Well, it's a bit like space travel. CG is old news. To the casual observer, there isn't much new.

Anyone see anything from Nvidia/Mental Images yet? I haven't looked very hard.

Anything non-autodesk related that's exciting of SI users?

yeah there was something the other day about a change in strategy from nvidia. and it looks like there is going to start being a small Quardo card that will be the base model for just about everyone and then if you need more horsepower you will simply add more tesla GPUs to the system.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/08/08/nvidias-project-maximus-takes-multi-gpu-mainstream-virtual-gr/

Not something Softimage users will probably enjoy much at the moment,
but "Alembic 1.0", the open source computer graphics interchange format
developed by Sony Pictures Imageworks and Lucasfilm Ltd.
has been officially released...
More info: Alembic

I actually think that this is a pretty big deal and good news as well.

Looks like Marcos and the guys from Sony are showing some interesting volume stuff...

http://www.siggraph.org/s2011/for_attendees/talks/sessions/126

As this is once again a terribly slow day on the si-community,
let me spice it up a little with my very personal, (but not all too serious, I admit) feelings about the upcoming SAP:


Or to put it in (slightly more serious) words: there are some features that really appeal to me (the selection stuff mainly), but overall and especially after the inclusion of all them highly necessary model meshes, this SAP doesn't feel like a 2012.5 IMHO, more like a 2012.05. For some of the new features I have already been using user scripts/addons, so while it's nice they are included in the software now, I'm not terribly overwhelmed by them.

I agree on this upgrade not being so awesome, but it leaves me with hopes that they are planning something bigger for 2013.

I agree. It seems a bit light. When I saw modeling improvements I did expect a bit more than the small handful we got, and as you say, almost all of which were available as addons already. The modeling tools could have used a lot more cleanup and work I think but that's just me.

I was disappointed that there was really nothing at all for rendering improvements.

Siggraph itself seems quite lackluster this year. Maybe it's just the general economy and mood this year.

Remember these releases are 'Packs' and not full on major version number releases, and they are are for Subscription customers only.

Some of the additions may seem small to some, but I think they've all been very important. Personally I would rather have quality rather then quantity.

Also, people may have missed a point here, and that's how great ICE and how flexible it can be. Some guys have said on here before about why does everything have to be about ICE, but you might be missing it somehow. All the extra modelling additions may already exist as scripts or addons, but these new ones have been built using ICE, which makes them more powerful and flexible. They've slotted into the software in a way, that it's not obvious they are using ICE. Using ICE doesn't always have to be about constantly building ICE trees.

Very true. The changes to modeling are very nice indeed. Looking forward to what the ice tools can bring us in the future. I guess we're just starting to see the potential