From July 31 to Aug. 4, more than 14 SCAD students were at the Association for Computing Machinery’s Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques, commonly know as SIGGRAPH. This event was an immense opportunity to know more about upcoming concepts in the computer graphics and interactive gaming and animation industry.
SIGGRAPH is a well-known organization that runs on the support of its volunteers. While the non-profit organization has a variety of donations, a key part of this convention is the support it gets through its student volunteers. Every year, SIGGRAPH hosts two conferences, one in Asia and one in North America. This year the conference was held in the booming city of Los Angeles.
Student volunteers were exposed to a diverse range of topics led by industry professionals from the likes of Disney directors Ron Clements and John Musker, to technical directors and software engineers at Blizzard and Riot Games. The versatility of this convention gave everyone who is interested this industry a place to be, learn and grow.
While SIGGRAPH is a place for people to learn, it also gave students the chance to build brilliant relationships with people who are probably struggling and going through similar experiences. Being a student volunteer taught leadership skills, team building, multi-tasking and professional aesthetic skills, all qualities that successful people in the industry inculcate.
Students left feeling connected with the people they networked with and filled with the incredible amount of information that there is to know as a professional in the computer graphics work environment.
When asked about her SIGGRAPH experience, Betsy Pippen, a graduate animation student, said, “I’m so glad SCAD students connected me to SIGGRAPH this year. It was such an awesome opportunity for networking and learning more about the computer graphics industry.”
Pippen said that her favorite part of the conference was meeting so many cool people. “I made a ton of friends that are passionate about the same things I am, which made me motivated to keep working hard to do what I love,” said Pippen. “I recommend it to anyone interested in computer graphics.”
Overall, the SIGGRAPH experience was fully loaded with positivity, information and knowledge. It was an experience of a lifetime and students are already looking forward to the next annual conference, scheduled to take place in Vancouver.
