Back from SIGGRAPH
August 9th, 2006 by Jason
Wow. What a trip. Every time I come back from SIGGRAPH, I have what I like to refer to as an “inspired depression.” That is, there are so many great things to see there that one cannot help but be inspired to work. Yet, at the same time, since so much of it is so good, you can’t help but feel awestruck by what you’re seeing. This year’s conference was no exception. In fact, I’d say I felt it moreso since I was surrounded by some very excellent Blender and open source people. I spent the bulk of my time at the Open Source Pavilion on the exhibition floor, demoing Blender to all who would listen and learning tips and tricks from some awesome blenderheads (some I’d met at previous conferences and some I’ve only known by their screen name on blenderartists.org or #blenderchat on freenode).
Roberto should be posting in the next day or so with some photographs. In the meantime, here are some links to others’ photos/stories on the event:
- Paul’s (pablosbrain) photo gallery
- PlantPerson’s SIGGRAPH 2006 photos
- VCU School of the Arts
- Blender Nation covered a lot of the show:
- Siggraph Journal, Day One: Arrival
- Siggraph Day Two - Birds of a Feather Meetings
- Siggraph Day Three - Final Preparations
- Siggraph Day Four - First Tradeshow Day
- Jim Blinn - Bassam (slikdigit) was lucky enough to give Mr. Blinn a demo of Blender
- Siggraph 2006: Eugene’s Exhibition Retrospective
- Siggraph - Hand Rigging Demo - Bassam is a very clever rigger and I’ve borrowed this rig for most of my characters’ hands
- Siggraph - Fluid Demo - Look! It’s me!
- Siggraph - Face Modeling - Watching Andy work is awe-inspiring
- RealFlow Information Booklet and T-shirt - Roberto made this discovery
- Siggraph - Video Compositing - Not only is Bob a funny guy, he’s got some great ideas for things to add to Blender
Also, it should be noted that Boston is brimming over with donut shops. I can’t figure out why (and no one has given me a good reason yet), but apparently those people love their donuts. At any rate, it was fantastic to meet all those people. The one thing our booth had going for it over the other booths on the floor was the true feeling of community. We were there because we like what we do and we like the software we use. No one paid us to be there. None of the other booths could claim that and you could feel it in the energy around us. I definitely look forward to next year’s conference in San Diego. Hopefully we have as much of a showing (or bigger) from the community then, too.