Every year since 1974  SIGGRAPH (short for Special Interest Group on Computer GRAPHics and Interactive Techniques) has been the conference for the latest experiments and breakthroughs in computer graphics (CG). Tens of thousands of computer professionals flocked to Anaheim, California this year and it did not disappoint. There’s hundreds of highly specialized research papers on a variety of topics but I won’t bore you with that (As I don’t even understand them). I normally keen an eye out every year for new software and much awaited updates , but this year a lot of cool stuff caught people’s attention. Lets take a look

Computational Thermoforming

This by far has been the coolest form of printing I’ve ever seen. It starts of  by printing the negative space of a 3D model and then vacuum sealing a texture on top of that. Well it’s actually much more complicated than that, check out the video below for the technical aspects as well as some really impressive end products.

StyLit: Illumination-Guided Example-Based Stylization

This one is a bit freaky, It can mimic an artist’s stylized drawing,painting or shading technique and in real-time project that on to another object. It’s based on light propagation in the scene rather than colors and normals like in previous techniques over the years. Check out more below

CofiFab‘s More Practical 3D Printing

3D printing has been around for a while and has been growing in leaps and bound, this new technique however builds the inside of the object in geometric shapes that fit together with the finer details on top. Think of it as a 3D-printed puzzle. It’s a solution that will be both faster and cheaper than just printing an entire model from scratch.

Cinema 3D: Large Scale Automultiscopic Display

Ahh I just love 3D movies at the cinema… Said no one ever. Lets be real, out of all the movies we watch at the cinema in 3D, only about 1 in 10 actually add value to the film. Those goofy glasses are more of an annoyance then anything else . With Cinema 3D’s crazy idea, you can enjoy the 3D experience from any seat in the cinema without the need for glasses. It presents multiple angular images of the same scene. This is very far from being implemented at your local cinema but hey at least it’s in the works.

Wanna check out more from SIGGRAPH? click here