SIGGRAPH 2019
July 28th to August 1st 2019, Los Angeles, CA
Get ready for blast off and join us at SIGGRAPH 2019 from July 28th to August 1st to discover the tools and tricks used by the innovators shaping the VFX and animation industries.
Autodesk Vision Series
Tuesday July 30 – Wednesday July 31
Room 404A & 404B
Two days of technical deep dives into the future of technology at Autodesk, hosted by our product teams and featuring studios that are helping shape the products and workflows of tomorrow.
Registration
Registration is strongly advised in order to attend a session. Priority will be given to those who have registered on a first-come, first-served basis.
Show Floor
Come by our booth to speak with the Autodesk team and get live walkthroughs of our tools and workflows or sit in on a Vision Series session in room 404A & B.
Students
Get your work reviewed by industry experts upon visiting our booth.
Wednesday July 31st,
4-5PM
Press
Alyson Moses
Media & Entertainment
Email: Alyson.moses@autodesk.com
Autodesk Forge - Automate unique, web-based 3D data experiences
Tuesday, July 30th, 9:30 AM, Room 404A & B
Unlock the power of design data so you can connect teams, workflows, and build new services for your connected customer. Learn about the new 3ds Max Design Automation service, and how to build automated cloud-based workflows using the same customization routines from your desktop environment.
Kevin Vandecar, Principal Developer at Autodesk
Kevin Vandecar is an Autodesk Forge developer advocate and the manager for the Media & Entertainment and Manufacturing Autodesk Developer Network Workgroups. His specialty is 3ds Max software customization and programming, including the new Forge Design Automation for 3ds Max service.
Bifrost – It’s here! (featuring The Mill)
Tuesday, July 30th, 10:15 AM, Room 404A & B
Join Senior Bifrost Product Manager, Marcus Nordenstam and special guests to see a brand-new, portable visual programming framework running in Maya. Learn how to use the framework for creating modular FX setups, and see how it applies to geometry, instancing, deformation and other applications.
Marcus Nordenstam, Senior Product Manager at Autodesk
Marcus Nordenstam is the product manager for Bifrost in Maya at Autodesk. Prior to venturing into the software world, he worked at studios including Double Negative, Activision, Sony Pictures Imageworks, and ILM.
Todd Akita, VFX Supervisor at The Mill
Todd Akita is an FX Supervisor and a lead member of the The Mill’s 3D team. Based out of The Mill’s New York studio, Todd manages a team of specialists who focus on simulation related effects such as smoke, fire and water. Todd’s vast experience in the FX field ensures he always delivers the highest quality work, helping bring creatives and director’s visions to life. Todd’s expertise have led him to collaborate with big name brands such as Coca-Cola, Adidas and Mercedes among others. His recent creative highlights include Gillette ‘Bond Moments’, Schick ‘Hydro Robot’ and PlayStation ‘The King’. As a member of the highly regarded VFX industry bodies ACM Siggraph and the Visual Effects Society, Todd is often looked to a source of learning and advice within the VFX industry.
What’s new with Arnold GPU
Tuesday, July 30th, 11:30 AM, Room 404A & B
Arnold 5.3 launched the open beta for Arnold GPU, showcasing the potential of rendering workflows combining GPU and CPU. We’ll share the progress we’ve made on Arnold GPU based on beta feedback and share real world production examples of the impact of Arnold GPU.
Frederic Servant, Senior Software Development Manager at Autodesk
Frederic Servant is based in London and leads the diverse team of experts that develop and support the Arnold renderer. He was previously the main developer of the Arnold integration in Houdini. Prior to working on Arnold, Frederic worked as an R&D Engineer at The Mill in London and La Maison in Paris.
Human + AI = Future of Creation and Entertainment
Tuesday, July 30th, 12:45 PM, Room 404A & B
Artificial Intelligence creates as much excitement and enthusiasm as it raises questions. From specialized image segmentation to AI-powered UV creation, and natural language art directing, see where Autodesk stands with AI-fueled entertainment creation today and our vision for the future
Will Harris, Product Manager at Autodesk
Will is the Autodesk Flame Family product line manager, serving as interface between customers’ needs and the software development team in Montreal, recently architecting the latest Flame releases – including tools such as 3d Selective - AI Depth and Normal extraction, Flame’s Image node and Effects environment, Connected Conform workflow and Matchbox GLSL Post processing FX. Flame family products do non-linear video editing, shot based VFX compositing and Color grading & finishing - for Advertising, Episodic TV shows and feature films. Will’s background is as an artist on Flame and Lustre, an Autodesk Applications Engineer, and a Flame Family Product line manager for 4 years.
Hervé Lange, Chief Architect at Autodesk
Hervé Lange is Chief Software Architect for the Entertainment Creation Group at Autodesk, where he works on automated solutions to empower creators’ creative and immersive capabilities. Prior to Autodesk, Hervé has over 30 years of experience in the computer graphics and gaming industries, working for companies like Behaviour Interactive, Ubisoft, Warner Bros Games, Virgin Interactive, Sony Psygnosis, Philips Media and Duran Duboi.
Evan Atherton, Senior Research Engineer at Autodesk
Evan Atherton is a Senior Research Engineer for the Autodesk Robotics Lab. He is currently focused on developing intuitive methods for controlling industrial robots to democratize their use in film and media production. Evan received both his Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, and has been with Autodesk ever since.
Unity and Autodesk: Streamlining Workflows for Film/Animation/TV
Tuesday, July 30th, 2:00pm, Room 404A & B
The ever-increasing demand for high end 3D content in film and TV requires new approaches to production pipelines. See how Unity and Autodesk are improving workflows to support this need. We’ll be joined by customers on-stage to showcase examples of this enhanced workflow.
Mathieu Muller, Technical Product Manager, Media & Entertainment at Unity
Mathieu Muller has 17 years of experience in real-time engines, as a software programmer and field engineer. After spending a few years on the ground helping film, animation, and broadcast studios to use real-time technologies in their production pipelines, he is now in charge of making Unity a better product for Media & Entertainment studios.
TJ Galda, Senior Product Line Manager at Autodesk
TJ has worked in film VFX and games for over 20 years. From DreamWorks, Technicolor, the Vancouver Film School, and later as Development Director at EA is currently the Senior Product Line Manager at Autodesk for the Entertainment Collection at Autodesk managing software like Maya, MotionBuilder and more.
Maya: Faster Animation, Artist Workflows, and the Future. With Allegorithmic.
Tuesday, July 30th, 3:15 PM, Room 404A & B
What’s new in Maya? Updated animation workflows for artists, a beautiful viewport environment, and massive performance improvements. Get a sneak peek at the development of future workflows from TJ Galda, Senior Maya Product Line Manager, and technology and research partners.
TJ Galda, Senior Product Line Manager at Autodesk
TJ has worked in film VFX and games for over 20 years. From DreamWorks, Technicolor, the Vancouver Film School, and later as Development Director at EA, TJ has managed projects with big expectations. He is currently the Senior Product Line Manager at Autodesk for the Entertainment Collection at Autodesk managing software like Maya, MotionBuilder and more.
Wes McDermott, Integrations Product Manager, Substance, Adobe
Wes McDermott is a technical artist and strives to improve his work by finding a key balance between his technical knowledge and artistic skill set. He works for Substance as an Integrations Product Manager, but most know him as an expert Substance teacher, and the voice behind many Substance tutorials. Wes is also the author of The PBR Guide: A Handbook for Physically-Based Rendering, Real Word MODO and Creating 3D Game Art for the iPhone with Unity.
Thriving with Shotgun: Setting Creative Teams Up for Success
Tuesday, July 30th, 4:30 PM, Room 404A & B
The panelists in this session are all focused on the same goal: setting up creative teams and projects to truly succeed. Hear leaders from a diverse range of fields share how they use Shotgun to supercharge creative teams and streamline workflows to get ahead of the game.
Don Parker, Vice President and General Manager of Shotgun at Autodesk
Don Parker is VP and General Manager of Shotgun at Autodesk. His team is working to build the next gen tools our clients and friends need to continue to rock the world with amazing content.
Bifrost – It’s here! (featuring Scanline)
Tuesday, July 30th, 10:15 AM, Room 404A & B
Join Senior Bifrost Product Manager, Marcus Nordenstam and special guests to see a brand-new, portable visual programming framework running in Maya. Learn how to use the framework for creating modular FX setups, and see how it applies to geometry, instancing, deformation and other applications.
Marcus Nordenstam, Senior Product Manager at Autodesk
Marcus Nordenstam is the product manager for Bifrost in Maya at Autodesk. Prior to venturing into the software world, he worked at studios including Double Negative, Activision, Sony Pictures Imageworks, and ILM.
Eloi Andaluz Fulla, VFX Artist at Scanline
Eloi Andaluz Fulla is a self-taught VFX artist who started on 3ds Max back in 2002. With a past in architectural visualization, he transitioned to motion graphics and advertising and later, mapping for Operas across the globe. Eloi worked for Moment Factory, working on interactive installations and mappings. Today, he works at Scanline and is an active beta tester for Thinking Particles, 3ds max, Bifrost, Arnold and Storm.
3ds Max: producing high-end results at scale without sacrificing quality (featuring Scanline)
Wednesday, July 31st, 11:30 AM, Room 404A & B
How does 3ds Max help artists produce high-end results faster, while controlling every detail? With efficient procedural tools, streamlined content creation, and the automation of complex tasks. Product Manager, Nicolas Fonta is joined by 3ds Max artists who share how they create incredible work on time and under budget.
Nicolas Fonta, Product Manager at Autodesk
Nicolas Fonta is a software engineer by training and worked in real-time, rendering and content creation as a developer, an engineering manager and a product manager. He is now responsible for the product direction and strategy as the head of the 3ds Max product management team in Montreal.
Eloi Andaluz Fulla, VFX Artist at Scanline
Eloi Andaluz Fulla is a self-taught VFX artist who started on 3ds Max back in 2002. With a past in architectural visualization, he transitioned to motion graphics and advertising and later, mapping for Operas across the globe. Eloi worked for Moment Factory, working on interactive installations and mappings. Today, he works at Scanline and is an active beta tester for Thinking Particles, 3ds max, Bifrost, Arnold and Storm.
Open Source at Autodesk – USD focus (featuring Pixar & Animal Logic)
Wednesday, July 31st, 12:45pm, Room 404A & B
Open source projects play an increasingly critical role in the creation of Film and TV content. We’ll start with an update on open source support at Autodesk, then deep-dive into our work on USD, including collaboration with tech partners and creative studios. (MaterialX session also available)
Will Telford, Senior Product Owner at Autodesk
Will Telford is an alumnus of Rhythm & Hues Studios, Blackthorn Media, and Blizzard Entertainment. As a former Visual Effects Supervisor, Digital Effects Supervisor, Creature Supervisor, Rigging Supervisor, and Rigging TD he has worked on dozens of films, commercials, VR experiences and cinematic shorts. Currently he is the Product Owner of USD and Rigging technology for Maya at Autodesk.
Aidan Sarsfield, Head of Production Technology at Animal Logic
In his career at Award-winning visual effects and animation studio Animal Logic, Aidan Sarsfield has spent almost 20 years manipulating cutting edge technology to meet the creative needs of large-scale CGI pipelines. Having joined the company's film division in 1999 following a successful career as a freelance industrial designer, his credits include The LEGO® Batman Movie, The LEGO® Movie, Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole, Happy Feet, Matrix: Reloaded and Moulin Rouge! As Head of Production Technology, Aidan’s key focus is on the ongoing evolution of the Animal Logic VFX and Animation pipelines.
Interactive and flexible rendering workflows with Arnold Operators (featuring The Mill)
Wednesday, July 31st, 2:00 PM, Room 404A & B
Operators are a recent powerful addition to Arnold allowing the query, modification and creation of nodes directly in the Arnold scene. This framework allows efficient, non-destructive, and interactive rendering workflows for overrides, shader assignments and lookdev transfer with MaterialX.
Frederic Servant, Senior Software Development Manager at Autodesk
Frederic Servant is based in London and leads the diverse team of experts that develops and support the Arnold renderer. He was previously the main developer of the Arnold integration in Houdini. Prior to working on Arnold, Frederic worked as an R&D Engineer at The Mill in London and La Maison in Paris.
Suraj "Sid" Harrington-Odedra, VFX Supervisor at The Mill
Suraj "Sid" Harrington-Odedra has worked at The Mill London for 13 years where he is now a VFX Supervisor and avid HtoA/MtoA user.
Adrien Herubel, Principal Software Engineer at Autodesk
Adrien Herubel is a principal software engineer at Autodesk. He currently works on the Arnold renderer team and leads the GPU project. He has over a decade of experience working in animation and VFX studios, specializing in rendering.
Open Source at Autodesk – MaterialX (featuring Lucas Film)
Wednesday, July 31st, 3:15 PM, Room 404A & BOpen source projects play an increasingly critical role in the creation of Film and TV content. We’ll start with an update on open source support at Autodesk, then deep dive into our work on USD, including collaboration with tech partners and creative studios. (USD session also available)
Eric Bourque, Director of Engineering at Autodesk
Eric Bourque is a director of engineering in Autodesk’s Entertainment Creation Products group. He has a Ph.D. in computer science from McGill University, and has been actively involved in Autodesk’s commitment to open source. He leads the CG Spotlight event series in Montreal, co-presented by Montreal ACM SIGGRAPH and Autodesk, where local studios and universities meet to present their latest results
Jonathan Stone, Senior Software Developer at Lucasfilm Advanced Development Group
Jonathan Stone is a senior engineer at the Lucasfilm ADG and the lead developer of MaterialX. He has developed real-time rendering technology for Lucasfilm since 2010, and his work has been leveraged in films including Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Pacific Rim.
Wes McDermott, Integrations Product Manager, Substance, Adobe
Wes McDermott is a technical artist and strives to improve his work by finding a key balance between his technical knowledge and artistic skill set. He works for Substance as an Integrations Product Manager, but most know him as an expert Substance teacher, and the voice behind many Substance tutorials. Wes is also the author of The PBR Guide: A Handbook for Physically-Based Rendering, Real Word MODO and Creating 3D Game Art for the iPhone with Unity.
Autodesk Flame – AI revolutionizes common tasks for VFX Compositing and Color Finishing (featuring a52)
Wednesday, July 31st, 4:30 PM, Room 404A & BNew AI / ML tools in Flame 2020 drive new approaches to big problems in VFX and Finishing: isolating objects in Z depth, Semantic object separation, and producing accurate AOVs for camera acquired moving human faces, to address both image segmentation and live action tracking at once.
Will Harris, Product Manager at Autodesk
Will is the Autodesk Flame Family product line manager, serving as interface between customers’ needs and the software development team in Montreal, recently architecting the latest Flame releases – including tools such as 3d Selective - AI Depth and Normal extraction, Flame’s Image node and Effects environment, Connected Conform workflow and Matchbox GLSL Post processing FX. Flame family products do non-linear video editing, shot based VFX compositing and Color grading & finishing - for Advertising, Episodic TV shows and feature films. Will’s background is as an artist on Flame and Lustre, an Autodesk Applications Engineer, and a Flame Family Product line manager for 4 years.
Portfolio Reviews
Dates/Times: Tuesday, July 30th & Wednesday, July 31st, 4PM-5PM
Location: Booth 1211
Description: Attention students and new grads! Looking for feedback on your latest animated short, VFX project, or game? We’re offering one-on-one portfolio reviews right at our booth. Come by for some insider tips and tricks to help you land your dream job.
