SIGGRAPH 09 post mortem

[Titus]

And what patterns you saw industry wide?
Looking forward to our tales of whoe and folly.

-Roberto


As someone who has been living in a country with a never ending economical crysis I thing you're doing just fine.


It's obvious stereography in movies is here and studios now know how to do it well. My second impression is that games and movies will cross paths soon, as has been predicted for some years. A whole movie done with a game engine, and low budget? that's great!


Now it's time to get some sleep.

[MagnumCort]

This was my first SIGGRAPH convention, so I have nothing to compare to. I loved it. Everyday, there were four or five things going on simultaneously that I would have enjoyed seeing. Alas, I could only pick one at a time (unless I went to the Geek Bar, but I'd rather give my full attention to one presentation). An entire week surrounded by really brilliant people. With any luck, my IQ went up a couple points just being in the presence of a crowd such as this.

I found the advances in real time rendering to be one of my favorite parts and can't wait to see global illumination and raytracing in real time for the masses in the very near future. Loved Pixar's presentations on how they made the balloons and the netting for "Up" Very inspirational. Loved playing on my first Cintique. Enjoyed the motion capture demonstrations as I've never seen that before, either (I work as a CG Artist in the defense industry - most of what I do is not exactly "cutting edge").

One benefit of it being a "smaller" SIGGRAPH this year - I was never denied admittance to any thing I wanted to see because the location was full!

Brilliant, brilliant stuff. It is such an honor to be a part of such a great group of people.

[TiMrozek]

This was my first Siggraph as well and I had a pretty great time. It was overwhelming to an extent but I got to see a lot of great stuff. Always cool to see scene-files and exclusive behind the scenes stuff about vfx and whatnot from movies.

Best swag had to be the custom Modo M&M's at the Intel booth. I found their booth to be the most interresting because, instead of just showing off their hardware, they invited a lot of industry guys to just sit there and talk one on one about what they were working on. Loved talking to the Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs guy about how he created a spaghetti tornado complete with meatballs and sauce.

Got to meet Roberto and Uinku, two guys I've talked to on these here forums, as well as a bunch of other cgtalkers at Acme Oysters so that was all very cool.

In general, good experience. As for the city, can't really see myself going back there anytime soon. I can only handle so much of that 100% humidity mixed with 24 hour drinking and god knows what is on bourbon street smell. Glad I got to go once though.

[LolaToonHead]

As a first time attendee and first time student volunteer, I can only say it was a truly overwhelming experience.
I think I missed a lot of great stuff simply because there was too much information to absorb.
I truly enjoyed it, though.
I met wonderful people from all over the world.
Reel reviews were incredibly helpful to someone like me, who is graduating is less than a month.
One of my favorite talks was the effects omelet because it mixed a little bit of everything - 3D, the design of clothing for characters in UP and awesome effect of the Eiffel tower being destroyed.
E-tech was very cool as well and was my favorite shift as an SV.
I didn't get to participate in the sketch wars because I was working. That's one of the things I really wish I could have done.
My favorite party was the chapter party. It was early in the conference and some of the folks I met there were truly great. I hope to keep in touch with them in the future.
New Orleans was wonderful, although the heat was oppressive.
Boubon Street was a bit crazy, but enjoyable. My favorite part was the music. Saw some great jazz bands at Fritzel's European Jazz Club and even bought a CD. Between my SV shifts and the conference, I didn't really see that much of the town. I hope to go back some day and actually see some of the historic sites.

[Animechx]

Who where some of the cool people you meet? - I met the Marketing Director of ILM & his associate; a number of Japanese SV's & Engineers in ETech.


What did you think of New Orleans? - my wife was right about her hometown & all its temptations! She was more scared for me than I was; but I did finally get a good taste of beignets & Po Boy! YUM!!
What did you like about the conference? - it was basically OK, nothing really impressive as with the ones in L.A.
What patterns did you see from the industry? - intense push for sales, very strong on financial cutbacks; more focus on Rendering technologies than anything else.
What would you change? - more Exhibitors & more freebies!


Who had the best swag? - not too sure what that is exactly, but personally, I enjoyed AutoDesk & Wacom booths.
Who had the best Party? - whomever threw the Chapters dance party (DJ needed some help though)


What company was noticeably absent from the show floor? - I didn't see any of HP, Apple, the ususal TV & Animation companies we all love, like, DreamWorks, Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, etc, (they do hire new talents for animated features)


Who had the best Demo? - AutoDesk.
What did you like the most? - seeing that new Graphics/Server tool that streamed several thousands of Online Sites all at once! Amazing!!!.:beer:

[JohNLA]

[list]
Who where some of the cool people you meet?
Chris Landrith is the most famous but most are very cool.

What did you think of New Orleans?
Best city to party in.

What did you like about the conference?
I enjoyed the new music talks and performances.

What would you change?
I miss the old Electronic Theater format

Who had the best swag?
SCAD's tampon shaped thumb drive made me chuckle.

What company was noticeably absent from the show floor?
Pixologic

What did you like the most?
Seeing all my old friends

[malducin]

Who where some of the cool people you meet?

Lots of old acquaintances: Rob Coleman, Habib Zargarpour, the crew from Imagica, Roberto and the gang after the Reception, Miles Perkins, Hilmar Koch, my pal Arkin from SIGGRAPH Boston, oooohhh too many to mention.

What did you think of New Orleans?

It was bittersweet. Great to see the city coming back, but still so much to do. Saenger Theatre (where the ET was last time) closed. Bourbon Street looked like a ghost town compared to 2000, lot more strip clubs and cover band details (although when hearing lots of 80s like Van Halen, Def Lepard, Phil Collins, etc. played I did get a bit excited). Didn't see the place where they had bluegrass last time.

On the other hand I got a chance to see a lotmore of the city besides the French Quarter and CBD. I was impressed and wished I could have visited more.

What did you like about the conference?

Pretty much everything as always. In the end the content was better than was hinted just a few months ago.

What patterns did you see from the industry?

Stereo was big this year.

What would you change?

Bring back the old CAF format of animation theatres and ET. Be more prepared with overflow rooms or bigger ones for stuff that for sure was going to get big crowds. Have less overlap with related events.

Who had the best swag?

Pixar as always.

Who had the best Party?

Lucasfilm

What company was noticeably absent from the show floor?

Too long to list. Of studios: Disney, Imageworks and EA especially since they have big corporate backers. Other like The Foundry were a bit pizzling as well.

Who had the best Demo?

Probably Autodesk, since some booths barely had what you would call demos. Studio wise I wnjoyed the presentation from Digital Domain.

What did you like the most?

Seeing old friends, being inspired again by the top notch work, lots of stuff to do in New Orleans.