The SIGGRAPH Computer Animation Festival, Part I
Issue: Volume: 26 Issue: 7 (July 2003)

The SIGGRAPH Computer Animation Festival, Part I

Two entries received special recognition. "Eternal Gaze," by Sam Chen, was honored as Best Animated Short for its tale about an artist, his art, and love. The fact that it is entirely computer-generated is quickly lost in the telling of the tale, says chair Darin Grant from Digital Domain. Receiving Jury Honors was "Tim Tom" from Supinfocom. In this short, two characters want to meet, but their efforts are hindered by their creator, a giant omnipotent hand. With nods to the animation masters of the past and their techniques, "Tim Tom" brings life to characters whose emotions are expressed through their notepad faces.

A selection of images from the Computer Animation Festival appear on these two pages. —Karen Moltenbrey

Eternal Gaze (Best Animated Short), directed and produced by Sam Chen, was inspired by the life of Alberto Giacometti, one of the great artists of the 20th century.




Adidas Mechanical Legs, directed by David Fincher, required Digital Domain to create a photorealistic environment using high dynamic range lighting with high-resolution models and textures for this TV commercial.




Dawn, directed and produced by the nVidia Demo Team, uses the pixie Dawn to illustrate the programmable shading and vertex processing of the company's graphics cards.




Dolce Vita, directed by Bruno Aveillan and produced by Quad, uses CG feathers, created by La Maison, to show a woman floating on air for a TV commercial. © 2002 Australie-Quad.




Tim Tom (Jury Award), directed by Romain Segaud and Christel Pougeoise of Supinfocom, uses classic animation techniques to breathe life into the film's characters. ©2002 Supinfocom/One Plus One.




Gone Nutty, directed by Carlos Saldanha and produced by John C. Donkin, shows the expressiveness of the character Scrat from Ice Age in this short film from Blue Sky Studios.




Warcraft 3: Reign of Chaos, directed by Nick Carpenter and produced by Bill Carraro and Scott Abeyta of Blizzard Entertainment, offers a glimpse of the game Warcraft 3. Image from Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos. Courtesy Blizzard Entertainment.




Akryls, directed by Yann Couderc, Bruno Hajnal, and Xavier Henri and produced by Supinfocom, takes viewers into the universe of the infinitesimal. ©2002 Supinfocom/One Plus One.




Dia de los Muertos, directed by Kirk Kelley and produced by Mary Sandell and Rachel Walchak of Vinton Studios, uses various techniques to capture the holiday's strange beauty.




The Matrix Reloaded, directed by Larry and Andy Wachowski and produced by Joel Silver, uses extensive CG and unique virtual cinematography from EON and ESC.




ILM R&D, produced by Jason German, shows the studio's effects work for Terminator 3.