Seoul #1 – SICAF

Last month I was honored to spend 10 days in Korea as an international juror for the Seoul International Cartoon & Animation Festival, a six-day festival held in the Myeongdong district.

Firstly, I should take the opportunity to say how impressed I was with the organization’s attention to detail and hospitality; from the minute I arrived in the country I was incredibly well looked after. Everyone was hugely generous with their time which made for a very social and full visit to the wonderful capital, and a great festival.

The Festival Opening Ceremony was at the park in the center of the city, directly outside the City Hall.  It was a high-energy couple of hours with huge video screens, singing kids and dancing characters.  I was

s2013 Pre-Conference Round-Up.

There’s a lot out there now to give a good indication of what you can expect to see at this years conference, and it’s looking like a pretty awesome 40th Anniversary.

Schedule at a glance.

Advanced program pdf.

The Computer Animation Festival Trailer

Dailies Preview

Art Gallery Preview

Real-Time Live! Teaser

Emerging Technologies Trailer

Technical Papers Trailer

For more info on what’s coming, check out these links:
Media Blog
European Directors Win Majority of SIGGRAPH 2013 Computer Animation Festival Honors
SIGGRAPH Business Symposium to Focus on Key Issues Facing Film and Game Industries
SIGGRAPH 2013 Highlights Accomplishments in Computer Graphics

And while you’re here, check out the 40th Anniversary SIGGRAPH People website.

Hopefully see you in 19 days!

The 2013 Animation Festival Jury is done!

What an amazing weekend with an incredible group of people.  The official write-up is now on the SIGGRAPH Blog.

My prior connection with some of the Jurors was tenuous.  I’d met Norman Badler briefly while speaking at UPenn and caught a John Frame exhibition at Portland Museum of Art last January.  Infact, the only significant connections I held with any of the Jurors was three years studying under Peter Parr (at Bournemouth Arts University) and two years working with Wayne Stables (at Electronic Arts).  Most of the others I’d never met previously, but to me this group represented a strong mix; four continents, a diverse array of backgrounds, animation styles, technical skills, industries and education.

In these situations you’re never quite sure how things will pan out.  Fortunately, with Fran and Cris managing the hard work of logistics and technical direction I could focus on direction for the Jury process.  Now it’s just a case of wrapping their results into a show the Jurors would be proud of, and one the SIGGRAPH attendees will enjoy…

… very special thanks to Dayna & Lutzner at Disney for hosting us (again!).

20 hours of movies can be tough. Carlo Vogele taking some well earned time-out.

If you’ve ever considered being involved with SIGGRAPH – it’s hard work, and one of the most rewarding experiences you’ll have.  The graphics and animation communities are simply an amazing group of people with an unbelievable mix of humility and talent.

SIGGRAPH Real-Time Live! 2013

Check out the 2013 RTL! trailer featuring some of the mind-blowing presentations from last years show, including Square Enix, AMD, BeautyPi and NaughtyDog.

Be a part of the show!

Every year since it’s inception, RTL! has featured technology from independent artists and engineers alongside products from billion dollar companies; it’s the diversity and quality of content that makes the show unique.  Don’t delay if you’re considering submitting; only one week left.

http://s2013.siggraph.org/submitters/real-time-live

What do you think cutting edge real-time graphics look like?  Let us know if you’ve seen something that should be on stage…  we’d love your ideas.

The Computer Animation Festival 2013

Celebrating its 40th year, the world’s most innovative exploration of computer-generated animation and visual effects will be on display at SIGGRAPH 2013 in Anaheim, California this summer. The four-day, international event (21-25 July) spotlights the most prestigious innovators of technical and artistic short films. The festival showcases everything from student films to blockbuster visual effects and mainstream commercials.   Full Press Release | Computer Animation Festival

Star Wars Games Retrospective

From Flying to MMO, Action, Adventure and more, Star Wars Games have covered most genres. And now, for the first time they are all covered (from 1982-2008) in one video. Sit back and enjoy this epic collection of the Star Wars Retrospectives thanks to GameTrailers.com

 

Study Interactive Rendering, for free.

A few weeks back I shared a link to the Foundations of Computer Graphics course being offered free at Berkley.  Well, the Awesomeness that is Udacity are also offering an introductory course to 3D Computer Graphics, with a focus on Interactive Rendering.

About the course
CS291 will teach you about the basic principles of 3D computer graphics: meshes, transforms, cameras, materials, lighting, and animation.  By the end of this class you will know enough to make an animated 3D demo program that runs in a web browser, while also understanding some basic principles of how realistic computer images are generated.

Prerequisites
Knowing how to program in some language is all you’ll need to get started. Some knowledge of JavaScript is useful later on if you wish to make your projects more interactive and engaging. Familiarity with vectors and matrices will ease your way but is not critical.

CAF 2012 in the Bay

This years SIGGRAPH Computer Animation Festival comes to the Bay via the SIGGRAPH San Francisco chapter.  It will be hosted on Friday 7th December at the Adobe offices in town.  For more information or to reserve tickets check out the chapter website.

Catching the hilights of the largest Computer Graphics festival in the world – a steal at just $5 (students and members) or $10 (non-members).  Hope to see you there!

Berkeley: Foundations of CG, for free.

Imagine if Berkeley decided to give completely free access to their online certified Foundations of Computer Graphics course…

About the course
CS184.1x teaches the Foundations of Computer Graphics. Students will make images of 3D scenes in real-time, and with offline raytracing. The course runs for 6 weeks and consists of four segments; each segment includes an individual programming assignment.

Prerequisites
Solid C/C++ programming background (Java is ok too; you will pick up C++).
Access to a relatively up-to-date computer (Windows, Mac OSX or Linux)
Solid high school mathematics; a review of the relevant linear algebra is included in the first segment.

To read more and register, see here.

Secrets from the Ranch

Yup, the latest super secret project from the ranch was announced today; StarWars Detours.

“Today at Star Wars Celebration VI, Robot Chicken creators Seth Green and Matt Senreich, along with their collaborator Todd Grimes, unveiled footage from their new animated series Star Wars: Detours. The series takes place between between Episode III and IV, and of course, Green, Senreich and Grimes have taken comedic liberty with the entire Star Wars universe, with George Lucas‘ blessing of course.”

This is my favorite clip, but check out the other three links below, including the trailer.

Clip1  |  Clip3  |  Trailer.

“Senreich told fans the story behind the series, saying they got a call from Lucas’ people and he immediately thought they were getting sued for developing Robot Chicken.”

“Lucas was sitting at a desk and said, ‘You guys think you’re pretty fucking funny, don’t you?'” Green remembers. “‘So, how about we do something funny together?'”

As of right now, there are no details on premiere dates or even a home network for the show. But have a first look at Star Wars: Detours below, and then head to the comments and hit us with your initial reactions.”