SIGGRAPH 2009, the conference on computer graphics and interactive techniques, welcomed 11,000 artists, research scientists, gaming experts and developers, filmmakers, students, and academics from 69 countries around the globe to New Orleans. In addition, more than 140 industry organizations exhibited at SIGGRAPH 2009. In fact, exhibits experienced the largest percentage of international participation in more than 10 years.
"We are thrilled with the high-quality of the content and the high-energy buzz amongst conference attendees as well as the diverse, creative vibe of this fabulous city," says Ronen Barzel, SIGGRAPH 2009 conference chair. "Not unlike other technology-based conferences this year, we were impacted by the current economy. However, the feedback from those that came was awesome and in watching the chatter on our social media channels this week, those that could not make the trip this year are vowing to find a way to make it to SIGGRAPH 2010 in Los Angeles."
In all, more than 965 speakers participated in the conference, which featured more than 150 talks, sessions, panels, papers, presentations, and screenings.
Highlights from SIGGRAPH 2009 included:
Keynote presentations from industry experts representing this year's additional content focuses on Music and Audio, Games, and Information Aesthetics:
Randy Thom, pioneer in sound and two-time Academy Award winner with Skywalker Sound
Will Wright, video game designer, creator of Spore™ and The Sims series
Steve Duenes, Graphics Director, The New York Times Company
The renowned SIGGRAPH Computer Animation Festival, highlighting juried and curated animation content from around the globe. Winners in several categories included:
Best in Show Award Winner: French Roast, Fabrice O. Joubert, The Pumpkin Factory, France
Jury Award Winner: Dix, BIF Production, The Mill, United States
Jury Honorable Mention: Alma, Rodrigo Blaas, Cecile Hokes, Spain
Student Prize Winner: Project: Alpha, Matthias Bjarnason, Christian Munk S¿rensen, Nicolai Slothus, The Animation Workshop, Denmark
Well Told Fable Prize: Unbelievable Four, Sukwon Shin, In Pyo Hong, United States
A newly expanded focus on video games brought a mass of exciting gaming and real-time rendering content to SIGGRAPH 2009 including content exploring Real-Time Rendering as part of the Computer Animation Festival, Game Papers, and SIGGRAPH's first game development competition, GameJam!.
Technical Papers, the premier global forum for presenting ground-breaking research from today's leading experts, covered the core topics of computer graphics, such as modeling, animation, rendering, imaging, and human-computer interaction, and also explored related fields of audio, robotics, visualization, and perception by presenters from all around the globe - from the Czech Republic to Japan.
Art Paper presentations on topics exploring the creation of art and its place in society, helping people understand the changing roles of artists and art creation in the increasingly computerized, online world. SIGGRAPH 2009 collaborated with Leonardo, (The Journal of the International Society of the Arts, Sciences and Technology) to publish the SIGGRAPH 2009 Art Papers in a special issue.