SIGGRAPH Asia 2015 to shine world spotlight on Japan
A gathering of the world’s leading computer animation experts, researchers, technologists and graphics pioneers inthe region of Kansai for the first time. This year's edition will have the highest number of programs in the conference
history - including two completely new programs

KOBE, Japan, 2 October 2015 - Come 2 to 5 November 2015, the international computer
graphics and interactive techniques community will converge in the vibrant and eclectic city of
Kobe in Japan for SIGGRAPH Asia 2015. Taking place at the Kobe Convention Centre, the eighthedition of the highly anticipated ACM SIGGRAPH Conference and Exhibition in Asia will once
again bring together the top names in graphics, animation, art and technology.
Building on its strong tradition of providing attendees with exciting first-hand views of the latest
innovations in computer graphics and interactive techniques, SIGGRAPH Asia 2015 is set to draw
more than 7,000 participants from more than 50 countries. This year’s edition sees the return ofcrowd favorites such as the Art Gallery, Computer Animation Festival and Emerging
Technologies, while hundreds of industry experts and professionals are also expected tocontribute to the strong line-up of programs such as Courses and Technical Papers.
Computer graphics has constantly been at the forefront of technology development, making
significant impact across the industry by changing the way we think, work, and live. SIGGRAPH
Asia has been able to reinvent itself each year, much like its host city, Kobe. This year, Kobe wasstrategically chosen as the venue for SIGGRAPH Asia to help further grow and foster strong
connections to important communities in Asia.
New sessions at this year’s edition
This year’s edition of SIGGRAPH Asia will also introduce two new programs for the first-time ever– the Symposium on Education and the Symposium on Visualization in High Performance
Computing.
The Symposium on Education invites people from both academia and the industry to present
innovative research, methods and positions about the teaching and integration of computer
graphics (CG) and interactive techniques in all areas of learning. The Symposium will also provide
opportunities for educators and students to learn high-quality pedagogical content, critical thinkingand research that push boundaries and expand knowledge within the CG discipline. The keynote
speaker for the symposium, Dr. Joaquim Jorge, is an esteemed academic, currently a Professorof Computer Graphics and Multimedia at the Departamento de Engenharia Informática doInstituto Superior Técnico da Universidade de Lisboa in Lisbon, Portugal, as well as a ScientificCoordinator of the Research Group on Visualization and Multimodal Interfaces of the Institute forPage 1 of 6

Computer and Systems Engineering INESC-ID. Dr. Jorge’s keynote, Game Over? New
Approaches to Teaching Engineering Courses, will cover gamification and how it can provide forsmarter learning by catering to students with different profiles.
The highly anticipated Symposium on Visualization in High Performance Computing,organized for the very first time since SIGGRAPH Asia’s first edition in 2008, aims to cover thedevelopment, technology and demonstration of visualization techniques and their interactiveapplications. The Symposium will be featuring two very renowned experts in the field ofvisualization and 3D. Leading the Keynote at the Symposium will be Kwan-Liu Ma, a professor ofcomputer science and the chair of the Graduate Group in Computer Science (GGCS) at theUniversity of California-Davis, where he directs VIDI Labs and UC Davis Center of Excellence forVisualization. Joining him is Hirofumi Seo, CEO & President at SCIEMENT, Inc., 3D designer andSIGGRAPH 2015 Computer Animation Festival award winner, who will be presenting a special
session on 3D animation.
Return of crowd favorites
SIGGRAPH Asia 2015 will also see the return of programs that have captured the imagination ofattendees right from its inception. These include Art Gallery, Emerging Technologies, Symposium
on Mobile Graphics and Interactive Applications and the Computer Animation Festival.
The 2015 edition of the Computer Animation Festival will consist of two main components which
SIGGRAPH Asia attendees will be very familiar with – screenings and panels & talks. The
Computer Animation Festival committee, comprising 30 industry players, academics and artists,
has chosen a selection of stunning works from 400 submissions all around the world. Aninternationally recognized jury receives hundreds of submissions and presents the best work of
the year in the two programs of the Computer Animation Festival, the Animation Theater and theElectronic Theater. Selections include outstanding achievements in animated feature and shortfilms, scientific visualization, visual effects, real-time graphics, game excerpts and much more!
As part of the Computer Animation Festival, SIGGRAPH Asia 2015 will host the Production
Sessions, where the world's most elite and talented computer graphic experts and creative
geniuses explain their processes and techniques for creating compelling content. Following eachpresentation, attendees ask questions about the challenges and issues associated with complex
productions.
This year’s Art Gallery continues to provide visitors with an immersive experience created byartistically beautiful and technically sophisticated installations. The central theme for the Art
Gallery this year is “Life on Earth?” which explores and showcases the intersections of art andlife, as well as the cosmos between. “Life on Earth?” also experiments with and reimagines thePage 2 of 6

concept of life on Earth. The SIGGRAPH Asia 2015 Art Gallery committee welcomed a myriad ofproposals for art works and artistic installations that utilize digital technology, including visual andsound works, performances, audio visual installations, and most reflect strong collaboration
across different fields of arts and sciences.
A showcase from Asia and around the world
Featuring the latest hardware, software, technologies and inventions from around the world,
SIGGRAPH Asia 2015 will continue to draw top names and organizations from both within andoutside of Asia, including Amazon Web Services, Digital Hollywood Japan, Forum 8, Google,Intel Corporation, Isotropix, Khronos Group, Multi-plAtform Game Innovation
Centre (MAGIC) - Nanyang Technological University Singapore, Pixar Animation Studios,Polygon Magic and Tokyo Designer Gakuin College, to name a few.
Intel will be showcasing some of its new processor technology and how it accelerates game andmedia, while Pixar Animation Studios will be demonstrating the latest RenderMan features inversion 20, which are currently making waves on Pixar’s upcoming feature film, Finding Dory,along with some stunning examples.
Continuous learning opportunities
SIGGRAPH Asia will also offer a variety of exciting workshops this year, organized by leading
developers and animation studios including Pixar Animation Studios and Square Enix Co., Ltd.
Participants in these workshops can look forward to product updates and detailed hands-on
presentations introducing them to the latest developments in product innovation. SIGGRAPH Asia
2015 exhibitors will introduce their latest developments; demonstrate software, hardware andsystems; answer questions; and talk about how their applications improve professional andtechnical performance.
Some of the workshops, exhibitor talks and sessions taking place at SIGGRAPH Asia 2015
include:Pixar Animation Studios – The Art and Science of RenderMan, which will be kicked off
with a screening of their latest short, “Sanjay’s Super Team”
Intel Corporation – Memory Sharing in the Compute Architecture of Intel Processor
Graphics
Isotropix – Clarisse iFX: A new approach to 3D
Khronos Group - Khronos Graphics, Compute and Vision APIs – including Vulkan Next
Generation GPU Acceleration

Page 3 of 6Google – Render more on Google Cloud platform and Zync
Square Enix – Physics simulation R&D, AI Academy Series: AI workshop for blackboard
architecture and Introduction of digital game AI

A gathering of esteemed innovators
True to its aim to inspire further innovations and promote stimulating discussions, SIGGRAPH
Asia 2015 will offer participants the opportunity to meet and network with an international set ofcomputer graphics and interactive techniques luminaries. Leading the line-up of Keynote
Speakers at SIGGRAPH Asia 2015 is Bart Decrem, President & Principal Lobbyist at The Hobby.
Mr. Decrem is a Silicon Valley based entrepreneur who has worked on a number of high profile
projects. Among others, he oversaw the launch of Firefox 1.0 and launched one of the first iPhone
startups (Tapulous, 2008). Mr. Decrem has been responsible for 25 number-1 App Store hits,
which is still a record on the Apple App Store. In his keynote, Mr. Decrem will talk about his
experience developing iPhone and smartphone hits that resonate with hundreds of millions ofgamers. Mr. Decrem will also discuss current projects under development.
SIGGRAPH Asia covers a wide range of technical fields, and to that, will be featuring a second
Keynote speaker, Satoshi Tadokoro, who is a president at the International Rescue System
Institute and a project manager at the Japan Cabinet Office ImPACT project. Tadokoro will be
sharing his learnings from the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, discussing the use ofrobotics for disaster response and recovery.
Also, for the first time this year, SIGGRAPH Asia is proud to host seasoned professionals in theindustry for a Pioneers’ Panel, in which three industry pioneers from key fields will sharereflections from their careers to aspiring researchers. These speakers are:Takeo Kanade, U.A. and Helen Whitaker Professor at Carnegie Mellon University, whowill share his experiences in computer vision and robotics;
Tomoyuki Nishita, Professor Emeritus at The University of Tokyo, who will share his workin computer graphics and animation;
Steven Feiner, Professor at Columbia University and CHI Academy Member, who will
discuss some of his work in human-computer interaction and virtual/augmented reality

Kanade, Nishita and Feiner are also seasoned SIGGRAPH Asia participants, having participatedin previous editions. The panelists’ advice will range from the expected (How to identify lifechanging career opportunities? How to select great research questions?) to the unexpected (Howto deal with the intricacies of academia, including organizational politics and maliciouscompetitors?).

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Yoshifumi Kitamura, the Conference Chair for SIGGRAPH Asia 2015, believes that this year’sedition will provide a completely different experience to participants – whether new or returning.
“The theme for this year’s edition of SIGGRAPH Asia is a combination of revolutionary andevolutionary - the balance and harmony between disruptive innovation and the growth of thecreation of new technologies. We received an overwhelming number of submissions this year,
well beyond our expectations for each of the programs. I believe attendees to this year’s editionof SIGGRAPH Asia can expect to see and experience variety of exciting and high quality content
and stand to benefit from the infinite possibilities and opportunities to learn and discoversomething new and different each day of the event.”###Media contacts
Jamie Huang
SIGGRAPH Asia c/o Koelnmesse+65 6500 6730 / +65 9232 9738
j.huang@koelnmesse.com.sg

Lara D’Souza / Keri Lee
Text100 for SIGGRAPH Asia 2015+6603 9034 / +65 9622 7065
siggraph@text100.com.sg

Find us on:
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram with the official event hashtag, #SIGGRAPHAsia--About SIGGRAPH Asia 2015
The 8th ACM SIGGRAPH Conference and Exhibition on Computer Graphics and Interactive
Techniques in Asia will take place in Kobe, Japan at the Kobe Convention Center from 2 – 5November 2015. The annual event held in Asia attracts the most respected technical and creative
people from all over the world who are excited by research, science, art, animation, gaming,interactivity, education and emerging technologies.
The 4-day SIGGRAPH Asia 2015 conference will include a diverse range of juried programs thisyear, including an Art Gallery, Computer Animation Festival, Courses, Emerging Technologies,Posters, Technical Briefs, Technical Papers, Symposium on Mobile Graphics and Interactive
Applications, Workshops, and two new Symposiums – Symposium on Education and Symposium
on Visualization in High Performance Computing. A 3-day exhibition held from 3 – 5 November
2015 will offer a business platform for industry players to market their innovative products andservices to the computer graphics and interactive techniques professionals and enthusiasts fromAsia and beyond.
About ACM SIGGRAPH
The Association of Computing Machinery’s Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics andInteractive Techniques (ACM SIGGRAPH) sponsors SIGGRAPH Asia 2015. Founded in 1947,

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ACM is an educational and scientific society uniting the world’s computing educators,
researchers, and professionals to inspire dialogue, share resources, and address the field’schallenges. ACM strengthens the profession’s collective voice through strong leadership,promotion of the highest standards, and recognition of technical excellence. The ACM
SIGGRAPH deals with all aspects of graphical user/computer communication and manipulation:
hardware, languages, data structure, methodology, and applications.

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