The 50th Anniversary of Siggraph went down in sunny LA from August 6th to 11th, 2023. Yours truly, Stacey Pearson, the Media and Entertainment representative from Modena and CTIAF's Marketing Manager scored a ticket to this tech extravaganza. I was there to soak up the latest emerging tech, reminisce about the past five decades, and lap up the cream of today's animation feats.

let me spill the beans on what made this year extra special besides blowing out 50 candles. This amazing was all about tech, tech, and you guessed it—more tech! It was my first time diving into this  wonderland.  I had visited NAB and IBC before but Siggraph was on a whole new level—think big, think expert, and think studios and companies going all out to share their secrets from the world of CG. Big guns like ILM, Framestore, Weta, Dreamworks, and Untold Studios were all in on the action. They brought their A-game with sneak peeks, behind-the-scenes gigs, game production secrets, inspiring animated ads, and even movie screenings.

Now, if you thought this was just a tech symphony, there was a VR theatre and an electronic theatre that were on fire. The content was like a mixed bag of goodies—high-end animated shorts, Sci Viz wonders, and almost half of the chosen 22 screenings were student gems.

let's talk tech. The futuristic and what's-happening-now stuff really caught my eye. Picture this: Generative AI or Machine learning, but they like to call it that in showbiz. Plus, there's remote work setups, virtual studios, and real-time tools that are all the rage right now.

So, what was my takeaway from the Siggraph spectacle? Well, besides my Pixar Renderman “Elemental walking teapot” collectable, I had my "a-ha" moment about Quantum computing—I mean, I'm still wrapping my head around it. But hey, I did some savvy networking on LinkedIn for future speaking gigs. Oh, and did I mention the rad new tech toys I explored? You'll find all the juicy details in my next blog post, so check it out!