LOS ANGELES - This year's SIGGRAPH graphics and animation show promises a number of new areas of interest for attendees. The conference is scheduled to take place at the Los Angeles Convention Center from August 8th-12th, with the exhibit being held August 10th-12th.
Conference chair Dena Slothower says "Posters" are entirely new for this year's conference, and will give attendees an opportunity to hear about research ideas that are still in their early stages of development. A poster, says Slothower, is a research topic presented in a poster format. Presenters show off their topic - for example: rendering, motion capture, etc. - by discussing the research path they are taking and showing images of their ideas and possible results. The goal for these poster sessions is to provide inspiration, feedback and opportunities for collaboration.
"I think it's going to be a really accessible format and should give us a picture of final results to look for two years from now," says Slothower, adding that it's a great opportunity for attendees to see interesting problems.
"Researchers will interact and collaborate." Posters are a standard feature of many trade shows and Slothower felt it was a good time for SIGGRAPH to adopt the format.
"Panels" make their return to this year's show, after taking a break in 2003.
"We felt they had lost some of their zing," says Slothower of past panels. "They were looking more like courses. We evaluated them and went about a new submission process."
A jury went through the list of topics posted to the Siggraph Web site. Once they were narrowed down to the seven topics that will be a part of this year's show, attendees were allowed to submit position papers. The positions and presenters eventually selected were chosen to create a diverse panel. Each of this year's discussions will feature four or five panelists. Topics slated include: "Careers in Computer Graphics Entertainment," "Next Generation User Interface Technology for Consumer Electronics," "Custom Software Development in Post Production," "Games Development" and "3D Animation."
SIGGRAPH 2004 will also host its usual Paper sessions, as well as the Computer Animation Festival. For more details on registration for the show and this year's agenda, check out the SIGGRAPH site at www.siggraph.org.