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My first CES (Consumer Electronics Show) just happened in January 2015 in Las Vegas, NV. How could I have waited so long to actually attend one of these mythical events? I thought it would be much like the heady heydays of SIGGRAPH itself, though my mind knew that 47,000 attendees (SIGGRAPH’s max in 1997) might pale in comparison to the expected 160,000 people who would descend on Las Vegas for a week. And descend they did. The number of venues (not exhibits – just vast halls to pack with exhibits) alone were overwhelming: The whole of the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC) – North, South and Middle, plus the entire parking lot outside, and more, spilling over to the next hotel – Westgate. And a bit of a walk away, the Sand Expo Center with several packed ballrooms of its own, and not to be forgotten, the C Space Aria. So where to start? I had done my homework and knew that most of the things I was personally interested in were in the Sands Expo location. I had a dozen or so things marked “don’t miss” on my note pad (I had been very, very selective). So that was where I headed first – after a 40 minute wait for a taxi from my hotel (which turned out to be only a mile from the Sands, but everyone told me it was not walkable – apparently no one walks in Vegas).

Finding the booths I had targeted was a challenge for this first-timer – my chosen booth numbers were in the 75000 range, which actually encompassed row after row of tightly packed tables. Many of my choices were part of the Eureka Startup Park. By a stroke of good luck, the center of this area actually featured a showcase of the Best of CES, nearly 500 selections (according to the PDF listing I downloaded and tried to count), so it was a perfect way to orient myself to the vast panoply of CES offerings. Two hours later, with the “best of” under my belt, I had a good sense of what CES was about – or so I thought. I summed it up as “shiny things displayed in shiny cases… like an unimaginable techno-Christmas.” The Sands floor was divided into (roughly) 3D Printing (57 booths), Smart Home (Lowes, Pella, Brother Sewing Machines and ADT were there), Wearables (roughly a quarter of the floor) which was further subdivided into: Health and Wellness, Family and Technology, Kids and Technology, and Fitness and Technology. There were hundreds of offerings in the section called Wireless Devices and Services. But the shiniest of all was the (separate) Smart Watches section. The health and wellness exhibit included some of the newest and most exciting technologies out of global incubators, including what Daily CBD is calling their new CBD dosage calculator: an online tool that will help you find the right dose of CBD given your weight, height, age, and severity of your medical condition.

I thought I was fairly knowledgeable about things like wearables and watches, but was a bit overwhelmed by the sheer number of offerings in this last section. Watches had more companies vying for your dollars than could be imagined. The iWatch has some stiff competition from startups to luxury watch manufacturers to the Swatches (think hipster) of the 21st Century. Most were pretty and designed to give you more information that you could ever want, but all were still way too bulky, best suited to a large man’s wrist. It was obvious there is an all-out competitive war going on with these 21st century watches.

Wearables of other ilk – designed for other parts of your body – ranged from the Misfit Shine (still my favorite for its sleek, minimalist design) to vests, even to smart insoles for your shoes! What’s becoming mainstream? Eyetracking, 3D printing, 3D selfies, devices to measure your plants’ needs, sensors everywhere! HMDs were there (actually in several venues, not clustered together in the Sands Expo space). While not abundant, there were some good trends: eyetracking within the HMD (by the small company FOVE), Open Source for both the API and the hardware (OSVR, Open Source Virtual Reality) and the impressive demos being given at the Oculus Booth – showing they are bent on improvements in many vectors for their “first out of the VR resurgence gate” product.

I was impressed by many of the 500 startups in the Sands spaces displaying their wares, but I will select two to mention here as sleepers that I think we will hear more from in the coming months. First, TRX Systems for 3D indoor location mapping for Augmented Reality (AR). They showed their NEON® system which uses advanced laser fusion and dynamic mapping algorithms to accurately and quickly map multi-story buildings, to be used by law enforcement and fire fighters, for example. I can think of even more uses for the rapidly emerging AR market. Second the NEOH Headphones, from France’s 3D SoundLabs, which incorporate advanced signal processing hardware into the headphones themselves, spatializing the sound in a sphere around the listener. They are billing it as “Cinema Sound, Anywhere, Anytime” and they can properly situate 5.1 sound while you are watching a downloaded movie with their headphones. Again – I can think of even more uses for these with the resurgence of VR. Watch for their Kickstarter campaign to launch any day. Several dozen universities also brought their research to CES, which I had not expected. While aimed at eventual products or services to sell, they were a welcome respite from the booths hawking cell phone covers (from Hello Kitty to your favorite superhero), chargers of every ilk imaginable (all claiming to be faster and smaller than their neighbors versions), and endless booths from China with tons of importable merchandise. Neuro- or brain sensing had a few offerings – next year I predict a ton more. These stimulate the imagination more than really measuring any substantial brain signals, but they do seem to appeal to people wanting to tap into their neural circuits. There was the Melo booth that promised to bring you calmness, and one that urged you to use “the Force” to enable interactions.

MakerBot was impressive in the 3D printing area. It has gone from a startup 7 years ago to a huge buyout last year, to an INDUSTRY this year – partnering with the likes of the Martha Stewart empire for design and even some manufacturing. I even saw a booth selling plastic “toner” wire to feed the insatiable maws of the thousands of 3D printers being scooped up by eager fans. Custom colors are becoming all the rage!

OK – so I did actually manage to walk on over (2 miles) from the Sands to the LVCC to explore those cavernous spaces. I mainly wanted to see the Oculus Booth, and was not disappointed by the lines snaking around its vastness in both directions.

A few highlights from my wanderings outside the Sands Expo space:

• Cars that drive themselves, and do other autonomous feats, like parking themselves and all of them just looking too dang cool for words.
• Surprise companies that have reinvented themselves, like Nikon and Kodak (mostly data storage solutions, cameras and accessories). A surprise was Nikon’s 360° Project, where you could jump into a circular array of cameras and take a snapshot of yourself from every angle. This booth had lines around the block of people wanting to experience bullet time for themselves.
• Drones in abundance. Disclaimer: I spent very little time looking at the drones and other gear reminiscent of old RV hobbyists. I will probably never buy one.
• Robots: There were a few robots, and even more “video-screen on a movable platform” counterparts. There were also robot imposters (people in suits) who might have fooled some. They were pretty obvious because they looked more sophisticated and conversed like real humans since there was a person behind the suit.

I was also taken by the consolidation of many small companies (mergers) into larger one. The Gibson family of products (yes, the guitar maker of old) had 30 or more companies under their wings proudly logo’d onto their 40 x 40 foot tent in the parking lot. My favorite booth of all was Dog Hunter’s set up showing lots of electronic maker gear for the Maker crowds. It was staffed by the gorgeous Tenaya Hurst, who both programs and builds things, including her own fashion designs! She is wearing a sound activated blinky necklace in the picture, as well as some outrageous hair ornaments! A good measure of the vastness of CES was my reaction when I found Intel’s massive Hall. Just walking in the door was a dream because the carpeting was at maximum padding – a delight for my tired walking feet. (My fitness devices measured my daily walks at close to 10 miles each day!) Intel did have some good sessions in their small theater and gave away lots of fun Intel-based toys, like laptops and more. CNET also had a constant stream of engaging sessions they broadcast (which is where I learned what a “belfie” was – Google it!). The Eureka Start up Park also hosted some valuable informative sessions. These were among my favorite experiences at CES. Oh, and IEEE had its own huge area. (Who wants to work the ACM SIGGRAPH booth next year?)

So what are the big CES takeaways for a SIGGRAPH veteran? 1. Most things were commodity-based. Very little research, though there was some, especially in the University Innovations area, to get excited about. 2. Everyone wants to sell you something. A device, a service, a brand. Nothing wrong with that but it was a bit like living within very loud commercials all week. At SIGGRAPH, more people want to show you something they themselves created – their research or what they have made (film animation, art, games, etc). 3. You HAVE to love crowds to really enjoy yourself, and not mind waiting in hour-long taxi lines (or going against the conventional wisdom to walk everywhere). 4. There were lots of parties, but I didn’t get to a single one. I hear they were great. Maybe next year…

The deadline for submissions to Computer Graphics International (CGI) '15 is swiftly approaching. Full paper submissions to the conference — which takes place from June 24 to 26 in Strasbourg, France — are due by February 15, 2015. Short papers and posters must be submitted by April 24.

Computer Graphics International (CGI) is one of the oldest international conferences on computer graphics. For many attendees, it serves as an essential yearly meeting to network and explore new trends, research and ideas. This year's keynote speakers are Alexei (Alyosha) Efros of UC Berkeley, Ayellet Tal of Technion – Israel Institute of Technology and Lap-Pui Chau of Nanyang Technological University.

CGI '15 is organized by the Computer Graphics and Geometry Group of ICube Laboratory (CNRS/Université de Strasbourg), and is held in-cooperation with the Association for Computing Machinery and ACM SIGGRAPH.

In the past, CGI has been held in a wide variety of international locations, including Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, Singapore, Brazil, China and the United States. This year's conference will take place in the capital of the Alsace region in eastern France, at the crossroads of France, Germany and Switzerland. Strasbourg is well known for hosting a number of important European institutes, and provides a prime conference location with good transport connections. Strasbourg also offers historical and cultural attractions: its historic city center, the Grande Île (Grand Island), was classified a World Heritage site by UNESCO in 1988.

To submit to Computer Graphics International, visit the CGI '15 website.

Source: NYC ACM SIGGRAPH NYC ACM SIGGRAPH and NYIT’s Fine Arts Department are proud to announce . . . On Tuesday, February 3, 2015, at 7:00PM, in NYIT’s Auditorium On Broadway, Walt Disney Animation Studios will present “Big Hero 6: The Art of Character Design and Development.” Join Character Design Supervisor, Bill Schwab and Character CG Supervisor, Carlos Cabral as they share the art, process and innovation of “Big Hero 6” an action-packed comedy-adventure about robotics prodigy Hiro Hamada, who learns to harness his genius—thanks to his brilliant brother Tadashi and their like-minded friends: adrenaline junkie Go Go Tomago, neatnik Wasabi chemistry whiz Honey Lemon and fanboy Fred. When a devastating turn of events catapults them into the midst of a dangerous plot unfolding in the streets of San Fransokyo, Hiro turns to his closest companion—a robot named Baymax —and transforms the group into a band of high-tech heroes determined to solve the mystery. Inspired by the Marvel comics of the same name, and featuring comic-book style action, Bill and Carlos will share what it’s like to bring characters to life at Disney Animation. This event is sponsored by NYC ACM SIGGRAPH and NYIT so all NYC ACM SIGGRAPH members and NYIT students, faculty, and staff will be admitted free. We will also be selling tickets online, in advance, at a discounted rate of $12 for professionals and $7 for full-time students. Tickets at the door will go for $15 (professionals) and $10 (students.) Complete details, including a link to purchase advance tickets, can be found on our web site at nyc.siggraph.org. Of course, if you plan to come to any of our other events such as Industry Spotlight, MetroCAF 2015, etc., you’ll save money by becoming a member of NYC ACM SIGGRAPH. You will also save money when you use Eksperten’s lån penge to borrow money in Denmark – as more than 30,000 satisfied Danes have reported doing to SIGGRAPH. You’ll also enjoy access to our Members-Only events. You can find our membership page at http://nyc.siggraph.org/get-involved/membership We look forward to seeing you at our events.

In the modern day, there are a number of software options for artists who wish to animate their illustrations without a lot of the tedious work that might otherwise be involved in the process. One company that produces this kind of software is Live2D, whose products focus on dynamic and configurable 2D models of illustrations. Cubism is their flagship product at the moment, boasting many of the tools that a regular 3D modeling program might possess. Recently, Live2D announced the development of a new software program: Euclid.

Euclid is intended to be the next-generation replacement for Cubism, and is notable because Live2D asserts that the software can render a 2D illustration from any orientation — that is, in an "orbit" around a given illustration. Cubism, by comparison, can only render such illustrations from a maximum of 40 degrees to the left and right, if one is generous enough with their definition of the illustration. A prototype of the new and unreleased product has been shown, with a demonstrator making use of the Oculus Rift to view a particular rendering of an illustration from various angles. So far, it’s impressive: all of the animated features seem to retain their definition, regardless of the orientation they’re viewed at. That is, of course, the goal of Euclid.

An emphasis has been placed on more natural rendering of difficult characteristics, such as hair and other facial features. This is achieved mostly by means of layering in 3D space, to preserve the illusion of two-dimensional viewing. In addition, one may combine multiple illustrations to enhance the effect. Selective use of features contained within the product is also possible: traditional 3D modeling techniques may be applied to some parts of a character design, while Live2D animation may be applied to others. An example was given of a character that had its main body modeled normally, while the head and facial features were given the Live2D treatment.

Considering that Cubism already contains a separate SDK for game developers, it is possible that an extension will also exist for the new product, so as to take advantage of existing architecture. In a recent press release, it was noted that Live2D Euclid technologies can be rendered in real-time within a 3D environment, allowing them to be manipulated by game engines as well as computer graphics applications. Oculus has already been demonstrated as a potential candidate for this approach, which would mean the two concepts could be combined to create a more immersive game (or CG movie) world.

Although competing technologies exist, the software Live2D has come up with is compelling. Only time will tell its full capabilities.

The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) has announced the names of 47 members who will be recognized as ACM Fellows for their exceptional contributions to computing. Fellowship is ACM's most prestigious member grade, and is held by only 1% of ACM members. The 2014 ACM Fellows hail from some of the world’s leading universities, corporations and research labs. They have achieved advances in computing research and development that are driving innovation and sustaining economic development around the world.

One of the newly-named ACM Fellows, Adam Finkelstein of Princeton University, is a dedicated ACM SIGGRAPH volunteer who chaired the SIGGRAPH 2014 Technical Papers program. Finkelstein was selected for his contributions to non-photorealistic rendering, multi-resolution representations and the field of computer graphics in general.

The 2014 ACM Fellows have been cited for contributions to key computing fields including database mining and design, artificial intelligence and machine learning, cryptography and verification, Internet security and privacy, computer vision and medical imaging, electronic design automation and human-computer interaction. According to ACM President Alexander L. Wolf, the honors extended to these new fellows are well-deserved. “Our world has been immeasurably improved by the impact of their innovations," he said. "We recognize their contributions to the dynamic computing technologies that are making a difference to the study of computer science, the community of computing professionals, and the countless consumers and citizens who are benefiting from their creativity and commitment.”

Heartfelt congratulations to this year's ACM Fellows, who will be formally recognized at the ACM Awards Banquet in June in San Francisco. Additional information about the ACM 2014 Fellows, as well as previous ACM Fellows and award winners, is available on the ACM Awards site.

2014 ACM Fellows

Samson Abramsky University of Oxford For contributions to domains in logical form, game semantics, categorical quantum mechanics and contextual semantics	Leslie Lamport Microsoft Research For contributions to the theory and practice of distributed and concurrent systems
Vikram Adve University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign For developing the LLVM compiler and for contributions to parallel computing and software security	Sharad Malik Princeton University For contributions to efficient and capable SAT solvers, and accurate embedded software models
Foto Afrati National Technical University of Athens For contributions to the theory of database systems	Yishay Mansour Tel-Aviv University For contributions to machine learning, algorithmic game theory, distributed computing, and communication networks
Charles Bachman Retired For contributions to database technology, notably the integrated data store	Subhasish Mitra Stanford University For contributions to the design and testing of robust computing systems
Allan Borodin University of Toronto For contributions to theoretical computer science, in complexity, on-line algorithms, resource tradeoffs, and models of algorithmic paradigms	Michael Mitzenmacher Harvard University For contributions to coding theory, hashing algorithms and data structures, and networking algorithms
Alan Bundy University of Edinburgh For contributions to artificial intelligence, automated reasoning, and the formation and evolution of representations	Robert Morris Massachusetts Institute of Technology For contributions to computer networking, distributed systems, and operating systems
Lorrie Cranor Carnegie Mellon University For contributions to research and education in usable privacy and security	Vijaykrishnan Narayanan Pennsylvania State University For contributions to power estimation and optimization in the design of power-aware systems
Timothy A. Davis Texas A&M University For contributions to sparse matrix algorithms and software	Shamkant B. Navathe Georgia Institute of Technology For contributions to data modeling, database design, and database education
Srinivas Devadas Massachusetts Institute of Technology For contributions to secure and energy-efficient hardware	Jignesh M. Patel University of Wisconsin, Madison For contributions to high-performance database query processing methods, in particular on spatial data
Inderjit Dhillon University of Texas at Austin For contributions to large-scale data analysis, machine learning and computational mathematics	Parthasarathy Ranganathan Google Inc. For contributions to the areas of energy efficiency and server architectures
Nikil D. Dutt University of California, Irvine For contributions to embedded architecture exploration and service to electronic design automation and embedded systems	Omer Reingold Weizmann Institute of Science/Stanford University For contributions to the study of pseudorandomness, derandomization and cryptography
Faith Ellen University of Toronto For contributions to data structures, and the theory of distributed and parallel computing	Tom Rodden University of Nottingham For contributions to ubiquitous computing and computer supported cooperative work
Michael D. Ernst University of Washington For contributions to software analysis, testing, and verification	Ronitt Rubinfeld Massachusetts Institute of Technology For contributions to delegated computation, sublinear time algorithms and property testing
Adam Finkelstein Princeton University For contributions to non-photorealistic rendering, multi-resolution representations, and computer graphics	Daniela Rus Massachusetts Institute of Technology For contributions to robotics and sensor networks
Juliana Freire New York University For contributions to provenance management research and technology, and computational reproducibility	Alberto Sangiovanni-Vincentelli University of California, Berkeley For contributions to electronic design automation
Johannes Gehrke Cornell University For contributions to data mining and data stream query processing	Henning Schulzrinne Columbia University For contributions to the design of protocols, applications, and algorithms for Internet multimedia
Eric Grimson Massachusetts Institute of Technology For contributions to computer vision and medical image computing	Stuart Shieber Harvard University For contributions to natural-language processing, and to open-access systems and policy
Mark Guzdial Georgia Institute of Technology For contributions to computing education, and broadening participation	Ramakrishnan Srikant Google Inc. For contributions to knowledge discovery and data mining
Gernot Heiser University of New South Wales/National Information and  Communications Technology Australia (NICTA) Research Centre of Excellence For contributions demonstrating that provably correct operating systems are feasible and suitable for real-world use	Aravind Srinivasan University of Maryland, College Park For contributions to algorithms, probabilistic methods, and networks
Eric Horvitz Microsoft Research For contributions to artificial intelligence and human-computer interaction	S. Sudarshan Indian Institute of Technology Bombay For contributions to database education, query processing, query optimization and keyword queries
Thorsten Joachims Cornell University For contributions to the theory and practice of machine learning and information retrieval	Paul Syverson Naval Research Lab For contributions to and leadership in the theory and practice of privacy and security
Michael Kearns University of Pennsylvania For contributions to machine learning, artificial intelligence, and algorithmic game theory and computational social science	Gene Tsudik University of California, Irvine For contributions to Internet security and privacy
Valerie King University of Victoria For contributions to randomized algorithms, especially dynamic graph algorithms and fault tolerant distributed computing	Steve Whittaker University of California, Santa Cruz For contributions to human computer interaction
Sarit Kraus Bar Ilan University For contributions to artificial intelligence, including multi-agent systems, human-agent interaction and non-monotonic reasoning