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Fear and Loathing at Siggraph Part 2
My second day at Siggraph 2005 was even more insane and busy than the first. My Flickr photos for Day 2 are here and there is a Flickr Group for it here
I got up and got my ass to the convention center with one of those patented $4.50 cup of convention Starbucks coffee. You can take the nerd out of Seattle but you can't take Seattle out of the nerd.
The first class was a presentation by RIT work on a project called "M.U.P.P.E.T.S.". That stands for Multi User Programming Pedagogy for Enhanced Traditional Study.
It is a collaborative tool for programming education, a collaborative virtual environment and a great visualization tool. It is a localized MMORPG like environment where a computer student can code their own 3d objects right in the space and you can walk around the virtual neighbor hood and peek in and see what the other guys are coding and designing. This is pure Gibsonian and I joked with the folk that they should have called it N.E.U.R.O.M.A.N.C.E.R.
Microsoft Research sponsored a C# port for .NET and I would not be surprised if this is used in future MMORPGS for Xbox 360. The system featured streamed content when 3d media gets close to user via server and P2P methods.
A lot of students on this project get hired by MMORPG companies like Second Life.
They made a competition where they had to program a robot tank in MUPPETS and take out other virtual robot tanks. The winner was a tank that would hack into the other tanks and virtually command them to self detonate when the got too far ahead. The HackTank won torny.
Next was the main event. George Lucas gave a keynote talk after an award ceremony to computer graphic researchers. George Lucas talked about his philosophy about creative tools and the task that creative professionals like us have before us.
I sat next to the editor of the Japanese magazine CGWorld. No relation to the US magazine CGWorld. He was a Star Wars nerd like me. He thought that Xbox 360 had no chance in hell in Japan.
After George Lucas left I went over and said high to ILM gods John Knoll and Dennis Muren. I thanked John Knoll for starting the creation of Adobe Photoshop.
I sat through a session on building a good demo real and portfolio and it showed me what I need to do to build a new demo reel. I have not build a new demo reel since late 1998 but I have been working since then but I am sort of planning of taking up studying more 3d graphics as a serious hobby. I need to get serious about learning new 3d skills and keep growing.
Then I met my co-workers for dinner and we hit the Autodesk event. It was a jammed packed room and they showed off a 64-bit 3ds Max and also 3d Studio Max 8. I was blown away by the new tools in 3ds Max 8 and I have no doubt that it is going to be the number one game creation tool for the PS3 and Xbox 360. Blizzard was there and showed the intro to Starcraft Ghost.
Autodesk threw a party but I went back to my hotel because it was super tired.
LA at Night looks straight out of Blade Runner. Siggraph is like the Logan's Run compound. You walk through a strange waste land in order to reach this ultra high tech giant compound that is inhabited by a special race of super intelligent nerds that all share a part of a giant hive brain. We just have badges around our necks instead of the flashing jewel on the back of your hand.
Tomorrow is the vendor expo and I am bringing extra bags for loot and booty.
Jake at August 2, 2005 
Nerd
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Comments
THE BUBBLE! BEWARE THE BUBBLE!
-and someday some cockroach anthropoligist will tease your CD out of the muck and classify you as some sort of biped bivalve.
Technology is a shell.
Get a life.
One of the older Oysters,
Roger L. Sieloff
Posted by: Roger L. Sieloff at August 2, 2005 9:23 PM
dang, sounds like a fun time!
Posted by: tj at August 3, 2005 7:59 AM
What bubble? I allready lived through the dot-com bubble. It is not like people are going to stop buying videogames or watching movies and they will need people to creat graphics for them.
Oysters are not kosher but they are good in a stew.
Posted by: Jake of 8bitjoystick.com at August 3, 2005 9:11 AM
