| Wow! I just got back from a week in LA attending the 2005 Siggraph! For those of you who don't know Siggraph is the largest computer art conference/festival in the country. I had such an amazing time, even more so then last year. Not sure if the conference itself was that much better, but more likely that I have had a year to become more confident and skilled in my craft, and therefore more willing to be outgoing and approach people. I also had the great oppertunity to volunteer for Maya master classes. Maya is the 3d software I use and they offer classes taught by big industry people, and each one costs $125 a pop! But SCAD has a relationship with them which allowed me to collect tickets for the first 5 minutes or so, then I got to sit in on the class. I got to attend 7 in all for FREE. I learned so much and I am so pumped to get back to work and apply all the new information. What else did I do the whole week? Attended the exhibit floor, went to parties, met old friends, and rubbed elbows with rock star animators! What else could anyone ask for? Well maybe a job, heh! |
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| This first batch of photos is all from the conference floor. The top left is the main entrance to the convention in downtown LA (also where the end of Rush Hour is filmed). I’d like to take a second to make an observation about down town LA, its one freaking weird city. In most other cities when you are in the down town skyscraper area, there is a cool nightlife... not in LA! The city shuts down at 6pm, no bars, no clubs, and very few restaurants. And its not because its unsafe or anything, but rather it is ALL commercial buildings. Lawyers, bankers, and other uppity business people who apparently need very tall buildings to accomplish their work. We even tired to get into the top of the building the aliens blow up in Independence Day, and we were stopped by a "suit", but I digress. Back to the photos, the rest are various booths on the floor, including Apple, Disney, Pixar, electronic arts, and Tippet! Also the storm troopers are part of the "gaming bunker" where people could play against each other in star wars video games while being taunted by Imperial Forces walking behind you, geekfest! |
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| Ok, here are my “geek out” moments, where I got to meet some of the Rock Stars of the animation industry (thrusting my fist into the air and head banging). First off on the left is Jason Schleifer with Andy Hass and I. Jason worked for WETA (guys that did a lot of the work on lord of the rings) for several years, where he was one of the guys who animated golum! He currently works at Dreamworks, where his first project was on Madagascar, and did some hysterical work with King Julian. Oh and did I mention he is a great character rigger too? He does it all! To the right is us with Booby "Boom" Beck and Sean Kelly. Both of these guys are incredible artists and animators who worked for Pixar for some years, and created AnimationMentor.com. After the photo they even asked us to sit down and have breakfast with them, which we weren't expecting in the slightest. All we could muster was to sit there and try not to do anything stupid; we must of come off as "Geeeee wiz! You guys are neato!". Next to them is the Spaniard himself, Carlos Baena (with Tracy and I)! He is also a Pixar animator and founder of Animation Mentor. He is responsible for a lot of Mr. Incredible shots, including an insanely difficult one where he jumps through a window to catch the suicide jumper. I don't even want to think about all the forces going on in that shot. Last photo is of Andrew Gordon, another in the Pixar club. He was one of the presenters at the CGChar event (along with Jason and Carlos) at which he went so far as to give us a mini animation class! Wicked cool stuff, we were all furiously taking notes as he spoke. I have to say what’s so great about this field is even though we are all big geeks, these guys are even bigger. It makes them all amazingly approachable, friendly, and passionate about supporting us up and comers in the field. And if any of them are reading this, I just have to give you all a big thanks. You keep me inspired! |
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| Ah, what Siggraph would be complete without parties put on by software developers? Side Effects software makes Houdini, a mostly visual effects program. And what's the best way to get a room full of young men to buy and use your software? Why give them free drinks and half naked dancing hot chicks wearing Houdini Bikinis (HAH, get it? It rhymes... Houdini.... never mind). It was actually a lot of fun, and they hosted it at Union Station, which is a really old huge train station still in use. Don't you think the girls are just distracting from the architecture? What were they thinking! |
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Here are a couple of random LA photos. The first one I thought looked like a Maya polygon sphere translated on its origin.... so I got Jorge to stand on it, oh what dorks we are (I apologise for all of you none 3d people, you have no clue what I am talking about). The next two are fairly self-explanatory. However the last one is a very blurry photo I took of the WB water tower as we drove past it at 45 mph. I thought Jo would appreciate the effort.
Well that’s a wrap for Siggraph 2005, can't wait till next year!
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