SIGGRAPH 2024 Trip Report
The Cesium team traveled to Denver, Colorado in July to attend the 51st installation of SIGGRAPH, the premier conference in computer graphics. SIGGRAPH, which explores the intersection of art and technology and celebrates the rapid trajectory of 3D graphics, is a long-standing Cesium tradition. We love participating and experiencing the excitement of new discoveries and new connections with members of the graphics community.
Cesium team members at SIGGRAPH 2024, in front of the iconic Blue Bear at the Colorado Convention Center.
Trending: Open standards, Generative AI, and Digital Twins
SIGGRAPH 2024 saw the further development of trends from previous years, including ongoing conversations in open standards and interoperability, particularly around OpenUSD and glTF. There's also been a surge in research and discussions about the possibilities of generative AI. These themes were further reinforced by OpenUSD Day and Generative AI Day.
Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA, discussed the future of generative AI in two keynotes, one of which also featured Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta.
We also observed continued investment in digital twins and simulation at scale. We're proud to see 3D Tiles, the OGC community standard created by Cesium, being widely adopted as a means to stream massive 3D geospatial datasets into digital environments.
We also noted the interest in Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) and 3D geospatial, and we were happy to discover some additional examples of Cesium offerings and 3D Tiles. One, a demo of Voxel Earth created by Ryan Lewis, rendered Google Photorealistic 3D Tiles as voxels in Minecraft. Another, “Lights, Quality, Action!” featured a presentation from HNTB on their quality control application for AEC, built with Cesium for Unity.
The Cartographic Visualization Birds of a Feather presenters.
Cesium presented at the "Cartographic Visualization (Carto) Birds of a Feather," coordinated by Theresa-Marie Rhyne, for the twelfth time in a row. I gave an overview on exciting highlights at Cesium and was joined by Ryan Lewis, Cornell University; Rex Hansen, Esri; Nicholas Polys, Virginia Tech; Mike McCann, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, and Casey Gomez, Versar.
glTF at SIGGRAPH
glTF was a hot topic at SIGGRAPH, with proposed advancements to the specification and conversations about how it will interop with OpenUSD as both standards evolve.
We're excited by the focus on open standards. Cesium has a long history of open standards advocacy, driven by Cesium CEO Patrick Cozzi, the creator of 3D Tiles and one of the co-creators of glTF. We're proud to participate in the Metaverse Standards Forum, Alliance for OpenUSD, The Khronos Group, and the Open Geospatial Consortium as well as facilitate important discussions through the Building the Open Metaverse podcast.
Patrick Cozzi moderated the Birds of a Feather panel, "The State of 3D Asset Interoperability using USD and glTF," organized by the Metaverse Standards Forum.
I also joined to discuss how Cesium uses 3D Tiles and glTF in combination with OpenUSD to enable geospatial applications, particularly in Cesium for Omniverse.
Patrick Cozzi moderating "The State of 3D Asset Interoperability using USD and glTF."
Cesium’s Sean Lilley and Adam Morris also presented on glTF in two Birds of a Feather sessions: "glTF: Innovations in 3D Content Delivery and Use" and “glTF: Transforming 3D Asset Delivery for Real-Time Graphics,” addressing AEC and geospatial.
Sean and Adam discussed Cesium’s use of glTF to represent 3D geospatial data, both standalone and as payloads in 3D Tiles. They also gave a preview of upcoming extensions to the glTF spec that will enable Cesium to represent more geospatial data with glTF. In both sessions, the crowd showed strong interest in the upcoming extensions, asking good questions about the presented proposals. We are excited to see the variety of glTF advancements and are eagerly watching for progress and convergence.
Sean Lilley (left) and Adam Morris presenting at "glTF: Transforming 3D Asset Delivery for Real-Time Graphics."
The Khronos Group's Networking Reception
Cesium also co-sponsored the midweek Networking Reception hosted by The Khronos Group. We set up a station with several demos, the most popular of which was a lunar minigame to celebrate the release of Cesium Moon Terrain. Created by Ryan Veenstra, Senior Solutions Architect, the game featured a lunar lander that players must guide to a landing pad. Many players camped in front of the table, repeatedly attempting to get to the top of the competitive high score boards … including some of our teammates.
Cesium T-shirts and the lunar lander game at the Khronos Networking Reception.
See our presentations page to view slides and materials from SIGGRAPH 2024 sessions.
We hope to catch you at the next SIGGRAPH in Vancouver, Canada.