More than 15,000 visitors funnel into the Vancouver Convention Center, armed with smartphones, tablets, and backpacks.
There is a sense of anticipation in the air as the exhibitions open. Researchers, developers, filmmakers, gaming experts, and academics have come from all over the world, spanning 74 countries and six continents, to participate in one of the year’s most buzzed-about conferences: SIGGRAPH (Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques).
For nearly 40 years, it has attracted the top brains in computer graphics and interactive techniques who wow one another with the latest developments. Of the thousands of presenter submissions for the 2011 conference, three Carnegie Mellon/Disney teams are among a select contingent chosen to present. So, with representatives from the major motion picture studios and gaming industry looking on, the teams reveal their respective research breakthroughs in the areas of three-dimensional face modeling, motion capture, and surround haptics:
- 3D face modeling: gives animators more control to make facial expressions seem lifelike
- Motion capture: makes the motion of animated characters more realistic
- Surround haptics: enhanced technology for providing real sensations such as bugs crawling on your skin or the perception of falling or flying.
Their presentations helped make the conference “an inspirational and incredibly fulfilling week,” says Peter Braccio, the conference chair.?
—Lisa Kay Davis (DC’09)
