Pixar's Renderman Art & Science Far

Everyone knows Pixar, Disney's animation studio, which recently released Finding Dory. Well, before Pixar Animation Studio got bought by Disney, they created Renderman to help with the hard work of rendering their animated 3D graphics. Rederman was a notable absence at Siggraph's exhibit hall, but they were not gone from the event.
On Wednesday, July 27, Pixar had their Art & Science Fair at the Disneyland Hotel Convention Center. (In)Conveniently located a mile from where Siggraph was actually held, the Anaheim Convention Center. Getting there was a bit of a walk with the weather being in the upper 90s.
Luckily, everything after the walk went well, as we not only got appetizers, cheese, bread, fruits, but also a drink ticket, with various bars open for those that wanted to get a little tipsy before the main event. Various Renderman products were featured on the floor as well, but the people were mainly there for one thing. Anyone you would ask was anxious about when the famous Walking Teapot was going to be given out.
All this fuzz for a little collectible teapot? Yes! Ever since Pixar's Renderman has been around, a collectible, limited edition walking teapot has been created. And it's been given out year after year at Siggraph. So those that miss it one year or when Siggraph, like a couple years ago, is held on another state, well, have to use eBay (or other means) to get it.
But Renderman knows this and wasn't going to give out so soon the main reason the mayority of the 1,000+ attendees were there for, oh no. First you were going to mingle, then go to the main room for the screening of Pixar's new short, "Piper" ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72a27aLQ5B8 ) and the presentation, an hour long talk about Renderman's new features.
The short was great, the definition of everything was almost photo realistic, if it wasn't for the bit of animated look for the birds it would be too realistic. When the audience was told that the time to animate the 5,000 plus poligons that every grain of sand was made out of being a quarter of the time it took the audience all cheered with emotion. Not only has the way shading and light has changed with the new update made things easier and better, the time of rendering has also considerably decreased. Renderman was also used for The Jungle Book, with not only all of the animals being CGI, but the backgrounds as well. In fact, the movie was shot in Downtown L.A.!
But the real cheer came when the new Walking Teapot design was shown. That's when the crowd erupted, seeing the new Jaws inspired teacup.
When the conference ended, people were ready for their teapot, rushing to get in line and, for a lucky few, also get some old teapots if they found a prize ticket under their chair.
Also, at the prize table, they had, for everyone that twitted, Disney swag! Stuffed animals, toys, hats, t-shirts, backpacks, anything you could imagine Disney related was there for you just to ask for it!

At the end of the night, after the invited guests got their prizes and teapots, everyone left happy, Disney again fulfilling their promise of making people happy.

Siggraph 2016

Siggraph is a tech convention for those that work or want to work in the computer graphics field. These are the artists that make that CGI you see in movies, from its creation to its inception. Computer graphics have come a long way, with the effects and creatures getting more intricate and detailed, their realism making (or breaking) a film. People from all over the world, professionals and enthusiasts alike, come every year to Siggraph to learn more about the new technology, hardware, and program updates, as well as network. If you work in the industry you know this is the place to be.

This year, the annual Siggraph conference took place at the Anaheim Convention Center, using every space available with talks, demonstrations, courses, a computer animation festival, along many related events throughout the week. The exhibition hall is the best place to start. This is where one can come up close and personal with the different companies that make CGI happen. Intel was promoting their latest programs and offering a VR experience, VR being the emphasis of many of the companies present, as it seems that, unlike 3D, VR is here to stay. Advances in motion capture could also be seen as the usual dotted suit can now be replaced with smaller and less costly options. Rendering times are getting smaller even as the files also get bigger and more complex, thus bringing the need for upgrading hardware and software with these changes. 

Not to fear, products for upgrading were also present, whether it was cameras to capture your future 360 video or capture facial features to be used for your CGI character, every aspect of how CG is created was covered. 

If you were interested in working there was a job fair as well, with companies like Blizzard Entertainment, Sony,  Weta Digital (The Lord of The Rings effects people, all the way from New Zealand, but at least 3 years of experience were needed to be considered), Deluxe VR (a year old VR wing of Deluxe!), Legend3D, Hangar 13 Games, being part of the companies present for those that wanted to apply or get more information on how to get into the business.  

Next to the Exhibits hall is the more hands on experience,  where students and developers can feature their latest technology, whether is a vibrating chair race, or a light controller piano, or a VR tag game, you can find many interesting inventions. An unconventional art gallery is also present, with light and animation making these pieces stand out. There was also a 3D photo booth and another with an upside down effect from intel. Let's not forget the VR Village, where you could experience different ways VR can be used, and it's not only for games any more (though, wasn't TV an invention that was proposed to be a tool for "education" when created?). The center piece of the hall was this big mecha-like rig you could get into and walk it from one side to the other, getting all the attendies, mainly students, in line to experience the ride.

To many that are not in the industry, something like this could be downright boring and complicated. But to us movie enthusiasts it is always interesting to see how all these effects, all these creatures get created and put on the big screen,  all the work and hours it takes to get a few seconds of screen time done, all the hours it takes to create a CG heavy or animated feature. If you are planning or interested in working for a computer graphics related job, Siggraph is a great place to see how it works. Don't miss it next year!