Southern California-based Artists, Scientists, Engineers, and Creators Make Their Impact at SIGGRAPH 2023

From Startups and Major Studios to Universities and Corporations, These Local Contributors Encompass the Pioneering Spirit of SIGGRAPH

CHICAGO, July 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- SIGGRAPH 2023, the premier conference and exhibition on computer graphics and interactive techniques, marks its 50th year of breakthroughs and innovation. Several Southern California-based contributors will be showcasing their works and projects at this year's conference in Los Angeles. These contributors span different conference programs, including Art Gallery, Panels, Production Sessions, Immersive Pavilion, and Real-Time Live!, among others, to highlight the latest developments in their respective fields. The 50th annual conference runs 6–10 August 2023 in person in Los Angeles, with a companion Virtual Access component.

Running the gamut of what SIGGRAPH has to offer, these Southern California-based contributors have a broad spectrum of works at the conference including virtual reality and artificial intelligence projects as well as having a hand in productions such as DreamWorks Animation's "Ruby Gillman Teenage Kraken" and Walt Disney Animation Studios' "Strange World."

"I'm exceptionally proud that SIGGRAPH is a global community, and how everyone is so involved with the conference every year," said Erik Brunvand, SIGGRAPH 2023 Conference Chair. "However, I'm particularly excited and proud to have so many of our creators be from the Southern California area and take part in this year's celebration in Los Angeles. They can show off their works in their own backyard as they represent their local communities."

"Cluster: #069" in the Art Gallery is a unique installation that was created by Mario Klingemann, Simon Hudson, and Julia Thompson of BottoDAO in Los Angeles. Botto creates works of art based on collective feedback from the community. To create "Cluster: #069," a clustering algorithm was applied to the entirety of Botto's body of work to organize it into common artistic themes. From 128 themes within Botto's works, 64 were chosen from the categories and clustered by the algorithm based on common features. This process resulted in a sort of style swatch, creating a mosaic from the fragments. Style grids were created for each of these 128 themes, upon which Botto's community voted to select the most popular piece. This process was the final step in the production of "Cluster: #069."

One of several presentations includes a session from the Glendale team at DreamWorks Animation titled "Those Flowing Locks — Creating Large Scale Water Hair for 'Ruby Gillman Teenage Kraken'." Mark Newport, David Chow, Chris Michael, Andre Pradhana, and Lawrence Lee will lead the discussion around how the water hair element of a 150-foot-tall monster was realized. Another from the Burbank, California, team from Walt Disney Animation Studios involves "Creating Creature Chaos: The Methods That Brought Crowd to the Forefront on Disney's 'Strange World'." The film contains more than 65 million crowds elements, both in the background and as part of the key foreground performances. Nathan Devlin, Yasser Hamed, Alberto Luceño Ros, Jeff Sullivan, and D'Lun Wong will talk about how new crowds tools and pipeline optimizations were introduced to meet the film's challenges and bring the world to life.

With the Production Session "Bringing Opportunity to Mars: The Visual Effects of 'Good Night Oppy'," Douglas Ellison, MSL IPE team chief of the Pasadena, California-based NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, will be part of the presentation discussing the challenge of bringing the journey of twin Mars Exploration Rovers Opportunity and Spirit to life. The inspirational true story of Opportunity is about a rover that was sent to Mars for a 90-day mission but ended up surviving for 15 years. The film follows this groundbreaking journey, from crafting a photo-real Martian environment, merging it into a full-length documentary, and, in the process, creating the most accurate visualization of the journey that has ever been committed to film.

Apples and Oranges Arts, based in Irvine, California, will show the installation "The Calling VR" in the Immersive Pavilion. Alani iLongwe, Christopher Sepulveda, and Tim Kashani take viewers on a journey where they can march with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the thousands who journeyed to Memphis in support of the 1,300 sanitation workers striking for higher wages and better working conditions in this musical VR experience.

From the startup Ozone Story Tech based in Corona, California, comes a Real-Time Live! demonstration that involves an innovative software technology enabling the authoring and real-time performance of 3D poses, deformations, and animations. Rich Hurrey, Eric Soulvie, Kai Husen, Clifford Champion, and Shane Griffith will demonstrate "Feature Film Quality Characters Anywhere" and how their technology leverages layered deformers without the limits of a traditional bone and skin weight system.

Learn more about these Southern California-based contributors, their backgrounds, stories, innovations, and the programs they are participating in by checking out the full program. To get more information about the conference, opportunities, or to register to attend in person or online, go to s2023.SIGGRAPH.org/register.

About ACM, ACM SIGGRAPH, and SIGGRAPH 2023
ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery, is the world's largest educational and scientific computing society, uniting educators, researchers, and professionals to inspire dialogue, share resources, and address the field's challenges. ACM SIGGRAPH is a special interest group within ACM that serves as an interdisciplinary community for members in research, technology, and applications in computer graphics and interactive techniques. The SIGGRAPH conference is the world's leading annual interdisciplinary educational experience showcasing the latest in computer graphics and interactive techniques. SIGGRAPH 2023, the 50th annual conference hosted by ACM SIGGRAPH, will take place live 6–10 August at the Los Angeles Convention Center, along with a Virtual Access option.

SOURCE SIGGRAPH