Siggraph 2010 – Day 1

Day One of Siggraph began at noon when I headed over to the Convention center to pick up my registration badge. The convention center is huge, and despite the fact that only a few exhibits opened today the place was full of people.

The main exhibit that opened today was the Studio, which was a showcase of new technology and mini workshops on certain software applications.

Although interesting many of the new technology exhibits lacked originality. However, there were a few items which provided affordable solutions to otherwise expensive equipment.

NextEngine 3D scanner, for example offers you with small, shoebox size, scanner, which scans objects and creates 3D objects with textures. The scanner itself is under three grand, while the software has several versions at different price ranges. The pro version is $995 and is ideal for producing HD quality scans for film and animation. The scanner exports objects in a variety of formats including obj, stl and vrml. [nextengine.com]

Another affordable product was the MakerBot open source 3D printer. For $1000 you can buy this kit and put together your own table top 3D printer that prints almost anything about the size of a cupcake. The printer prints with ABS, HDPE, or PLA plastic; which can be purchased for $10 a pound. [makerbot.com]

Photoshop CS5 Extended 3D features was the topic of the workshop I attended. This hands on workshop provided an overview of importing and editing 3D objects in Photoshop. The presenter was super fast and my teaching instincts kicked in and I was helping those around me find the features as the presenter whizzed by them. The computers provided where all random and the one I got did not have a video card capable of using the new 3D extrusion command Repousse; and ultimately crashed. Though the workshop was a bit of a bust, the presenter did mention a few interesting links such as Planet Photoshop a tutorial site and Able Pear a software site that offers Photoshop plugins.

The Space and Time student animations was the last feature of the day. This presentation featured short student animations from around the world, many came out of SCAD. Some had an abstract theme while others provided a narrative. One of the most memorable was a short entitled “CMY K”, about the colors painting the world and K (black) getting everything and body black.

That was the day in a nutshell. On a more personal note I went to Little Tokyo for dinner. We went to Oomasa and ate beef & noodles and chicken teriyaki -yum! I also tried a rice dango it was like eating paste – not good. I did go to the Anime Jungle, where I bought a Keroro Gunso (Sgt. Frog) scroll and a small stuffed Keroro and Geroro.

Now it is time for bed, more tomorrow.