Holographic animated image revealed as
centerpiece for SIGGRAPH 2008
Computer Animation Festival awards.
The SIGGRAPH Computer Animation Festival award has been revealed. Meats Meier has created and presented his Animation Mother creation which will be widely visible during the Festival and throughout SIGGRAPH, being staged in Los Angeles from August 11th to 15th.
The Computer Animation Festival is evolving into a full-scale film festival featuring curated and competition screenings; discussion panels with filmmakers, artists, and producers; a full day of 3D panels, presentations, and screenings; and an awards evening celebrating the artists' accomplishments. Events will be held at both the brand new Nokia Theater and at the Los Angeles Convention Center alongside the rest of the conference.
"The expansion of the Computer Animation Festival into a full-scale festival over a number of days, is a direct reflection of the increased prominence CG animation enjoys in the entertainment field and on the world stage," says Jill Smolin, SIGGRAPH 2008 Conference Entertainment Director. "The Festival gives SIGGRAPH the opportunity to offer attendees a rich, varied, and full experience of CG animation."
Jill Smolin approached Meats Meier, revered 3D artist, sculpture and CGSociety member who lives and works in Los Angeles, with the idea of creating a digital sculpture that would be the face of this year’s festival. The direction was for something beautiful, flowing and unique. “The piece,” explains Meats, “would be somewhat of an update to my ‘Mother Nature’ illustration from a few years back. Jill wanted me to explore the theme of ‘evolution’ both in my own work and for the character itself - the Animation Mother. I spent a lot of time on the details, with swirly tubes becoming Mandelbrot sets and fractal geometry that go on into infinity. All of the detail actually fits the 3D space so that it could eventually be output as a true rapid prototyped object."
“I had the concept in my head of an ethereal woman that is constantly evolving, morphing and growing from one moment to the next, with the final goal being perfection. I think of this sculpture as a single snapshot along that journey. She may never have a true constant form, she grows and ebbs into different incarnations as she is being described by various replicated geometry and wiry tubes that change over time,” explains Meats.
“From the beginning, Jill really wanted me to include a version of the Utah teapot somewhere in the image,” he continues, “which insiders know as an early 3D object that was used to test 3D in the early days. I thought it was an interesting juxtaposition, with one of the first geometries next to the type of object that is possible only with the current technology.”
Meats Meier has also been working with Rabbitholes 3D Motion Art to create a holographic version of the Animation Mother. Rabbitholes own the technology that makes the most intense holograms available. The Animation Mother hologram display plays around 1,300 frames of animations as the viewer walks from one side to the other, and literally jumps off the canvas with nice, bright colors. “It will be printed as a large scale poster for the Nokia Center lobby during the SIGGRAPH show,” says Meats, “and will also appear as part of the animation award itself. I love being able to see it in its true 3D form. Doing a holographic version of her is a perfect fit for the ‘evolution’ theme and it's the next logical step in the evolution of 3D as ‘art’.”
People will know Meats Meier as an amazingly experimental, brave and forthright artist. He tells CGSociety he has been adopted into the ‘TOOL family.’ “I'm working a lot with the band on various projects as well as collaborating with Maynard’s (TOOL, Perfect Circle) side project band called ‘Puscifer’,” says Meats. “I’ve done a couple of videos for Puscifer recently that are available on YouTube. I also created a few of my ‘Wire style’ characters for a surrealistic Levi's Jeans campaign late last year. I am really busy, I'm also having a lot of fun and am happy. I'm working on projects that I really enjoy and truly challenge me.”
