SIGGRAPH 2004.

The article highlights the 31st annual conference of the Association for Computing Machinery's Special Interest Group on Graphics (SIGGRAPH) held from August 8 to 12, 2004 at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, California. SIGGRAPH remains the Mother of All Imaging Conferences (some might call it the Grandmother at this point), featuring a unique mix of science, art, commerce, and education. With a wide selection of panels, papers, films, and innovative exhibits, SIGGRAPH rarely disappoints. SIGGRAPH 2004's total exhibition area was smaller than the hallowed days of yore, composed mostly of software companies, some boutique specialty hardware outfits, schools, and graphics board manufacturers. Walking the show's exhibit floor provides ample evidence that the industry's major players have changed in recent years. Where once SGI's purple, blue, and fuchsia workstations were literally ubiquitous on a vast show floor, this year they occupied only a small booth (last year they weren't even on the show floor, exhibiting in a hotel room across the street). Graphics card makers NVIDIA and ATI have replaced SGI as the 800 pound gorillas of the industry. One reason the show floor's smaller is that there's been considerable consolidation in both the hardware and software graphics industries over the last few years. There were several indications this trend is still in full swing.