Angie and Jamie here reporting on Boston Siggraph 2006!
Jamie enjoying a Gin & Tonic at the Swan Cafe BarMonday night around 1 am.
Late Monday Night, (July 31st):
Angie met up with Jamie at the hotel and they went straight to the bar to have a drink. We learned a hard lesson that night. Angie did not arrive until 11:30 pm and the hotel only had a room left and it only had a sofa bed. You see...even though you book a hotel months in advance, when a show like Siggraph is in town, you are not guaranteed a room. The front desk clerk said we were "lucky" actually, because she was short 4 rooms due to overbooking!!! Jamie was kind enough to take the sofa bed room and let Angie sleep in the regular bed.
Only Jamie could make me smile like this
after a 6 hour flight and no hotel rooms left,
or maybe it was the Gin & Tonic.
Tuesday August 1st...our first day at Siggraph:
View from room at Boston Park Plaza Hotel, it's gonna be HOT!
Riding on the bus to the convention center and glad the bus has AC!
What are these people all looking at?
We couldn't figure it out...it was madness!
The crowds at Siggraph were down this year. We are not sure if that is due to location being in Boston or simply reflecting the animation business environment at present. However, this had no affect on Pixar which was attracting the largest crowds. The hungry artists and computer peeps convened at both Pixar's recruiting booth and other side of the booth where they were selling something and we couldn't even get close enough to see what it was!
Recruiting Booth at Pixar
Here is a little movie that really shows you how long this line and how big this crowd was...
More people lined up at the Pixar booth than any other!!! waiting to get what???...we finally asked a guy standing in line what the heck the BIG DEAL was!
The most interesting technological advance we saw at Siggraph today was a 3D prototype tool that elicited plenty of "oohhhs and ahhhs" proving that people still like to pick things up and hold them in their filthy little mitts. The machine rapidly generates actual 3D models from data that has been input from a scanner making live protoype. The printer itself builds successful layers to create the objects.
Prototypes made with 3D scanner.
Here is some video of the printer printing an object.
The process was explained to us like this: Imagine if you had a letter you wrote to your mother and you printed the letter over and over and over creating a cumulative structure of the text. That is how this amazing printer creates the objects in 3 dimensional space. Pretty kewl!
The big question we have been asking ourselves the past eyar is how real is the concept that our jobs could be all going overseas? Mass production and the world of automation has cause all craft-based art forms from apparel design and manufacturing, to cars design and even toymaking to be outsourced overseas where labor costs are much lower. Who is to say this will not be the case as well?
Worried about your job going overseas? You should be.
Angie met up with Jamie at the hotel and they went straight to the bar to have a drink. We learned a hard lesson that night. Angie did not arrive until 11:30 pm and the hotel only had a room left and it only had a sofa bed. You see...even though you book a hotel months in advance, when a show like Siggraph is in town, you are not guaranteed a room. The front desk clerk said we were "lucky" actually, because she was short 4 rooms due to overbooking!!! Jamie was kind enough to take the sofa bed room and let Angie sleep in the regular bed.
Only Jamie could make me smile like thisafter a 6 hour flight and no hotel rooms left,
or maybe it was the Gin & Tonic.
Lesson learned:
If someone gets to the hotel early, have them check-in for everyone
to ensure you even get a room!
If someone gets to the hotel early, have them check-in for everyone
to ensure you even get a room!
Tuesday August 1st...our first day at Siggraph:
View from room at Boston Park Plaza Hotel, it's gonna be HOT!Riding on the bus to the convention center and glad the bus has AC!We headed over to the Convention Center after breakfast.
The big topic that morning was the heat wave. They said it's supposed to get up to 100 degrees on Tuesday in Boston. We left Cali's heat wave just in time to experience it again on the east coast! Thank goodness they believe in AC in Boston!
The big topic that morning was the heat wave. They said it's supposed to get up to 100 degrees on Tuesday in Boston. We left Cali's heat wave just in time to experience it again on the east coast! Thank goodness they believe in AC in Boston!
What are these people all looking at?We couldn't figure it out...it was madness!
The crowds at Siggraph were down this year. We are not sure if that is due to location being in Boston or simply reflecting the animation business environment at present. However, this had no affect on Pixar which was attracting the largest crowds. The hungry artists and computer peeps convened at both Pixar's recruiting booth and other side of the booth where they were selling something and we couldn't even get close enough to see what it was!
Recruiting Booth at PixarMore people lined up at the Pixar booth than any other!!! waiting to get what???...we finally asked a guy standing in line what the heck the BIG DEAL was!Guy in Line tells us why all these people are waiting to get close to Pixar
The special edition Renderman Teapot Toy.
It was for a toy teapot that walks when cranked and came in a "special edition" tin. The iconic teapot was modeled over 30 years ago by Martin Newell at the University of Utah. This simple geometric model became a graphics icon and Pixar's promotion was for the special Teapot Exhibit that Renderman was hosting. For more on the Exhibit click here. Presented as part of the SIGGRAPH 2001 Electronic Theater pre-show entertainment, this piece plays homage to the teaser trailer originally produced for the film "Alien" and, of course, to the Utah teapot.
The special edition Renderman Teapot Toy.The most interesting technological advance we saw at Siggraph today was a 3D prototype tool that elicited plenty of "oohhhs and ahhhs" proving that people still like to pick things up and hold them in their filthy little mitts. The machine rapidly generates actual 3D models from data that has been input from a scanner making live protoype. The printer itself builds successful layers to create the objects.
Prototypes made with 3D scanner.Here is some video of the printer printing an object.The process was explained to us like this: Imagine if you had a letter you wrote to your mother and you printed the letter over and over and over creating a cumulative structure of the text. That is how this amazing printer creates the objects in 3 dimensional space. Pretty kewl!
The big question we have been asking ourselves the past eyar is how real is the concept that our jobs could be all going overseas? Mass production and the world of automation has cause all craft-based art forms from apparel design and manufacturing, to cars design and even toymaking to be outsourced overseas where labor costs are much lower. Who is to say this will not be the case as well?
Worried about your job going overseas? You should be.There was a strong presence from competitive studios from Turkey, India, Singapore and China all promoting their skills and studio services at Siggraph this year. We both have been approached to come teach seminars at schools and studios over seas. The level of artistry in these countries is not there yet, but the work ethic and pure desire of these cultures to perform shows they will catch up. The answer to this for most artists is to specialize in the pre-production, concept art, look-dev and pre-vizualization steps in animation. So, learn all you can about your craft to stay ahead of the rest!
Moving on, besides Pixar...the largest crowds seemed to be centered around the larger animation studio displays: Dreamworks, Sony, Blue Sky and Disney all attracted a lot of attention.
Moving on, besides Pixar...the largest crowds seemed to be centered around the larger animation studio displays: Dreamworks, Sony, Blue Sky and Disney all attracted a lot of attention.
Dawn Rivera-Ernster has been such a great supporter of Jamie and Angie and the book and we would like to thank her for all of her support! We will be giving a seminar end of September at Disney Features as part of their Artist Development Program.
Disney was showing off all of their new footage for Meet the Robinson's to be released in 2007. Artists at Disney are in crunch mode working hard on the second CG movie to come out of Disney's new feature department. We have some video of the movie for you to check out below.
This evil dude from the Robin's movie kicked butt with some crazy poses and insane breaking of the rig! We loved it and wish we had gotten video of it...shows you how much we liked it that we forgot we had a camera that takes video!
Disney Booth at Siggraph 2006
The spaceship model from the movie hanging over the booth was pretty kewl too!
Disney was showing off all of their new footage for Meet the Robinson's to be released in 2007. Artists at Disney are in crunch mode working hard on the second CG movie to come out of Disney's new feature department. We have some video of the movie for you to check out below.
This evil dude from the Robin's movie kicked butt with some crazy poses and insane breaking of the rig! We loved it and wish we had gotten video of it...shows you how much we liked it that we forgot we had a camera that takes video!Disney Booth at Siggraph 2006The spaceship model from the movie hanging over the booth was pretty kewl too!Next door to Disney was Angie's homestead for the past two years - Digital Domain! This is the first year DD has had a real formal booth at Siggraph. This is probably largely due to the new ownership of DD Wyndcrest Holdings including John Textor, Micheal Bay and Carl Stork (new CEO at DD). Angie was just so happy to see familiar faces, even though many were a little hung over form the Siggraph parties held the night previous.
Brian Peyatt - aka "Bopo" - 3D Department Head at Digital Domain
Brian Peyatt - aka "Bopo" - 3D Department Head at Digital DomainBrent Poer (Head of HR-DD) , Piotr Karwas (Animation Supervisor - DD)
and Marc Shea (Recruitment Manager - DD).
Sascha and brent smile for the camera.
Jamie and MarkO.
Angie's Visual Effects Supervisor from the movie Zoom stopped by to say hello at the DD booth and we got a quck snap of him and Jamie shooting the breeze. Mark O Forker was with Digital Domain for twelve years and has just left to pursue other creative ventures in Philidelphia. Angie misses him already. he made the production so much fun everyday!
Nuke compositing software was in full force on the other side of the DD booth.
Jeff Barnes says this book rocks!
Jeff Barnes CEO and President of Cafe FX was the first to stop by and congratulate Angie and Jamie for their hard work on the book! Angie worked at Cafe FX in Santa Maria on Pan's Labyrinth, Guillermo Del Toro's new movie.
Richard and Adam both bought the book and were great sports about wearing
their noses as tribute to Redd the clown our mascot!
Many AnimationMentor.com students came by to pick up the book and Justin was one that reminded Angie of her friend Bobby Beck who started the school. Justin had a fire in his eyes and was so enthusiasticabout animation we know he will go far!
Atsushi was another aspiring animators who had come all the way from Japan! He said Angie's website Spicy Cricket had inspired hm to pursue animation and come to America to study more! Many of the animation students requested Angie put her papers and tutorials back on the Spicy Cricket website, so we will do just that by the end of August and will even pursue creating some new ones with Redd the clown for the ThinkingAnimation.com website.
Bill is another animator who stopped by and got his book signed. He told us that Chapter 5 was his favorite so far and reading about how different animators approached workflow while animating on a computer was so valuable to him!
Well, it's been a long day and we are tired and hungry! Let's get out of this convention center and go get some grub! More to come soon!
and Marc Shea (Recruitment Manager - DD).
Sascha and brent smile for the camera.Sasha Flick - DD Comercials Manager and Brent Poer - Director of Human resources at DD. Angie loves these two people because they are always smiling
and they keep Angie employed - yay! a paycheck!
and they keep Angie employed - yay! a paycheck!
Jamie and MarkO.Angie's Visual Effects Supervisor from the movie Zoom stopped by to say hello at the DD booth and we got a quck snap of him and Jamie shooting the breeze. Mark O Forker was with Digital Domain for twelve years and has just left to pursue other creative ventures in Philidelphia. Angie misses him already. he made the production so much fun everyday!
Nuke compositing software was in full force on the other side of the DD booth.Uhhh Ohhh - no more walking around! 1 p.m. and it's time for Jamie and Angie to go sign some books at the Thomson booth! Thomson was so kind to set up a table for us to sign books from 1-4 p.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday. Both days kept us very busy! Here are some pictures from Tuesday at the booth.
Jeff Barnes says this book rocks!Jeff Barnes CEO and President of Cafe FX was the first to stop by and congratulate Angie and Jamie for their hard work on the book! Angie worked at Cafe FX in Santa Maria on Pan's Labyrinth, Guillermo Del Toro's new movie.
Richard and Adam both bought the book and were great sports about wearingtheir noses as tribute to Redd the clown our mascot!
Many AnimationMentor.com students came by to pick up the book and Justin was one that reminded Angie of her friend Bobby Beck who started the school. Justin had a fire in his eyes and was so enthusiasticabout animation we know he will go far! Atsushi was another aspiring animators who had come all the way from Japan! He said Angie's website Spicy Cricket had inspired hm to pursue animation and come to America to study more! Many of the animation students requested Angie put her papers and tutorials back on the Spicy Cricket website, so we will do just that by the end of August and will even pursue creating some new ones with Redd the clown for the ThinkingAnimation.com website.Bill is another animator who stopped by and got his book signed. He told us that Chapter 5 was his favorite so far and reading about how different animators approached workflow while animating on a computer was so valuable to him!Well, it's been a long day and we are tired and hungry! Let's get out of this convention center and go get some grub! More to come soon!