SIGGRAPH Asia 2017 wrapped its tenth edition on a high note. This year’s edition brought together some of the biggest names and organisations in the computer graphics and interactive techniques industry. Held from 27 to 30 November 2017 at Bangkok International Trade and Exhibition Centre (BITEC), Asia’s premier graphics, animation, art and technology event drew 6,526 computer graphics professionals, researchers, enthusiasts and trade visitors from 58 countries and regions under one roof.
Close to 600 speakers presented at the conference, discussing the latest industry developments and future of the computer graphics and interactive techniques industry.
The exciting line-up featured distinguished keynote speakers and panellists such as Albert Yu-Min Lin from National Geographic Society; Michael Cohen from Facebook; Google Spotlight Story Piggy’s co-director Mark Oftedal; Chris Harvey from Oats Studio and Mathieu Muller from Unity.
The production teams from Pixar (Coco), Industrial Light & Magic (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story), Disney (Moana), Marvel Studios (Thor: Ragnarok) and Framestore (Blade Runner 2049) also took to the stage to showcase their ground-breaking digital work in these films.
Virtual and augmented reality was also featured strongly at SIGGRAPH Asia 2017. One of the highlights was the featured sessions’ panel, Towards Stronger Human Connections in AR/VR, which featured a mixed reality setup with one panellist speaking remotely in VR, a first-time showcase in the region.
Industry pioneers, James Fong, Ido Banai and Jake Kahana discussed the production challenges and lessons from making story-driven VR films. Other well-attended sessions include Artificial Intelligence Meets Virtual And Augmented Realities and Before And After AR/VR: Empowering The Paradigm Shifts In Education, where panellists discussed the synergies between virtual and augmented reality, artificial intelligence and machine learning, and its impact on education.
The VR Showcase Program immersed visitors into virtual and augmented worlds to convey how virtual reality can be applied to fields such as healthcare and entertainment, as well as influence human interactivity and engagement. The content rich program also featured specially curated interactive sections that included live painting sessions with local and regional transmedia artists, as well as a VR Dailies Theater.
SIGGRAPH Asia’s exhibition show-floor featured the latest hardware, software, technologies and innovations from around the world. The exhibition featured a total of 73 exhibitors from over 15 countries. Of these, 53 were first-time exhibitors, including companies such as ArtFX, Epic Games, IKEA Communications, Luxion, NewOlderVFX, Ringling College of Art and Design, SOFA Framework, Unity Technologies and Yannix (Thailand).
Next year’s edition, SIGGRAPH Asia 2018 will be held at the Tokyo International Forum in Japan from 4 – 7 December 2018.
“Following 10 years of success at SIGGRAPH Asia, I believe that SIGGRAPH Asia 2018 will be a unique event where there will be a huge variety of crossovers between people, cultures, companies, industries, entertainment, art and digital technologies. In this sense, Tokyo is the best city for the attendees to experience and feel the crossovers between anime and 3DCG; digital and traditional cultures; and be at the cutting edge of digital media and new industries,” said SIGGRAPH Asia 2018 conference chair Ken Anjyo.
