SIGGRAPH

The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) sponsors meetings in several technical areas; in the context of new media, the most important is probably the one held annually by SIGGRAPH, the Special Interest Group for Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques. This international conference draws the world's top graphics artists and programmers, who come to present their research innovations in graphic design. Researchers from private graphics production houses, non-profit institutions, government laboratories, academia, and industry meet to disseminate information about the theory and practice of computer graphics. SIGGRAPH provides an opportunity for researchers and artists to present ideas about how to interact with graphics in new-media environments.

Subgroups of SIGGRAPH are devoted to studying the creation of 2D and 3D imagery, environments, and special effects for display on a variety of new and old media: film, games, television, Web graphics, medical imaging, and virtual reality (VR). SIGGRAPH contributors have, over the years, focused on new technologies to synthetically create photo-realistic imagery; new hardware and software developments over the years continually enable further advancements. For example, at SIGGRAPH 2000, attention was focused on ways of improving a graphic image by rendering light reflected below the surface of an object. New algorithmic lighting models, such as reflected subsurface light, generate visual detail not evident with existing, older methods, such as light reflected from the surface.

SIGGRAPH was formed in 1969, after members of the ACM started taking special interest in computer-generated graphics. SIGGRAPH organizers were interested in exploring tools and techniques for image generation, as well as in the ways that people interact with graphics. In the early years, the organization began hosting conferences and publishing proceedings, making scientists in the growing field of computing aware of innovations in technology, application disciplines, and art forms. Within a few years, there were local U.S. chapters in Los Angeles; Syracuse, N.Y., and Washington, D.C.; and overseas chapters in Bologna and Berlin. The academics who started SIGGRAPH in 1969 also helped start SIGCHI (Special Interest Group for Computer/Human Interaction); interactive techniques have always been part of SIGGRAPH, too.

The first national SIGGRAPH conference was held in 1974, and with 600 attendees the organization had enough momentum to become the primary professional association for computer-graphics experts in the United States. Also in the mid-1970s, SIGGRAPH encouraged participation by artists, by Hollywood production companies, and by vendors of film, video, and other new media equipment; these new participants helped enliven the conferences. Future VR pioneers Tom DeFanti and Dan Sandin attended the first SIGGRAPH and brought along a VCR to show videotapes; this grew into SIGGRAPH's “academy award” Electronic Theater event. The conference started to grow in 1977 (its attendance nearly tripled from 1976), and by 1979, when DeFanti was co-chair of the conference, it grew to 5,000 people. DeFanti's colleague Maxine Brown served as exhibits co-chair that year, and doubled the companies and tripled the floor space available, making the exhibition a vital part of the conference.

By the 1980s, the SIGGRAPH conferences had grown larger than the parent ACM meetings, and [Page 412]recent conferences have attracted more than 50,000 participants. Moreover, firms devoted to producing special effects for movies, television, and video games came not only to present their achievements, but also to recruit talent. By 1992, when the conference was held in Chicago, Brown was chair of the conference and DeFanti headed up the Showcase event. It was the first time that SIGGRAPH was networked, and the push for VR that more than one person could experience at a time led to significant developments in VR technology, including the CAVE.

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