SIGGRAPH Asia 2016 successfully concluded its ninth edition, which brought together some of the biggest names and organizations in the computer graphics and interactive techniques industry. Held from 5 to 8 December 2016 at The Venetian Macao, Asia’s premier graphics, animation, art and technology event drew over 5,200 computer graphics professionals, researchers, enthusiasts and trade visitors from 43 countries and regions under one roof.
The conference program had close to 600 speakers discuss the latest industry developments and future of the computer graphics and interactive techniques industry. The exciting line-up featured distingushed keynotes and panellists such as Paul Debevec, Senior Staff Engineer at Google VR; Brian Cabral, Director of Engineering at Facebook as well as Radu B. Rusu, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Fyusion, Inc; Kurt Akeley, Chief Technology Officer, Lytro Inc, Shen Shaojie; Chief Roboticist, Da-Jiang Innovations (DJI) and the original production team for Terminator 2; Scott Ross, GM ILM, Co-Founder of Digital Domain with James Cameron; Mark Dippe, Assistant Visual Effects Supervisor for T2 and Steve Williams, Computer Animation Supervisor for T2. Themed “Key to the Future”, this year’s edition also ventured into immersive environments, pioneering a new Virtual Reality (VR) showcase to emphasize the inevitable direction of this industry and the potential of integrating VR technology into film for a more immersive experience.
“We are in this new renaissance of Virtual Reality, which has become a major part of this industry in the recent years, and inevitably will become a huge component for SIGGRAPH Asia. This has reflected in the main technical aspect of SIGGRAPH Asia such as our Emerging Technologies and Technical Papers sessions, where there is a shift in focus towards hands-on technology such as wearables. VR is a growing area that is helping to bridge the conference and exhibition; we are seeing these evolutionary concepts being presented and demonstrated by some of the brightest minds in this field,” says Jeff Jortner, President of ACM SIGGRAPH.
SIGGRAPH Asia’s exhibition floor featured the latest hardware, software, technologies and innovations from around the world. Exhibitors such as Tsinghua University – Tencent Joint Laboratory, Shenzhen Rayvision Technology Co Ltd, Zhejiang University, LENOVO Ltd, uSens Inc, Forum 8, DJI, Itseez3D, Sigong Tech Co Ltd and Ricoh Imaging Company Ltd showcased their latest equipment displaying some of the most evolutionary ideas and concepts in the field.
AWARDS
For the first time, SIGGRAPH Asia included an awards component for these two Symposiums: Symposium on Visualization and Symposium on Mobile Graphics and Interactive Applications, where the committee selected the best demonstrations, papers and honourable mentions.
Symposium on Visualization:
Best Paper Award:
Evaluating the Perception of Semi-Transparent Structures in Direct Volume Rendering Techniques by Rickard Englund from Linköping University, and Timo Ropinski from Ulm University
Symposium on Mobile Graphics and Interactive Applications:
Best Demo:
BeCasso: Artistic Image Processing and Editing on Mobile Devices by Sebastian Pasewaldt, Amir Semmo and Jürgen Döllner from Hasso Plattner Institute / University of Potsdam; and Frank Schlegelfrom Digital Masterpieces GmbH
Emerging Technologies:
Best Demonstration Voted by Attendees:
Bottomless Joystick by Yuichiro Katsumoto from the Interactive and Digital Media Institute, National University of Singapore
Best Demonstration Voted by Committee:
Reality Forge: Interactive Dynamic Multi- Projection Mapping by Christian Siegl, Matteo Colaianni, Vanessa Lange, Marc Stamminger and Frank Bauer from the Computer Graphics Group, University of Erlangen Nuremberg
In addition, the Emerging Technologies Program and Computer Animation Festival also presented their yearly event awards at SIGGRAPH Asia 2016.
The Computer Animation Festival honoured the top talents in animation, including:
- Best of Show – Schirkoa, Directed by Ishan Shukla (India)
- Jury’s Choice – Accidents, Blunders and Calamities, Directed by James Cunningham
(New Zealand) - Best Student Project – BreakingPoint, Directed by Martin Lapp (Germany)
Click here for more on the Computer Animation Festival Award winners.
Looking ahead to next year’s edition, SIGGRAPH Asia 2017 will be held in Bangkok, Thailand from 27 – 30 November, 2017. Click here for more event pictures taken at SIGGRAPH Asia 2016 in Macao.
