Hong Kong - The international computer graphics and interactive techniques community will converge in the multicultural and metropolitan city of Hong Kong for SIGGRAPH Asia 2011 in December.
To be held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, the fourth edition of the ACM SIGGRAPH Conference and Exhibition in Asia will bring together top names in graphics, animation, art, and technology.
SIGGRAPH Asia 2011 is expected to draw more than 7000 participants from more than 45 countries. Hundreds of industry experts and professionals are also expected to contribute to the strong line-up of programs such as Art Gallery, Computer Animation Festival, Courses, Emerging Technologies, Exhibition, Exhibitor Tech Talks, Featured Speakers, Special Sessions, Technical Papers, Technical Sketches, and Posters.
SIGGRAPH Asia 2011 will debut a new program entitled Symposium on Apps, aimed at promoting entrepreneurship and the use of advanced graphic capabilities in mobile devices. Application developers have created more than 300,000 mobile applications in just over three years and the market for mobile applications will continue to accelerate, with revenues expected to surpass US$35 billion by 2014. Recognizing this market potential, Symposium on Apps will explore new ways in which budding developers and seasoned entrepreneurs can leverage visual and animation techniques on mobile devices to create compelling end user experiences.
SIGGRAPH Asia 2011 will also see the return of the Art Gallery and Emerging Technologies programs, giving voice to inspiring works that marry technology and imagination. The SIGGRAPH Asia 2011 Art Gallery program, themed FANTAsia, will offer a diverse and international showcase of innovative digital and technologically-mediated artworks that explore childlike playfulness and celebrate imagination in today's networked world. Complementing this is the Emerging Technologies program, with its theme of Play. The return of live, hands-on demonstrations and installations of upcoming industry benchmarks in advanced technologies will focus on working demonstrations in virtual reality, augmented reality, haptic devices, 3D graphics, robotics, sensor systems, and wearable devices.
True to its aim to inspire further innovations and promote stimulating discussions, SIGGRAPH Asia 2011 will offer participants the opportunity to meet and network with an international set of computer graphics and interactive techniques luminaries. Leading the line-up of Featured Speakers at SIGGRAPH Asia 2011 are Ken Perlin, Professor in the Department of Computer Science, New York University and Bill Buxton, Principal Researcher at Microsoft Research.
Ken Perlin is one of the top innovators in the industry, widely respected for his Academy Award-winning work in noise and turbulence procedural texturing techniques, used in feature films and television today.
Recipient of the 2008 ACM/SIGCHI Lifetime Achievement Award for fundamental contributions to the field of human-computer interaction and named the World's Most Influential Designers by BusinessWeek in 2010, Bill Buxton is a well-known name in the computer graphics field. Participants at SIGGRAPH Asia 2011 can look forward to gain from Bill Buxton's illustrious 30-year involvement in research, design and commentary around the human aspects of technology.
Other industry experts who will share their valuable insights and experience include Dr. Baining Guo, Assistant Managing Director, Microsoft Research Asia; Professor Dani Lischinski, School of Computer Science and Engineering, Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Professor Danny Cohen-Or, Department of Computer Science, Tel Aviv University. These industry leaders will take participants through the latest innovations and best practices in computer graphics and interactive techniques in the Courses program.
The SIGGRAPH Asia 2011 exhibition will continue to draw top names and organizations from both within and outside of Asia, such as Carnegie Mellon University - Entertainment Technology Center, Chaos Group, Double Negative, The Foundry, Lucasfilm, Pixar Animation Studios and Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) Hong Kong.
For the first time this year, SIGGRAPH Asia 2011 will feature a China Pavilion, hosted by the China National Center for Developing Animation, Cartoon and Game Industry (NCACG). Made up of the Culture Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Social Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai Broadband Television Co., Ltd and Beijing Shengshi JinYing International Media Co., Ltd., NCACG is the first organization to be endorsed by the Chinese Ministry of Culture. The new pavilion underlines China's growing interest in digital media and its rapidly developing computer graphics industry.