SIGGRAPH 2019 BACK IN LOS ANGELES JULY 28-AUGUST 1
by Alicia Hollinger
July 26 2019 - Los Angeles
Siggraph the world wide Computer Graphic convention opens its door this year at the Los Angeles Convention Center where it returns after a year in Vancouver and Tokyo. Every two years the conference returns to LA after presenting in Asia and Canada.
As someone who has watched Siggraph blossom over the years, I remember when VR was in the special "Future Technology" section with presenters saying it would be quite a while before VR was capable of being in people's homes. Each year there seems to be new tech that takes over the main exhibit hall, from new CGI advances to mocap to 3D printing to VR and finally a whole section devoted just to VR.
This year, the SIGGRAPH 2019 Immersive Pavilion and VR Theater are debuting with the conference’s largest selection of immersive programming to date, including four world-premiere experiences. There will be both timed VR experiences in the theater and a first come, first served content available.
Debuting this year are the Undersea” experience from Magic Leap in the Immersive Pavilion, “a kite’s tale” from Walt Disney Animation Studios in the VR Theater, “Mary and the Monster: Chapter One” from Parallux and New York University’s Future Reality Lab also in the Immersive Pavilion, and “Il Divino: Michelangelo’s Sistine Ceiling in VR” from Epic Games.
According to the Immersive Pavilion Chair, Victoria Rege, “With this latest edition, the Immersive Pavilion cements its status as the perfect place to experience, play, and learn about technological advances across the constantly evolving mediums of augmented, virtual, and mixed reality. In addition to fun, quirky projects aimed to entertain, the content our creators will share is often thought-provoking and informative. These platforms are well-positioned as a tool to teach us more about the human experience.”
Chosen by an expert jury from more than 290 submissions, this year’s 33 Immersive Pavilion selections and 15 VR Theater selections are set to impress this year's attendees, which consist primarily of a mixture of artists, tech gurus, entertainment industry folk, educators, researchers and students looking to advance their career.
Immersive content at SIGGRAPH 2019 is available in five distinct venues across two programs. In the Immersive Pavilion, work can be experienced across three physical spaces—the Arcade, Museum, or Village—while the VR Theater offers both five-film, 1-hour screenings daily and individual viewing kiosks. Highlights for each area include:IMMERSIVE PAVILION
Project Jua [Arcade]
Contributors: Brian First, Raymond Ononiwu, Ayuba Audu, and Dunni Abiodun, Microsoft; and, Max Sacker and Ioulia Isserlis, Another World
Project Jua is an interactive VR experience that raises awareness of the impact of not having easy access to electricity, taking the player to a rural farm in Kenya to experience firsthand the challenges of living off the grid to discover an African solar power solution that is improving lives.
Heterotopias [Museum]
Contributors: Szilvia Ruszev and Noa Kaplan, University of Southern California
Heterotopias is an interactive VR experience based on Michel Foucault’s lecture, Des espaces autres. It leverages eye-tracking technology, transforming blinks into cinematic cuts. Suspended in a hanging chair, the user progresses through a series of virtual spaces resembling an abbreviated life cycle – a well, a garden, and a mausoleum.
Being Henry [Village]
Contributor: Sarah Berkovich, independent
After experiencing a stroke that left him paralyzed, Henry Evans uses cutting-edge technology to keep him connected to the things he loves. In this first-person interactive documentary, see the world through Henry’s eyes — and the eyes of his robots.
VR THEATER
Doctor Who: The Runaway [Screenings]
Creator: Mathias Chelebourg, BBC VR Hub, BBC Doctor Who, Passion Animation Studios
Step inside the TARDIS with the Doctor in this beautiful, interactive story from the “Doctor Who” team. Armed with a sonic screwdriver, it is down to you to help the Doctor as she faces the forces of evil, and teenage angst, in this animated, 13-minute VR adventure from the team behind “Doctor Who” Series 11.
MindPalace [Kiosks]
Creators: Carl Krause and Dominik Stockhausen, Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg
In a last desperate attempt to communicate, a man decides to lock his boyfriend inside his mind. A raging stream of consciousness unfolds, shedding light on a flawed relationship.
As cool as all the immersive experiences sound, Siggraph is also intended for learning. Multiple panels and talks take place throughout the conference.
Alongside a handful of Courses, Production Sessions, and Technical Papers, highlights for games and real-time production content include:
REAL-TIME LIVE!
Real-Time, Single Camera, Digital Human Development
Contributors: Doug Roble, Darren Hendler, Jeremy Buttell, Lonnie Iannazzo, Melissa Cell, Deer Li, Jason Briggs, Chad Reddick, Mark Williams, Lucio Moser, Cydney Wong, Dimitry Kachkovski, Jason Huang, Kai Zhang, David McLean, Rickey Cloudsdale, Dan Milling, Ron Miller, JT Lawrence, and Chinyu Chien, Digital Domain
Digital Domain Virtual Human will demonstrate our state-of-the-art, real-time, live-drive, digital human technology. We will show how photo-real digital humans with realistic facial animation can change the VR/AR experience.
“Reality vs. Illusion” Real-Time Ray Tracing
Contributors: Natalie Burke, Arisa Scott, Natalya Tatarchuk, and Sebastien Lagarde, Unity Technologies
We seamlessly transition from the filmed real-world car to the car ray traced in real-time powered by Unity, demonstrating advanced effects of real-time ray tracing technology in a live demo – dynamic global reflections and GI, multi-layer transparency with refraction, area lights, shadows, ambient occlusion, and more.
IMMERSIVE PAVILION
Il Divino: Michelangelo’s Sistine Ceiling in VR
Contributors: Christopher Evans, Epic Games
Experience Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling in virtual reality. Move around the space or take a guided tour. Users can also suspend on a virtual scaffold to see the work up close as few have seen it before. The experience will use the all-new Valve INDEX headset.
PANELS
FACS at 40
Panelists: Mike Seymour, University of Sydney and fxguide (moderator); Erika Rosenberg, Stanford University and Erika Rosenberg Consulting; Vladimir Mastilovic, 3Lateral; Mark Sagar, Soul Machines; and, John Peter Lewis, Google AI
The Ethical and Privacy Implications of Mixed Reality
Panelists: Kent Bye, Voices of VR Podcast (moderator); Diane Hosfelt, Mozilla; Matt Miesnieks, 6D.AI; Samantha Mathews Chase, Venn.Agency; and, Taylor Beck, Magic Leap.
TALKS
THRIVE – Foundational Principles & Technologies for the Metaverse
Speaker: Tim Sweeney, Epic Games
Science-fiction notions of “the metaverse” are slowly becoming a reality as products such as Fortnite, Minecraft, and Roblox bring immersive social experiences to hundreds of millions of people and blur the boundaries between games and social networks. This talk explores the foundational technologies, economies, and freedoms required to build this future medium as a force for good.
Siggraph is always an amazing experience where art meets tech and throws you into a future full of possibilities that previously only existed in dreams or psychedelic experiences!
More info here: Siggraph Events 2019
July 26 2019 - Los Angeles
Siggraph the world wide Computer Graphic convention opens its door this year at the Los Angeles Convention Center where it returns after a year in Vancouver and Tokyo. Every two years the conference returns to LA after presenting in Asia and Canada.
As someone who has watched Siggraph blossom over the years, I remember when VR was in the special "Future Technology" section with presenters saying it would be quite a while before VR was capable of being in people's homes. Each year there seems to be new tech that takes over the main exhibit hall, from new CGI advances to mocap to 3D printing to VR and finally a whole section devoted just to VR.
This year, the SIGGRAPH 2019 Immersive Pavilion and VR Theater are debuting with the conference’s largest selection of immersive programming to date, including four world-premiere experiences. There will be both timed VR experiences in the theater and a first come, first served content available.
Debuting this year are the Undersea” experience from Magic Leap in the Immersive Pavilion, “a kite’s tale” from Walt Disney Animation Studios in the VR Theater, “Mary and the Monster: Chapter One” from Parallux and New York University’s Future Reality Lab also in the Immersive Pavilion, and “Il Divino: Michelangelo’s Sistine Ceiling in VR” from Epic Games.
According to the Immersive Pavilion Chair, Victoria Rege, “With this latest edition, the Immersive Pavilion cements its status as the perfect place to experience, play, and learn about technological advances across the constantly evolving mediums of augmented, virtual, and mixed reality. In addition to fun, quirky projects aimed to entertain, the content our creators will share is often thought-provoking and informative. These platforms are well-positioned as a tool to teach us more about the human experience.”
Chosen by an expert jury from more than 290 submissions, this year’s 33 Immersive Pavilion selections and 15 VR Theater selections are set to impress this year's attendees, which consist primarily of a mixture of artists, tech gurus, entertainment industry folk, educators, researchers and students looking to advance their career.
Immersive content at SIGGRAPH 2019 is available in five distinct venues across two programs. In the Immersive Pavilion, work can be experienced across three physical spaces—the Arcade, Museum, or Village—while the VR Theater offers both five-film, 1-hour screenings daily and individual viewing kiosks. Highlights for each area include:IMMERSIVE PAVILION
Project Jua [Arcade]
Contributors: Brian First, Raymond Ononiwu, Ayuba Audu, and Dunni Abiodun, Microsoft; and, Max Sacker and Ioulia Isserlis, Another World
Project Jua is an interactive VR experience that raises awareness of the impact of not having easy access to electricity, taking the player to a rural farm in Kenya to experience firsthand the challenges of living off the grid to discover an African solar power solution that is improving lives.
Heterotopias [Museum]
Contributors: Szilvia Ruszev and Noa Kaplan, University of Southern California
Heterotopias is an interactive VR experience based on Michel Foucault’s lecture, Des espaces autres. It leverages eye-tracking technology, transforming blinks into cinematic cuts. Suspended in a hanging chair, the user progresses through a series of virtual spaces resembling an abbreviated life cycle – a well, a garden, and a mausoleum.
Being Henry [Village]
Contributor: Sarah Berkovich, independent
After experiencing a stroke that left him paralyzed, Henry Evans uses cutting-edge technology to keep him connected to the things he loves. In this first-person interactive documentary, see the world through Henry’s eyes — and the eyes of his robots.
VR THEATER
Doctor Who: The Runaway [Screenings]
Creator: Mathias Chelebourg, BBC VR Hub, BBC Doctor Who, Passion Animation Studios
Step inside the TARDIS with the Doctor in this beautiful, interactive story from the “Doctor Who” team. Armed with a sonic screwdriver, it is down to you to help the Doctor as she faces the forces of evil, and teenage angst, in this animated, 13-minute VR adventure from the team behind “Doctor Who” Series 11.
MindPalace [Kiosks]
Creators: Carl Krause and Dominik Stockhausen, Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg
In a last desperate attempt to communicate, a man decides to lock his boyfriend inside his mind. A raging stream of consciousness unfolds, shedding light on a flawed relationship.
As cool as all the immersive experiences sound, Siggraph is also intended for learning. Multiple panels and talks take place throughout the conference.
Alongside a handful of Courses, Production Sessions, and Technical Papers, highlights for games and real-time production content include:
REAL-TIME LIVE!
Real-Time, Single Camera, Digital Human Development
Contributors: Doug Roble, Darren Hendler, Jeremy Buttell, Lonnie Iannazzo, Melissa Cell, Deer Li, Jason Briggs, Chad Reddick, Mark Williams, Lucio Moser, Cydney Wong, Dimitry Kachkovski, Jason Huang, Kai Zhang, David McLean, Rickey Cloudsdale, Dan Milling, Ron Miller, JT Lawrence, and Chinyu Chien, Digital Domain
Digital Domain Virtual Human will demonstrate our state-of-the-art, real-time, live-drive, digital human technology. We will show how photo-real digital humans with realistic facial animation can change the VR/AR experience.
“Reality vs. Illusion” Real-Time Ray Tracing
Contributors: Natalie Burke, Arisa Scott, Natalya Tatarchuk, and Sebastien Lagarde, Unity Technologies
We seamlessly transition from the filmed real-world car to the car ray traced in real-time powered by Unity, demonstrating advanced effects of real-time ray tracing technology in a live demo – dynamic global reflections and GI, multi-layer transparency with refraction, area lights, shadows, ambient occlusion, and more.
IMMERSIVE PAVILION
Il Divino: Michelangelo’s Sistine Ceiling in VR
Contributors: Christopher Evans, Epic Games
Experience Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling in virtual reality. Move around the space or take a guided tour. Users can also suspend on a virtual scaffold to see the work up close as few have seen it before. The experience will use the all-new Valve INDEX headset.
PANELS
FACS at 40
Panelists: Mike Seymour, University of Sydney and fxguide (moderator); Erika Rosenberg, Stanford University and Erika Rosenberg Consulting; Vladimir Mastilovic, 3Lateral; Mark Sagar, Soul Machines; and, John Peter Lewis, Google AI
The Ethical and Privacy Implications of Mixed Reality
Panelists: Kent Bye, Voices of VR Podcast (moderator); Diane Hosfelt, Mozilla; Matt Miesnieks, 6D.AI; Samantha Mathews Chase, Venn.Agency; and, Taylor Beck, Magic Leap.
TALKS
THRIVE – Foundational Principles & Technologies for the Metaverse
Speaker: Tim Sweeney, Epic Games
Science-fiction notions of “the metaverse” are slowly becoming a reality as products such as Fortnite, Minecraft, and Roblox bring immersive social experiences to hundreds of millions of people and blur the boundaries between games and social networks. This talk explores the foundational technologies, economies, and freedoms required to build this future medium as a force for good.
Siggraph is always an amazing experience where art meets tech and throws you into a future full of possibilities that previously only existed in dreams or psychedelic experiences!
More info here: Siggraph Events 2019
MAGIC LEAP DEMOS AT SIGGRAPH 2019
by Alicia Hollinger
July 26, 2019 - Los Angeles
Magic Leap offers a "spatial computing experience" at this year's Siggraph and as geeky as that may sound, it will most likely be a breathtaking experience that those who don't know a hard drive from a motherboard can enjoy.
The company will present “Undersea," a room-scale, Spatial Computing experience through which users can relax and observe underwater life in a dynamically generated, coral reef biome. Distinct vistas and sea creatures presented in a photo-real art style, will allow viewers an opportunity to experience a magical under water world as never seen before.
"Undersea" brings a room to life with breathtaking underwater landscapes in an interactive reef experience, and allows us to focus on pushing the boundaries of graphic fidelity within Spatial Computing,” said Dan Lehrich, VP of Production at Magic Leap. “With each Magic Leap Studios project on Magic Leap One, we expand the ever-evolving potential of immersive experiences. The opportunity to work at the bleeding edge of what’s possible and pioneer on a brand-new platform is what motivates us, and we hope to inspire other creatives to push the boundaries and explore alongside us.”
“Spatial Computing is increasingly becoming the norm in experiential entertainment. The quality and interactivity displayed through ‘Undersea’ is a breathtaking look at how this art form is thriving,” noted SIGGRAPH 2019 Immersive Pavilion Chair Victoria Rege.
Magic Leap Studios, where “Undersea” was first realized, is a content creation studio within Magic Leap with the aim of creating high-caliber content in the new medium of Spatial Computing. Magic Leap Studios is charged with creating unique, compelling content that would only be possible with Spatial Computing, in tandem with rapidly evolving hardware and software. View a sneak peek of the experience.
Experience Hall & Immersive Pavilion Hours
Sunday, July 28, 1:30-5:30 pm
Monday, July 29, 10 am-5:30 pm
Tuesday, July 30, 10 am-5:30 pm
Wednesday, July 31, 10 am-5:30 pm
Thursday, August 1, 10 am–3:30 pm
Undersea
DATES: Sunday, July 28 - Thursday, August 1
LOCATION: Experience Hall: Immersive Pavilion - Village
Magic Leap will also be presenting MIKA, an interactive AI character, the story of Frankenstein through the eyes of a young Mary Shelley, NITRO SANDBOX, a remote control car for a spin around a virtual obstacle course in this spatial computing game. Using motion controls and hand gestures, you can steer the car by line of sight or by switching to the car’s point of view.
At Booth 15, SIGGRAPH Garage, Hall H Northeast Corner you can see some of the ways spatial computing is transforming the world of business, with spatial building construction, photorealistic floor plan and aircraft visualization, true-to-life spatial product rendering and an industrial drill press operation tutorial. OK, sometimes it gets a little geeky...
July 26, 2019 - Los Angeles
Magic Leap offers a "spatial computing experience" at this year's Siggraph and as geeky as that may sound, it will most likely be a breathtaking experience that those who don't know a hard drive from a motherboard can enjoy.
The company will present “Undersea," a room-scale, Spatial Computing experience through which users can relax and observe underwater life in a dynamically generated, coral reef biome. Distinct vistas and sea creatures presented in a photo-real art style, will allow viewers an opportunity to experience a magical under water world as never seen before.
"Undersea" brings a room to life with breathtaking underwater landscapes in an interactive reef experience, and allows us to focus on pushing the boundaries of graphic fidelity within Spatial Computing,” said Dan Lehrich, VP of Production at Magic Leap. “With each Magic Leap Studios project on Magic Leap One, we expand the ever-evolving potential of immersive experiences. The opportunity to work at the bleeding edge of what’s possible and pioneer on a brand-new platform is what motivates us, and we hope to inspire other creatives to push the boundaries and explore alongside us.”
“Spatial Computing is increasingly becoming the norm in experiential entertainment. The quality and interactivity displayed through ‘Undersea’ is a breathtaking look at how this art form is thriving,” noted SIGGRAPH 2019 Immersive Pavilion Chair Victoria Rege.
Magic Leap Studios, where “Undersea” was first realized, is a content creation studio within Magic Leap with the aim of creating high-caliber content in the new medium of Spatial Computing. Magic Leap Studios is charged with creating unique, compelling content that would only be possible with Spatial Computing, in tandem with rapidly evolving hardware and software. View a sneak peek of the experience.
Experience Hall & Immersive Pavilion Hours
Sunday, July 28, 1:30-5:30 pm
Monday, July 29, 10 am-5:30 pm
Tuesday, July 30, 10 am-5:30 pm
Wednesday, July 31, 10 am-5:30 pm
Thursday, August 1, 10 am–3:30 pm
Undersea
DATES: Sunday, July 28 - Thursday, August 1
LOCATION: Experience Hall: Immersive Pavilion - Village
Magic Leap will also be presenting MIKA, an interactive AI character, the story of Frankenstein through the eyes of a young Mary Shelley, NITRO SANDBOX, a remote control car for a spin around a virtual obstacle course in this spatial computing game. Using motion controls and hand gestures, you can steer the car by line of sight or by switching to the car’s point of view.
At Booth 15, SIGGRAPH Garage, Hall H Northeast Corner you can see some of the ways spatial computing is transforming the world of business, with spatial building construction, photorealistic floor plan and aircraft visualization, true-to-life spatial product rendering and an industrial drill press operation tutorial. OK, sometimes it gets a little geeky...
IS THIS WOMAN REAL OR COMPLETELY COMPUTER GENERATED?
by Alicia Hollinger
July 23 2019 - Los Angeles
As computer tech becomes more advanced, will computer generated people take over for real people? Only time will tell, but I can tell you for a fact that the woman above does not exist. At all. She is not based on a photo or real person. I know because I created her.
Now with VR becoming more popular in homes, whether from the low end Google Cardboard to the Samsung Gear to the Oculus Go, Quest, Rift, RiftS and the Vive, more consumers are able to escape into fantastical worlds, travel all over the world, even to war torn places no person in their right mind would really want to visit, walk on other planets, meditate in the Rainforest, or play games or watch movies with IMAX sized screens with far away friends all from the comfort of your home. And the best place to see all the newest VR tech? SIGGRAPH, coming up this week from July 28 to August 1 at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
The SIGGRAPH convention and conference is a magical place where art meets tech and future technology. Each year new trends are introduced from mocap to 3D printing to VR and VR gets bigger every year. And now researchers from Facebook Reality Labs (FRL) have developed a revolutionary system called Codec Avatars that gives VR users the ability to interact with others while representing themselves with lifelike avatars precisely animated in real-time. The researchers aim to build the future of connection within virtual reality, and eventually, augmented reality by delivering the most socially engaged experience possible for users in the VR world.
Lead research scientist at Facebook, Shih-En Wei, says “Our work demonstrates that it is possible to precisely animate photorealistic avatars from cameras closely mounted on a VR headset.” Wei and his colleagues from Facebook will demonstrate their VR real-time facial animation system at this year's Siggraph.
In addition to animating the avatars in VR, the FRL team is also building systems that may one day enable people to quickly and easily create their own avatars from just a few images or videos. While today’s Codec Avatars are created automatically, the process requires a large system of cameras and microphones to capture the individual. FRL also aims to create and animate full bodies for expressing more complete social signals. While this technology is years away from reaching consumer headsets, the research group is already working through possible solutions to keep avatar data safe and ensure avatars can only be accessed by the people they represent. For more info on this new VR tech, check out their page here.
July 23 2019 - Los Angeles
As computer tech becomes more advanced, will computer generated people take over for real people? Only time will tell, but I can tell you for a fact that the woman above does not exist. At all. She is not based on a photo or real person. I know because I created her.
Now with VR becoming more popular in homes, whether from the low end Google Cardboard to the Samsung Gear to the Oculus Go, Quest, Rift, RiftS and the Vive, more consumers are able to escape into fantastical worlds, travel all over the world, even to war torn places no person in their right mind would really want to visit, walk on other planets, meditate in the Rainforest, or play games or watch movies with IMAX sized screens with far away friends all from the comfort of your home. And the best place to see all the newest VR tech? SIGGRAPH, coming up this week from July 28 to August 1 at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
The SIGGRAPH convention and conference is a magical place where art meets tech and future technology. Each year new trends are introduced from mocap to 3D printing to VR and VR gets bigger every year. And now researchers from Facebook Reality Labs (FRL) have developed a revolutionary system called Codec Avatars that gives VR users the ability to interact with others while representing themselves with lifelike avatars precisely animated in real-time. The researchers aim to build the future of connection within virtual reality, and eventually, augmented reality by delivering the most socially engaged experience possible for users in the VR world.
Lead research scientist at Facebook, Shih-En Wei, says “Our work demonstrates that it is possible to precisely animate photorealistic avatars from cameras closely mounted on a VR headset.” Wei and his colleagues from Facebook will demonstrate their VR real-time facial animation system at this year's Siggraph.
In addition to animating the avatars in VR, the FRL team is also building systems that may one day enable people to quickly and easily create their own avatars from just a few images or videos. While today’s Codec Avatars are created automatically, the process requires a large system of cameras and microphones to capture the individual. FRL also aims to create and animate full bodies for expressing more complete social signals. While this technology is years away from reaching consumer headsets, the research group is already working through possible solutions to keep avatar data safe and ensure avatars can only be accessed by the people they represent. For more info on this new VR tech, check out their page here.