Elliot Kotek, co-founder of Not Impossible Labs, has been announced as the SIGGRAPH 2014 keynote speaker. Kotek and his team have a unique (and laudable) goal: to bring people in need and life-altering technology together through crowd sourcing. One recent project saw the development of eye-tracking glasses that enabled a paralyzed graffiti artist to draw using only his eyes.

Not Impossible's motto, "technology for the sake of humanity" resonates with many in the tech community, including SIGGRAPH 2014 Conference Chair Dave Shreiner. "Elliot Kotek is an ideal keynote speaker," he said. "Not Impossible Labs’ projects serve as inspiration to the thousands of researchers, artists, educators, and computer graphics professionals that gather at SIGGRAPH each year."
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The 2014 ACM SIGGRAPH election results are in. Jeff Jortner of Sandia National Laboratories will continue as President of ACM SIGGRAPH for a second term. Bryan Wyvill of the University of Victoria begins his first term as Vice President, and Evan Hirsch of Engine Co. 4 will join the Executive Committee as a Director-at-Large. ACM SIGGRAPH is now accepting nominations for three Executive Committee positions with terms beginning July 2015: Director-at-Large (two openings), and Treasurer. Interviews will be conducted at this year's SIGGRAPH conference in Vancouver, Canada. Nominations should be submitted to the Nominations Committee Chair.

SIGGRAPH Asia 2014 is accepting poster submissions from animators, developers, educators, students, and researchers until 9 July, 2014. Submissions that provide technical details on work submitted to the Computer Animation Festival are also welcome. Submit now!

The SIGGRAPH 2014 Computer Animation Festival winners have been announced:

BEST IN SHOW: Box, Directed by Tarik Abdel-Gawad, Bot & Dolly

JURY AWARD: Paper World, Directed by Dávid Ringeisen, László Ruska, Moholy-Nagy, University of Art and Design

BEST ANIMATED SHORT: Home Sweet Home, Directed by Pierre Clenet, Alejandro Diaz, Romain Mazenet, Stéphane Paccolat, Supinfocom Arles

BEST STUDENT PROJECT: Wrapped, Directed by Roman Kälin, Falko Paeper, Florian Wittmann, Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS: Gravity, Directed by Alfonso Cuarón, Esperanto Filmoj, VFX work submitted by Framestore, United Kingdom

Image courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures and Framestore

BEST VISUALIZATION & SIMULATION : Kinematics, Directed by Jessica Rosenkrantz, Jesse Louis-Rosenberg, Nervous System

BEST GAME: The Crew, Directed by Maxime Luère, Dominique Boidin, Rémi Kozyra, Unit Image

BEST REAL-TIME GRAPHICS: RYSE: Son of Rome, Directed by Chris Evans, Peter Gornstein, Martin L’Heureux, Crytek

BEST COMMERCIAL ADVERTISEMENT: Three, The Pony, Directed by Dougal Wilson, Blink Productions, VFX work submitted by MPC

Turning Your Carpet Into a Computer Display. This new technology raises and flattens fibers to create a furry display.

Yuta Sugiura, Keio University.