The Whole Picture

By Jerry Pournelle

August 15, 2005

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Column 301

SIGGRAPH

SIGGRAPH, the Special Interest Group on Graphics of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), annually holds a conference. It's generally in the first part of August, and every other year it is in Los Angeles.

For a long time SIGGRAPH was the place to be if you wanted to see new miracles in computer use. Although the show and conferences are officially devoted to graphics, most companies can't resist the chance to demonstrate their new technologies in any field; and while not all the big companies come to SIGGRAPH, many of the most important ones do.

A Korean percussion group performs modernized versions of traditional Korean music as part of the International Exposition at SIGGRAPH. Sony traditionally hosts a sake party, and there usually are many other internationally sponsored events as part of the SIGGRAPH experience.

SIGGRAPH consists of conferences, a number of special exhibitions including an art gallery, and the trade show. The show itself is a lot smaller than it used to be. There was a time when it would fill the largest of the exposition halls in the Los Angeles Convention Center. This year it was in a smaller hall, and didn't fill that: There was room for several curtained-off conference areas, and even then there were wide aisles and empty space. A number of major players, including Microsoft, didn't exhibit at all. Others had a much smaller presence than in previous years.

The show was well attended, though. Official attendance was 29,400, enough for the critical mass needed to generate some excitement. There was a big job fair, and a lot of hiring got done, mostly by gaming and special-effects companies. Hollywood and the gaming communities were out in force.

The show was smaller, but there was no lack of special exhibits ranging from fascinating to unusual to the frankly bizarre.

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