Siggraph 2009

By longtime CGW contributing editor George Maestri

The trade-show floor was a little sparse, probably thanks to the economy. It was populated by both hardware and software vendors, but the number of animation studios having booths has risen significantly over the years. Graphics and animation has truly become mainstream, and the number of recruiting booths show that graphics is as much about the artists these days as it is about the technology.

Technology still marches on, however, and there were a number of exciting new announcements. One of the more significant announcements came from Autodesk, which did a major revamp of its 3D product offerings. Maya was the most affected. Maya Unlimited and Maya Complete have been done away with, and in their place is a single version of Maya with all the features in one package. Maya 2010, the new version, is essentially the same as Maya 2009 Unlimited, but with some added goodies tossed into the mix. These include: Maya Composite, which is based on Autodesk’s Toxik compositor; MatchMover, a very robust camera-tracking and matchmoving application; and Backburner, Autodesk’s batch rendering system long used for 3ds Max.  Additionally, Autodesk has repackaged 3ds Max and Maya into suites. Customers can purchase either Max or Maya, then get a number of other Autodesk products, such as Mudbox and MotionBuilder, bundled at a significant discount. Another nice little change was that Face Robot is now bundled with Softimage XSI, allowing every XSI user to do high-quality facial animation very quickly.

Elsewhere on the software front, there were a number of other new releases. Luxology announced Modo 4.01, which updated the software with a large number of animation features, such as inverse kinematics and constraints. Slowly, but surely, Luxology is creating a very robust and full-featured modeling, rendering, and animation system.  Chaos Group was showing new versions of its excellent V-Ray rendering system, which is seeing more and more use in high-end productions. A version for Maya was demonstrated, as was a version that takes advantage of the huge processing power embedded in the GPUs on high-end graphics cards. This should help speed rendering times significantly. Also, e-on previewed its new Vue 8 natural environment software, which includes a number of important new features, such as 3D terrain sculpting, directional displacement, the third generation of e-on’s Spectral atmospheric engine technology, distributed bucket rendering, and much more. 

On the hardware front, the big topic was 3D display technology. With the surge in 3D movies in theaters, many companies are working to bring this technology to the home.  After seeing a lot of 3D, I realized that the art of making 3D films is still in its infancy. I walked away from many 3D demonstrations with crossed eyes and a slight headache, a result of the 3D being off in one way or another. Hopefully the art and technology will continue to develop so that 3D will look more natural and be easier to digest. JVC was showing some very nice 3D monitors using a circular polarizer that made it very pleasing to the eye. I’m not sure if this was simply the display or the high-quality production of the U2 video shown on the display, but it left me with a very positive impression of how good 3D can be when done right.

The graphics card vendors also were getting into the 3D game. PNY was showing how to author 3D content using its Nvidia Quadro-based HD-SDI graphics cards, which can drive the new stereo displays at full resolution. Other graphics card vendors were also showing 3D content, but also showing the increasing power of the GPU. Nvidia was showing its Tesla supercomputing platform, which uses Nvidia GPUs as the core of a very fast and reasonably priced supercomputer available in desktop or server configurations. The firm was also showing some very cool uses for its GPUs with OptiX, an interactive raytracing engine, which allows real-time changing light, reflection, refraction, and shadow within real-world scenes. ATI went for pure horsepower this time out with the introduction of the ATI FirePro V8750, which quadruples the raw processing power of the card over previous generations. 

3D printing is also seeing a lot of improvement. The technology has been around for a while, but as it matures, the costs are coming down significantly, making it accessible to more and more artists and engineers. One of the more interesting demonstrations of this technology was from a company called Shapeways, which has a system that can print 3D objects using stainless steel, opening up the door to all sorts of interesting applications.  Right now, the company is set up as a service: Users upload their designs, and 10 days later, the object shows up at their door. For those who need faster turnaround, there are a number of machines that print in plastic and can be purchased for a reasonable price.  Dimension was showing its uPrint Personal 3D Printer, which retails for less than $15,000 and prints using a very hard ABS plastic that can even be chrome-plated.

SIGGRAPH is not just about new products; it’s also about art and new ideas. There were lots of interesting things demonstrated upstairs at the various art galleries and emerging technologies exhibits. One of the more interesting new technologies was touchable holography, which uses ultrasonic waves to give people the sensation of touch in a holographic environment. Another cool technology was a touch-screen that used polarized light to drive the interface. This allows for touch-screens of just about any size to be constructed. Finally, one of my favorites was the Information Aesthetics showcase, which demonstrated all sorts of new ways to present complex information in an attractive way. This include MSNBC’s interactive hurricane tracking display, but one of the cleverest exhibits here was News Knitter, a device that wove the latest headlines into a shirt.

The SIGGRAPH Computer Animation Festival was once again open to all this year, and it is rapidly becoming a full-fledge animation festival. The festival introduced two new sections: Real-Time Rendering, devoted to work produced interactively in real time; and Visual Music, which specifically combines music and visuals into a sensory experience.   There were a number of excellent speakers, including Chris Landreth, who discussed his latest film, “The Spine.” As for the films, the Best in Show Award Winner was “French Roast” by Fabrice O. Joubert, and the Jury Award went to “Dix,” produced by BIF Production at The Mill.

Next year, SIGGRAPH returns to Los Angeles, and it will be great to have the show back in its adopted hometown. Los Angles is a city chock-full of graphics professionals, and because of that, the show should be great.