The SIGGRAPH 2005 website has recently been updated with information from the Sketches program. ILM will present 5 sketches, 4 of them related to their work on Star Wars Episode III Revenge of the Sith covering the space battle pyrotechnics, the creation of Kashyyyk and Mustafar and the Boga lizard. Other VFX projects to be discussed include Madagascar (PDI/DreamWorks), Stealth (Digital Domain), Constantine (Tippett Studio), Cursed (Frantic Films), Chicken Little (Disney) and Shrek 2 (PDI/Dreamworks).

Ron Fedkiw, Assistant Professor at Stanford's CG Laboratory and consultant for ILM, has posted online the three research papers (two of which had a direct involvement by ILM) that will appear at SIGGRAPH 2005. Also included are videos showcasing the work.

Animator Shawn Kelly will participate on the Teaching 3D Animation Online: The Ultimate Challenge? forum part of the SIGGRAPH 2005 Educators Program. Kate Shaw of ILM is one of the reviewers for this program.

ILM has two exhibits accepted to the Storyboards section of the SIGGRAPH 2005 Art Gallery program. These correspond to the two accepted pieces in the Electronic Theatre.

The SIGGRAPH 2005 website recently published the list of accepted pieces to the Animation Festival. Two ILM pieces were accepted, both to the Electronic Theatre, one dealing with Star Wars Episode III Revenge of the Sith and the other their 2005 R&D reel. Other VFX and animation studios with pieces accepted include Tippett Studio, Imageworks, Digital Domain, Framestore/CFC, DreamWorks Animation and Blur Studio dealing with such projects as Constantine, Stealth and Madagascar.

The SIGGRAPH 2005 website has recently listed the accepted Papers and there are 3 ILM related ones: one dealing with facial animation techniques and the other two related to fluids. ILM consultant Ron Fedkiw of Stanford University is one of the authors in each of those. Nick Rasmussen, of ILM's R&D Dept. is a coauthor of one of the papers. Pixar also had 2 papers accepted, dealing with hardware rendering and wavelet noise.

The list of panel sessions for SIGGRAPH 2005 has recently been put online. ILM R&D Director will participate in a panel dealing with the relationship between academic research and production needs, while lead developer Florian Kainz will be present in another one dealing with open source. James Mainard and Andy Hendrickson of DreamWorks, Daniel Maskit of Digital Domain and Tony DeRose of Pixar will be among the other studio representatives in these panels.

The Alias website has just posted preeliminary information about this year's Alias MasterClasses 2005 which will take place during SIGGRAPG 2005. Tim Naylor and Andrea Maiolo of ILM will once again teach a session (yet to be determined). Jeff Unay, Rudy Grossman (another former ILM member) and Emanuel Druckmann of Weta Digital, Erick Miller and Joe Harkins of Imageworks and Nick Lloyd of Digital Domain are some of the other notable studio members that will also participate.

The ILM work on all 6 films of the Star Was saga will be the topic of a Special Session at SIGGRAPH 2005. VFX Supervisors Dennis Muren, John Knoll, and Roger Guyett and Animation Director Rob Coleman will discuss the techniques used to bring alive the visuals. The "A Star Wars Retrospective From Industrial Light & Magic: Environments, Space Battles, and the Characters Who Fought Them From 1977 to 2005: Special Session will take place Tuesday August 2nd, 2005 at 6pm.

George Lucas will be the keynote speaker at SIGGRAPH 2005. The event, "George Lucas: A Keynote Q&A With the Father of Digital Cinema", will take place on Monday August 1st, 2005 at 1:15pm.

The SIGGRAPH 2005 Course list was published today and members of ILM will be present at 3 courses: Associate VFX Supervisor Christophe Hery, R&D Director Steve Sullivan, Creature TD Tim McLaughlin and consultant from Stanford Ron Fedkiw. Other VFX courses will have members from Imageworks, PDI and DreamWorks Animation covering such projects as The Polar Express and Madagascar.

After many months the SIGGRAPH 2004 DVD is ready. A few of the presentations where ILM members participated are included: Kate Shaw in the panel about careers in CG, ILM consultant Ron Fedkiw on "The Elements of Nature: Interactive and Realistic Techniques" course, and the "Custom Software Development in Post Production" panel where ILM R&D Director Steve Sullivan participated.

Steve Sullivan, head of R&D at ILM, will participate in the Meet the Studios panel (part of the Computer Animation Festival), along with Darin Grant of Digital Domain moderating. Also present will be Weta Digital VFX Supervisor Joe Letteri and former ESC CG Supervisor George Borshukov. Also VFXPro.com has a few more details of what ILM will show regarding The Bourne Supremacy at the Discreet booth.

Softimage has finally revealed more details about its presence at SIGGRAPH, including the ILM customer presentations. They now include the times for the stage presentations at the Softimage booth and also a series of presentations at the free Softimage Seminar series, both covering work on Van Helsing and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

ILM recently revamped its website in preparation for SIGGRAPH 2004. They have provided a document detailing all the events and venues where they will be present. Among the new revelations are a more complete list of the vendor presentations where they are participating, including several Softimage Seminars, and at the Discreet and Apple's Shake booths, covering such projects like Van Helsing, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and The Bourne Supremacy.

CGChannel has interviewed Chris Bregler, the SIGGRAPH 2004 Computer Animation Festival Chair, about this year's program. It includes a description of what will be shown on the ILM R&D reel (in the Electronic Theatre), which will include the work on Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Van Helsing and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

ILM Lead Developer Florian Kainz has annouced that there will be an OpenEXR "Birds of a Feather" meeting during SIGGRAPH 2004, on Tuesday August 10, at 10am.

The SIGGRAPH 2004 website recently posted the list of Sketches presentations. ILM will present several sketches including one whole session dedicated to the creature work on Van Helsing. Other studios presenting include PDI/Dreamworks, Digital Domain, ESC, Imageworks Rhythm and Hues, Tippet Studio, Blue Sky Studios, Frantic Films and Disney discussing such projects as Shrek 2, I, Robot, The Matrix Revolutions, Spider-Man 2, Hellboy, Scooby Doo 2 and Chicken Little.

The SIGGRAPH 2004 website has just listed the accepted pieces to the Computer Animation Festival. ILM has one piece accepted to the Electronic Theatre, once again their R&D reel, directed by R&D Director Steve Sullivan and Brent Bowers. Other high profile pieces includes work by Digital Domain, Weta Digital, Imageworks, ESC, Tippett Studio, Pixar, PDI/Dreamworks, The Mill, Glassworks, Aardman Animations and Passion Pictures among others.

The SIGGRAPH website has put online the lineup of Panels sessions and the Special Sessions. Steve Sullivan, R&D Director at ILM will discuss custom software in a panel, while Kate Shaw is a moderator in careers in CG panel. Several former members will also participate, including former VFX Supervisors Henry LaBounta and Habib Zargarpour, both now at EA, will discuss game visuals, and Hael Kobayashi, former Director of Digital Artists Production. Other studios represented include Framestore/CFC, Digital Domain, PDI/Dreamworks and The Orphanage.