Siggraph Asia is in Brisbane November 17th to 20th. This year looks like being particularly strong, and it is the first time the event has been to Australia. “For artists and scientists, SIGGRAPH Asia is a very special and unique place. It is a second home where all passions driven by computer graphics and interactive techniques converge”, explains Tomasz Bednarz, SIGGRAPH Asia 2019 Conference Chair
Here are some highlights to watch out for:
Real-Time Live
Wednesday 4pm
The future of interactive techniques live on stage! The most innovative interactive techniques will be presented and deconstructed live by their creators during SIGGRAPH Asia’s Real-Time Live!
This year includes such presentations as Virtual Try-on of Fashion, Speech Driven Digital Human with Emotions and a Virtual Reality Protein Builder!
In all, seven teams will present using a range of real-time graphics and audio in Brisbane. Real-time in production and animation is one of the hottest areas in CG at the moment, and this year’s presentations cover the full range of applications from Entertainment to Advanced communication.
Real-Time Live! is one of the experiences that makes SIGGRAPH unique and it is a must-attend event where it matters that you are ‘in the room’. Attendees will experience the best in real-time graphics and interactivity coming together for a live competition. From mobile games to console games to virtual and augmented reality, creators of cutting-edge real-time graphics will be showing under the hood of their creations and sharing the techniques they use to achieve jaw-dropping results.
Technical Papers
The SIGGRAPH Asia Technical Papers program is the premier international forum for disseminating new scholarly work in computer graphics and interactive techniques. At this year’s conference, paper authors provide an overview of their work in the Technical Papers Fast Forward event, then they present their complete papers in the sessions.
Talks
“Frozen 2” and the Past, Present, and Future of Tech at Disney Animation
Walt Disney Animation Studios has a long tradition of combining timeless storytelling with innovative technology. This tradition continues with “Frozen 2” pushing the boundaries of what they can accomplish artistically and technically. From enchanted forests to dark seas, solving the artistic and technical challenges of “Frozen 2” built on the innovative approaches they have established over their long history of filmmaking. The team will discuss the unique challenges that they needed to solve and also point the way to the future of how they are rethinking Disney’s moviemaking processes.
Childish Gambino’s Pharos-Real-Time Dome Projection for Live Concert
Monday, November 18th 4:15pm – 5:30pm
Childish Gambino’s Pharos festival was a three day immersive music event held in a 160 foot wide inflatable dome in a remote New Zealand location. Weta Digital and 2n Design joined forces to create captivating 360 degree interactive visuals for the dome projections. Keith Miller ( Iron Man 3, Man of Steel, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, The Jungle Book) , and Alejandro Crawford will discuss their approaches to designing the experience, and choreographing the dream-like imagery to Childish Gambino’s performance. From initial concept art and design processes through to VR prototyping tools and the final system architecture for displaying high-resolution, real-time rendered content in Unreal Engine, they will present a glimpse behind the scenes of creating the ground-breaking and award winning event.
Making of Pixar’s Onward
Tuesday, November 19th 9:00am – 10:45am
Makers of the upcoming Pixar Movie Onward are going to share some details about the making of the new movie. Various departments are going to present and talk about the difficulties encountered during the course of the production. The team intends to discuss some of the complex technical details of making magic for Onward at Pixar.
Star Wars: Over Four Decades of Storytelling with Innovation
Tuesday, November 19th 2:45pm – 4:00pm
With a focus on the creative approach, Rob Bredow, Head of Industrial Light & Magic, will highlight some of the most innovative visual effects in this series of films spanning over forty years of work at ILM. From “A New Hope” to “Solo: A Star Wars Story”, from motion control to fully digital characters, the saga provides both a historical reference and points to the creative future of visual effects.
Analysis and Execution – How Weta Digital Created Junior for Gemini Man
Tuesday, November 19th. 4:15pm – 5:30pm
In Ang Lee’s action-thriller Gemini Man, Will Smith’s character Henry faces off against Junior-a younger clone of himself. Weta Digital VFX Supervisor Guy Williams presents how they created Junior as a completely digital character. Creating a digital human has often been described as the ‘holy grail’ of visual effects. For Gemini Man, there was an interesting twist because at 23, Will Smith was already a very recognizable figure. Guy will share the extensive anatomical and physiological research Weta conducted to prepare for the creation of Junior, down to the movement of individual pores. All of this was to ensure they captured the youthfulness not just the likeness, of a 23-year-old Will Smith, Guy will talk about how this project pushed them to advance their character pipeline, to help artists reveal Junior in astonishing detail at 120 frames-per-second in 4K stereo. See our fxguide story here.
Note:
Both fxphd & fxguide team members will be in Brisbane for SIGGRAPH, if you see us please say hi !
