Pics
Here are those, ahem, pics I promised yesterday. I feel so dirty…
Left: Sketch babe guarded by men in white shirts at Sony booth
Right: Motion capture babe at rest (stalked by garbage can and man)