volume 38 number 3 august 2004 a publication of acm ... · acm siggraph executive committee ... g....

COMPUTERGRAPHICS

Volume 38 Number 3 August 2004

A publication of ACM SIGGRAPH

ACM SIGGRAPHExecutive CommitteePresidentAlain ChesnaisATI1 Commerce Valley Dr. EastMarkham, ON L3T 7X6CanadaTel: +1-905-882-2600Fax: +1-925-884-8139Email: [email protected]

Vice PresidentBarb HelferP.O. Box 09965Columbus, OH 43209-7965Tel: +1-614-236-2567Email: [email protected]

TreasurerAnthony BaylisNCSA 605 E. Springfield Avenue Champaign, IL 61820-6415 Tel: +1-217-244-5354Email: [email protected]

Past PresidentJudith R. BrownP.O. Box 5345Coralville, IA 52241Tel: +1-319-351-6800Email: [email protected]

Director For CommunicationsMk HaleyWalt Disney Imagineering1401 Flower StreetGlendale, CA 91201Tel: +1-818-754 - 3030Email: [email protected]

Director For EducationColleen M. CaseComputer Graphic Technology Schoolcraft College 18600 Haggerty Road Livonia, MI 48152 Tel: +1-734-462-4400 x5219 Email: [email protected]

Director For ChaptersFrancis X. McAfeeCenter for Electronic Communication /Florida Atlantic University111 East LasOlas Blvd.Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301Tel: +1-954-762-5603Email: [email protected]

Director At LargeRob CookPixar Animation Studios1200 Park Ave.Emeryville, CA 94608Tel: +1-510-752-3531Email: [email protected]

Director At LargeMasa InakageKeio University5322 Endoh, FujisawaKanagawa 252-0816 JapanTel: +81-466-49-3545Fax: +81-466-49-3545Email: [email protected]

Director for PublicationsStephen N. SpencerUniversity of WashingtonDept. of Computer Science & Engineering101 Allen Center, Box 352350Seattle, WA 98195-2350Tel: +1-206-616-3281Email: stephen [email protected]

SIGGRAPH Conference Advisory Group ChairG. Scott OwenComputer Science DepartmentGeorgia State UniversityAtlanta, GA 30303Tel: +1-404-651-0675Fax: +1-404-651-2246Email: [email protected]

SIGGRAPH Conference Chief Staff ExecutiveDino SchweitzerCapstone5475 Mark Dabling Blvd., Suite 108Colorado Springs, CO 80918Tel: +1-719-599-3734Fax: +1-719-599-3075Email: [email protected]

ACM Program DirectorErica JohnsonAssociation for Computing Machinery1515 Broadway, 17th FloorNew York, NY 10036Tel: +1-212-626-0611Fax: +1-212-302-5826Email: [email protected]

Publications CommitteeComputer Graphics

EditorPatricia Galvis-AssmusDepartment of ArtFine Arts CenterUniversity of MassachusettsAmherst, MA 01003Tel: +1-413-545-6938Fax: +1-413-545-3929Email: [email protected]

Professional Chapters EditorEtta DiLeoSun Life Financial CanadaEmail: [email protected]

Cover EditorHans WestmanAcademic Department DirectorMedia Arts & AnimationThe Art Institute of Pittsburgh420 Boulevard of the AlliesPittsburgh, PA 15219-1328Tel: +1-412-291-6409Email: [email protected]

Production EditorLynn ValastyanSmithBucklin Corporation401 N. Michigan Ave.Chicago, IL 60611Tel: +1-630-462-9552 Fax: +1-630-462-9652 Email: lynn [email protected]

OtherVideo EditorThomas A. DeFantiEECSUniversity of Illinois at ChicagoBox 4348Chicago, IL 60680Tel: +1-312-996-3002Fax: +1-312-413-7585Email: tom [email protected]

siggraph.org Information ManagerJeff JortnerSandia National LaboratoriesMS 9012P.O. Box 969Livermore, CA 94551Tel: +1-925-294-3846Fax: +1-925-294-1230Email: [email protected]

Project GrantsNan C. SchallerRochester Institute of TechnologyComputer Science Department102 Lomb Memorial Dr.Rochester, NY 14623-5608Tel: +1-716-475-2139Fax: +1-716-475-7100Email: [email protected]

SIGGRAPH 2004Los Angeles, CaliforniaAugust 8-12, 2004http://www.siggraph.org/s2004/

ChairDena SlothowerEmail: [email protected]

SIGGRAPH 2005Los Angeles, CaliforniaJuly 31-August 4, 2005http://www.siggraph.org/s2005/

ChairJames L. MohlerEmail: [email protected]

Computer Graphics is the newsletter of the Special Interest Group on ComputerGraphics of the Association for Computing Machinery. Correspondence toACM SIGGRAPH may be sent to the president at the address given on this page.Materials for editorial consideration should be sent to the editor, or director forpublications in paper or electronic format. The deadline for submissions is threemonths prior to the cover dates of February, May, August and November, i.e.February 1 deadline for May issue. We publish tutorial articles or other informa-tion for the graphics community that is not generally suitable for journals such asthe ACM Transactions on Graphics. (Computer Graphics does not normally publishresearch contributions.) The copyright on articles printed remains with theauthor unless otherwise indicated.

For information on advertising in the ACM SIGGRAPH quarterlynewsletter, please contact the ACM Advertising Department at 212/626-0687or by email at [email protected].

Letters to the editor will be considered submitted for publication unlessotherwise requested. The source of all items published in Computer Graphicswill be clearly indicated except for editorial items, where attribution to the edi-tor is omitted. Items attributed to individuals are ordinarily to be construed aspersonal rather than organizational opinions and in no case does the non-edito-rial material represent any opinion of the editor as to its quality or correctness.

Computer Graphics (ISSN 0097-8930) is published four times a year in February,May, August and November by the Association for Computing Machinery, Inc.,1515 Broadway, New York, NY 10036. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY10001, and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes toComputer Graphics, ACM, 1515 Broadway, New York, NY 10036. Annual subscrip-tion cost of $14.41 is included in member dues of $27 (for students, the cost isincluded in $20); non-member annual subscription is $53.

Augus t 2004 1

T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S

COLUMNS

2 FROM THE EDITOR – Patricia Galvis-Assmus

3 ABOUT THE COVER – Hans Westman

4 VISFILES:Taking Stock of Visualization in Scientific Computing – Terry S.Yoo

With a background in medical research and history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the guest columnistexplores volume rendering and graphics hardware as examples of areas where techniques and equipment have made continualand sustained advances.

7 MEMBERS AT WORK – Jen Zen

Digital painter JEN ZEN® talks about the path to her latest work, editing a series of computer-generated images created onthe Cal Tech Workbench, using a proprietary surface drawing program.

10 CHAPTERS LISTING

CONTRIBUTIONS

14 Quantum Entanglement and the EZTV Online Museum – Michael Masucci

At SIGGRAPH 2003 and beyond, EZTV continues its quest to use desktop digital tools for cinema, live performance, onlineinteractivity and video art.

18 3D Video – Being Part of the Movie – Christian Theobalt, Joel Carranza, Marcus A. Magnor, Hans-Peter Seidel

Researchers investigate the algorithmic ingredients of free viewpoint video in the Computer Graphics Group and theGraphics-Optics-Vision Group at the Max-Planck-Institut für Informatik in Saarbrücken, Germany.

21 A New Visual Art Medium: Polynomiography – Bahman Kalantari

Polynomiography is the art and science of visualization of polynomial equations.The author says one can learn to dopolynomiography without the knowledge of the underlying mathematics, or even the need to deal with numbers.

24 In the Age of Digital Ornamentation – Vishal Dar

Project Snake at SIGGRAPH 2003 was an experiment in viewing architectural art as a product of collaboration betweenarchitect/artist and rapid prototyping machine technology.

25 Oppor-toon-ities in Animation and Computer Graphics – Pamela Kleibrink Thompson

Entertainment industry recruiter and career coach shares tips for succeeding in the growing animation industry.

ACM SIGGRAPH ACTIVITIES

28 ACM SIGGRAPH 2004 Election Results

29 ACM SIGGRAPH Executive Committee Minutes

ANNOUNCEMENTS

30 Calendar

30 ISMAR 04

MISCELLANEOUS

32 ACM SIGGRAPH Membership Application

2 Computer Graphics

F R O M T H E E D I T O R

ACM SIGGRAPH: A Year-Long Experience

Patricia Galvis-AssmusComputer Graphics Editor

It comes as no surprise to readers of thispublication. Attendance and participation inthe annual ACM SIGGRAPH conference issomething you look forward to all year long.An overwhelming amount of information ispresented. You are reenergized seeing theworks of others. You make professionalcontacts in all areas of the world. It is anexperience that cannot be duplicated at anyother professional event.

This issue’s contributors have taken thetime to share some of their recent confer-ence efforts. Their words convey the manybenefits of sharing their works with the eliteaudience; you can feel their passion andunderstand why they felt their work is

enhanced by collaboration with ACMSIGGRAPH attendees.

By publishing these articles, ComputerGraphics is attempting to simulate the confer-ence benefits year round.We welcome – no,we encourage – your submission to thepublication. Tell us about what you areworking on.Alert us to challenges where youare seeking solutions. Provide us with anoverview of computer graphics activity inyour specific discipline.

Let me know how I can help you to shareyour experiences. Contact me today [email protected] with your ideas. Asincere thank you to our future contributorsand to those that have helped to make thispublication interesting and representative ofour members throughout the world.

Computer Graphics Editor PatriciaGalvis-Assmus is an AssociateProfessor in the Department ofArt at the University of Massachu-setts and the Director of theCenter for Research in Art andTechnology. With a background incomputer animation and experi-mental f i lm, Galvis-Assmus iscurrently doing research inmotion capture.

Patricia Galvis-AssmusDepartment of ArtFine Arts CenterUniversity of MassachusettsAmherst, MA 01003Tel: +1-413-545-6938Fax: +1-413-545-3929Email: [email protected]

Notice to Past Authors ofACM-Published Articles

ACM intends to create a complete elec-tronic archive of all articles and/or othermaterial previously published by ACM.If you have written a work that hasbeen previously published by ACM inany journal or conference proceedingsprior to 1978, or any SIG Newsletterat any time, and you do NOTwant this work to appear in theACM Digital Library, please [email protected], stating thetitle of the work, the author(s), andwhere and when published.

Publication InternFor the second time, Computer Graphicshas had an intern. Both times, it has beena successful and beneficial experience forall involved. Kathryn Corazze graduatedin May 2004 with a degree in journalismand was truly a pleasure to work with. Iwish her well in her endeavors and lookforward to her professional achieve-ment. From Kathryn:

My understanding of the world ofcomputer graphics has always been, well,extremely limited to say the least. A jour-nalism major at the University of Massachu-setts, Amherst, I accepted the internshipunder Patricia Galvis-Assmus and I knewthat the work I would be doing would be animportant contribution to the publication.Through my work for Computer Graphics,I have come to understand that the world ofcomputer graphics is extremely broad andcomplex, and I have a newfound respect forthose who spend their lives trying to work inand improve it. To dedicate your career todoing something you love is a wonderfulthing that few get to experience in theirlives. I hope to be able to find the samededication in my career that SIGGRAPHmembers put forward towards the world ofcomputer graphics.

--Kathryn Corazze

Important Information for ContributorsBy submitting your article for distribution in this Special Interest Group publication, youhereby grant to ACM the following non-exclusive, perpetual, worldwide rights:• To publish in print on condition of acceptance by the editor• To digitize and post your article in the electronic version of this publication• To include the article in the ACM Digital Library• To allow users to copy and distribute the article for noncommercial, educational or

research purposesHowever, as a contributing author, you retain copyright to your article and ACM will makeevery effort to refer requests for commercial use directly to you.

About the Editor

Augus t 2004 3

Hans WestmanComputer Graphics Cover Editor

The one place where the minds of scienceand art can meet is computer graphics. Bothhave a need to express themselves – seem-ingly through different means but for acommon goal – to figure “it” out.

And what is “it”? Therein lies the frustra-tion, because no one really knows. Yet, fromthe depths of their unknown, they persist inexploring, systematically and intuitively, theimagery of zeros and ones that will explain.The joy is in sharing those findings withothers, which is the tradition of the ACMSIGGRAPH conference every year.

The images used for the cover of thisComputer Graphics issue help illustrate theopposite poles of the spectrum – Associate

Professor Bahman Kalantari representing thescientist and Michael Masucci the artist –expressing the frenzy of process whilefiguring “it” out.

There is so much to see when wanderingthe floors of the conference that it is impos-sible to take in everything. Hopefully, thistaste of visual treats from last year willencourage everyone to again make therounds this summer to enjoy the festival ofcomputer graphics that annually revitalizesour passion and enthusiasm for the digitaltechnology of picture making.

Front Cover CreditBahman Kalantari, Rutgers University

Back Cover CreditMichael Masucci, EZTV

A B O U T T H E C O V E R

The Frustrations and Joys of Computer Graphics

About theCover Editor

Hans Westman has been activeas an artist and educator in bothSweden and the U.S. since 1976.He discovered animation as an artform in the late ‘70s, which resultedin an experimental film entitledUnitism. In 1987 he was exposed tocomputer manipulated imagery andhas been working professionallywith the medium ever since. He iscurrently the Academic Depart-ment Director for Media Arts &Animation at The Art Instituteof Pittsburgh.

Hans WestmanAcademic Department DirectorMedia Arts & AnimationThe Art Institute of Pittsburgh420 Boulevard of the AlliesPittsburgh, PA 15219-1328Tel: +1-412-291-6409Email: [email protected]

4 Computer Graphics

Terry S.YooNational Institutes of Health

In 1985, an education student entered theoffice of the administrative director of the newcomputer science department and sincerelyasked the question,“What was the curriculumof your department like before computers?”

This is a nonsensical question, similar inform to asking what life sciences were likebefore biology. In her defense, the studentwas conducting a survey of all academicdepartments on behalf of the President ofHarvard University, and she only needed ananswer to enter in the little box on hersurvey form. This was a survey to gauge thewidespread impact of computer technologyon domain sciences outside of the appliedmath and computer science community.

When considering the impact of a disci-pline such as scientific and medical visualiza-tion, it may be instructive to ask a similarquestion. Drawing from my background inmedical research and my history at theUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Iwill explore volume rendering and graphicshardware as examples of areas where tech-niques and equipment have made continualand sustained advances. However, as we over-come significant challenges, we must looktoward new frontiers, strengthening themathematical foundations of our disciplineand becoming more fluent in the domainsciences in order to better equip them withtools from our foundries.

The Pace of Visualization ResearchThe discipline of scientific visualization isyoung still, despite the number of years that

V I S F I L E S

Taking Stock of Visualization in Scientific Computing

With a background in medical researchand time spent at the University ofNorth Carolina at Chapel Hill, Terry S.Yoo is well positioned to provideComputer Graphics readers with hisinsights on scientific and medical visual-ization. Yoo works in the Office of HighPerformance Computing and Communi-cations at the National Library of Medi-cine, National Institutes of Health.

have passed since the defining events thatbegan assembling researchers with skills invisual computing into a community.The term,“young” in this case connotes vitality,curiosity and energy, and should not beconstrued with any pejorative meanings.Seventeen years have passed since the July1987 NSF report appeared in ComputerGraphics [11]. In the intervening years,networking technologies have increased ourcommunications speeds by two orders ofmagnitude, CPU clocks have likewise acceler-ated from 25 MHz to more than 2.5 GHzand digital storage capacities have made asimilar leap in performance.

Visualization research seems to march at adifferent pace.Visualization is tied to science,and science has a very different pace than

technology. Breakthroughs and geniushappen on their own time, and though theinfrastructure of visualization has kept pacewith technology, its successes as a field arisefrom the insights it can impart exposingtruths in the natural world, not from theglory achieved from sport racing renderingsystems. Measuring progress is uncovered ina deeper progression of software algorithmdesign, the adoption of conventions and thepenetration of conventional rather thanspecial-purpose hardware into other fields ofscientific investigation.

Software: Steady Progress from theTechnical FrontThe 1987 report appeared on the cusp ofnew published research on what would

(a) (b)

(c)

(d)

Figure 1: A chronological progression of interactivevolume rendering techniques: (a) Splatting [13];(b) parallel raycasting with interactive segmentation[14]; (c) texture-based volume rendering (circa 1997)[3]; (d) interactive multidimensional transfer functionson PC hardware [7].The progression shows a trendfrom software to hardware, from special to generalpurpose and from interactive speeds of 0.25 to 20frames per second.

Augus t 2004 5

become defining work in visualization.Lorensen and Kline’s paper on marchingcubes for isosurface extraction [10] followedon the heels of the findings of visualizationpanel. Seminal papers on volume renderingfollowed a year later, separately published byDrebin, et al. [4] and Marc Levoy [8]. Flowvisualization gained line integral convolution, avery important technique in 1993 [2]. Theintroduction of these general algorithms forcreating visual representations is a strongindication that the field was emergent at thetime of the NSF panel.

While new algorithms have not continuedto unfold with the same frequency as in 1987and 1988, the steady refinement of algo-rithms and methods indicates a continuedmaturation and development of the field.For example, since its introduction in 1988,there has been a progression of improve-ments in both software and hardware in thepractice of volume rendering. While it isimpossible in this article to encompass theentire body of l iterature on volumerendering (there have been textbooks andbiannual symposia dedicated to this topicalone), it is useful to briefly examine thisevolution.

Figure 1 captures a snapshot of theprogression of interactive volume rendering,showing some early refinements using: (a)feed-forward splatting techniques in soft-ware at one frame every four seconds [13];(b) parallel raycasting on dedicated graphicshardware at one frame every 700 millisec-onds [14]; (c) texture-based hardwareassisted volume rendering on an SGI RealityEngine generating 10 frames per second [3];to (d) interactive volume visualization withmultidimensional transfer functions at speedsof 20 frames per second on commodity PCgraphics hardware [7]. Rendering speedshere have kept pace with technology,

reflecting two orders of magnitude in accel-eration over the years. More importantly, theimprovement in user interaction techniquesfrom stop-and-go interaction to dynamicviewpoint control with active exploration ofthe data shows a promising evolution arisingfrom the intellectual investment in this area.

Visualization Hardware: RidingtheWaveSimilar leverage exists in the area of visual-ization hardware development. The equip-ment necessary for scientific and medicalvisualization is not simply faster ; it hasdropped in size and in cost by two orders ofmagnitude while simultaneously acceleratingby the same order. Commodity marketforces for faster rendering have ushered inaffordable, compact and ubiquitous graphicssystems for PC hardware. It would beimpossible to enumerate the many graphicshardware innovations and the influence ofthese developments on the related visualiza-tion and rendering algorithms (indeed, thereare symposia on this sub-discipline as well).To illustrate the point, we take two examplesalong the timeline.

The Pixel-Planes research project wasperhaps one of the most ambitious graphicshardware programs undertaken by a univer-sity department in terms of its goals, thecomplexity of the resulting designs and thecost, size and performance of the completed,functioning systems. In 1991, Pixel-Planes 5appeared at SIGGRAPH showing 2 millionPhong-shaded triangles per second [6].Figure 2a shows two racks of the Pixel Flowarchitecture that followed. This linearly scal-able architecture was capable of rendering100 million triangles per second [5]. Bycontrast, consider the nVidia GeForcesystem (Figure 2b shows the GeForce 6800Ultra) [9]. These systems today haverendering speeds comparable to Pixel Flow,

are commercially available and cost a smallfraction of the price. The arrival of thesesystems heralds a shift in research emphasisfor visualization.

What Shall We Do Next?The realm of scientific and medical visualiza-tion has reached a crossroads. Until now, ourdiscipline has concentrated much of itsenergy on graphics and image generation.However, advocates of high performancecomputing claim that the purpose ofadopting early hardware, expensive andfragile , is to enable the exploration ofmethods, previewing the capabilities andapplications that will be routine in futuregenerations. It follows that rapid rendering isnot the goal but rather the tool we use toaccomplish new science.

Accordingly, some of the greatest benefitsof the Pixel-Planes projects were not thegraphics systems that have long since beeneclipsed, but the research that was enabledby the availability of the resulting visualiza-tion infrastructure. Figure 3 shows theNanomanipulator [12]; a young researcher ismanipulating materials at nanometer scalesusing an atomic force microscope with helpfrom haptic and computer graphics tools.New generation devices from this projectare being used to explore everything fromgenomics to carbon nanotubes. TheNanomanipulator partnership combinesacademic researchers from physics, engi-neering, chemistry and biology withcomputer science. It owes its 10-year history

Figure 2: Advances in graphicshardware: (a) Pixel Flow (circa1997); (b) a GeForce 6800Ultra (circa 2004): similarperformance at a fraction ofthe cost and size.

(a) (b)

Figure 3:This is an early generation workingNanomanipulator, combining an atomic forcemicroscope, a haptic input device and computergraphics in a working system for engineeringand physics research. (The entire field of his viewis 1 nm.) [1, 12]

6 Computer Graphics

to the early availability of the Pixel-Planeshigh-end graphics systems.

Information technology now pervades allof research and is not the exclusive ward ofacademic computer science. Our networksconnect us with one another, and searchengines place a rich medley of textual andvisual information at our fingertips.The ubiq-uitous computing capabilities that we wereanticipating are now spread, not just acrossscience and engineering, but also throughoutall of society. Our field has accomplishedmuch, having invented, improved andcommercialized advanced rendering tech-nology. Following early examples such as theNanomanipulator, our greatest challenges asvisualization developers now may be tobetter embrace meteorology, biology,physics, astronomy, medicine, earth sciences,engineering, informatics and the many otherdisciplines where we hope to have an impact.As chemists and physicists benefit by havingactive knowledge of computing, so too willwe as visualization specialists benefit by beingfluent in the sciences we choose to support.

Discovery and InventionCAT scans, or more precisely X-raycomputed tomography, have an interestinghistory. The mathematics for tomographicreconstruction was first published by JohannRadon in 1917. More than 50 years tran-spired before the technology and engineeringof x-ray detectors and computers maturedsufficiently to enable the creation of medicalscanners. For this engineering feat, AllanCormack and Geoffrey Hounsfield wereindependently awarded the Nobel Prize in1979.The resulting systems are routine toolsin medicine today, but practical CT scanningwould not have been possible without theintervening discovery of the transistor in1947. Thus, the chronology of this inventionis punctuated by leaps of discovery. Scienceand discovery are not subject to Moore’slaw, with its projections of doubling and loga-rithmic growth. As a discipline intended toaid discovery, scientific visualization is oftensubject to this same capriciousness.

Despite this observation, visualization willflourish gradually as technology lowersbarriers and eases computation.As an educa-tional tool for exploration and promotingscientific and mathematical intuition, visual-ization will continue to advance throughpartnerships with our colleagues in thedomain sciences. When some universitypresident sends out an education major tosurvey their academic departments with thequestion, “What was the curriculum of yourdepartment like before visualization?,” thenwe will have succeeded.When someone asksthat of me, I may laugh, but it won’t havebeen a silly question.

References1. Brooks, F.P. The computer scientist as a

toolsmith II, Communications of the ACM,39(3)(March 1996), pp. 61-68, 1996.

2. Cabral, B. and L. Leedon. Imaging vectorfields using line integral convolution, inComputer Graphics (Proceedings ofSIGGRAPH 93), 27, pp. 263-272, 1993.

3. Cabral, B., N. Cam and J. Foran. Acceler-ated volume rendering and tomographicreconstruction using texture mappinghardware, in Proceedings of the 1994symposium on Volume Visualization (TysonsCorner, Virginia), ACM Press, pp. 91-98,1994.

4. Drebin, R., L. Carpenter and P. Hanrahan.Volume rendering, in Computer Graphics(Proceedings of ACM SIGGRAPH 88),22(4), pp. 65-74, 1988.

5. Eyles, J., S. Molnar, J. Poulton, T. Greer, A.Lastra and N. England. PixelFlow: TheRealization, in Proceedings of theSIGGRAPH/Eurographics Workshop onGraphics Hardware, Los Angeles, CA,August 3-4, pp. 57-68, 1997.

6. Fuchs, H., J. Poulton, J. Eyles, T. Greer, J.Goldfeather, D. Ellsworth, S. Molnar, G.Turk and L. Israel. A heterogeneousmultiprocessor graphics system usingprocessor-enhanced memories, inComputer Graphics (Proceedings ofSIGGRAPH 89), 23(3), pp. 79-88, 1989.

7. Kniss, J., G. Kindlmann and C. Hansen.Interactive volume rendering using multi-dimensional transfer functions and directmanipulation widgets, in Proceedings IEEEVisualization 2001, (October 2001), pp.255-262, 2001.

8. Levoy, M. Display of surfaces fromvolume data, IEEE Computer Graphics andApplications, 8(3)(May 1988), pp. 29-37,1988.

9. Lindholm, E., M. Kligard and H. Moreton.A user-programmable vertex engine, inProceedings of SIGGRAPH 2001, (August2001), pp. 149-158, 2001.

10. Lorensen, W. and H. Cline. Marchingcubes: A high resolution 3D surfaceconstruction algorithm, in ComputerGraphics (Proceedings of SIGGRAPH 87),21, pp. 163-169, 1987.

11. McCormick, B., T. DeFanti and M. Brown(eds). Visualization in Scientific Computing,ACM SIGGRAPH, New York, 1987.

12. Taylor, R.,W. Robinett,V. Chi, F. Brooks,W.Wright, R. Williams and E. Snyder. TheNanomanipulator: A virtual-reality inter-face for a scanning tunneling microscope,in Proceedings of SIGGRAPH 93, (August1993), pp. 127-134, 1993.

13. Westover, L. Interactive volumerendering, in Proceedings of Volume Visual-ization Workshop (Chapel Hill, NC, May18-19), Department of ComputerScience, University of North Carolina,Chapel Hill, NC, pp. 9-16, 1989.

14. Yoo, T., U. Neumann, H. Fuchs, S. Pizer, T.Cullip, J. Rhoades and R.Whitaker. Directvisualization of volume data, IEEEComputer Graphics and Applications12(4)(July 1992), pp. 63-71, 1992.

About the Contributor

Terry S.YooOffice of High Performance Computingand CommunicationNational Library of MedicineNational Institute of Health

About the Columnist

Kwan-Liu Ma’s research spans thefields of visualization, computer graphicsand high performance computing. Hereceived his Ph.D. from the Universityof Utah in 1993, and presently is aprofessor of computer science at theUniversity of California at Davis.

Kwan-Liu MaDepartment of Computer ScienceUniversity of CaliforniaOne Shields AvenueDavis, CA 95616Email: [email protected]:http://www.cs.ucdavis.edu/~ma

M E M B E R S A T W O R K

Painting in Air

Augus t 2004 7

JEN ZEN® (a.k.a. Prof. Jen Grey)

For several years I have been editing a seriesof computer-generated images that I createdon the Cal Tech Workbench, using StephenSchkölne’s proprietary Surface Drawingprogram. Schkölne, who recently completedhis Ph.D. in computer science at Cal Tech, isone of a small number of computer scientistsinterested in spontaneous 3D freehanddrawing in immersive space.As far as I know,there are only a few Ph.D. students who arecontinuing research in this direction - DanKeefe, Dept. of Computer Science at BrownUniversity, and Wille Mäkelä, University ofArt and Design in Helsinki. When other 3DCGI inventors focused their research onintegrating CAD-based drawing with 3Dimmersive systems, Schkölne had the visionto understand that there is not yet acomputer based drawing system that affordsartists the full range of kinesthetic expres-sion. How the artist moves in space is anissue of major concern in the creativeprocess, as it is integral to tangible and intan-gible elements of expression in the creativeact and object.

Drawing in the semi-immersive space ofthe Caltech Workbench for the first time in1999 was exhilarating. I felt like a child again,able to make forms floating in space by thesimple act of waving my hand in the air.

“An art like painting is itself a language – alanguage of form and color in whichcomplex intuitions are expressed. Thenecessity for the plastic symbols of the artof painting is to some extent distanced bythe inadequacy of our linguistic means ofcommunication.To explain art, therefore, isoften to give words to nameless process,to actions otherwise confined to instinctivegestures.”

— Herbert Read (Introduction to PaulKlee On Modern Art, Faber and FaberLtd., London, 1948)

Creating freeform stereoscopic images with acyber glove motion-tracked in 3D immersivespace was really fun. The forms appeared toflow from my fingertips like water. When Iwas a child of three or four years old, I wavedmy hands in the air and made pictures. Iwould listen to Tchaikovsky’s music like aconductor carried away by feeling and inven-tion, dancing and twirling freely while spinningout images of whatever came to mind.Streaming images flowed from my toy batonas fast as the music moved my spirit - wolvesrunning through the dark forest, cloudsbecoming snowflakes, whatever struck myfancy. The images swirled in the air all aboutme, as alive in my imagination as the rugbeneath my feet was real. Intention andconsequence were intrinsically connected bysimple acts of will and vision.That was in themid 1950s. No matter how wonderful the CalTech systems are, computer painting thatmatches the imagination of a child has not yetbeen invented.

When I first studied painting in the 1960s,the art world had declared “Painting Is Dead.”Although some believed this to be no morecontroversial than the notion that a “Still Life”ever lived or died, the declaration fueled aliterati debate about the nature of “is ness”vs. “it ness,” “process” vs. “thing,” “action” vs.“object” and “intention vs. fact.” The debatelasted several decades. Although the issueresurfaced in a major public forum at USCnot too long ago, I still don’t worry too much.I remember my wise friend and mentor JackTworkov laughing out loud with reassurance,“Painting will live as long as people dance!”

8 Computer Graphics

As the founding member of one of theprimary avant-garde art forums in New Yorkin the early 1950s, I always trusted Jack tohave a Zen sense of pulse. The major para-digm shift in the 20th century, after all, wasthat the observer changes the nature of thatwhich is observed. Although its orbit isproscribed by the nature of the element inwhich it is embodied, an electron only existsin a particular place if you look for it there.Science and art share this sense of paradox.Duchamp, champion of Modernist Surrealismand DaDa, is generally credited with the ideathat art is what you say it is, a fact defined byobservation rather than innate composition.

Surface drawing and C.A.V.E. painting arethe newest forms of “painting in air”; sureproof that painting is not only alive but alsoevolving in new millennial forms.Whereas theImpressionists captured a sense of color andlight by painting “en plen aire,” human-computer hyperrealists paint in the air itself,coding color and light in virtual space. For thefirst time in history, the artist can draw a linethat is simultaneously:• A point activated by a direction of mobility• An inherent planar structure that can bend

with the motion of the hand• A 3D form that exists in a l ight and

shadow environment• A selected color, pattern or texture that

can be changed independently• A set of numerical relationships that can

be reprogrammed as music

The fact that these abstract elements arevirtual illusions perceived to comprise real,actual form is a challenging extension offormal art vocabulary, which has traditionallyaddressed perceptual impossibilities.

Sensation is intrinsic to the art of gesture,emotional as well as physical.The elation trig-gered by the experimental process of creating3D CGI is fantastic but the degree of creativerepresentation is compromised, primarily bycomputer speed and distortions in thechanging projection perspectives inherent inusing the system freely.There is a lot of roomfor further scientific development and creativeexperimentation. As a consequence, I devel-oped a series of 3D contour drawings basedon literal tracings of the human body inmotion. This afforded a means of groundingmy actions relative to a physical model, andyielded a sense of “touch made visible.” Theseworks inspired a series of blind contour draw-ings, meaning that I did not choose to look atthe computer imagery as I created it, relyinginstead on kinesthetic ability, imagination andmemory alone to develop the imagery.

Augus t 2004 9


JEN ZEN® is the CYBER ego of Prof.Jen Grey, reinvented as a digital painterat the turn of millennium. Boundariesbetween fact and fiction are blurred inthe process of creating her hyper-real-istic, interactive human-computergenerated imagery. Current work wascreated with a CyberGlove® linked toSteven Schkölne’s proprietary SurfaceDrawing program on the CalTechWorkbench, then edited in standard 2Dand 3D software systems. Grey teachesdrawing and painting at California StateUniversity Long Beach where she hasreceived many artist’s grants, awardsand public art commissions, includingIndividual Artist’s Grants from TheFulbright Program, The NationalEndowment for the Arts and The PublicCorporation for the Arts. JEN ZENexhibits nationally and internationally,including recent art shows in China,England, France, Sweden and the U.S.A.Her current work will be featured inthe forthcoming book, CGI: A 21stCentury Art Form, by Peter Weisher, arthistorian, New York University,published by Harry N. Abrams, Inc.,New York, New York in 2004.

Attention SIGGRAPHMembers!

If you’d like your work profiled in anupcoming issue of Computer Graphics,contact Production Editor Lynn Valastyanat [email protected].

Purdue University ACM SIGGRAPHBrian Dalcorrobo, Chair401 N. Grant St.Knoy 363West Lafayette, IN [email protected]://www.purdue.edu/siggraph

Purdue University Calumet ACMSIGGRAPHBrandi Collier, ChairJana Whittington, SponsorAnderson Bldg. 208F2200 169th St.Hammond, IN [email protected]

University of Saint Francis ACM SIGGRAPHPatrick Riggle, ChairDepartment of Art and Visual Communication2701 Spring StreetFort Wayne, IN [email protected]

College for Creative Studies ACMSIGGRAPHJoyce Masongson-Ray, ChairRobert Andersen, SponsorCollege for Creative Studies201 East KirbyDetroit, MI [email protected]://ccscadsc.siggraph.org

University of Michigan ACM SIGGRAPHBrenden Blanco, Chair2101 Boinsteel Blvd.Ann Arbor, MI [email protected]://umich.siggraph.org

Rochester Institute of TechnologyACM SIGGRAPHChin-Loo Lama, ChairRochester, [email protected]://rit.siggraph.org

Bowling Green State University ACM SIGGRAPHRachel Jones, ChairBowling Green, OH [email protected]

Columbus College of Art and Design ACM SIGGRAPHKristin Hintz, Chair107 North Ninth StreetColumbus, OH [email protected]://ccad.siggraph.org

Art Institute of PittsburghACM SIGGRAPHVivian Griffen, ChairPittsburgh, [email protected]://aip.siggraph.org

University of Pennsylvania ACMSIGGRAPHJean Tsong, ChairUniversity of PennsylvaniaComputer & Information SciencePhiladelphia, PA [email protected]

East Tennessee State University ACM SIGGRAPHGrant Whitten, ChairBox 70267Johnson City,TN [email protected]://etsu.siggraph.org

James Madison University ACM SIGGRAPHBrycen Davis, ChairMSC 4010800 South Main StreetHarrisonburg,VA [email protected]://smadness.jmu.edu/siggraph

Virginia Commonwealth University ACMSIGGRAPHJeremy Roland, ChairRichmond,[email protected]

Virginia

Tennessee

Pennsylvania

Ohio

New York

Michigan

Indiana

10 Computer Graphics

C H A P T E R S

Art Institute of Phoenix ACM SIGGRAPHFarid Mokraoui, ChairMelissa Domblisky, SponsorThe Art Institute of Phoenix2233 West Dunlap AvenuePhoenix, AZ [email protected]

Northern Arizona ACM SIGGRAPHMontrose Edmonds, ChairChris Johnson, SponsorBox 5619School of CommunicationFlagstaff,AZ [email protected]

Art Institute of California ACM SIGGRAPHJeffrey Linis, Chair1170 Market StreetSan Francisco, CA [email protected]://sfai.siggraph.org

International Academy of Design – TampaACM SIGGRAPHApril Battle, Chair5225 Memorial Highwayc/o Ray Eales-Faculty AdvisorTampa, FL [email protected]://iadt.siggraph.org

University of Central Florida ACM SIGGRAPHLuiz Kruel, ChairOrlando, FL 32817 [email protected]://ucf.siggraph.org

Florida

California

Arizona

This is the list of chapter around the world.If there are no chapters in your area andyou would like to obtain some informationon how to start one, please send an emailto [email protected]. For more infor-mation on the chapters, please go tohttp://chapters.siggraph.org.

Student Chapters

Nanyang Technological UniversityACM SIGGRAPHBenjamin Thong Chee Wai, [email protected]://ntu.siggraph.org

Chung-Ang University ACM SIGGRAPHTae-Kyung Yoo, ChairSeoulSouth [email protected]://cau.siggraph.org

University of Bristol ACM SIGGRAPHKirsten Cater, ChairAlan Chalmers, SponsorDepartment of Computer ScienceMerchant Venturers BuildingWoodland Rd.Bristol, BS8 1UBUnited [email protected]://bristol.siggraph.org

Los Angeles ACM SIGGRAPHClaudia Sumner, ChairP. O. Box 6308Burbank, CA [email protected]://la.siggraph.org

San Diego ACM SIGGRAPHAlan Scrivener, Chair10150 Waynecrest LaneSantee, CA [email protected]://san-diego.siggraph.org

San Francisco ACM SIGGRAPHBrian Blau, Chair1170 Market StreetSan Francisco, CA [email protected]://san-francisco.siggraph.org

Silicon Valley ACM SIGGRAPHKen Turkowski, Chair1245 Sherman Ave.Menlo Park, CA [email protected]://silicon-valley.siggraph.org

FloridaDenver/Boulder ACM SIGGRAPHMin Choi, Chairc/o Steve Webb

1351 S. Lincoln St.Longmont, CO [email protected]://denver-boulder.siggraph.org

Rocky Mountain ACM SIGGRAPHChuck Wardin, ChairCapstone Solutions5475 Mark Dabling Blvd., Suite 108Colorado Springs, CO [email protected]://rocky-mountain.siggraph.org

FloridaWashington DC ACM SIGGRAPHKim Wallace, Chairc/o BAE Systems - Enterprise [email protected]://washington-dc.siggraph.org

FloridaFort Lauderdale ACM SIGGRAPHFrancis McAfee, Chairc/o Florida Center for Electronic Communication111 East Las Olas Blvd.Ft. Lauderdale, FL [email protected]://fort-lauderdale.siggraph.org

Orlando ACM SIGGRAPHBrad Lawrence, ChairP.O. Box 690663Orlando, FL [email protected]://orlando.siggraph.org

Tampa Bay ACM SIGGRAPHMichael Bogatin, Chair8401 15th Way NorthSt. Petersburg, FL [email protected]://tampa-bay.siggraph.org

Atlanta ACM SIGGRAPHBlake Barr, Chair919 Brumley LaneKennesaw, GA [email protected]://atlanta.siggraph.org

Honolulu ACM SIGGRAPHEric Gusukuma, Chair2710A Nakookoo St.Honolulu, HI [email protected]://honolulu.siggraph.org

Boston ACM SIGGRAPHSam Murphy, ChairP.O. Box 2686Framingham, MA [email protected]://boston.siggraph.org

Southeast Michigan ACM SIGGRAPHScott Dunham, Chair800 W. Long LakeBloomfield Hills, MI [email protected]://motown.siggraph.org

Minneapolis - St. Paul ACM SIGGRAPHMurray Holloway, ChairGhost Productions2233 Hamline Ave. N, #600Roseville, MN [email protected]://www.mnsiggraph.com

Princeton ACM SIGGRAPHDouglas Dixon, ChairP.O. Box 1324Princeton, NJ [email protected]://princeton.siggraph.org

Rio Grande ACM SIGGRAPHJeffrey Harper, ChairAlbuquerque, [email protected]://rio-grande.siggraph.org

Long Island ACM SIGGRAPHPaul Lipsky, Chair8 Arthur CourtPlainview, NY [email protected]://long-island.siggraph.org

New York City ACM SIGGRAPHLynn Pocock, ChairACM / Local Activities1515 BroadwayNew York, NY [email protected]://nyc.siggraph.org

Rochester Finger Lakes ACM SIGGRAPHMarla Schweppe, Chair70 Lomb Memorial DriveRochester, NY [email protected]://rochester.siggraph.org

Research Triangle Park ACM SIGGRAPHEd Harriss, Chair6004 Westborough DriveRaliegh, NC [email protected]://research-triangle.siggraph.org

North Carolina

New York

New Mexico

New Jersey

Minnesota

Michigan

Massachusetts

Hawaii

Georgia

Florida

District of Columbia

Colorado

California

United Kingdom

South Korea

Singapore

Augus t 2004 11

Professional Chapters

Northeast Ohio ACM SIGGRAPHMichael Hilliard, ChairThe Cleveland Museum of ArtAttn: New Media Initiatives11150 East BoulevardCleveland, OH [email protected]://neohio.siggraph.org

Cascade ACM SIGGRAPHMichael Smith, Chair275 S.E. 24th Ave.Hillsboro, OR [email protected]://cascade.siggraph.org

East Tennessee ACM SIGGRAPHCharles Chandler, ChairP.O. Box 5145Oak Ridge,TN [email protected]://east-tennessee.siggraph.org

Dallas/Fort Worth ACM SIGGRAPHMichael Youngblood, ChairP.O. Box 191064Arlington,TX [email protected]://dfw.siggraph.org

Houston ACM SIGGRAPHCharlie Lindahl, ChairHouston,TX [email protected]://houston.siggraph.org

San Antonio ACM SIGGRAPHAnn Keil, Chair414 Olney DriveSan Antonio,TX [email protected]://san-antonio.siggraph.org

Wasatch Front ACM SIGGRAPHRichard Coffey, Chair50 South Central Campus Drive, Room 3490Merrill Engineering BuildingSalt Lake City, UT [email protected]://wastach-front.siggraph.org

Seattle ACM SIGGRAPHKen Greenebaum, ChairP.O. Box 6817Bellevue,WA [email protected]://seattle.siggraph.org

Buenos Aires ACM SIGGRAPH Carlos Chiloteguy, ChairAraoz 2372, 8° 53Viamonte 575, piso 2, Centro Cultural BorgesBuenos Aires, Capital Federal [email protected]://buenos_aires.siggraph.org

Adelaide ACM SIGGRAPHDean Bruton, ChairDigital Media Program - University of AdelaideArchitecture Landscape Architecture andUrban DesignNorth TerraceAdelaide, SA [email protected]://adelaide.siggraph.org

Canberra ACM SIGGRAPHMatt Adcock, Chairc/o Matt AdcockGPO Box 664Canberra, Capital Territory [email protected]://canberra.siggraph.org

Melbourne ACM SIGGRAPHDavid Hook, ChairP.O. Box 4284Melbourne UniversityParkville,Victoria [email protected]://melbourne.siggraph.org

Perth ACM SIGGRAPHJonathan Knispel, ChairSchool of Computer Science & Software EngineeringThe University of Western AustraliaM002, 35 Stirling Highway, CrawleyPerth,Western Australia [email protected]://perth.siggraph.org

Southeast Queensland ACM SIGGRAPHRoss Brown, ChairBrisbane, [email protected]://southeast-queensland.siggraph.org

Sydney ACM SIGGRAPHPeter Giles, Chair33 Junior StreetLeichhardtSydney, NSW [email protected]://sydney.siggraph.org

Gand ACM SIGGRAPHJean-Yves Arboit, [email protected]://gand.siggraph.org

Sofia ACM SIGGRAPHGospodin Jelev, ChairTechnical University of SofiaSofia [email protected]://sofia.siggraph.org

Atlantic Canadian ACM SIGGRAPH Heather Fowler, Chair186 University Ave60 Bishop DriveFredericton, New Brunswick E3B [email protected]://atlantic-canadian.siggraph.org

Montreal ACM SIGGRAPHMyriam Côté, Chair270 48th Ave.Poine-Calumet, Quebec J0N [email protected]://montreal.siggraph.org

Toronto ACM SIGGRAPHAdele Newton, ChairUniversity of TorontoSimcoe Hall27 King’s College Circle, Room 133SToronto, Ontario M5S [email protected]://toronto.siggraph.org

Vancouver ACM SIGGRAPHAndrew Woo, ChairNGRAIN Corporation1818 Cornwall Avenue, Suite 250Vancouver, British Columbia V6J [email protected]://vancouver.siggraph.org

Beijing ACM SIGGRAPHLeon Xiao, [email protected]://beijing.siggraph.org

China

Canada

Bulgaria

Belgium

Australia

Argentina

Washington

Utah

Texas

Tennessee

Oregon

Ohio


Hangzhou ACM SIGGRAPHJiaoying Shi, ChairState Key Lab of CAD&CGZhejiang UniversityHangzhou [email protected]://hangzhou.siggraph.org

Hong Kong ACM SIGGRAPHKenny Chan, ChairHong [email protected]://hong-kong.siggraph.org

Paris ACM SIGGRAPHPatrick Saint-Jean, Chair16, villa ThérèseL’Hay les Roses, Ile de France [email protected]://paris.siggraph.org

Saint Malo ACM SIGGRAPHErwan Mahé, Chair11 rue andré meynierRennes [email protected]://saint-malo.siggraph.org

Berlin ACM SIGGRAPHChristian Frahm, [email protected]://berlin.siggraph.org

Frankfurt ACM SIGGRAPHMichael Breker, [email protected]://frankfurt.siggraph.org

Mumbai ACM SIGGRAPHRamesh Meer, [email protected]://mumbai.siggraph.org

Bali ACM SIGGRAPHDavid Normal, Chairc/o Wayan AnditaJ1. Suksma #24, Banjar Tebesaya,Ubud, Bali [email protected]://bali.siggraph.org

Central Israel ACM SIGGRAPHShamir Arik, ChairEffi Arazi School of Computer ScienceThe Interdisciplinary CenterP.O.B. 167Herzliya [email protected]:/central-israel.siggraph.org

Milano ACM SIGGRAPHMaria Grazia Mattei, ChairMGM Digital Communication s.r.l.via Vivaio 23Milano, [email protected]://milano.siggraph.org

Tokyo ACM SIGGRAPHMasa Inakage, Chairc/o Mitsuko KawamukaiMaki BLD109 Waseda-Tsurumakicho,Shinjyuku-kuTokyo [email protected]://tokyo.siggraph.org

Kuala Lumpur ACM SIGGRAPHAlain Zaugg, ChairKuala [email protected]://kuala-lumpur.siggraph.org

Guadalajara ACM SIGGRAPHCarlos Eduardo Guttierrez Medrano, ChairAldous Huxley 5055-1 Col. Jardines UniversidadZapopan, Jalisco [email protected]://guadalajara.siggraph.org

Mexico City ACM SIGGRAPHJuan López Michelone, ChairApartado Postal 20-119Col. RevolucionMexico City, 01000 [email protected]://mexico-city.siggraph.org

Canterbury ACM SIGGRAPHColin Pragg, ChairHuman Interface Technology Lab NZRoom 116, Old Maths BuildingUniversity of CanterburyChristchurchNew [email protected]

Singapore ACM SIGGRAPHHock Soon Seah, Chairc/o Centre for Graphics and Imaging TechnologyNanyang Technological UniversityNanyang AvenueSingapore, [email protected]://singapore.siggraph.org

Taipei ACM SIGGRAPHNien Wang, Chair4F. 495 Kuang Fu S. Rd.Taipei, [email protected]://taipei.siggraph.org

Bangkok ACM SIGGRAPHAraya Choutgrajank, Chair105/2 Thonglor 5, Sukhumvit 55North-Klongton,WattanaBangkok [email protected]://bangkok.siggraph.org

Rotterdam ACM SIGGRAPHRichard Ouwerkerk, ChairWillem de Kooning AcademyHogeschool RotterdamBlaak 10, PO Box 1272Rotterdam, 3000 BGThe [email protected]://rotterdam.siggraph.org

Caracas ACM SIGGRAPHArturo Puente, Chair P.O. Box 88521Caracas [email protected]://caracas.siggraph.org

Venezuela

The Netherlands

Thailand

Taiwan

Singapore

New Zealand

Mexico

Malaysia

Japan

Italy

Israel

Indonesia

India

Germany

France

Augus t 2004 13


C O N T R I B U T I O N S

Michael MasucciEZTV

EZTV is an artist-run video community cele-brating its 25th anniversary in 2004. Overthe years, EZTV has been acknowledged as aseminal pioneer in the artistic and intellec-tual advocacy and use of desktop digital toolsfor cinema, live performance, online interac-tivity and video art. With collaborators andexhibitors including filmmakers Jean LucGodard and Robert Altman, writers AllenGinsberg and Charles Bukowski, choreogra-phers Loretta Livingston and Zina Bethuneand painters Keith Haring and DavidHockney, EZTV has long demonstrated thatthe desktop digital revolution is not just forcomputer graphic artists, but for the creativecommunity as a whole.

In its early history, EZTV was one of a fewpublic places in Southern California whereone could routinely see works created usingcomputer-based tools. EZTV held exhibitionsof numerous digital artists including David Em,Vibeke Sorenson, Ed Emshwiller, Rebecca Allenand Karl Sims. It was also a frequent home forthe local LA SIGGRAPH chapter throughoutthe 1980s, with chairpersons Joan Collins andCoco Cohn holding many memorable andoften influential events there. Computer arthistorian Patric Prince, producer RobertGelman and artists Victor Acevedo, ia Kaman-dalu and Anneliese Varaldiev were among theindividuals at EZTV that helped us become animportant local advocate for computer artthroughout our early days.

Project OriginsIn the spring of 2002, my partner KateJohnson and I were approached by artist andOtis College of Art & Design faculty memberMichael Wright, who was to soon become theArt Chair for SIGGRAPH 2003. Wright wasinterested in broadening the curatorial scopeat SIGGRAPH during its 30th Anniversaryconference to also include a focus on video,which he correctly saw had become a majordirection for all of digital media. Desktopdigital video has transformed the entireproduction process from both mainstream

Quantum Entanglement and the EZTV Online Museum

Figure 1: Quantum Entanglement used non-manipulated miniDV footage lit and shot in a variety of ways toshowcase the diversity of imagery possible with low-end tools, including this faux-fashion photography look.

Figure 2: Live action miniDV footage and 2D motion graphics were combined for Quantum’s openingtitle sequence.

Augus t 2004 15

and more a part of a holistic art makingprocess. Since there was no budget given fordoing the project, a variety of “guerrilla video”techniques were utilized. The work was shoton miniDV using a Canon XL-1 camera andmastered with a variety of industry-standardvideo, 3D and motion graphics tools, includingFinal Cut Pro, After Effects, Photoshop, Light-wave, Magic Bullet and a number of analog aswell as digital audio tools.

I conceived and directed the work in ahighly collaborative way, with key storyelements and character developmentscontributed by major cast members AimeeZannoni, Kate Johnson and Bart McLean. Inaddition to digital tools, we also relied heavilyon traditional filmmaking skills such as lightingand make-up design.

Video is both an audio as well as visual artform; therefore simultaneous design of bothsound/music and imagery is my approach inattempting to create an integrated work.Since my earliest use of computers as acreative tool was for music production, I wasdetermined to utilize this intrinsic sounddesign capability in this video project. Whiledesigning visuals for the piece, I also createdthe music so that an aesthetic continuity wasattempted. Traditionally, scoring is a post-production component, but I believe that it isa major part of story.Therefore, imagery andmusic should be created concurrently so oneis not a reaction to the other, but rather theyare equal elements.

Philosophical and Technical FrameworkThe adoption of accessible desktop digitaltools over the last 15 years serves as one ofthe several major chapter headings in

motion picture production to video art andperformance, as well as academic and scien-tific documentation. Wright invited EZTV toparticipate in the Art Galley component ofSIGGRAPH 2003.

I decided to use this exhibition to create anew long-form experimental narrative piecethat integrated story elements from contem-porary physics, philosophy, psychology andmetaphysics in an EZTV artistic genre, whichI call “Sci-Phi.”

Project Development and ExhibitionSIGGRAPH generates a unique audience:adventuresome, inquisitive, risk-taking andopen to new and unusual ideas. I thereforeopted to create a project that would bedesigned to challenge this specific audience. Iassumed that the conference attendeeswould be able to handle complex intellectualand philosophical concepts and hoped thatthis distinct community would understandstorytelling experiments beyond the typicalHollywood movie scenario. I knew I wastaking a chance in creating a project perhapsmore ‘edgy’ than most art exhibits seen atSIGGRAPH over the decades. Much to mydelight, many people attending appreciatedmy efforts and encouraged me to take evenfurther risks in storytelling formats. Unlike somany projects today which offer glossy, often“too slick” approaches to visual style, Iwanted to show that a work that was grittyand not reliant on pixel resolution could stillhold an audience. My piece, called QuantumEntanglement, premiered at SIGGRAPH as a30-minute work in progress with thecompleted 90-minute feature to bepremiered in the fall of 2004.

Quantum Entanglement premiered at a verywell attended formal screening onSIGGRAPH’s opening day. Additional dailyscreenings of the work were held throughoutthe conference. Kate Johnson and I were alsoinvited to present our thoughts about theproject, during SIGGRAPH’s Ozone lectures.

With the advent of desktop digital video,many of the traditional designations of pre-production, production and post-productionhave lost much of their meaning, as the inte-gration of storyboard, live action andcomposited and edited work become more

Figure 3:Techniques were experimented with to incorporate miniDV’s more “gritty” capabilities to createQuantum’s nightmare sequences.

Figure 4: Several dramatic sequences simultaneously convey both text-based and live action imagery into anarrative motion graphics treatment.

computer art history and is arguably thechapter that has penetrated the publicawareness more than any other. It wasduring this vital chapter that the once sepa-rate categories of computer graphics, MIDIand animation merged with video to createthe contemporary art form known as DV.DV’s aesthetics borrow from traditional artforms of storytelling, painting and movement,yet it produces a new lexicon, a newaudio/visual vocabulary, much of which is stillbeing invented.

There is a clear differentiation (bothphilosophically as well as economically)between art done on personal computers,often self-produced and independent, asopposed to work created on mainframes, bynecessity in cooperation with a large andheavily funded institution.The desktop expe-rience allows for production of a culturallydiverse body of work that would have neverbeen possible to fund by either the Holly-wood “studio system” or the constraints oftime-sharing on a large academic mainframe.

This grassroots-based desktop phenomenonis a new kind of folk art that permeatesevery strata of society. From this folk art hasemerged many significant works for bothentertainment and museums, which arebecoming a part of the cultural vocabularythat defines our era. Since (quite under-standably) so much focus has already beenplaced on exploring the considerable accom-plishments of Hollywood-style productionswith $100 million budgets or more, EZTVwas determined to celebrate what could bedone without any budget or corporate oracademic support. I continued this self-produced desktop theme through the addi-tional SIGGRAPH 2003 collaborations thatwere presented.

Expanding the Digital Video AestheticOne of the most important aspects for meabout ACM SIGGRAPH is how it developscorrespondences between themes and ideasand expands them as needed into entire“nodes” within the conference. As the yearprior to SIGGRAPH 2003 progressed,Michael Wright saw a need to further expandthe dialogue concerning digital video. Hefurther invited me to participate in severaladditional ways, including organizing andchairing a judging panel for the digital videosubmissions from the open call. For this task, Irecruited Dominic Milano, Editorial Directorof DV Magazine and Holly Willis, Editor ofRes Magazine. Believing that the submissionsfrom the open call did not fully reflect thecreative diversity of contemporary video, Iinvited curators from ResFest and DV Expoto exhibit highlights from their own highlyregarded digital film festivals to be included inthe Art Gallery screenings.


Figure 5: Instead of attempting photo-realism, EZTV designed 2D motion graphics imagery wheneverpossible to build Quantum’s surrealist sequences.

Figure 6:When appropriate, miniDV was shot to appear more “filmlike.”

Augus t 2004 17

From discussions on how SIGGRAPHcould benefit from this assembled DVcommunity, I also organized and moderated apanel on digital video with internationallyrecognized thinkers Oiva Knuuttila fromTEKES (the Finnish Technology Agency),Kimberly Reed,Technical Editor for DV Maga-zine and Jonathan Wells, producer of ResFest.Lastly, I was invited to write an essay for theSIGGRAPH Electronic Art and Animationcatalogue. Tapping my experiences on howthe influx (or overload) of information wasmaking it almost impossible to take every

factor into artistic consideration, I opted towrite a controversial essay called “Is the Ageof Expertise Over?” I felt strongly that myone chance at SIGGRAPH should document aneed for us all to reevaluate our beliefs aboutthe nature of both professional and academicawareness.Although I expected to ruffle a fewfeathers, I was pleasantly surprised to findagreement among many.

Every step in the process of mySIGGRAPH 2003 involvement – as an exhib-ited artist, as a jury member and as a panelist,speaker and essayist – involved the othersteps. I felt a responsibility to try my best togive a representative overview of how digitalvideo was different from mainstream film andhas created and maintained its own aestheticintegrity while striving to define its ownvoice. Hopefully, I succeeded to some degree,or at least gave some attendees an alternativeperspective to consider and improve upon.

Follow UpBecause of EZTV’s participation atSIGGRAPH 2003, our efforts received press

coverage in Millimeter Magazine,Video Systemsand Computer Graphics World, won a presti-gious Telly Award and we have been invited toscreen at a number of subsequent gallery,festival and educational venues. These exhibi-tion opportunities continue to develop. Inaddition, and perhaps most significantly, we’vebeen invited by Adobe Software to create anEZTV online interactive experience. DuringOzone, Kate Johnson and I stated that whatwe were interested in doing by participatingin SIGGRAPH was to meet and collaboratewith more technologically minded attendees,

who could help bring our work to a moreadvanced level. Hearing our call, anotherOzone speaker, Bruce Damer, offered to helpus integrate Adobe Atmosphere tools intoour work. He recommended us to Adobeeducational consultant Patricia Johnson whothen introduced herself after a SIGGRAPHOzone Redux in San Francisco two monthslater. Ultimately she teamed us up with inde-pendent administrator Liz Murray, facultymembers Michael Libonati and MichaelRodgers from the Art Institute of Californiaand their honors students (known collectivelyas Red Giant) to design and build the envi-ronment for an EZTV online museum,showing pivotal examples from our 25-yearhistory.The project will be unveiled as a workin progress in several SIGGRAPH 2004venues, including Ozone.

ImplicationsOver the years, EZTV has had the honor andprivilege of collaborating with or exhibitingthe work of Nobel Prize, Pulitzer Prize,Academy Award, Emmy, Guggenheim and

MacArthur Fellowship winners, and thereforeit is critical to archive, chronicle and displayexamples of these early projects in a way thatwould be helpful to scholars, students, jour-nalists and general audience members alike.

Through the collaboration with the ArtInstitute of California and Adobe Software, itwill be possible to inform future audiences ofthe techniques, tools and aesthetics thatwere incorporated in an ever-evolvingscenario of project/equipment protocols.Thisis a direct result of our participation inSIGGRAPH 2003.

The opportunity as well as challenge that isnow before us all as artists, as technologistsand as thinkers, is to portray digital art historyin as objective a fashion as is possible, withoutthe embellishment of hype or self-promotion.This is of course, easier said than done, andwe all are facing obstacles to this goal.All toooften people only think of digital history interms of institutional work, and ignore thecontributions of independent artist-runspaces. The computer art community is veryconcerned with the accurate writing of ourcollective histories. Unfortunately, it is difficultfor this not to be done from the perspectiveof our own involvements, experiences orcontributions to the field. As the first severalgenerations of computer artists, we are allcollectively witnesses and often participants inhistory, a history that hopefully will evolve toinclude all communities and socio-economicdesignations.


Michael MasucciArtistic DirectorEZTV18th Street Arts Center1629 18th. Street #6Santa Monica, CA 90404Tel: +1-310-829-3389E-mail: [email protected]: www.eztvmedia.com

Figure 7: Using simple 3D CGI tools composited with live action to convey Quantum’s interdimensional realms.


Christian Theobalt, Joel Carranza,Marcus A. Magnor, Hans-Peter SeidelMPI Informatik

In recent years, a convergence between thefields of computer graphics and computervision has been observed [1]. This conver-gence has been motivated by the idea tocreate photorealistic visualizations of real-world scenes in a computer not by designingmodels of shape and appearance, but byreconstructing these models from photo-graphic or video data of the real world.

From the consumer’s point of view, up tonow video has been a two-dimensionalmedium. The viewpoint onto a motionpicture or a TV broadcast coincides with theviewpoint of the recording image sensor,which cannot be altered by the viewer.Recent technological advancements, such asthe advent of novel high-resolution videocameras with high dynamic range, improve-ments in data storage and transmission tech-nology, as well as the presence of specializedgraphics hardware even in consumer-gradeelectronics, make it seam feasible to lift themedium video onto a novel, an immersivelevel. The goal of free viewpoint video is toenable the choice of an arbitrary viewpointonto a dynamic scene, thereby creating afeeling of immersion into the event. Interac-tive free-viewpoint video and 3D TV willspawn a multitude of novel applications invisual media. To mention only a few, interac-tive motion pictures will become feasible,and not only to the viewer during a sportsbroadcast, but also to the coach during hisanalysis of an athlete’s performance. All willprofit from the possibility to look at theevent from a novel perspective.

Researchers that aim at setting the pathfor this new technology are facing a sea ofalgorithmic and technological challenges, themajority of which are still to be solved.

One of the key issues involved is theacquisition, which typically involves recordinga multitude of synchronized video streams,making necessary an advanced multi-camerarecording environment that can process thelarge amount of image data. Furthermore,the algorithmic core of 3D video is formedby methods for the reconstruction of shapeand appearance models of real-world scenesfrom video data and algorithms for renderingthem in real time. Finally, efficient encoding ofthe immersive video is a precondition forreal-time broadcasting and on-disc delivery.

In the Computer Graphics Group and theGraphics-Optics-Vision Group at the Max-Planck-Institut für Informatik(http://www.mpi-sb.mpg.de) in Saar-

brücken, Germany, we investigate the algo-rithmic ingredients of free viewpoint video.

Human actors are the central elements ofmotion picture scenes and the human visualsystem is highly sensitive to even slight inac-curacies in a human’s motion and look. Inconsequence, the synthesis of realisticimages of humans in motion is a challengingproblem.Two aspects of this problem are thecreation of natural human motion and theaccurate rendering of a person’s physicalappearance. We have developed a systemthat acquires both, the large-scale motion ofthe human body as well as its appearancedown to the level of skin details and clothmovement [2]. We employ a marker-freeoptical motion capture approach frommultiple video streams to estimate the para-meters of motion of a kinematic bodymodel. Time-varying multi-view surfacetextures are created from the video frames.

During rendering, the surface textures areapplied to the moving body model, enablingan interactive choice of an arbitrary view-point (Figure 1).

Related WorkIn computer vision, the estimation of motionparameters from video has been an intensivefield of research for many years. Detailedreviews of work in this field can be found in[3, 7]. Pioneering work in the field of 3Dvideo stems from the field of image-basedrendering. Most approaches from that areaare based on visual hull reconstruction [4, 5]or stereo reconstruction from a multitude of

cameras [8]. At SIGGRAPH 2004, a systemfor creating virtual novel viewpoints of ascene by means of view interpolation ispresented [12]. An approach for recording,broadcasting and stereoscopic display of3DTV is also shown [6]. For a detailedreview of previous work in the field wewould like to refer the reader to the appro-priate sections in the cited references.

Multi-View Video RecordingThe video sequences used as inputs to oursystem are recorded in our multi-view videostudio [11]. IEEE1394 cameras are placed in aconvergent setup around the center of thescene. The video sequences used for thework presented in this article are recordedfrom eight static viewing positions arrangedat approximately equal angles and distancesaround the center of the room.The camerasare synchronized via an external trigger andall the video data are directly streamed to thehard drives of four control PCs, each ofwhich is connected to two cameras. Videoframes are recorded at a resolution of320x240 pixels. The frame rate is fundamen-tally limited to 15 fps by the external trigger.The cameras’ intrinsic and extrinsic parame-ters are determined, thereby calibrating everycamera into a common global coordinatesystem.The lighting conditions are controlledand all cameras are color-calibrated. In eachvideo frame, the person in the foreground iscut out via background subtraction based onper-pixel color statistics.

Model-Based Free Viewpoint VideoReconstruction and RenderingIn the beginning of each multi-view videosequence, the subject stands in an initializa-tion pose. Using the silhouette-overlap withthe projected body model in each cameraview, an initial set of pose, scaling and defor-mation parameters is found by means of amulti-step optimization procedure. Thescaling parameters deform our a priori bodymodel such that it optimally conforms to therecorded person.The body model consists ofa hierarchical arrangement of 16 segments,the surface geometry being defined byroughly 21,000 triangles. The model’s kine-matics is defined via an underlying skeletonmade up of 17 joints that provide 35 poseparameters.

The criterion that guides our motioncapture and initialization procedures is theoverlap between the projected body modeland the input silhouettes in each cameraview. A quantitative measure for this overlapis the pixel-wise XOR between theprojected model silhouette and the inputimage silhouette in each camera view (Figure

3D Video – Being Part of the Movie

Figure 1: Blend between the underlying trianglemodel of the human actor and the texturedbody in our free viewpoint video renderer.

Augus t 2004 19

2). The error metric used during optimiza-tion is the sum of the XOR values from eachcamera view. We exploit consumer-levelgraphics hardware to efficiently compute thiserror function.

The motion parameters of the bodymodel are found by performing a non-linearoptimization in the pose parameter space ateach time step of video. We use a directionset method to numerically solve the opti-mization problem. The search for an optimalsolution is improved by hierarchically solvingoptimization problems on subsets of thepose parameters. By this means, we preventconvergence to incorrect local minima of theoverall optimization problem. In order todeal with fast body motion, a pre-selectionstep (grid-search) on the lower-dimensionalparameter spaces of the limbs is performed.

We have demonstrated [10] that theenergy function evaluation can be acceleratedin two ways. First, in order to reduce theamount of data transferred between GPU andCPU, the energy function evaluation is onlydone on sub-windows of the image plane.Second, the rendering overhead during theXOR computation can be further reduced byonly rendering those body parts whose poseparameters are currently optimized. Thewhole problem lends itself to a parallel imple-mentation using five CPUs and GPUs, whichsignificantly improves the performance of themotion capture algorithm.

During playback of the reconstructed freeviewpoint video, we render the body modelin the sequence of captured body poses.Weapply projective texturing using the inputcamera images to create a realistic time-varying surface appearance of the renderedgeometry (Figure 2).To combine the cameraimages from different viewpoints, the texturecolors at each vertex are blended. In orderto compute the blending weights, the visi-bility of each vertex in each camera view isconsidered. The actual spatial blendingweights can be computed in a view-indepen-dent and/or view-dependent way. The view-independent weight for each camera is thereciprocal of the angle between the vertexnormal and the camera-viewing vector. Theview-dependent weight for each camera isthe reciprocal of the angle between the inputviewing direction and the output viewingdirection. We introduce an additionalrescaling factor of the view-independentweights that provides us with more controlover the visual appearance.

In some frames of video, the model maynot be perfectly aligned with the imagesilhouettes in each camera view.This can leadto disturbing visual artifacts in the textures.We use two methods, a modified visibilitycomputation and a texture expansion, toprevent these artifacts.The modified visibilitycomputation determines the visibility of avertex from a set of slightly displaced camera

views instead of only the actual input cameraviews. This way erroneous projections offoreground texture on occluded and moredistant geometry are prevented. Second, thetexture information at silhouette boundariesis expanded into the background byperforming image dilation on the back-ground-subtracted video frames.

Enhanced Reconstruction Using 3DMotion FieldsWe have demonstrated that a broad range ofcomplex and rapid body motion is robustlycaptured using silhouette-based techniques.However, improvements are possible inthose portions of the body with small-scaledetails (such as features of the face) whosevisual appearance is deteriorated eventhrough small pose inaccuracies.To be maxi-mally effective, we further developed ouroriginal silhouette-based tracking algorithminto a hybrid approach that incorporatestexture information into the motion estima-tion process [9]. The enhanced motion esti-mation scheme follows a predictor-correctorapproach. Looking at one time step of video,the parameters found by the silhouettefitting step form a first estimate of the bodypose. Now, the model standing in the esti-mated pose is textured with the multi-viewvideo frames of the previous time step andrendered into each camera view. From theoptical flows computed between the actual

Figure 2: Top row: XOR error function (left), human body model (middle), textured body (right). Bottom row:Three additional renderings of the same time step of freeviewpoint video.

video frames at the current time step and therendered prediction images, a 3D motion fieldis reconstructed. This motion field contains3D vectors for the majority of vertices ofsurface geometry that describe how theirposition should be updated. Using thesevectors, pose update parameters arecomputed that improve the alignment of themodel with the input data.

ResultsUsing the silhouette-based pose parameterestimation, even rapid motion, such as themotion of a ballet dancer, is captured robustly(Figure 2). Small-scale details, such as wrinklesin clothing, are preserved and lead to a highlyrealistic physical appearance of the 3D videofrom any viewpoint (Figure 3). Using a parallelimplementation of the fitting system that runson five CPUs and GPUs, we obtain an averagepose parameter estimation time of around 1sper frame for rapid motion. Fitting timesbelow 1s are achieved for slow body motion.The effects of the additional motion field stepon 3D video quality are on a small scale butmost noticeable in the face area whose accu-rate reconstruction is essential for a goodvisual impression.

Future PerspectivesThe field of 3D video is a premier examplefor a research area that draws both from thedevelopment of new algorithms and theprogress of hardware technology. Thegrowing number of researchers working onthe subject and the increasing number ofresearch publications at major internationalgraphics and vision conferences shows thepopularity of the field. For us, the ACMSIGGRAPH annual conference was the idealevent to present our results. There, not onlydid we have the chance to present our workto the research community but also to practi-tioners from the industry, and, in turn,obtained valuable feedback from both sides.

We expect that future research in 3Dvideo and 3DTV will focus on the develop-ment of a fully automatic pipeline that incor-porates the acquisition, the reconstructionand the rendering in real time. Advances incomputational technology will allow us topush the algorithmic frontiers even further,thereby attacking novel problems such as thesimultaneous capturing of geometric scenemodels and reflection models, enablingrelighting of the 3D video footage.

References1. ACM SIGGRAPH Computer Graphics

quarterly.Vol. 33(4), Focus:Applications ofComputer Vision to Computer Graphics,1999.

2. Carranza, J., C. Theobalt, M. Magnor andH.-P. Seidel. Free-viewpoint video ofhuman actors, in Proceedings of SIGGRAPH2003, pp. 569-577, San Diego, USA, ACM,2003.

3. Gavrila, D. The visual analysis of humanmovement, CVIU, 73(1):82-98, January1999.

4. Matsuyama, T., T. Takai. Generation, visual-ization, and editing of 3D video, in Proc. of1st International Symposium on 3D DataProcessing Visualization and Transmission(3DPVT’02), p. 234 ff., 2002.

5. Matusik, W., C. Buehler, R. Raskar, S.Gortler and L. McMillan. Image-basedvisual hulls, in Proceedings of ACMSIGGRAPH 2000, pp. 369-374, 2000.

6. Matusik, W. and H. Pfister. 3D TV: A Scal-able System for Real-Time Acquisition,Transmission, and AutostereoscopicDisplay of Dynamic Scenes, to appear inProc. of ACM SIGGRAPH 2004

7. Moeslund,T. B. and E. Granum.A survey ofcomputer vision-based human motioncapture, Computer Vision and Image Under-standing, 81(3):231-268, 2001.

8. Narayanan, P., P. Rander and T. Kanade.Constructing Virtual worlds using densestereo, in Proc. of ICCV 98, pp. 3-10, 1998.

9. Theobalt, C., J. Carranza, M.A. Magnor andH.-P. Seidel. Enhancing silhouette-basedhuman motion capture with 3D motionfields, in 11th Pacific Conference onComputer Graphics and Applications, pp.185-193, IEEE, Canmore, Canada, October2003.

10. Theobalt, C., J. Carranza, M. Magnor andH.-P. Seidel. A parallel framework forsilhouette-based human motion capture,in Proc. of Vision, Modeling and Visualization2003, pp. 207-214, Munich, Germany,November 2003.

11. Theobalt, C., M. Li, M. Magnor and H.-P.Seidel. A flexible and versatile studio forsynchronized multi-view video recording,in Proceedings of Vision, Video and Graphics,pages 9-16, 2003.

12. Zitnick, C. L., S.B. Kang, M. Uyttendaele, S.Winder and R. Szeliski. High Quality VideoView Interpolation Using A LayeredRepresentation, to appear in Proc. of ACMSIGGRAPH 2004.


About the Contributors

Christian Theobalt, Joel Carranza,Marcus A. Magnor and Hans-PeterSeidel work together at MPIInformatik in Saarbrücken, Germany.You can contact them all through leadauthor Theobalt.

Theobalt received his M.Sc. degree inartificial intelligence from the Universityof Edinburgh, Scotland, and his Diplom(M.S.) degree in computer science fromthe Saarland University, Saarbrücken,Germany. He is currently a Ph.D.student in the computer graphics groupat MPI.

Christian TheobaltComputer Graphics GroupMPI InformatikStuhlsatzenhausweg 8566123 SaarbrückenGermanyTel: +49 681 9325 419Fax: +49 681 9325 499E-mail: [email protected]

Figure 3: Impressions from a freeze-and-rotate shot.

Augus t 2004 21

Bahman KalantariRutgers University

Years ago, when I got interested in theproblem of computing approximations to thesquare root of numbers, a problem that mostpeople never come across, I had no idea thatit would bring me this far – to the point ofintroducing a new visual art medium I callpolynomiography. It has diverse applications,even for those who may not be fond ofnumbers.The word polynomiography is madeup of the well-known mathematical wordpolynomial and the suffix graphy. Polynomiog-raphy is the art and science of visualization ofpolynomial equations. It amounts to colorfulimages corresponding to polynomials. Onecan learn to do polynomiography without theknowledge of the underlying mathematics, oreven the need to deal with numbers.

Polynomiography has tremendous applica-tions in the visual arts, education andscience.Artistically, it can be used in so manydifferent ways. For instance, it can be used tocreate a diverse set of images reminiscent ofthe intricate human designs and modern art.It can be used in animation, or even inspirethree-dimensional objects. Educationally,polynomiography can be used to teach math-ematical concepts. Scientifically, it provides atool, not only for viewing polynomials whichare present in virtually every branch ofscience, but also a tool to discover newmathematics.

The simple-looking task of approximationof the square root of a given number – whatcaught my attention and dragged me into thedevelopment of polynomiography – is in facta very special case of polynomial equations.Can we expect to get a nice image from thisapproximation? The answer is yes, andFigure 1 proves it.

It may be surprising that the approxima-tion of square root of numbers should resultin such an image. However throughout thehistory of science, even this simple-lookingtask, which dates back to the Babylonians andthe Sumerians, has resulted in remarkablediscoveries: the irrational and the complexnumbers, iterative methods and even one of thefirst successful algorithms for factorization oflarge numbers using a computer. Now it hasinspired polynomiography. While someimages from polynomiography could turn outto be fractal, many are not.

About PolynomialsA polynomial equation may be thought of asan algebraic formula that somehow tiestogether a finite set of numbers, called theroots or zeros. For example, the set of allnumbers such that seven times their 5thpower, minus four times their 3rd power,plus nine times their 2nd power, plus three,all add up to zero. More generally, theproblem of solving a polynomial equation isthat of finding a number such that appro-priate plus or minus multiples of its variouspowers amount to zero.

The highest power is called the degree ofthe polynomial equation. There is a rule ofthumb that says a polynomial of degree twohas two roots, degree three has three roots,etc. Actually, this rule of thumb is called theFundamental Theorem of Algebra and the rootsare complex numbers. Complex numbers arenothing to fear. A point in a plane can bethought of as complex number, andconversely. In a nutshell, one can think of apolynomial equation as an algebraic descrip-tion of a set of points in a plane.The processthat searches for these roots, the iterationfunction, defines a certain coloring of regionsof the plane. Iteration functions act like lensesof a camera in providing two-dimensionalimages of the underlying polynomial equation.This initial coloring, coming from a computerprogram, can later be repainted using one’sown personal creativity, taste and artistry.

The Need for PolynomiographyWhy do I think polynomiography is a newand powerful visual art medium? Perhaps themost convincing evidence is the degree ofenthusiasm I have received from variouspresentations or interactions with collegestudents, high school and middle schoolstudents, artists (traditional or digital ones),photographers, video and motion graphicscommunity, mathematicians, scientists andthe general public. I believe one of the mostappealing features of polynomiography is itssimplicity – yet the diversity of the images itgives rise to is mind-boggling. It has certainly

changed my view of polynomials and turnedme into a digital artist, among other things. Iam convinced that polynomiography hasforever changed the life of polynomials.

I am not by any means a specialist in thefield of computer graphics, a vast discipline,rapidly forging ahead.And I never would havethought of even attending any computergraphics conferences. But polynomiographyhas changed all that. For instance, I attendedthe SIGGRAPH conference for the first timein 2003. Not only was one of my art worksaccepted for presentation at the prestigiousArt Gallery, but I also had a paper acceptedin the Educators Program.

My talk was well received, and one of theprofessionals at my presentation later onemailed me that my presentation was “one ofthe top five things I learned at the confer-ence.” This is a great compliment, given thatmore than 25,000 people attend this interna-tionally heralded computer graphics confer-ence. I will be presenting another paper in theSIGGRAPH 2004 Educators Program, thistime showing some animations with poly-nomiography. I will also give a demonstrationof prototype polynomiography software atthe guerrilla Studio. Last year’s SIGGRAPHconference also brought me in contact withseveral digital and algorithmic artists,including some pioneers in these fields.

The range of people who could benefitfrom polynomiography is not limited to thecomputer graphics community. For instance,artists and designers will find it useful invariety of ways. Already, I have witnessedquite a bit of interest from various artists,traditional and digital, who seem optimisticof polynomiography’s potential. I am lookingforward to collaboration with various artists.In education, too, there are enormous appli-cations. The reason for this is quite simple:polynomial equations are everywhere inscience. One of the first instances is thequadratic equation. Polynomiography turnsthis rather lifeless equation into somethingbeautiful (Figure 1). I have received emailfrom kids who have expressed their interestin polynomiography, asking me to explain tothem what a polynomial is! This is reallyexciting and encouraging. It tells me that kidsmay learn to say the word polynomiographybefore learning to say the word polynomial.And perhaps kids will become far moreinterested in polynomial equations thanwhen I first heard of the quadratic equationas a high school student. I believe that ahard-core mathematician or scientist couldalso benefit from polynomiography. I believethe range of people who could use and enjoypolynomiography is really quite broad.

A New Visual Art Medium: Polynomiography

Figure 1: A visualization computing the squareroot of two.

If you ask any scientist about some favoriteor important classes of polynomials, she/hewill undoubtedly name a few. Polynomialshave been objects in the scientific territories.Now, I think artists should take over and usepolynomials just as routinely as mathemati-cians or scientists. I am convinced thatthrough polynomiography, artists will discovertheir own interesting polynomial or class ofpolynomials. There are an infinite number ofpolynomials; humanity will never run out ofpolynomials or get tired of doing polynomiog-raphy. I am also certain that by improvingpolynomiography software, we will be able tolook at larger and larger degree polynomial

equations.This should bring about artwork ofenormous beauty, perhaps worthy of appreci-ation by the millions.

Comparison to PhotographyThe best-known method for solving a givenpolynomial equation is Newton’s method.When you give an input (a point in the plane)to the Newton machine, it performs someoperations and produces an output (anotherpoint in the plane). This output is fed back tothe machine and the process is repeated overand over. The final outcome is an approxima-tion to a solution of the polynomial equation.If we repeat this with various inputs, we willend up approximating all the roots of theequation. All this can be done using acomputer, and the whole process can beimplemented to produce a colorful image ofthe underlying polynomial equation. Newton’smethod acts like a camera lens. In fact Figure 2shows a self-explanatory analogy betweenphotography and polynomiography leading to aphotograph and a polynomiograph, respectively.

Newton’s method is only one lens withwhich one can shoot pictures of polynomials.While some of these pictures could be inter-esting, they soon become boring. As a lens,Newton’s method is fine, but very limited. Inanalogy to photography, polynomial equationsare like subjects or models beingphotographed. Hence, just as in photography,a lot depends on various components.We canhave unsophisticated polynomiography soft-ware, or sophisticated ones; average lookingpolynomials, or good-looking ones; averagepolynomiographers, or great ones.

It is possible to design polynomiographysoftware where anyone could learn to do itwithout the need to have knowledge of theunderlying mathematics. This can be donewhile allowing a great degree of creativity bythe individual polynomiographer. With poly-nomiography, one can take a simple polyno-mial and look at it via various iteration func-tions and turn it into a beautiful image. Mostpeople don’t know the underlying physics ofphotography, yet they learn the effects ofvarious parameters. Likewise, with reasonablepolynomiography software, the users can learnto be creative.There is no need to know themathematical formula of an underlying polyno-mial, or the iteration function. Rather, only theeffect of its application to a particular polyno-

mial equation. This could be no harder thanworking with an ordinary camera.

Pictured here is some of my personalartwork created via prototype polynomiog-raphy software.

AbstractIn Figures 3 and 4, I present two verydifferent images.The underlying polynomial inFigure 4 is of degree 10.The image in Figure 3was obtained by zooming in at an appropriatepart of a polynomial, using a collection of iter-ation functions. Subsequently, I used my owncoloring made possible by the interactivefeatures of the software. The image in Figure4 appears in the SIGGRAPH 2003 ElectronicArt and Animation Catalog.

Finding Ms. Poly and Others CharactersThe image in Figure 5, Ms. Poly, is from a singlepolynomial, except for her lips, which wereobtained from another polynomial and thencollaged. Could it be that Ms. Poly will someday become as famous as Nemo? No one cantell. Perhaps Hollywood will discover her.

The character in Figure 6, L3, is formedfrom three different polynomials that resulted


Figure 2: Analogy of the main components in photography and polynomiography.

Photography’s main components Polynomiography’s main components

1. Photographer 1. Polynomiographer

2. Camera (lenses) 2. Software (iteration functions)

3. Subject 3. Polynomial Equation

Figure 3: Circus.

Figure 5: Ms. Poly.

Figure 6: L3.

Figure 4: Summer.

in the head, the body and the belt buckle. Itmay remind one of the C3PO character ofStar Wars movies, but there should be nodoubt as to which one is better looking. Thecharacter L4 in Figure 7, and many othercharacters, can be found via low degree poly-nomiography.

DesignsIt is possible to come up with symmetricpatterns of enormous beauty. Figure 8 corre-sponds to the visualization of a polynomialequation of degree 48. One can produce manyother polynomiographs of the same polyno-mial, with little resemblance to the givenimage. By using tiling and other symmetries,one can form an infinite number of designs.Two such designs are shown in Figure 9.

ConclusionThrough polynomiography, there are manypossibilities for producing a variety of two-dimensional images. Papers that describe thesefurther and exhibit more images can be foundin the references 1 through 5, given below. It isalso possible to do animation with polynomiog-

raphy. This can be done from an artistic pointof view, or an educational one. For the use ofanimation in education, I refer the reader toreference 6.The visual artist may enjoy these aswell. These animations may be found atwww.rutgers.edu/~kalantar/Animation.

No doubt that the very simple andpowerful nature of polynomiography will findits way in numerous forms. Time is oneneeded factor and so is the support to imple-ment the many possibilities, including thedevelopment of much more sophisticated soft-ware with enhanced coloring capabilities. Forlimited interactive software (as well as futureenhanced versions), the interested reader mayvisit www.polynomiography.com.

References1. Kalantari, B. Polynomiography:A new inter-

section between mathematics and art, Tech-nical Report DCS-TR 506, Department ofComputer Science, Rutgers University,New Brunswick, New Jersey,http://www.polynomiography.com,2002.

2. Kalantari, B. Can polynomiography beuseful in computational geometry?,DIMACS Workshop on ComputationalGeometry, Rutgers University,http://dimacs.rutgers.edu/Workshop,2002.

3. Kalantari, B. Polynomiography and applica-tions in art, education, and science, Proceed-ings of SIGGRAPH Educators Program, 2003.

4. Kalantari, B.The art in polynomiography ofspecial polynomials, Proceedings ofISAMA/BRIDEGE, 2003.

5. Kalantari, B. Polynomiography and applica-tions in art, education, and science, Computersand Graphics, 28, pp. 417-430, 2004.

6. Kalantari, B., I. Kalantari, F. Andreev. Anima-tion of mathematical concepts using poly-nomiography, Proceedings of SIGGRAPH,Educators Program, to appear 2004.

Augus t 2004 23


Bahman Kalantari is an AssociateProfessor of computer science atRutgers University. He holds a Ph.D.degree in computer science, an M.S.degree in mathematics, an M.S. degree inoperations research and a B.S. in mathe-matics and physics. His research inter-ests include mathematical programming,linear programming, quadratic program-ming, convex programming, self-concor-dance theory, combinatorial anddiscrete optimization, linear algebra,nonnegative matrices, matrix scaling,matrix balancing, homogeneousprogramming, path-following and projec-tive methods, duality theory, semidefi-nite programming, global optimization,complexity of algorithms, approximationalgorithms, approximation schemes,matching problems, traveling salesmanproblems, computational geometry,polynomial root-finding methods, itera-tion functions, approximation of func-tions, approximation of pi and tech-niques for the visualization ofpolynomial root-finding which he callspolynomiography.

Bahman KalantariDepartment of Computer ScienceRutgers UniversityHill CenterNew Brunswick, NJ, 08903Tel: +1-732-445-3542E-mail: [email protected]: www.polynomiography.com

Figure 8: A visualization pertaining to a polynomial equation ofdegree 48.

Figure 9:Two surface designs obtained from polynomiography.

Figure 7: L4.

Vishal DarUniversity of California, Los Angeles

Project Snake was featured in the art gallerysection of SIGGRAPH 2003 in San Diego.Snake expressed architectural art in the formof machine-milled sculptural rendering ofvisceral 3D data models produced with AliasMaya.These sculptures were processed out ofmedium density fiberboard.

The sculptures were reminiscent of reliefornamentation in the form of wall-hungpanels. A decorative layer was achieved onthe surface of the relief by changing the setupsize of the tool path pattern. A characteristicdifference came about that in the aestheticsof the physical model did not feature in thevirtual environments of Alias MAYA.

Project Snake was an experiment inviewing architectural art as a product ofcollaboration between architect/artist andrapid prototyping machine technology. Themodels were particular moments in theevolution of animated structures derived anddeveloped on the organic movements of thesnake. The impact of rapid prototyping tech-nology was tremendous as it made a leapfrom ‘how?’ to ‘wow!’ Quoting from myproject brief “…matter and imagination spokethe same language.” The marriage between3D software technology and rapid proto-typing technology brought about a newcomplexity – a new paradigm shift in scaleand texture in this age of digital ornamenta-tion.Thus, the artist finds an inimitable collab-orator in the machine.

The project took another leap.This time itutilized stereolithography as its model fortangible expression. The digital data was keptthe same, but the results were refreshinglydifferent. Stereolithography is an additiveprocess (as opposed to the previous CNCprocess which was subtractive in nature).Thevirtual form was processed through softwarethat chops the model up into thin layers.The3D printer’s laser “painted” one of the layers,exposing the liquid plastic in the tank andhardening it. This process repeated, layer bylayer, until the model was complete.

This process presented a new dimensionto the Snake research, both artistically andtechnologically. Surface was now beingconstructed through addition and the layer ofdecoration/ornamentation was closer to thevirtual counterpart. The resin material itselfgravitates towards the visceral side of virtualform. When the two sculptures are puttogether, both traditional and mutant mate-rials share an intricate dialogue.

Digital ornamentation does not focus on thetheme of machine art. Rather, it examines the

role of complexity – not from a designperspective or art sensibility – but from theemerging awareness of crafts in this day andage. Form, material, technique and art/designare all placed in conversation. This alchemy,which has shades of architect Louis Sullivan’sdesign principles of reconciling the world ofnature with science and technology, produces arigor that displaces disciplinary limits betweenart, architecture and design.This reinforces theidea that ornamentation infuses cohesion andcontinuity into disparate systems.

SIGGRAPH is a fertile venue for artistssuch as myself, who are constantly diggingdeep into the field of technological innova-tions in the digital arena to find new tools forexpression.The conference event presents anunparallel opportunity to artists, designers,academics and manufacturers not just toshowcase their project, artworks or prod-ucts, but also serves as a platform where onelearns, networks and expands.


In the Age of Digital Ornamentation


Vishal Dar is an architect/designer/scholar for the University of California,Los Angeles (UCLA) working with newmedia and digital technology. He currentlyis based in New Delhi, India. The stere-olithographic model was produced cour-tesy 3Dsystems in Valencia, CA.

Vishal DarE-mail: [email protected]: www.vishaldar.com

Pamela Kleibrink Thompson

As a recruiter and career coach in the enter-tainment industry, I help companies find thepeople they need and help people find jobs.I have worked in all aspects of production andknow what it takes to succeed in this field.I’ve worked in television, features, commer-cials and video games, starting with ananimated ride film made with computers 23years ago. This article will point out somehighlights of the animation industry, and givesix tips on how you can build your career.

There is no better time to enter theanimation industry. There are lots of jobsfor animators today. But it wasn’t alwaysthat way.

Animation Becomes PopularTwenty-three years ago there were very fewopportunities to work in animation. Therewere a few features but certainly noanimated websites. Animation in video gameswas crude, if non-existent, and done byprogrammers. There were no special cablechannels like the Cartoon Network dedi-cated to showing animation. TV animationwas for kids. The idea that animated featurefilms could be profitable, or that anyonewould watch animation on prime time televi-sion, was laughable. Then in 1986, StevenSpielberg commissioned a half-hour animatedfilm for his Amazing Stories series, which wascalled Family Dog.

It was my job to set up a studio fromscratch to produce that show. We convertedan old warehouse in downtown L. A. — thecheapest space we could find. I obtainedanimation desks that Hanna-Barbera was goingto throw away.The floor was concrete, and wehad exposed plumbing.We had one telephoneand one bathroom — it was primitive.

Yet Family Dog was the only animatedproject in town, so every animator wanted tobe part of it — we had a team of very moti-vated artists who were excited to be workingon a quality project. Many of them werestudents fresh out of school.Who were someof the artists that worked on that animatedhalf hour?

Brad Bird, the director of Family Dog, wenton to direct Iron Giant and The Incredibles.Many Family Dog artists became directors:animator Rob Minkoff directed The Lion Kingand Stuart Little; Chris Buck co-directedTarzan with Kevin Lima, who directed 102Dalmatians; Don Paul directed El Dorado;Brenda Chapman directed Prince of Egypt;Kirk Wise directed Beauty and the Beast(which got a Best Picture nomination) aswell as Atlantis: The Lost Empire and Hunch-back of Notre Dame; Darrell Rooney directed

Simba’s Pride and Lady and the Tramp 2, twocommercially successful direct-to-videofeatures; Rich Moore directed many episodesof The Simpsons, Futurama,The Critic and BabyBlues; Greg Vanzo directed episodes of Futu-rama and The Maxx and started his ownstudio called Rough Draft. Sue Kroyer estab-l ished her own animation studio andproduced Fern Gully with her husband, Bill;and Ralph Eggleston directed a fabulousshort at Pixar and was a productiondesigner on Finding Nemo and art directoron Toy Story. The list goes on.

All those people worked as artists in thislittle downtown warehouse on a smallanimated film because they loved animationand that was the only opportunity they hadto animate.

Shortly after Family Dog came Who FramedRoger Rabbit,The Little Mermaid and Beauty andthe Beast, and studios realized that animationwasn’t just for kids anymore.

Then a startup network called Fox took achance on a prime time animated seriescalled The Simpsons. The ratings climbed in1990 beating out the live action competitionon the three major networks. As productionmanager on The Simpsons, I hired and super-vised many of the artists, some of whom arestill working on that show 14 years later.Now that’s a steady job in animation. But thatis very rare!

The public wanted more, so other primetime animated shows were made and itbecame obvious that adults loved animationtoo.Today there are entire networks devotedto animation.

In 1994, when Lion King’s box office nearedthe billion-dollar mark, other studios thoughtthey should tap into the animation box officebonanza and built studios, developed scriptsand recruited animators. Disney wasn’t theonly animation player in town anymore.There

was Dreamworks, Fox Feature Animation andWarner Brothers. The competition for talentwas intense. So intense, that I became a free-lance recruiter for Fox, which was setting upa studio in Phoenix,AZ. I traveled the countrymeeting students in animation schools. In1996, Disney employed me as a freelancerecruiter to help them find the people theyneeded for their Florida studio, which wasproducing Mulan.

Business people understand about basiceconomics. Supply and demand. When thedemand goes up, prices go up. That’s exactly

what happened. The salaries of animatorsrose radically. I heard one story where ananimator was called by an animation studiotrying to recruit her. She said she wasperfectly happy at the studio where sheworked, and was making a good salary. Therecruiter simply said, “Whatever you’remaking, put a one in front of it.” It was a verygood time to be an animator.

The cost of production increased dramati-cally.There was a lot of press about the needfor talent, and about the astronomical salariesbeing offered.

Animation is big business. In 1994, The LionKing ruled with over $787.4 million in world-wide box office. Other studios scrambled tocatch the audience’s appetite for animation.Ten years after the Lion King’s success, in2004, the trend continues. Audiences lovegreat animated stories, whether drawn withthe help of a computer or a pencil. FindingNemo netted more than $853.2 million inworldwide box office, toppling The Lion King’sreign as the biggest animated box office take.It’s not just the Disney films that can makemoney. Other studios have had success.Audiences fell in love with an ogre in 2001,and Shrek saw $469.7 million in green. Shrek2 has added to the pile with $395.3 millionso far.

Augus t 2004 25

Oppor-toon-ities in Animation and Computer Graphics

Entertainment industry

recruiter and career coach

Pamela Kleibrink

Thompson says the

opportunities for people

interested in animation

continue to grow.

Animation Interest ContinuesWith numbers like that and no stars tocontend with, is it any wonder that studio andtelevision executives are interested in anima-tion? The animation industry will continue togrow with new outlets and expanding markets.You can grow with it with these six tips.

Tip #1: Be Open to OpportunityThere are tremendous opportunities towork in the animation industry today. Youcan market your skills in features, prime timetelevision, Saturday morning cartoons, syndi-cated series for television, cable, direct tovideo and on the Internet. Almost everywebsite has some sort of animation, even ifit’s just a spinning logo.Video and computergames create a great need for animators, asdo commercials. Those polar bears in thesoft drink commercials exist only in acomputer. Computer animation is usedextensively in visual effects. Computeranimation is used in legal recreations, indus-trial films and ride films. Animation canrecreate an ancient city or prehistoricanimals for a museum kiosk or film. Medicalvisualizations help train medical personnel innew surgical procedures or teach nursesabout patient care. Animated films traintechnicians in new assembly techniques forthe space station or help NASA scientistsexplain their projects to gain governmentfunds. Animation is used in factories to trainworkers how to install engines into automo-biles and in architecture firms to pre-visu-alize buildings and bridges. The field isexpanding exponentially.

You no longer have to live near the majorfeature animation studios to work in theanimation field.There are small studios every-where providing animated websites for localbusinesses. Tiny shops can produce commer-cials and training films. There are video gamecompanies all over the United States who areclamoring for animators. Explore your areafor opportunities to work in animation. Getexperience wherever you can.

In the animation industry you must beprepared for change. Be f lexible . Takechances. You may be asked to relocate, towork in a part of the industry you didn’tanticipate or in a specialty you didn’t expect.Be open to opportunities. The more openyou are to new opportunities, the quickeryou will find work.

There are thousands of companiesproducing animation in some form. If youwant to work at only one specific company,apply there, but be open to gaining experi-ence at other places and building yourcareer. It may take a long time to land a jobat your dream company, but you will bebuilding your skills, portfolio and networkwhile you wait for the doors at your dreamcompany to open.

Tip #2: Learn the Basics FirstA solid foundation in the principles ofanimation will give you the edge over thosewho went to schools that simply teach soft-ware or those that offer quickie degrees.Whether you work in computer animationor cel animation, whether you work in 3Dor 2D, you must know the principles ofanimation, like squash and stretch, anticipa-tion, staging, follow through and overlappingaction. You must be an artist first. The soft-ware in demand might change, but the basic

animation principles are the same that WaltDisney used in the very first animated shorthe did with Mickey Mouse in 1928 and thatthe best animators sti l l use today. Acomputer is simply a tool for the artist - avery expensive pencil. You can rely on thefoundation of the principles of animationwhether you work in prime time or Saturdaymorning television, video games or the Web,whether you direct a feature or open yourown studio.

If you are a recent graduate, you mustrealize that your education has just begun,not ended.You will have a lifetime of learning.Learn from every animation or layout testyou take, from every artist and director youwork with, from every project or film youcontribute to. Learn the latest software. Keepyour skills up to date.

Tip #3: Be ResourcefulWith a wealth of resources to draw from,animators can learn from others throughconferences like ACM SIGGRAPH, softwarespecific user groups, or even through theInternet. Read the trade magazines likeCinefx and Animation Magazine , visitindustry websites such as awn.com andhighend3d.com and attend meetings of orga-nizations like Women in Animation. Closelymonitor what is going on in the industry soyou’ll be ready for whatever happens.

The Internet provides jobs for animators.Discussion groups and on-line courses helpanimators improve their skill by getting feed-back from peers they have never met. But theInternet also provides something else. It is adistribution outlet for your creativity. You nolonger have to sell your project to a studio ora network — you can show it directly to aworldwide audience. No censors, no broadcaststandards; you can put on whatever you want.

Tip #4: It Is Who You Know When I first moved to Los Angeles, I thoughtI could do everything on my own. I didn’twant help from anybody. I learned that to getahead in any business, you have to help othersand ask for help yourself. It’s callednetworking. Everyone you went to schoolwith and everyone you meet on every jobyou have can become part of your network.You will see those same faces again and again.Lend a helping hand, share information andhelp each other along the way.That’s the pathto success.

Market yourself. Don’t wait for others totake control of your career. Don’t rely on arecruiter or anyone to get you a job. Youmust make the calls, send out your work andgo on the interviews. It’s hard work to findwork, but there are ways to make it easier.

Build your network. Stay in contact withthe people you meet at school, at user groupmeetings, at animation related events. Providesupport to each other. Join organizations likeACM SIGGRAPH and Women in Animation.Subscribe and contribute to user groups onthe Web. Attend software user groups meet-ings. Attend trade shows and festivals. It’s agreat opportunity to network.

When you’re looking for the next job, yournetwork is the best resource. If the peopleyou’ve worked with know you’re reliable andprofessional and easy to get along with, they’lltell you about opportunities and help you getyour next job. And, you’ll always be lookingfor the next job.

Do your best on every job, even if it’s notyour ideal position. The people you meet onthat job may be the ones you work with onthe next one, and a good reputation is vital togetting hired.

Animation is a team sport. You might beworking in the same room with other people


How to Succeedin AnimationHow to Succeedin Animation

Be Open toOpportunity

Learn theBasics First

Be Resourceful

It Is Who You Know

Be Prepared

Be Patient,Persistent and Professional

****

****

****

for 12 hours or more a day, under toughdeadlines, with a great deal of stress. Makesure that you are pleasant to everyone youwork with and everyone you meet. Be profes-sional, be reliable, be a team player.You wantto get invited to play again on that team.Remember what you learned in kindergarten.Work well with others.

Give it 110 percent and maintain a great atti-tude. That person working next to you mighthelp you get your next job. Never be a putz.The one thing you can count on in your careeras an animator is that you will look for work.Learn how to do it well.The best way to get ajob is through friends. Make sure you makesome friends while you are making money.

Tip #5: Be PreparedKeep your resume, portfolio and demo reelup to date. Put your email address on yourresume. And make sure your current phonenumber and area code are also on yourresume. Keep your demo reel under threeminutes. Quality, not quantity, counts. I hearda story about an animator who had one shoton his demo reel that lasted about 10seconds. It was a shot of a photorealisticwhale. It was so photorealistic that thepeople viewing the reel asked him what hehad done on the reel since it looked like aclip from a Sea World promo. He said he dideverything and told them how.They hired himon the spot, based on that 10-second shot.

Decide what sort of company you want towork for and what kind of work you want todo. Know what you are good at. Research theemployers that interest you and market your-self well. Target your skills to meet theirneeds. Be flexible and open to the possibilities.

Being open to opportunities doesn’t meanyou can’t target a specific company — every-body has a dream job. Research thatcompany. Use the trade magazines, Internet,your network to find out what they do best,what skills are in demand. Then obtain theskills that will make you an attractive candi-date. Stress those skills in your resume anddemo reel.

The one thing you can count on is change,whether it is software or markets for yourskills. Know what’s happening in the industry.

Animate on your own. Practice your craft.Continue to build your portfolio. Continue todo life drawing. Draw every day. Get feedbackon your work whenever you can. You canpost it on the Web and ask others in usergroups to take a look and critique it. Listen towhat others tell you and improve your skills.

Once you get a job, don’t go out and buy aBMW convertible. Put a little money away.There is no such thing as job security. It islikely that you will change jobs many times.There will be down times between jobs. Planfor those.

Tip #6: Be Patient, Persistent and ProfessionalAnimators must be patient.That goes withoutsaying doesn’t it when it takes 12 drawings tomake one second of animation? Computershave helped the process a bit, but it still takesa long time. Animators must also be patientwhen it comes to advancing your career.Remember it takes a lot of work.

If you pay attention to the rules of thegame, you will write your own ticket. Orperhaps I should say, draw your own ticket.

The myth of the starving artist is gone.Artists work in all kinds of companies. Youmight work at a company modeling toys orcars, or creating educational software, or archi-tectural walk-throughs. You might work at acompany recreating accidents for courtrooms,or recreating dinosaurs for documentaries ontelevision. Wherever you work, do your bestand build your reputation and your career.

With new opportunities and freedomcomes some creative responsibility. Whatkinds of stories do you want to tell? Whatkinds of images do you want to create?Remember the words of Walt Disney:“Anima-tion can explain whatever the mind of mancan conceive” and choose wisely.Think aboutwhat you want to contribute to the world.

The opportunities for people interested inanimation continue to grow. Twenty-threeyears from now, there will be outlets and usesfor animation we haven’t dreamed of yet. Getready for an exciting, fun career.

Resources• http://www.siggraph.org/ is a fabulous

resource for educators and students. Thereare links to publications and companies.

• http://mag.awn.com/ is a wonderfulresource, not just for students and recentgraduates, but also for anyone interested inan animation career.

• Pamela Thompson writes a monthly columncalled The Career Coach on awn.com,which also has sections devoted tojob postings and other relevant topicsof interest.

Augus t 2004 27


Pamela Kleibrink Thompson is arecruiter/hiring strategist and careercoach. She is speaking at the SIGGRAPH2004 conference as part of the educator’sprogram on August 11: “Resumes andDemo Reels — If Yours Don't Work,Neither Do You.” She speaks at confer-ences and universities on careers in theentertainment field. She can be reached [email protected].


A C M S I G G R A P H A C T I V I T I E S

ACM SIGGRAPH 2004 Election Results

The ACM SIGGRAPH 2004 election resultsare in. Mk Haley was elected Director forCommunications; Francis X. McAfee,Director for Chapters; and Rob Cook,Director at Large.

We appreciate the commitment to ACMSIGGRAPH that all the candidates made inaccepting the nominations and regret thatthe candidates who were not elected will notserve on the Executive Committee at thistime. We are sure that such outstandingvolunteers will have many other opportuni-ties to serve within ACM SIGGRAPH, and welook forward to continuing to work with allthe candidates in some way.

Each year the Nominating Committee, ledby the Past President of ACM SIGGRAPH,looks for nominees for the following year’sExecutive Committee positions. Thecommittee will be nominating for two posi-tions in 2005: President and Vice President.More information about the duties of eachposition can be found in our bylaws ath t t p : / / w w w. s i g g r a p h . o r g / g e n -info/bylaws.html. The NominatingCommittee for 2004-2005 will be chaired by

Judith R. Brown and can be reached [email protected] interested in a leadership position inACM SIGGRAPH is encouraged to contactus to express your interest or to suggestgood candidates.

We appreciate the interest of everyonewho voted in this election and remind allmembers of ACM SIGGRAPH that yourvotes set the direction of the organization.

Official Ballot Counts from ACMHeadquartersBelow are the totals as reported by MoniqueChang of ACM Headquarters. “No votes”means that there were ballots that did notshow a vote for a particular office or offices.“Invalid” means that there was a vote butthat it was not valid, and “No Signature”means that the ballot was received but therewas no signature on the envelope.

2003-2004 Nominating CommitteeJudy Brown, ChairAlan ChalmersMarcello Zuffo

Election Results

Votes No Votes Invalid No Signature

For Director For Communications

Mk Haley 376 18 0 13Thierry Frey 269 18 0 13

For Director for Chapters

Francis X. McAfee 321 26 0 13David Hook 316 26 0 13

For Director At Large

Rob Cook 464 1 2 13Vali Lalioti 140 1 2 13

Matt Adcock 56 1 2 13

As of May 10, 2004, 676 ballots were returned and counted at headquarters.

Augus t 2004 29

ACM SIGGRAPHExecutive CommitteeMinutes

Conference CallNovember 19, 2003

Attendees Tony Baylis, Judy Brown, Colleen Case,Alain Chesnais, Gudrun Enger,Thierry Frey,Barb Helfer, Masa Inakage, Erica Johnson,Jacki Morie, Scott Owen, Dino Schweitzer.

AbsentStephen Spencer

GuestJamie Mohler

MinutesMotion (Brown, Helfer) To approve theminutes from the November 12 ExecutiveCommittee conference call.Approved (8,0,0)Note: Tony Baylis was not yet on the callwhen this vote was taken.

SIGGRAPH 2005 Technical ChairsJamie Mohler, SIGGRAPH 2005 Chairpresented the following candidates forSIGGRAPH 2005 Technical Chairs: MarcusGross, Papers Chair; Jill Smolin, Panels andSpecial Sessions Chair ; and John Fujii,Courses Chair. A discussion was held, andJamie answered questions about the candi-dates and their plans for the programs.

Motion (Owen, Case) To approve MarcusGross as Papers Chair; Jill Smolin as Panelsand Special Sessions Chair; and John Fujiias Courses Chair for SIGGRAPH 2005.Approved (9,0,0)

Conference ContractsScott Owen presented the recommenda-tions of the contract committees for threeconference contracts, each for three yearsbeginning with SIGGRAPH 2005.

1.The recommended contractor formarketing and media is Smith Bucklinand Associates.The selected bid was for$428,000 for SIGGRAPH 2005,$439,000 for SIGGRAPH 2006 and$450,000 for SIGGRAPH 2007, but theexact amount will be negotiated beforethe contract is signed.

Motion (Owen, Enger) To approve the bidby Smith Bucklin and Associates for themarketing and media services contract forSIGGRAPH 2005 - 2007.Approved (9,0,0)

Because there were fewer than threebids for this contract, a waiver will berequested from SIG Governing Board andthe ACM Executive Committee.

2.The recommended contractor forcomputer rental services is AVW-TelAV.This contract is for approximately$75,000 - $100,000 per year, and itdepends on the amount of equipmentrented. The equipment proposed ishigher quality than that of thecompeting bidder, and we also expectbetter service.

Motion (Owen, Morie) To approve the bidby AVW-TelAV for the computer rentalcontract for SIGGRAPH 2005 - 2007.Approved (9,0,0)

Because there were fewer than threebids for this contract, a waiver will berequested from SIG Governing Board andthe ACM Executive Committee.

3.The recommended contractor forexhibit sales and management is HallEricson. This contract is also forSIGGRAPH 2005, SIGGRAPH 2006 andSIGGRAPH 2007 and is based on apercentage of exhibit sales. It was feltthat this bid was better for ACMSIGGRAPH than the competing bidsbecause of their prior performancerecord with SIGGRAPH, their experi-ence and relationship with theSIGGRAPH exhibitors and a cost modelthat better protected SIGGRAPH ifexhibitor revenue were either higher orlower than average.

Motion (Owen, Frey) To approve thebid by Hall Ericson for the exhibitsmanagement contract for SIGGRAPH2005 - 2007.Approved (9,0,0)

There were requests that the ACMSIGGRAPH Executive Committee receivemore information about the competitivebids and how the contract committeesreached their recommendations prior tothe conference calls in order to under-stand better why a given bid was thebest bid. It was agreed that this informa-t ion would be avai lable on futurecontract proposals.

Executive Committee BudgetsGudrun Enger, Director for Communica-tions, and Alain Chesnais, President,presented their proposed budgets forfiscal year 2005 and answered questionsabout their budgets.

Conference CallDecember 17, 2003

Attendees Tony Baylis, Judy Brown, Colleen Case,Alain Chesnais, Gudrun Enger,Thierry Frey,Barb Helfer, Masa Inakage, Erica Johnson,Jacki Morie, Scott Owen, Dino Schweitzer,Stephen Spencer.

Registration ContractThere were three responses to therequest for proposal for the ACMSIGGRAPH annual conference contractfor registration. J. Spargo was selectedbecause of their reputation and cost.Theywere highly recommended by the orga-nizers of the Supercomputing conferenceas being accurate and accommodating andhaving excellent reporting. Their bid was$43,000 less than the others.

Motion (Owen, Enger) To approve thecontract with J. Spargo for registration forthe ACM SIGGRAPH annual conferencefor the years 2004, 2005 and 2006.Approved (10,0,0)

Executive Committee BudgetsThierry Frey presented his draft budgetfor the chapters for the fiscal year 2005.Tony Baylis gave some preliminary informa-tion on budget numbers, and StephenSpencer informed the ExecutiveCommittee about preliminary expecta-tions for the publications budget.Tony andStephen are both waiting for final informa-tion from ACM.

NewsletterThere was a discussion of making thenewsletter electronic only.This would savea significant amount of money ($120,000 -$130,000 a year). However, we need forthe portal to be working so we can makethis available to members only to keep themembership incentive.


A N N O U N C E M E N T S

August 8-12, 2004SIGGRAPH 2004Los Angeles, CA, U.S.A.http://www.siggraph.org/s2004/

August 16-18, 2004CGIM 2004Kauai, HI, USASee Computer Graphics 38(1),February 2004, p. 43

August 23-25, 2004SIP 2004Honolulu, HI, USASee Computer Graphics 38(2),May 2004, p. 34

September 6-8, 2004VIIP 2004Marbella, SpainSee Computer Graphics 38(2),May 2004, p. 35

September 26-29, 2004VL/HCCRome, ItalySee Computer Graphics 38(2),May 2004, p. 35

October 10-15, 2004Vis 2004Austin,Texas USASee Computer Graphics 38(2),May 2004, p. 35

November 2-5, 2004ISMAR 04Arlington,VA, U.S.A.See Computer Graphics 38(3),August 2004, this issue

November 10-12, 2004VRSTHong KongSee Computer Graphics 38(2),May 2004, p. 35

July 31-August 4, 2005SIGGRAPH 2005Los Angeles, CA, U.S.A.http://www.siggraph.org/s2005/

Calendar

Details on many of these announcements are available onsiggraph.org at http://www.siggraph.org/calendar

ISMAR 04

November 2-5, 2004Arlington,VA, USA

Sponsored by the IEEE Computer Society in coop-eration with ACM and Eurographics, the 3rd IEEEand ACM International Symposium on Mixed andAugmented Reality (ISMAR 04) is set for November2-5, 2004 in Arlington,VA.

In the last decade mixed reality (MR) andaugmented reality (AR) have evolved from beingexperimental technologies to mainstream researchactivities that are starting to show impact onindustry and society. MR and AR are highly interdis-ciplinary fields involving signal processing, computervision, computer graphics, user interfaces, humanfactors, wearable computing, mobile computing,computer networks, distributed computing, infor-mation access, information visualization, and hard-ware design for new displays and sensors. MR/ARconcepts are applicable to a wide range of applica-tions, including personal information systems, indus-trial, medical, entertainment and architecture.

For more information on papers and posters tobe presented, visit http://www.ismar04.org.

ISMAR 04 General Chairs are Mark Billinghurst,HITLabNZ, New Zealand; and Yohan Baillot, NavalResearch Lab, USA. Program Chairs are GudrunKlinker, Technische Universität München, Germany;Jannick Rolland, University of Central Florida, USA;and Hiroyuki Yamamoto, Canon, Japan.

ACM House Ad

ACM SIGGRAPHElectronic MailCommunicationsYou can reach many ACM SIGGRAPHvolunteers, contractors and informationsources through the electronic mailforwarding system at ACM SIGGRAPH’s on-line resource, siggraph.org. Below are anumber of ways to reach individuals andgroups and receive information or assistancethrough electronic mail. In any electronicmail address, upper and lower case lettersmay be used interchangeably.

Most individuals associated with ACMSIGGRAPH have an electronic mail alias onthe siggraph.org system which is their firstand last names, separated by an underbar, [email protected]. ACM SIGGRAPHoffice holders’ electronic mail aliases may befound at www.siggraph.org/gen-info/sfs.html.

ACM SIGGRAPH members may get asiggraph.org alias at their request. If youwould like an alias on siggraph.org or want tomake changes to your existing alias, send anelectronic mail message to [email protected] or access the on-line help pageat www.siggraph.org/cgi-bin/helpdesk. If youwould like additional help with electronicmail aliases on the siggraph.org system, sendan email to [email protected].

Information about many parts of theannual SIGGRAPH conference can beobtained by contacting individual programchairs for the conference. Please check thisyear’s annual conference website (e.g.,www.siggraph.org/s2002) and click on thecommittee link.

ACM ContactsMember ServicesTo join ACM, change membership status, orinquire about status:Tel: +1-212-626-0500Fax: +1-212-944-1318Email: [email protected]

To change your address (include membernumber in all correspondence):Tel: +1-212-626-0500Fax: +1-212-944-1318Email: [email protected]

To inquire about membership publicationsthat you have not received:Tel: +1-212-626-0500Fax: +1-212-944-1318Email: [email protected]

For general questions on ACM and/or SIGGRAPH membership:Tel: +1-212-626-0500Fax: +1-212-944-1318Email: [email protected]

PublicationsTo order proceedings, slides and other materials:ACM Order DepartmentP.O. Box 12114Church Street StationNew York, NY 10257Tel: +1-800-342-6626 credit card orders only (forCanada and entire USA except from 516, 212, 718and 914 area codes).Tel: +1-212-626-0500 international credit cardorders (and from 516, 212, 718 and 914 area codes).Fax: +1-212-944-1318 single-copy ordersEmail: [email protected]

To order SIGGRAPH Video Reviews:SIGGRAPH Video ReviewP.O. Box 12114Church Street StationNew York, NY 10257Tel: +1-800-342-6626 credit card orders only (forCanada and entire USA except from 516, 212, 718and 914 area codes).Tel: +1-212-626-0500 international credit cardorders (and from 516, 212, 718 and 914 area codes).Fax: +1-212-944-1318 single-copy ordersEmail: [email protected]://www.siggraph.org/library/SVR/SVR.htmlEducational purchase orders accepted

To inquire about single copy orders youmay not have received: See the ACM numberslisted above (under Publications)

ACM SIGGRAPH World WideWeb Home Pagehttp://www.siggraph.org/

Computer Graphics on the Webhttp://www.siggraph.org/newsletter/

COMPUTERGRAPHICS

Volume 38 Number 3 August 2004

A publication of ACM SIGGRAPH

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