Unprecedented Student Group Learns From Computer Art Conference

An unprecedented 14 students from NJIT’s  School of Art+Design attended a national conference for computer graphics this summer and took home valuable lessons for their young careers.
 
New Jersey Institute of Technology usually sends two, three, or four students to the national conference of the Association for Computing Machinery's Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques, explained Hillier College of Architecture and Design professor Glenn Goldman, who advises the ACM SIGGRAPH student chapter here.
 
"While we've had students apply every year, we've never had a success like this," Goldman said. "This year we had 16 of 20 applicants accepted, and 14 go. It is expensive and we do provide a travel scholarship of $500 per continuing student to help defray some of their costs."
 
Almost 19,000 students and professionals attended the conference in Los Angeles. Presentation topics included animation, augmented/virtual reality, games and special/visual effects.
 
The NJIT students cumulatively volunteered more than 25 hours of service time at the conference. They each had the opportunity to attend workshops, presentations and networking events. Goldman curated and submitted 50 computer-generated images made by the students. That's the maximum allowed and conference organizers accepted all of them. This year there were images made by students in all three majors from the art and design program, he said.
 
Michael Decaprio attended as president of the NJIT student SIGGRAPH chapter. "I learned a great deal about emerging technologies and upcoming software at the conference. The most exciting research, in my opinion, would be in visual development. As a digital design major in my final year hoping to land a career developing motion graphics for commercials or film, learning about new technology and new ways to turn ideas into visually interesting products is extremely important," he said.
 
A technical session by computer animation studio Pixar piqued Decaprio's interest. "They went through all the stages of development to make Bo-Peep from ‘Toy Story 4’ to look as real as possible while still holding on to her classic look from the previous movies. Being that Bo-Peep is a porcelain doll, they went so far as to show how the porcelain partially shrinks when placed in an oven and mimicked that look onto Bo-Peep's character," he explained. "They also went through the steps on developing a shader that highlighted small sub-surface cracks in the porcelain material that were only visible when light hit it at certain angles, replicating the fine details in the porcelain look. They were able to implement present-day techniques that weren't available when the first ‘Toy Story’ was released while still presenting a familiar face to the audience."
 
Decaprio said he joined the chapter to get help with class software for 3D modeling and animation. He became president to help others. "I found having a passionate community of students come together to help their peers is immeasurably valuable. This community transcends our undergraduate careers. The past members of NJIT SIGGRAPH who taught me what I needed to know for my classes have since graduated and continue to teach me what I need to know for my professional success."
 
One past member, Daniel Palma, also attended the conference this year. Palma graduated in 2012 with a B.A. in Digital Design. He now works at SHoP Architects where he makes digital 3D models and renderings. During his sophomore year he became the first NJIT student to attend the conference. "It's greatly shaped my whole mindset and my career path," he said. Attending the conference taught him about companies and technologies that he wouldn't have learned by limiting himself to on-campus activity.
 
Chapter events for the 2019-2020 year will include a game design gathering co-hosted by the International Game Developers Association chapter, an animation competition, tours of local professional design studios, and increased collaboration with student groups from the industrial design and interior design majors. "Since all design students share the same first-year curriculum, a student can easily switch between them after completing their first year if they find one more interesting than the one they were in. We feel it necessary that the various design organizations come together to support any student seeking information about transitioning," Decaprio said.

Other students attending were Lasha Areshidze, Sophia Chan, Emma Collins, Twinkle Desai, Loni Fiscus, Giovanni Gagliano, Will Martone, Michael Mejia, Jodie Saint-Val, Nicholas Seccondro, Sergio Segovia, Joshua Weinberg and Kaylin Wittmeyer.