SPECIAL REPORT

"Step into the forever-improving future!" --Walt Bransford, SIGGRAPH `98 Conference Chair

With these optimistic words, the 25th annual meeting of the minds for the computer graphics field began. From July 19 - 24, 1998, more than 30,000 scientists, artists, educators, entrepreneurs and visionaries converged in Orlando, Florida to reflect on the past and envision the future of everything that has become computer graphics.

SIGGRAPH `98 was brimming with the excitement of an anniversary year, and many special projects in its honor. One of the most important happenings was the filming that took place for The Story of Computer Graphics, SIGGRAPH's documentary film-in-progress about the history of computer graphics. Director Frank Foster and his production team (Carl Machover and John Hart, executive producers; Steve Silas, producer; Joan Collins, co-producer; Judson Rosebush, writer) were busy documenting conference proceedings and filming interviews with visionaries past and present. Foster said, "We are framing the story around the human story of the graphics and animation pioneers. The stories behind the incredible imagery, are in many ways, just as impressive as the images themselves." The anticipated film is scheduled to premiere at the SIGGRAPH conference in Los Angeles in August 1999.

This Special Report offers a glimpse into the massive SIGGRAPH `98, with reviews of the galleries, films and exhibits as well as surveys, news and company profiles. We'll launch you on your way with another introductory quote from Walt Bransford, "This is your classroom, your living room, your front porch, your wonderworld, and corner cafe." Enjoy!

contents

reviews

• a small perspective on a big convention
  Paul Younghusband gives us the big picture...and we mean big!
• science at siggraph: the magic is not just at the movies
  Linda Ewing delves into the scientific innovations which could be changing your life in the not-so-distant future.
• art: 25 years strong in the siggraph `98 gallery
  Like a kid in a candy store of interactive art, Chris Lambright explores SIGGRAPH's Art Galleries, a wonderland of new, strange and absolutely unfindable-anywhere-else curiosities.
• the best of the fest: a sampling of films from the siggraph `98 computer animation festival
  Wendy Jackson presents six Quicktime movies from this year's most talked-about pieces: Bingo, Geri's Game, Jataka, The Physics of Cartoons, Rendering With Natural Light and The Smell of Horror.

news

• siggraph news: announcing the next generation
  Visual effects companies announce their biggest news at SIGGRAPH. Paul Younghusband was there to sort through all the hype and make sense of it all.

surveys

• a survey of siggraph women: today's role for women in digital media, visual effects, computer graphics, and animation
  Kellie-Bea Rainey surveys leading ladies in the visual effects field and gets their point of view on a number of topics from discrimination, to getting a job, to balancing life after you have one.

product and company information

Company Profiles
Two leading software companies discuss their products and how they are used in today's animation production.

• cambridge animation systems
• kinetix

• the press box
  A compilation of the latest company announcements and news revealed at SIGGRAPH.
• the digital resource center
  Links to a wealth of further reading and resources on computer graphics.
• contributors
  Who's who behind this special report.

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[ animation world network | animation world magazine - august 1998 ]
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