SIGGRAPH 2006 – Day 5

SIGGRAPH 2006 – Day 5

Day 5 – we were going to hit a course in the morning but the bus was late – well first we were late but then the bus was late so we just went right to the show. The exhibition opened and boy was it a long day (as you shall see).

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Lots of activity in front of the hotel before we got on the bus.
First we met the guys from Anthro.

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Then we saw the CIA crew. Who are not booth babes because as I was told they are too informed!

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Then I saw the guys from Caligari and spent a nice amount of time talking to the Roman Ormandy about their products. Truespace looks like it has some nice improvements. Sounds like a time to upgrade!

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When I got to the show floor my first stop had to be the Hash Booth cause I love these guys!

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However we had to be methodical if we were going to see it all and we started in one corner and worked are way back and forth. The first stop of interest was:

The CIA Booth. It looked GREAT. You wouldn’t know this was their first year. Nice giveaways as well. Plus they all matched.

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We then got free t-shirts from the ladies at digital-tutorials

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These guys sell sensors and such but I don’t know if they are priced for joe average.

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The Windows Vista Booth was tiny. This itsy bitsy booth in the corner with one guy and 2 computers tell me that people need to get their device drivers written on time. Very strange not the Microsoft presence I expected. Kinda funny though.

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Quest 3D had their women wearing different outfits from the men – notice the off shoulder shirt.

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The New York Institute of Technology people were very nice – gave me a shirt and invited me to a party.

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The DAVE School – always a nice display from them,

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This Volumetric Display is very nice – it uses discreet layers but they anti-alias and force perspective to give a deeper image, If someone wants I think this might be a stereo pair.

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This is an amazing overlapping Scalable Display System – just point the projectors and calibrate via software and the images perfectly line up. Its hard to explain just how cool this is to see. The implications for big (and for stereo) systems are staggering.

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The Yorkshire folks invited us to Tea and Biscuits to celebrate Yorkshire day. Wasn’t that nice?

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Roman from Caligari and Ken from Hash. Kind of neat to see 2 people from very established competing companies talking about product and the old days and the idea that there are some real ‘people’ companies still around after all these years!

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Great advertisement for Colada (they are Pina Colada flavored)

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A and K from AK Peters – go buy their books!

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The Touchlight Touch Screen – last year in e-tech and this year a products. Huge lines to see it work.

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Anthro’s Cool Vertebrae Chair

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And their toothpaste dispenser giveaway!

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Must have been an amazing demonstration – this guy is fast asleep.

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If you want to convert a model you need PolyTrans by Okino Graphics.

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Spherical Video Camera – I still like these guys – I see them a lot. I wish I had one to play with,

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Nice Head Mounted Display. I was surprised at the quality because it’s the eMagin that is less than $1000. Tempting.

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Blue haired HP girls. OY

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Spherical VR Camera – these guys keep getting sleeker every year.

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This Autostereoscopic Display was in someone’s booth and it had a clear image and a huge viewing area. Very impressive. Now I need to find someone selling it.

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A Viewmaster for International Academy for Design and Technology they weren’t giving them out (they gave out footballs) and alas the images were GASP 2D! Nice guys though so I can cut them some slack.

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Augmented Reality Systems seem to be the hot topic this year. This creature was climbing all over the items that you could move in real time. Pretty nifty.

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Steve from Eyeon – he is here every year. Nice guy. Took the photo in case Doug is reading. Hi Doug!

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The Adobe Training Area – taught by Adobe people.

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Everyone’s Hero Booth – had no idea was this was for (I later found out they are promoting a movie). But it could have been anything.

They had a Mutoscope and I was so excited because the guy in front of me was cranking it. But the crank activated the LCD display inside that played a 2D movie that they added scratch and jitter to. I hate dashed hopes.

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Amazing new interface device from Logitech and less than $100. Its not a mouse it just helps you change things like size and zoom with the other hand,

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Phantom Basic arm and clay modeling tools. This was exciting. The ed price is less than $1000. Its not as strong and you can’t do anything but clay modeling but it’s a HAPTIC ARM!!

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This big haptic arm from France was running an industrial simulation where you had to manipulate a part through a hole. Great demo. It worked it explained itself. I hope they sell some.

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Bad booth design – chair and flyers. I’m not kidding that was it.

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Z Corp stuff looks better and better every year. And getting affordable.

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There was this long line to get your face embedded in a crystal cube for a keychain. It was $10 and I already have a big one from San Diego (it was more expensive) however what is nice is that it is a turnkey solution for malls and such,

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Savanna College had a smaller display but they had Mirror Balls and Badge Holders that unfolded to have notepads. Rumor has it that the magnet in the badge holder (since it unfolds) wipes the swipe card and a lot of people were having problems. I didn’t use mine so I am safe.

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Giant Autodesk booth – to go along with the Giant Autodesk Parties (I am told they have another party)

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Would be a SIGGRAPH without motion capture girls.

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Live Drawing Models at Imagworks. Is it about the technology or the bodies on the stage?

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The Lucasfilm booth was huge and very nice – it looks like they are recruiting.

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Giant ATI and nVidia booths – I guess its good to sell graphics cards. Like selling ammunition during a war.

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Purdue University had a VR Display on the floor. Very nicely done for not a big space.

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Disney had a nice booth.

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So this is funny. I go to try the panoramic HMD and the guy says he needs to fix it. He calls over his buddy to star working on it and he says ‘nah – lets go eat first’ and the other is like ‘I think we should fix it and then eat” and he goes “but I’m hungry” all like right in front if me,

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Crazy Carney’s Midway Madness at the Art Institute’s Booth – very nice and it promotes student work!

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Point Grey Research – love their products – wish I had the programmers and engineers to build devices with em.

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B & H – where else do you go for all your AV needs? (other than Adorama sometimes)

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The really nice guy from Blue Sky

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PIXAR – Woo hoo! Always a crowd always a line. And really nice Flame Walking Teapots (I will get tomorrow)

The very nice people from Pixar

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Rapid Prototypers – getting better and cheaper every year. So close…

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Portable Laser Digitizer – this was interesting. I need to go back and see the quality and the caveats. But its only $2500!

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Barco – big display but not as big as previous years. And amazingly no one really wanted to talk to me about technology even though I am in the market (really) they ‘passed’ along my contact info. Of course we love them and they have great stuff so no worries just seem to be in ‘demo’ mode.

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3D Modeling and Animation for Kids – Cosmic Blobs is only $30 have to check this one out.

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Ken Lovell from the Digital Media Center for the Arts at Yale – we met last year he runs a great multimedia center there. Very nice we need to talk more.

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Mitsubishi Touch Desks – seems touch desks are the new thing these days.

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American Paper Optics – These guys rule. Thank You John! You rock!!

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Second Life. We just bought an island so I figured grab some swag and leave but no it turns out they were so damned helpful and I got more information in 10 minutes about everything I need to do next (and a t-shirt). Thank guys!

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I like this 2 material rapid prototyper. It just looks good and right. Still can’t afford it.

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This looks like a great product. A 3D Mouse for less than $100. They integrated multiple directional controllers into a mouse so you can do one handed stuff that normally takes 2. Great for gaming!!

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Stereoscopic Binocular Camera – wasn’t working last year but it IS this year. Very nice but alas too expensive for me.

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Ok the most uplifting disappointing moment for me was this: This is a fully interactive haptic ball that can even feel twisting force. It is very similar to a design I have been working on for a similar device. This is better than mine and smarter than mine (but I will still finish mine because its simpler and for a different use – so mine will cost less and be for a different market). WOW – smart so damned smart.

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Over under LCD passive 3D system also seem to be the rage. They still look clunky though.

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How self referential – someone reading this website!

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She has more lobsters than me!
I give up (no I don’t!)

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Consolidating the days haul into 3 bags. Paper, t-shirts, and swag.

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Dinner at the sauce restaurant next door at the Westin – great food – bad service – they got too busy and were understaffed.

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The Electronic Theater

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So they had this game at the Theater were you held up a little reflective stick that was shiny red or shiny green and it would poll the audience (right half and left half)\.

Maze

We controlled up down while the other half of the theater controlled right-left. As we navigated this maze.

Etch a Sketch
We tried to trace objects – a square, a triangle, a circle, the Utah teapot.

And finally we played this Pong type game head to head. It was great everyone was going crazy! We lost.

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I got invited to the Morgan Kaufman Dessert Party which was very nice (and a bit humbling some very big names in the room).

I met these guys. Who were very nice and very sarcastic.

I finally met Rita Turkowski who is with web3D and also Ken’s wife (see previous days). She has a big stuffed lobster. Great conversation I really need to check out web3D again (and so should you!)

My last photo of the evening was of Jim Blinn (who is probably sick of me taking his picture). If he ever were to read this he should know it isn’t fanboyness that makes me take the picture. I really love that at a conference like this that someone as important to the industry can (and does walk around) and I think that’s just great.

The funny part of this story is that someone had just taken a picture of his ribbons and when I went to take his picture its all I could see – he is TALL.

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That’s it – tomorrow I present and I will look at the Job Fair (but not for work) and maybe the Posters.

Jared