From Larry Gritz, if you play with shaders and such:
At SIGGRAPH '99 in Los Angeles, we will be holding a RenderMan User Group meeting on Wednesday, August 11 from roughly 6-8pm. Exact start time and location to be announced shortly.
To spruce up the activities, I'm happy to announce the...
What is it?
Over the years, we've taught several courses on the theory and practice of RenderMan. We try to invite users from studios to participate, but there's never enough time for us to include everybody who has done something cool or has something to teach. So we intend to remedy this by allowing users a forum to teach and share at the annual user group meeting.
How do I enter?
Easy. First, think of something cool you'd like to talk about. It could be a neat shader trick, a renderer or an extension thereof, a clever way to munge RIB files, a tool you've written, hints, tips, and war stories from productions, whatever. In short, anything remotely related to RenderMan and its use, which would be interesting to TD's and other users of RenderMan renderers.
Second, you write up a short description (a couple paragraphs is okay) and send it to lg@pixar.com. Clearly mark the subject of the email as "Stupid RMan Tricks Submission." Attaching images is fine. All submission materials will be strictly confidential. Send submissions before July 1, 1999.
An elite team of renderer authors headed by lg will judge the submissions, choosing the coolest 5-6 for presentation at the user group meeting. You will be notified of our decision by the second week of July. All decisions by the jury are final!
What happens if the jury likes my submission?
Chosen presenters get 5 minutes in front of the other users at the user group meeting, an overhead projector, a videotape player, and an open mike. Dazzle us, confuse us, make us smart!
For those materials that you're allowed to distribute (example shader code or whatever), I'll also set up a web site on which we can put the materials so that others may access them after the meeting.
Are there prizes?
Yes.
Can I just show my demo reel?
NO! It's not enough to just show pretty pictures. You need to say how there were done, ideally with figures, shader code fragments, vigorous hand-waving, etc.
Does it really have to be "stupid?"
No, we want clever. I was just trying to be funny. But the jury will be biased toward presentations that exhibit a sick and twisted sense of what can be done with RenderMan. Bonus points and special preference will be given to proposals that cause jurors to say any of the following out loud:
"I never would have thought of that."
"Wicked cool!"
"I've gotta try this out."
"I didn't know you could do that with my renderer."
"Are they nuts? What are they smoking down there in L.A.?"
"Huh?" [while squinting and cocking head to side]
Enter early. Enter often. See you all at SIGGRAPH,
Thursday, June 10th, 1999 danlyke@flutterby.com