SIGGRAPH 2012, the world’s premier conference on computer graphics and interactive techniques, welcomed more than 21,000 artists, research scientists, gaming experts and developers, filmmakers, students, and academics from 83 countries around the globe to Los Angeles.

More than 160 industry organizations exhibited at the conference, representing 19 countries.

As expected, there were a number of impressive technologies at the show, so selecting the CGW Silver Edge Award winners was certainly challenging. Yet, there were some offerings that stood out from the rest as having the potential of greatly impacting our industry now and in the future. These have been selected as winners of the Computer Graphics World Silver Edge Awards for what the editors deem to have been the best of show. (A detailed description of the winners will appear in the August/September issue of CGW.)

Maxon’s Cinema 4D Release 14

Side Effects Software’s Houdini 12

NewTek’s LightWave 11.5

AMD’s FirePro W cards

Canon’s MR (Mixed Reality)

Christie’s 3D projection technology

Honorable Mentions

TeamUp’s Multi-Optics renderer

Motion Analysis’ Raptor-12

Fabric Engine’s Creation Platform

CGW initiated the awards early last year as a way of recognizing products at major industry trade shows that stand out from the rest for one reason or another.