industry estimates, more than 80,000 jobs have been created in the last two years and The Los Angeles Regional Technology Alliance predicts the demand for digital artists to grow at an estimated 20 percent a year for the next five years. However, a very specific skill set is needed for computer graphics production work. As with most visual arts, the best way to get the job is to demonstrate you can. For experienced workers, this is usually not a problem. For students or people changing careers, it can be more difficult, but not impossible. There are courses offered by universities and colleges that allow a student to create demo reel material. Also, available software for the PC has material to the point that a motivated individual can produce w o r k that demonstrates their ability. CGI companies appreciate applicants that are aware of the different CGI applications, but have concentrated on and developed skills in one, or two, particular areas.The areas typically are: animation, modeling, lighting effects, compositing and digital painting.There is overlap in all areas and each company has its definition of the job skills that are needed. Looking forward to this year's SIGGRAPH 97 convention in Los Angeles, recruiting efforts will no doubt continue and probably escalate in their i n t e n s i t y - talented and experienced CGI artists are in high demand and short supply, and the SIGGRAPH conference acts as a perfect platform for employer and potential employee to meet. Betsy Asher Hall Rhythm & Hues Studios 5404JandyPlace LosAngeles,CA 90066 Email:betsy@rhythrn.com A Personal Job-Seeking Odyssey Nancy Collier Chair, San Diego Chapter After the SIGGRAPH 96 conference, attended by folks from all over the world, I spent time packing, moving and separating 12 years worth of accumulated stuff, rye moved three times since coming to San Diego. Moving took this long because I basically took my time, spending a few weeks with my family (holidays), and testing the water in the computer graphics job markets in San Diego and Los Angeles (i.e. visiting old friends and telling them to call me if they hear of a job that might be good for me). Finally, I finished "the move" and had no other excuse to delay writing my resume, going on interviews and getting a job. But, this I was loathe to do! I felt like that whole process resembled putting myself out at a meat market. No matter what I tried, I could not get motivated to begin my job search, although my financial situation would doubtless soon have required me to do so! Of course, what I wanted was for the perfect job to fall into my lap, doing the things I do best (though I haven't yet articulated those things clearly to myself or to anyone else - - this was part of the resume writing I had yet to begin). I was really in two minds - - if I wanted to go back into computer graphics production (I had been with Abel Image Research in Hollywood in the '80s), I would have had to move back up to Los Angeles. I knew that the market there was and is really hopping! Everyone is hiring.The problem was that without a job, I probably couldn't get a place to rent, especially with four animals! I could have put everything into storage and moved back in with my parents until I got a job, but that seemed like a "pretty big deal" - - one that I was willing to do, but only as a last resort when money was running low and no job was on the horizon in San Diego. I wanted to stay in San Diego (if you've been here - - you know why). Also, I live in a small community, where everyone knows me. People honk their horns, wave and talk to me as I walk to my little used bookstore. People look out for me. I live three blocks from the beach. I have moved into a little cottage with a huge yard for the dogs.The landlord loves me - - having chosen me over 120 other applicants, even when I was honest with him about my fairly dire financial straits.The bottom line? I wanted to stay in San Diego and get the perfect job, whatever that was, rather than feeling forced to move to LA. And then - a miracle! While arranging for an upcoming San Diego SIGGRAPH meeting our Chapter Vice Chair Adrian Turcotte, (who runs Odyssey Productions, the Mind's Eye video producer), called me. After appraising him of my current situation and telling him that I needed a job, he said,"Boy! I wish I had known this a month ago.We just hired someone who we're not too pleased with" After arranging the chapter meeting details, we hung up. But a little while later he called back to say that when I dropped by to arrange the SIGGRAPH meeting, that he and his partner, Steve Churchill, would "do a kind of job interview thing" afterwards! During that "job interview thing" I learned that they needed someone to do precisely those things that I do best - - blab on the phone (convincing folks to release the rights to their computer graphics animation), assist Steve Churchill on a regular basis and eventually to produce a video myself! Whoopee! A job fell right from the sky into my lap, one I couldn't have designed more perfectly myself. "Maybe there is a God" I pondered. I had certainly been praying the last few months, and I got what I had asked for. Did this mean I should start attending church?! I resolved to g o / f they had a huge screen or monitor with the best computer graphics in the world showing for services! The job was the last missing piece of my "new life" jigsaw puzzle. Now I can settle down, grind my nose at Odyssey Productions, work with San Diego SIGGRAPH and maybe learn how to surf in my "spare" time. Life is good. Nancy Collier 4822 SantaMonicaAve., #179 San Diego,CA 92107 Tel:+ 1-619-222-3305 Email:dootdedoo@aol.com Color On The World Wide Web: Are We Doomed To Eight-Bit Color Forever? Haim Levkowitz University of Massachusetts Lowell Introduction Imagine a world in which the oranges that looked so beautiful an hour ago in the market have a completely different color when you get them out of the bag at home. Imagine, when you approach a traffic light, you cannot tell what color the light is. Imagine the colors of traffic lights changing from one block to the next one. Could you? If you can't, just go to your computer and launch y o u r W o r l d W i d e Web browser. Viewing a color document on the Web, you cannot be sure what the colors will be. Some of it has been deliberate; so that people with different viewing capabilities can still view documents. That is why, under most circumstances, the color of the background, text and hyperlinks are all left to the choice of the client (browser) side. However, the W o r l d W i d e Web has become a major source of information. Not only does it provide a wealth of information for you to consume, but it also gives you the opportunity to be an information producer - a publisher. This, in turn, gives you the opportunity to violate every known recommendation for effective color usage! Indeed, a large majority of information producers on the Web either have not bothered to study such recommendations, o r have decided to deliberately ignore them. Color on the Web has experienced the same neglect as in other applications of visual computing such as computer graphics, imaging May 1997 ComputerGraphics

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