Professional Chapters Scott Lung SIGGRAPH Director for Professional Chapters another 25 chapters situated around the world sponsoring events such as these over the course of the year. If you live in an area that has a SIGGRAPH Professional Chapter, you owe it to yourself to check them out. And if there is no chapter in your area, consider s~rting one! See below for more information on how to go about this. To find out where chapters are located, look at the Professional Chapters directory following this column. In addition to the listing in this newsletter, you can also visit the SIGGRAPH Web site (ht~://www.sig~raph.org). Go te the Professional Chapters home pages not only for a directory of chapters, but also for information on starting a chapter, reaching the Professional Chapters leadership, a listing of the Professional Chapters Committee members (with contact info) and a calendar of chapter activities. Our pages are currently available in English, Spanish and French. Soon they will be available in Japanese due co the efforts of HisayoYoshidLThanks Hisayo! As mentioned above, the Professional Chapters home pages feature guidelines on how ro start your own SIGGRAPH chapter. If this is something you are interested in, you can send email ro Scott Lung (lang@siggraph.org)to find out more.You should also send an email to Fran Sinhart at ACM (sinhart@acm.orF,) requesting a chapter mu-r-up kit. If you have any comments o r questions about the Professional Chapters or any of the articles in the Professional Chapters section, you can send email to Colleen Cleary, the Computer Graphics Professional Chapters Editor at colleen_clean/@siggraph.or and Scott r Lung, SIGGRAPH Director for Professional Chapters at lang@siggraph.org. We look forward to hearing from you or seeing you at a chapter meeting sometime soon! SIGGRAPH 9 6 - - A V i e w f r o m t h e Trenches Betsy Asher H u l l Rhythm & Hues Studies As a SIGGRAPH attendee since 1986, I have noticed some interesting changes over the past 10 years. Along with introducing cuttingedge technologies, state of the art graphics and eye-popping visuals, SIGGRAPH has been steadily adding another aspect to its repertoire - - highly visible recruiting efforts by m o s t o f the m a j o r c o m p u t e r generated imagery (CGI) studios. This comes as no surprise in itself, since SIGGRAPH has had a job board for a number of years and has always been instrumental in hooking up potential employees with prospective employers. However, the past few years have seen this effort reach a fever pitch, due co a huge demand for special effects and CGI in television and film. This demand was in evidence in almost all aspects of the SIGGRAPH 96 conference held in N e w Orleans. The exhibition f l o o r had recruiting booths, the hotels had hospitality suites sponsored by companies searching for potential hires, the courses showcased work that could attract talent - - and, of course, there were the parties. It seemed that each and every medium to large size company threw a parry in a kind of shot-gun approach to recruitment From intimate little dinners t o all-out bashes, SIGGRAPH attendees were courted by numerous companies. However, tickets were required to most events and there were always a few people who couldn't get in. The notable exception to the invi~tiononly rule was the Professional Chapters party held at Margueritaville. As in past years, this party was open to all attendees ~ often it turns out to be the highlight of the week, and 96 was no exception. A great venue and fun band, along with the sponsorship of a number of CGI companies, ensured a good time was had by all. It was the one party that didn't have over-heavy recruitment overtones, and was held at the beginning of the week before everyone was thoroughly exhausted from the sensory overload of the conference! Even organizations outside of SIGGRAPH are recognizing the shortage of CGI artists. California's Governor Pete Wilson has proposed spending $1.2 m i l l i o n t o train Californians with artistic talent for entry to the wodd of CGI.The legislation does not go to vote until July I, but college officials are gearing up for fall enrollment. According to Colleen Cleury SIGGRAPH FYofessional Chapters Editor First, let's take a quick look at what's been going on in some of the chapters over the last several months.Then, read two chapter members' impressions of job hunting at SIGGRAPH 96 and one member's discussion of color on theWorld Wide Web. San D i e g o C h a p t e r ¢ The Lightspan Partnership presented a program highlighting the art and animation techniques used in the creation of its library of interactive, educational media for schools. ¢ A r t h u r Olson and Michael Pique of the Scripps Research Institute spoke about "Views of Unseen Worlds: C o m p u t e r Graphics fromAroms ro Cells" San Francisco C h a p t e r ¢ Warren Franklin and Carlos Arguello gave a presene,tion on the methods used to create the dazzling digital effects featured in the animation and live action film Space J(]m. ¢ Jim Mitchell, ILM Visual Effects Supervisor, and David Andrews, ILM A n i m a t i o n Supervisor, discussed the work that went into mal(JngMarsAtmcks!. Seattle C h a p t e r ¢ Electronic Arts hosted an open house, unveiling its new Northwest game design studio. Guests were able to meec with the Electronic Arts Sea~e team, tour the newly designed facility and test drive a race car simulation game. Dr. Michael E Cohen gave a talk on "ImageBased Rendering: Is it Deja Vu All Over Again.l." Toronto Chapter ¢ Silicon Graphics gave a presentation on the newest members of the SGI line - - 02, Octane, Onyx2 and Origin. ¢ Greg Blair discussed the issues of" patents as they relate to leading edge computer graphics.Topics covered included: what protection a patent offers a technology innovator. how to do a patent search over the Internes for free and how co use publicly available patent information. SIGGRAPHDirector for ProfessionalChapters Scott I.ang CAD/CAM Lab Academy for the Advancement of Science and Technology 200 Hackennck Avenue Hackensacl~ NJ 07601 Tel: + 1-201-343-6000 ex¢_3369 Email: scott_lang@.~siggralJh.erg Com~;~/terGraph/cs ProfessionalChapten Editor Colleen Cleary Orange County Sheriff's Office 55 West Pineloch Avenue Odand~ FL 32806 Tel: + 1-407-836-4602 Fax: + I- 407-858-4798 Email: calleen_cleary~iELmaph.org This gives a feel for just a few of the events offered by these f o u r chapters. There are Computer Grophlcs May 1997

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