Archive notice: This article was originally published on August 5, 2005. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
Siggraph 2005 at the Los Angeles Convention Center attracted slightly more than 29,000 visitors, around 4,000 more than originally expected. More than 250 companies exhibited their products at the trade fair, 65 of them for the first time. The event had thus “far exceeded” expectations, explained James L. Mohler, the chairman of the conference commitee.
By far the best-attended event of the five-day congress was the keynote with “Star Wars” creator George Lucas. The Electronic Theater, in which numerous award-winning 3D animation films were shown, also enjoyed great popularity.
ACM SIGGRAPH presented three awards to honour people who had distinguished themselves in a special way through their contributions to the computer animation scene: Tomoyuki Nishita of the University of Tokyo received the Steven Anson Coons Award for special achievement in simulating natural phenomena. Jos Stam, a research scientist at Alias, received the Computer Graphics Achievement Award for his pioneering work in the field of Subdivision Surfaces and for fast algorithms for simulating natural phenomena such as fire, liquids and gases. Ronald Fedkiw of Stanford University received the Significant New Researcher Award for his contributions in the field of fluid-based dynamic systems.
The next Siggraph takes place from July 30 to August 3, 2006, in Boston. Registration for it is expected to begin in February 2006.
