This article is also available in:
Français
At last! After a long period of inactivity, a French SIGGRAPH chapter is in the process of being reestablished.
A Void that needed to be filled
As a reminder, SIGGRAPH is the largest annual conference about computer graphics and interactive techniques. ACM SIGGRAPH, the organization overseeing this event, does have local branches named “Chapters” that bring together people interested in computer graphics. The goal of these chapters is to “help the ACM SIGGRAPH community promote excellence in computer graphics and interactive techniques”. In a nutshell, these chapters organize events, conferences, visits year-round.
The former Paris ACM SIGGRAPH chapter went dormant a few years ago, in 2018. Pierre Hénon, who managed most of its operations and presided over the association for years, wanted to pass the torch.
However, the amount of work required to keep the chapter running meant that, despite good intentions, it went dormant.
OcSiggraph, and soon a new ACM SIGGRAPH chapter
It’s in this context that professionals from the computer graphics industry in the South of France have established an association, that should turn into a new ACM SIGGRAPH chapter.
The association is named OcSiggraph, and the chapter might be named Montpellier ACM SIGGRAPH, or maybe Occitania ACM SIGGRAPH: this hasn’t been decided yet.
There are already Facebook, LinkedIn, Discord profiles you can follow/join.
The association also shared with us their board:
- Flavio Perez – CTO, Les Fées Spéciales (President)
- Sébastien Chort – CEO, Nobody Studio (Vice-President) (we interviewed him back in 2021)
- Pierre Marie Boyé – Production Director, Les Tontons Truqueurs (Secretary) (we’ll soon publish a vidéo interview of this company on our Youtube Channel!)
- Florian Giradot – Compositor, Meet your Legend, ARTFX (Treasurer )
- Maria León – Production Manager, Les Tontons Truqueurs
- Noura Faraj – Senior Lecturer LIRMM, Montpellier University
- Nathalie Combe – In charge of cultural and creative industries, Ad’Occ Agency
- François désrichard, – Research Engineer, Les Tontons Truqueurs
- Cyrille Paulhiac – real-time developer, independent
- Maxime Causeret – tech artist, Meta.
It is noteworthy that the team is composed of people from very diverse backgrounds: studios, researchers, independants, large and small companies.
A First Event on AI
The first event organized by this association has been announced. It will take place October 11h in Montpellier, France.
The event will delve into the topic of AI and creation:
It has been a year since various Artificial Intelligences (AIs), capable of generating text or images, made their debut. The sudden democratization of these new tools is already disrupting many layers of society. Creative circles that thought they were immune to AI are shaken by this significant change. This panel discussion will provide an overview with insights from professionals and researchers.
Here are the speakers:
– Romain Brette, – researcher, CNRS
– Maxime Causeret – tech artist, Meta
– François Desrichard – Research Engineer, Les Tontons Truqueurs
– Valentin Dornel – CTO, MenhirFX
– Mathieu Lafourcade – Researcher, LIRMM, Montpellier University
The event will take place at 7:30pm at the Gazette Café, 7 rue Levat at Montpellier.
