SIGGRAPH 2015, the annual five day interdisciplinary education experience and conference on the latest computer graphics and interactive techniques, will debut a new program this August. The ACM Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques is a community interested in research, technology, and applications in computer graphics and interactive techniques.
The 2015 VR Village will feature real-time immersion in the latest virtual and augmented realities, including Nomadic Virtual Reality (VR), Tabletop Augmented Reality (AR), Full-Dome Cinema and live performances and demonstrations in a 360-degree immersive dome. This VR Village will allow attendees to explore the fascinating potential of VR, AR and Immersive Environments as a means for telling stories, engaging audiences, and powering real-world applications in health, education, design, and gaming. The curated programming offers a wide range of content from major studios and game developers to non-profit institutions, including research labs and planetariums.
The Nomadic VR arena will be a walk-about space that allows participants to freely explore the immersive virtual environments with untethered headsets. At the Head-Mounted Display Stations attendees would experience the latest in VR and AR programming in sit-down and stand-up stations and the Immersion Dom will have a dome that is a 360-degree screening room for the world’s best visualization and cinema storytelling.
“Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality and Immersive Environments are part of a fast-growing, emerging market,” said Ed Lantz, the Co-chair of SIGGRAPH 2015 VR Village Program. “As it grows, there’s room for alternative and independent producers, developers, distributors, and manufacturers to make important and original contributions to consumer products and programming. For the debut of SIGGRAPH’s VR Village, my co-chair Denise Quesnel and I wanted to ensure that attendees have the chance to see amazing applications that have been developed by the world’s best programmers, cinematographers, artists, and game developers that are currently out there. We also hope to inspire and bring together the larger VR community.”
A series of moderated talks will take place around the theme of “VR: Creating at the Edge.” Speakers include executives from Walt Disney Imagineering R&D, Sony’s PlayStation Magic Lab, Emblematic Group and Jaunt Studios.
Along with introducing the VR Village, SIGGRAPH has also announced that there will be 15 curated pieces which will be a part of the Art Gallery. This collection of artwork has been made by using computational design tools, integrating advanced technologies with traditional making processes and has been made by independent artists, students and professors and takes on the theme of “Hybrid Craft”.
At the Hybrid Craft, the 3D Printing and Jewelry Making would be seen where by 3D-printed puzzles combined with wearable jewelry to create puzzle rings will be seen. These pieces are not only meant to be seen but can also to be touched and played with. Another exhibit would be of The Hunt for Butterflies which uses CAD, CNC machine tools, wood, plastic, metal, electronics, and mechanics to “explore the question of how computational methods, machine tools and fabrication resources can be used outside the paradigm of application, function, purpose and profit.” The Neo-Industrial Biography, Glass Working and Re-Configurable Toolmaking is basically about using of a free-fall slumping technique via which the artist created a bowl by heating glass disks and letting the gravity force the glass against pins positioned in a matrix of holes in the tooling device. The tooling systems in this project were developed almost entirely with digital design tools, while the actual use of the final system is completely analog.
It should also be noted that Vicon Vantage Mocap Cameras will make U.S. debut at SIGGRAPH. The new system features new sensor technology that provides continuous performance monitoring, delivering visual feedback through an on-camera OLED display, control software running on the capture PC, and Vicon’s new Control tablet and phone app. Also featured at the show will be Vicon’s Pegasus, Cara, Blade and Tracker software.
The 42nd annual SIGGRAPH Conference will take place 9-13 August 2015 at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles.