SIGGRAPH 50th History Events and Experiences

FACT SHEET 

For more information, contact: Bonnie Mitchell at bonniem@bgsu.edu

SIGGRAPH Celebrates its 50th Conference

DATES: August 6–10, 2023

LOCATION: SIGGRAPH 2023, Los Angeles, CA (Los Angeles Convention Center)

COORDINATOR: Bonnie Mitchell, SIGGRAPH 2023 History Chair

3D VIDEO WALK THRU: https://translab.mat.ucsb.edu/S50_SynapticTimeTunnel/

OBJECTIVES

To celebrate the past 50 years of innovation, creativity and achievement in the field of computer graphics and interactive technique.  At SIGGRAPH’s 50th conference celebration, we propose to exhibit innovative, interactive, immersive experiences along with displays of historical artifacts.

TARGET AUDIENCE

The SIGGRAPH conference will take place in Los Angeles and so will most likely be very well attended with numbers projected between 15 and 30 thousand attendees.  SIGGRAPH attracts an international audience with presenters and attendees from nearly all continents. Attendees range from young to old, professionals to novices and CG technical developers to users. SIGGRAPH attendees come from the CG industry, government labs, education, animation studios, game production labs, and more. Because of the diverse offerings at the conference, the audience may be focused on the artistic, technical or conceptual/theoretical aspects of computer graphics and interactive techniques.

SIGGRAPH 50th HISTORY OFFERINGS INCLUDE 

• Time Tunnel 

• 50 Years at a Glance

• Blasts from the Past

• SIGGRAPH Collectible Card Game

DESCRIPTION

Time Tunnel:

Traverse the history of computer graphics and interactive techniques from 1974 to 2023 in an innovative, interactive, 153’ x 27’ immersive environment. The attendee will be immersed in a world of extraordinary simulations, animated timelines and interactive CG content using the images, video, text and other content from the ACM SIGGRAPH History Archive as well as the broader history of computer graphics. The time tunnel uses cutting-edge technology and state-of-the-art engineering to create novel interfaces to interact with the content.

Sponsorship opportunities: $150,000 total needed. Co-sponsorship is welcome.

Equipment loans: Projectors, high-powered desktop computers, small format computers, sensors, custom projection screens, smart monitors.

50 Years at a Glance:

This broad category includes showcases of graphics hardware, CG artifacts, early publications, SIGGRAPH and CG industry swag, early VR headsets, and historic playable game consoles. It will also include all SIGGRAPH conference posters as well as information visualization posters that analyze a component of CG history.  There will be interactive installations where you can interact with a Magic Mirror to virtually wear a SIGGRAPH T-shirt from the past or use a SnapChat filter to adorn yourself with SIGGRAPH bling. We will have a custom-built robot that takes pictures of attendees and, using AI, will match them with a person in our database of significant SIGGRAPH people so the attendee can find out more about them.

Sponsorship opportunities: $40,000 total needed.  Co-sponsorship is welcome.

Equipment loans: Projectors, high-powered desktop computers, sensors, large monitors.

Blasts from the Past:

We would like to bring back some significant works shown at past SIGGRAPH conferences. The CAVE, a room-sized virtual environment, was shown at SIGGRAPH 1992 and transformed our thinking about VR.  We would like to showcase a mini-CAVE (vDen) with original CAVE content. Dan Rozin’s Wooden Mirror was an all-time SIGGRAPH favorite art installation where your live image triggered wooden pixels to rotate. Paul Debevec’s Light Field rig has transformed the VFX industry and was first shown at SIGGRAPH. Roman Verostko, a SIGGRAPH Distinguished Artist Award winner, used a pen plotter with custom made inks to produce his works in the 1980s.  We would like to showcase his original device along with some of the work it produced.  None of this is possible without sponsorship.

Sponsorship opportunities: $30,000 total needed. Co-sponsorship is welcome.

SIGGRAPH Collectible Card Game

We are designing a 52-card deck of collectible and playable cards along with 2 wild cards. The cards will include important people in CG, computer graphics areas such as rendering algorithms, CG hardware, haptics, etc. and SIGGRAPH programs such as Technical Papers, Electronic Theater, Emerging Technologies, Real-Time Live!, Art Gallery, etc. The cards are hand-illustrated by students and we are seeking funding to have them printed.

Sponsorship opportunities: $6,000 total cost

SPONSORSHIP BENEFITS

As a sponsor of the SIGGRAPH 50th Conference Celebration experiences and events your brand will be included in the signage and websites. Sponsors of the 50 Years at a Glance may be able to showcase historic artifacts from their company. Collectible Card sponsors may have their logos included in the design of the wild cards. Sponsors of the Time Tunnel may be able to include historic images and videos in the simulations where appropriate.

Helping to sponsor SIGGRAPH displays not only amplifies your marketing goals but also makes a statement that your company supports a culture of innovation, creativity and excellence.

WHY SIGGRAPH 

ACM SIGGRAPH is a special interest group within ACM, and SIGGRAPH is the premier conference for computer graphics and interactive techniques worldwide. This year, SIGGRAPH celebrates 50 years of SIGGRAPH conferences and will reflect on half a century of discovery and advancement as they look ahead to a bold and limitless future. The SIGGRAPH conferences showcase the latest, most inventive technologies and applications in computer graphics and interactive techniques.

FULL TEAM:

ACM SIGGRAPH HISTORY ARCHIVE

The ACM SIGGRAPH History Online Archive was co-directed by Bonnie Mitchell (Bowling Green State University) and Jan Searleman (Clarkson University) and developed by a large group of volunteers and student workers over the past 3 years. Pioneer volunteers: Pete Segal (Pixel Mechanics Emeritus), Joe Geigel (RIT)  & Manuel Alducin (Canadian Embassy IT).  The current team consists of: Programmers: Alexa Mahajan (BGSU), Luis Wilson (Microsoft), & Joseph Jadach (Marxent). Content Managers: Stephanie Vento, Lane Sykes, Mariah Palmer, Bryanna Liptak, Erin Main, and Elaheh Afroozan (all from BGSU) and in addition: Daniel Motilla (Ixti, Mexico). Image Processing: Laura Artsuo (BGSU).

TIME TUNNEL

Marcos Novak (UCSB, Director of the transLAB), Pau Roselló Diaz, Nefeli Manoudaki, Iason Paterakis, Diarmid Flatley (transLAB Research Group, UCSB); Kon Kyong Kim & Gustavo Alfonso Rincon (AlloSphere Research Group). The team also includes Graham Wakefield (AliceLab at York University) and Haru Ji (OCAD University). The interactivity and novel devices are designed by Paul Dietz (University of Toronto) and Yamin Xu (BGSU). Content for the time tunnel has been coordinated by Bonnie Mitchell (BGSU) and Jan Searleman (Clarkson University) and their team of archivists and the interactive experiences has been designed and programmed by the team above as well as Bonnie Mitchell, Alexa Mahajan, Joseph Symons, and many more talented computer graphics experts. Support materials provided by Keije’ Brown, Sam Nunoo, Hannah Mesenburg, Stephanie Vento, Bryanna Liptak and Link Sengsourichanh (all from BGSU).

50 YEARS AT A GLANCE and BLASTS FROM THE PAST

The team organizing and collecting materials for these two venues include: Bonnie Mitchell (BGSU), Dave Kasik (Boeing, ret.), Mary Whitton (UNC Chapel Hill, ret.), Joe Cychosz (Purdue), Ed Kramer (RMCAD), Tom Gambill (IARI Ventures), Jon Peddie (Jon Peddie Research), Nick England (UNC Chapel Hill, ret.), and Anna Carolina Queiroz (Stanford) and Alex Nascimento. Programmers and interactive designers: Alexa Mahajan, Joseph Symons, and Mark Billinghurst (University of South Australia).

COLLECTIBLE CARD DECK

The current game play and illustrations are produced by BGSU students Elaheh Afroozan, Seth Demeter, Rachel Krieger, Erin Main, Drew Stiles, Noah Taylor, and Lizzy Varis and directed by Bonnie Mitchell. The original card game play was designed by John N A Brown.

ACM SIGGRAPH HISTORY COMMITTEE

Chair: Mary Whitton (UNC Chapel Hill), Members: Dave Kasik (Boeing, ret.), Bonnie Mitchell (BGSU), Jan Searleman (Clarkson University), Terrence Masson (SVA).

IMAGES OF TIME TUNNEL