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August 7, 2007

SIGGRAPH Autodesk User Group/Party

Filed under Celebrity, SIGGRAPH

At the user group meeting, we got some nice long sleeve (great for SF!) black shirts with a Maya logo on the front, Max logo on one sleeve, and a Combustion logo (I think...it looks like a flame).

One of the speakers was the head of marketing for Chrysler. She brought along a Dodge Demon that was unveiled on stage like this was an auto show. Very good-looking car.

Max and Maya have now use years instead of versions numbers. The latest offering is Maya 2008 and Max 2008.

Max gains lighting/shadows in the interactive 3D viewer. No need to re-render when placing lights...very cool.

Maya gains some rigging features that made the crowd very happy. A new widget for controlling the view is in the upper right corner. It lets you switch views (e.g. left to 3D view), or rotate your view in screen space (turn upside-down, for example).

ILM was the final presentation with how we did Transformers using Maya. Jeff White was the presenter.

After the User Group, everybody (it seemed like a few thousand people) headed to the USS Midway aircraft carrier for the party.

We started out on the flight deck where all the airplanes are kept. They had a fireworks show right in front of the USS Midway. After the fireworks, we went downstairs to an area that had flight simulators we could ride (I passed...I've already done enough of that!).

It was an open bar until 11:30pm (we got there around 10). They also had free pizza and desserts.

There was a DJ, dance floor, and go-go dancers...

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It was quite a sausage factory, except for this one area with several cute girls. I walked over and asked one girl if she'd like to dance. We danced a little and I asked her if she uses Maya or Max. She didn't know what I was talking about. I asked her what she does, and she said "actress." I asked if she had done anything I would know, and she said "yes." I said, "Let me look you up on IMDB on my cell phone"...and she was there.

Her name is Zoe Quist. She played the memorable part of "crowd onlooker" in War of the Worlds. I told her my company did the effects in that movie. She said, "What company is that?" I told her "ILM"...to which I was greeted with a blank stare...she had no idea who ILM was. Oh well...at least she was easy on the eyes.

It turns out she was hired by CafeFX (did the effects in Pan's Labyrinth, co-sponsor of the party) along with almost every other cute girl on the dance floor to make it less than 100% computer dorks on the dance floor moving non-rhythmically to the music.

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Comments (8)

MoFo Chill:

Oh no! Poor Zoe's STARmeter on IMDB is down 24% since last week. Perhaps she shouldn't have taken the computer dork conference gig after all.

- MoFo Chill

ben:

that is hilarious! Zoe wasn't hired by CafeFX.
Zoe's my girlfriend, I work for CafeFX. :)

Zoe totally knows who ILM is, she's been dating a VFX artist for more than 10 years. But I totally agree with you, most of the rest of the girls dancing on the podium were girls we recruited from around town who were just looking for a good party.

that's just too funny.

-ben

The Internets:

Trust me, as she is the significant other of a VFX supervisor, Zoe is well aware who/what ILM is. You were met with a blank stare because she could give a shit who you are or who you work for. I'm guessing the closest you got to laid in San Diego is taking this photo back to your hotel room and rubbing one out to it, possibly while weeping.

The Internets is watching you -- best to watch yourself.


@The Internets:

Wow! What's up with all the hostility! Ben seems pretty cool. Really, I'd just love to get a tour of cafefx...I love your work.

How about an olive branch...you give me a tour of cafefx and I'll do the same?

David

Ian:

Ooooh Internet Tough Guy alert! Watch out Dave, you've riled up the almighty Internets.

Here's what I want to know: did you do a Google search on Zoe or CafeFX to find this blog? Either way, glad you could stop by and be a d!ck, I'm sure you'd be just the same if you met Dave face-to-face. Right? Toughguy?

Ben and Zoe sound like they're pretty chilled out people. And you can't read too much into a blank stare at a loud, rowdy party. Heck, I stare blankly for minutes on end during conversations, and it is NOT a sign of senility (regardless of Dr. Glenda's opinion).

Ben and Zoe sound like they're pretty chilled out people. And you can't read too much into a blank stare at a loud, rowdy party. Heck, I stare blankly for minutes on end during conversations, and it is NOT a sign of senility (regardless of Dr. Glenda's opinion).

Bubba:

Watch out for The Internets evil twin -- The Intranets! All they do is post to internal blogs :)

ben:

We're totally chill.
David, I lost your email, send it again? We all took the party bus back to Santa Monica right after that party, so no chance on drinks in San Diego. Any time you want a tour of CafeFX, I'll hook you up. The big office (100-300 VFX artists) is in Santa Maria, and the small one (30-75 VFX artists, motion graphics, finishing, telecine) is in Santa Monica.

-ben

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