What is the best use of my time at SIGGRAPH?
Sunday, August 8, 2004 at 6:00PM I'm in the Point-Based Computer Graphics course. I'm not taking in the specifics, since I missed the beginning of the talk where he presented the overall approach, but I'm getting the general idea: hierarchical level-of-detail rendering of point clouds. Now, already, my thinking has been plinked: instead of drawing points as splats of uniform size, draw them at sizes appropriate for each point. I don't know how he decides what size is appropriate for each point, though. Something about the detail, and/or the amount of screen-space they will take up. He's also talking about combining triangle rendering with point rendering. I like the idea of adaptively sizing the points to fill holes in our point cloud.
The question on my mind is, What is the best use of my time at SIGGRAPH?
The papers, frankly, go over my head most of the time. I don't use that much math, so the new algorithms are pretty opaque. If I sat down with one of the authorsand did an interactive tutorial and was highly motivated, I could get it, but powerpoint presentations just don't work for me.
Panels are usually sort of "eh". I wish they were discussions or even debates between experts with different opinions, but they usually end up being more like everybody gives a canned 30 minute talk about their then takes questions from the audience who mostly want to make a point, not really ask a question.
Courses are easier to follow than papers; they present previously published information at a pace designed to teach, not just describe. However, they're interminable. Try to get me to pay attention to the same thing for three hours straight... I can do it, again, if I'm extremely motivated, and I have some of my tools: hard copy, a few colors of pens, eye contact with the presenter, a well-lit room... but it's hard, here. There are no hard copies of course notes! They used to sell them; now they just put them all on a dvd. I'm putting the notes from a few of the courses onto my tablet, so I'll try taking notes on the tablet, but I don't think it will be as useful to me as hard-copy notes. The tactile aspect of note-taking helps keep me engaged.
My conclusion is that I should do the things which I enjoy... the things which excite me... the things that I want to pay attention to. The Emerging Technologies stuff, the art show, hot demos on the exhibit floor-- that's the sort of thing that has the power to really impress and excite me. Inspire, even. Aha! That's what I'm here for: inspiration!
After shopping a few presentations, I went to Guerilla Studios, a roomful of hot computers (PowerMac G5's with apple cinema displays) loaded with tons of hot software: Maya, Adobe Creative Suite, After Effects, Corel Painter, combustion, and probably other stuff I haven't even seen yet. Thousands upon thousands of dollars worth of software, all installed on the same machine, all for me to experiment with. Tomorrow I can get a 3D scan of my head -- then edit it! I'll show my hairstylist exactly what I want next time, with my very own virtual model. They also have a rapid prototype setup, which can take a 3D model and make a 3D print out of it -- from a digital representation to a 3D physical representation. I wonder what I should make... I'm signed up for a chunk of time tomorrow so I should have an idea tonight.
Reader Comments (1)
It would be really nice if an attendee would take the time to Post which exhibitors have interesting DEMO products for those of us on the East Coast who no longer have the ACM bringing their SIGGRAPH shows here.
That way people like me can always write a sales rep and beg for a copy, or download a copy if it's available!
Pamela Curry, aka "hazelflagg" Motion Picture Film Director/Website Creator/Advocate/presently Guerilla Studio systems builder, in Training at Film Studio Faux. (name stolen from Selznick's movie Nothing Sacred).