exhibit research | Siggraph 2001 Report

Report from ACM SIGGRAPH conference and exhibition Aug. 2001

Forget "virtual reality." The real world is being augmented by the digital domain, in the form of simulated voices on the phone, realistic characters and effects in the movies, computer-generated sounds, computer-controlled gadgets. This year's SIGGRAPH conference on the state of the art in computer graphics was notably smaller than previous years due to the economic climate. But in some ways it was richer, as the walls between theory and practice, real and virtual, art and science and industry, continue to break down.
Theory

Panel: Visualization, Semantics and Aesthetics
Raw data cooked in various ways, as artists adopt and co-opt the tools of science

Panel: Cultural Mediation in New Media Spaces
Architectures both real and virtual

Panel: Game-Stories: Simulation, Narrative, Addiction
Weaving space and story, in a medium that transmits dreams

Panel: Newton's Nightmare: Reality Meets Faux Physics
"Realistic simulation" isn't an oxymoron anymore

Practice

Art Gallery
where data flows into objects and spaces

Emerging Technologies
where data flows into objects and spaces

Course: Augmented Reality: The Interface is Everywhere
Be a wolf, fold real paper, move a teddy bear 3000 miles away

Papers: Sound Simulation and Animation
Sound from scratch, courtesy of real physics

Hardware
Mostly 3D input and output devices

Software
Mostly 3D modeling

Sketches and Applications: Displays Two types of light-sensitive displays

Animation
Favorites from the Electronic Theater

Kevin Walker