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Event Spotlight
The Visual Pulse of the Machine SIGGRAPH’s Electronic Theater keeps an eye on the latest global VFX and CG animation achievements. By Ellen Wolff
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IGGRAPH is often considered a popular barometer of progress in the field of computer-generated imagery, and the 2022 gathering in Vancouver, B.C. continues that tradition. Technical papers and presentations chronicle the latest breakthroughs by researchers, production companies and product developers. But the hottest ticket is always The Electronic Theater — the juried “Best Of” show that honors the year’s achievements. “ET” has been a qualifying showcase for Oscar consideration since 1999, and this year received 325 entries from around the world. Overseeing the show is Darin Grant, Chief Technology Officer at Animal Logic, who flags several trends worth watching. “The award winners this year — two of which are students — are experimenting with new types of visualizing animation,” says Grant. “Some purposely chose non-photorealistic styles to help underscore the mood and tone of their content. Back in the day, they couldn’t achieve photorealism. That’s not the case anymore.” He cites the example of the breakdown of The Bad Guys by DreamWorks Animation. “They did standard rendering, and then they did all this additional work on top of that to make it look non-photorealistic. It’s inspiring to see visuals that are now pushing the boundaries of the medium.” Grant himself has contributed to that growth. Prior to joining Animal Logic four years ago, his multi-decade career has included tenures at Digital Domain, DreamWorks Animation and Method Studios. And in addition to Grant’s SIGGRAPH responsibilities, he’s involved in the Academy’s Software Foundation and Sci Tech Council as well as the Visual Effects Society.
“The award winners this year — two of which are students — are experimenting with new types of visualizing animation. Some purposely chose non-photorealistic styles to help underscore the mood and tone of their content. Back in the day, they couldn’t achieve photorealism. That’s not the case anymore.” — Daren Grant, CTO, Animal Logic and Director, Electronic Theater
So, Grant brings an experienced eye to a survey of the SIGGRAPH landscape. Catching his attention this year are developments in machine learning, deep fakes, procedural tools, open-source software and the growing use of virtual production techniques like LED walls.
Machine Learning Given the current buzz about self-driving cars, the use of machine learning as a strategy for generating synthetic environments will be a topic at SIGGRAPH. It’s an appealing vision for making animated films and movies featuring live actors in virtual environments. But Grant cautions, “Machine learning is dependent on having a huge sample set from the world to create a model that can run effectively. To train machine learning models, you need tons of consistent data.” Grant cites the five feature films in The Electronic Theater this year — The Batman, Encanto, The Bad Guys, Dune and Everything Everywhere All at Once. They show vastly different worlds, and when environments differ widely, he says it’s difficult to apply machine learning. “If something needs to run in a metaverse, that’s 24/7 content — it’s not 90 minutes of curated content telling a story.” He
Hornet’s “Colors and Shapes” video for Mac Miller
adds, “Sometimes, creating a machine learning model for a particular rig is more work than creating the rig itself! That’s why machine learning gets applied to things that are continuous.” But strategies are emerging to benefit other production processes. As Grant explains, “There’s a software company in Australia called Kognat which applies machine learning to rotoscoping.” Stay tuned. Deep fakes will likely get attention at SIGGRAPH, especially given the expectation that a digitally anti-aged version of Luke Skywalker may appear in Disney’s Boba Fett. When the digital doppelgangers of famous actors survive scrutiny at 4K resolution, Deep Fakes will represent more than lower res sleight-of-hand. As Grant remarks, “We’re seeing a trend where people can do fully CG characters, and VFX studios are embracing deep fakes in their workflows and processes. At the Visual Effects Bakeoff last year, the creators of the VES nominee Free Guy talked about how at the last minute they tried to do a deep fake with a character and it worked … and how they should have started with it!” That’s what’s exciting about these developments: the opportunity to enhance the artistic
Alternative Mesozoique, an award-winning graduation project from ESMA (France).
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