“He was fearless,” says James Cameron. Stan Winston always had the charisma to talk nervous producers into letting his creature effects and make-up studio create expensive, experimental visual effects for their movies. Cameron should know, because some of Winston’s most famous and groundbreaking work was done for Cameron’s 1991 film Terminator 2: Judgement Day.

Last night at the Nokia Theater in downtown Los Angeles, hundreds gathered to pay tribute to legendary Hollywood effects guru Stan Winston, who died this past June. The man left a huge legacy of memorable and award-winning visual effects moments from movies such as Jurassic Park, Aliens, A.I., Iron Man, Predator, and Edward Scissorhands. Jody Duncan, author of “The Winston Effect” interviewed Cameron and some of Winston’s other collaborators about the keys to Winston’s success. more

Finally got a chance to sneak over to the Electronic Theater at the San Diego Civic Center Theater last night for the 7pm showing. As with every Electronic Theater from Siggraph’s of yesteryear, the pre-show is just as entertaining as the actual clips.

For ’07 the committee offered a tribute to some of the ground-breaking innovations in game technology–from the ’80s. They projected three different laser-based Atari games onto the huge movie screen and invited industry pros to try their hand at the joystick classics. more

SupaCam, which is backed in part by Panasonic, is selling their popular DVi handheld, tapeless, digital movie recorder for only $328 over at their booth (booth #853)-about $500 less than you would pay at B&H or other resellers. Up for grabs are black, white, and silver models.

The camera, about the size of your hand, does 24 bit color at 30 fps at 720 x 480, both NTSC and PAL, in MPG 4 or dvx formats. It can also serve as a webcam, with a 25 ft. remote and 180 degree motion sensor triggered when activity occurs within it’s optic range–and can stream online in HD quality. For digital photographers, 12 megapixels.

For the third year in a row, the Siggraph Blog will provide insight and perspective from some of the students in our industry. Winners of the HP/Saytek competitions for The Art Institutes, five different students will be adding their thoughts on this year’s show in San Diego–they are: (Animation Contest winners) Craig Cesareo and Dennis Flath; (Art Institutes interactive game developers) Benjamin Braman, Shawn White, and Richard Matey.

The Art Institutes

The premier annual event for the world’s most innovative, accomplished, and amazing digital film and video creators. An internationally recognized jury receives hundreds of submissions and presents the best work of the year in daily Animation Theaters and the Electronic Theater (matinée and evening shows). Selections include outstanding achievements in time-based art, scientific visualization, visual effects, real-time graphics, and narrative shorts.

The Computer Animation Festival is recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as a qualifying festival. Since 1999, several works originally presented in the Computer Animation Festival have been nominated for or have received a “Best Animated Short” Academy Award.

Animation Theaters
Sunday – Thursday, 5-9 August
Room 24 & 25

Electronic Theater
Monday – Wednesday, 6-8 August
San Diego Civic Theatre
1100 Third Avenue

For a video preview of this year’s Computer Animation Festival, click here.

The Siggraph 2007 Special Sessions take a behind the scenes look at some of the past year’s top animation and visual effects accomplishments for the feature film industry. Four different sessions will take place in the San Diego Convention Center, each focusing on a different film production–a lineup which includes: Happy Feet, Transformers, Shrek, and Spiderman 3.

For more information on time and locations, as well as more of an in-depth look at the specific topics covered, click here.

Read more about the making of Shrek 3 in Senior Editor Michael Goldman’s recent article in Millimeter here.

Learn more on the creation of Spiderman 3 in Goldman’s article Digital Acrobatics.

Millimeter Senior Editor Michael Goldman sat down with Pixar’s Brad Bird, director of Ratatouille, to discuss that film and the challenges of making and executing color palettes for animated films in general. To listen to their conversation, click here .

Read the accompanying story on digitalcontentproducer.com.

Artwork that illuminates the role the digital media plays in shaping, extending, and reflecting world views and cosmologies will be showcased throughout the SIGGRAPH 2007 Art Gallery: Global Eyes. Global Eyes will take place during the 34th International Conference and Exhibition on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques held 5-9 August 2007 at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California, USA.

Global Eyes will explore ecological, social, and political issues in imaginative and innovative ways through a variety of submitted and curated works. This year there were more than 660 submissions from 30 countries that were evaluated by a prestigious international jury. The main categories presented during Global Eyes include animation, artist books, panel discussions, papers, digital performances, art installations, as well as monitor and wall-based works. These works aim to foster respect, tolerance, and empathy among people and nations.

“The SIGGRAPH Art Gallery is known for consistently presenting the work of the world’s most talented digital artists,” stated Vibeke Sorensen, SIGGRAPH 2007 Art Gallery Chair from the University at Buffalo. “Global Eyes is an exciting forum for showcasing alternative ways to think about nature and art, and how the two interact.”

For a video preview for the 2007 Art Gallery: Global Eyes, click here.

The SIGGRAPH 2007 Emerging Technologies exhibition features a broad range of installations from research labs, universities, independents, and industry giants that explore the dynamics between humans and digital systems. Of 75 submissions, 23 installations were selected to be showcased at SIGGRAPH 2007. Submissions came from six different countries including France, Hungary, Japan, Korea, and Sweden.

“The SIGGRAPH 2007 Emerging Technologies program provides a unique look into the future capabilities of computer animation technologies in very practical, everyday environments,” says John Sibert, Emerging Technologies Co-Chair from The George Washington University. “This year’s selection of technologies explores how advance computer technology significantly impacts human interaction.”

For a video preview of this year’s Emerging Technologies, click here.

Welcome to the third annual Siggraph blog from the editors of Digital Content Producer and Millimeter. We’re on our way to San Diego next week to cover the annual tradeshow, which serves the computer graphics and 3D animation industries and also functions as a gathering of the tribes for a diverse collection of high-tech artists.

In the blog we’ll be detailing our participation in Siggraph on many different levels–from exhibitions and events to all the buzz on the show floor. Aside from this we’ll check in with industry players, hit the parties, and introduce you to a group of student bloggers from the Art Institutes, experiencing Siggraph for the first time.

Check back often, as we’ll be updating multiple times a day. Have a great Siggraph if you’re attending, and if not, this is your source for realtime coverage of the show.