You can only learn so much about the SIGGRAPH experience from reading descriptions of presentations, which is why we’re thrilled to have current 3D Animation & Visual Effects student Phil Planta’s week-long take on the conference.

Guest post by Phil Planta

Day 1 – Sunday

We went to the Autodesk Student Experience and learned about techniques for their product line. The preview of Project PhotoFly was really exciting, as you can upload images of any object and turn it into a rough 3D object. Can’t beat a free lunch, too.

Picked up our passes at the conference hall and checked out the studio – a lot of demos and workshops, from 3D printing to art displays. This is going to be big, with so many international attendees as well.

Day 2 – Monday

Started the day with “Spirit of Rango: Animation and Rigging”. It was standing room only but well worth it.

Watched “Visual Effects for Live Action” with some animator friends from Term 5. The breakdowns were quite awe-inspiring.

Headed to VFS to see Paul Gaboury of Pixologic demo the new ZBrush. The new Dynamesh blew our minds – my modeling classmate Hokyung said, “It’s like cheating”.

The dessert buffet reception was pretty fun — cheese, ice cream, chocolate fondue, cakes — and at least 3000 people were in the foyer with the beautiful backdrop of the North Shore. Ran into Sergei from another 3D class, and he said the French animation almost made him cry.

Stopped by the local SIGGRAPH chapter party at the 560 Club, and that was pretty rocking as well. Time for bed!
 
Day 3 – Tuesday

Started the day at VFS with Zoic Studios and co-founder Loni Peristere. He had some great anecdotes about his mentor, the infamous Joss Whedon. I talked to the Vancouver Head of Production, Chris Roff, about cameras and General Manager Patrick Mooney about breaking into the industry as an FX artist or rigger.

My classmate Sathya and I then hustled over to the Convention Centre to see the opening of the Exhibition floor. We ran into our classmates who were still drooling over the Pixar premiere of La Luna. Watched the Kung Fu Panda 2, Cars 2, and Megamind presentations.

Met my friends Lester from Method Studios and Arlyn from Nitrogen. They introduced me to some people from Rainmaker and also the Director of Operations of SIGGRAPH 2011!

Stopped by the VFS booth and Marianne introduced me to a top guy from Look Studios (Black Swan).

Back to VFS for a great presentation by ILM. What a day!

Day 4 – Wednesday

So many classes to choose from. Opted for “Cinematography – The Visuals & the Story” with Bruce Block. My head exploded from all the information, and the books for the autograph signing sold out in minutes. Stopped by the Sucker Punch and Tangled technical presentations.

Back to the floor. Still haven’t got my Renderman Teapot, a free collectible toy from Pixar. The lineup was around the whole conference room!

Ran into Dan, our resident ZBrush class expert, who had been sitting all day at the Pixologic booth learning all the latest time-saving techniques. The rest of my class were comparing notes we got from recruiters and seeing who scored the most swag.

To say SIGGRAPH has been mind-blowing is an understatement. Looking forward to the closing day, then on to the Animal Logic and Weta presentations at VFS!

 
Day 5 – Thursday

Arrived at SIGGRAPH at 9am to catch the Best of Show for the Computer Animation Festival. If you haven’t seen The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore by Moonbot Studios, the short film on iTunes and the accompanying iPad app, I highly recommend you purchase them just to see the convergence.

Met fellow 3D student Kristina at the SIGGRAPH bookstore, then headed to the ILM presentation featuring the alien designs from Cowboys and Aliens, the mermaids from Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, and the Transformers: Dark of the Moon breakdowns. Out of this world.

Ran into my classmates Ethan and Vishnu and talked about the Disney presentation at VFS, which was apparently incredible, and compared notes on the Dynamics’ talk with my VFS buddy Azhar – he actually went home to study more simulation physics last night to better understand what the speakers were talking about.

After a quick bite, headed over to the PNY booth to check out discount prices on the Quadro Series video cards, and then my schoolmate Gal (who was sporting his new 343 t-shirt from the recruiter) purchased a Wacom tablet on special from local reseller Annex Pro – screaming deals.

We stopped by the MPC booth for some recruiting information, and then watched some interesting Mental Ray and ZBrush demos.

Rushed back to school to do some work then made it just in time for the Animal Logic presentation. I can’t thank Marianne and the VFS team enough for what turned out to be my favourite presentation of this whole SIGGRAPH experience. Recruiter Krista Jordan, a former top compositor at Animal Logic (The Matrix!), gave us a new twist on preparing our reels for the real world. She gave us list of things recruiters hate and that hurt your chances of being noticed, and guidelines for proper presentation.

I also caught up with Senior Recruiter Patricia Kung, who gave the students tips on breaking into the industry and an idea of entry level positions, from rotoscoping to technical animators to modeling cleanup.

Did some more swag comparisons and heard quite a few students showed their reels at the job fair and got interviewed already! Exciting times.

Well, that’s a wrap for my first SIGGRAPH experience. Will definitely be attending again in LA 2012, hope to see everyone there next year!

Thanks, Phil!

Check out more images from SIGGRAPH 2011 on the VFS Flickr collection.