Siggraph releases lineup for popular production sessions

Insider conversations include Interstellar, Jurassic World, Ant-Man, and Tomorrowland. Industrial Light and Magic will celebrate 40 years with a special event.

The lineup for the most popular event at Siggraph—the Production Sessions—has been announced. As usual, the world’s elite computer graphics experts will gather to share the processes and techniques used to create the compelling content featured in blockbuster films from the past year and year ahead.

The Production Sessions will also present a special event to celebrate Industrial Light & Magic’s (ILM) 40th anniversary on Monday, August 10. Known for some of the most memorable and even iconic images in the history of modern filmmaking, ILM has changed the way visual effects are utilized in film, television, and other forms of entertainment.

The complete 2015 Production Session lineup includes:

The Visual Effects of Interstellar
Double Negative

The science-fiction epic Interstellar was a true collaboration of art and science. Double Negative will talk about all aspects of the visual effects work on the film, from the use of traditional, practical techniques to the role of how theoretical physics played in the design of the visual effects. Professor Emeritus Kip Thorne will be on-hand to explain how he and Double Negative developed a new renderer to work on the project where gravitationally warped space, a 4,000-foot wave and a virtual environment to represent higher spatial dimensions were created.

The computer generated graphics in Interstellar were possible due to new research on the visualization of black holes. (Source: Double Negative)

Building San Fransokyo: Creating the World of Disney’s Big Hero 6
Walt Disney Animation Studios

Cinematography and technical supervisors from Walt Disney Animation Studios will be on the panel to explain the creation of the rich and vibrant metropolis of San Fransokyo. From art direction to final frames, the discussion will be around the new approaches to rendering to bring the detailed world in Big Hero 6 to life.

New approaches to rendering were required to bring Big Hero 6 to the screen. (Source: Walt Disney Animation Studios)

Moving Mountains in Disney Pixar’s Lava
Disney Pixar

Pixar Animation Studios will lead the panel discussion on Lava. A love letter to volcanoes and the beauty of tropical islands, Lava is a unique collaboration among Pixar’s artists. From designing the main character to integrating new lighting tools, the panelists will explain how Lava came to life and how each member was inspired to create this vision.

New lighting tools were developed for Lava. (Source: Disney Pixar)

20 Years of Creativity and Innovation
Weta Digital

From the visual effects team behind The Hobbit trilogy, Weta Digital will examine the extraordinary undertaking of ground-breaking CG character development to battle sequences to fire and water effects. For more than 20 years, Weta Digital used creativity and innovation to achieve a new era of digital filmmaking.

Bringing dragons to life has been part of the job description for 20 years at Weta Digital. (Source: Weta Digital)

The Making of Inside Out
Disney Pixar

From concept art to the bright and vibrant animated world, this session will have Pixar Animation Studios describe the process of designing, building and bringing the world from inside a young girl’s mind to life. They will discuss the challenges of Inside Out, including turning emotions into characters and translating the mind into a set where adventure unfolds.

The challenge in creating Inside Out was to depict the emotional forces at work in a child’s mind. (Source: Disney Pixar)

From Post-It to Post Production for The Book of Life
Reel FX Creative Studios

Award-winning director Jorge Gutierrez and the art, animation, CG and VFX leads behind the Golden Globe-nominated feature The Book of Life present a behind-the-scenes look at this visually inspiring film. From working with the Gutierrez’s unique artistic vision and translating it into 3D, the team at Reel FX Creative Studios will talk about the ideas behind the designs, innovative rigging and animation techniques, lighting and texture challenges, and maintaining the director’s vision.

Surreal landscapes are only the beginning in The Book of Life. (Source: Reel FX Creative Studios)

Breathing Life into CHAPPiE
Image Engine Design

The team behind director Neill Blomkamp’s sci-fi comedy, CHAPPiE, will discuss how a small production team brought CHAPPiE, a digitally created childlike robot, to life. Image Engine Design will present a behind-the-scenes look at the challenges, from concept design to final integration.

Digital magic makes CHAPPiE come alive. (Source: Image Engine)

Home: Just Another Post-Apocalypic-Alien-Invasion-Buddy-Road-Movie?
DreamWorks Animation

Director Tim Johnson and the creative team from the animated feature Home explains the complexity behind “simple” alien characters and the challenges behind a character who constantly changes hairstyles. The DreamWorks Animation SKG team will discuss their research, the technology and techniques behind this feature film.

A boy and his alien, just trying to find Home. (Source: DreamWorks Animation)

The Park is Open: Journey to Jurassic World
Industrial Light & Magic

The Industrial Light & Magic team behind the blockbuster Jurassic World shares the on-set visualization tools used during production, as well as the new visual effects techniques developed for modeling and texturing, environment creation and advanced motion capture.

New visual effects techniques were developed during the making of Jurassic World. (Source: Industrial Light & Magic)

Fix the Future: The visual effects of Tomorrowland
Industrial Light & Magic

The Industrial Light & Magic team behind the visual effects of “Tomorrowland” will talk about methodologies, the architecture behind the CG city. They will also open up about the production challenges and workflow solutions that were developed to deliver this first-ever, 4K release.

The optimistic and visionary Tomorrowland was the first feature film distributed in 4K. (Source: Industrial Light & Magic)

The Peanuts Movie: From Comic Strip to Feature Film
Blue Sky Studios

Bringing the iconic characters of the beloved comic strip Peanuts to life was an exciting and unprecedented prospect for the team at Blue Sky Studios. The Blue Sky Studios team will share insight of their design and animation style, and how artistic and technical challenges brought the classic pen lines of “Peanuts” creator Charles Schulz to the big screen.

Charlie Brown and Snoopy grace the silver screen for the first time in The Peanuts Movie. (Source: Blue Sky Studios)

The Making of Marvel’s Ant-Man
Double Negative, Marvel Entertainment, Luma Pictures, Method Studios

The creative minds from Marvel Entertainment, Double Negative, Luma Pictures and Method Studios will be on hand for a behind-the-scenes session that explores the visual effects in the making of “Ant-Man.”

The computer graphics in Ant-Man were a four-way joint venture. (Source: Marvel Entertainment)

The Making of the Characters of Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron
Industrial Light & Magic, Marvel Entertainment, Lola VFX

For the making of Avengers: Age of Ultron, the teams from Marvel Entertainment, Industrial Light & Magic and Lola VFX will discuss what went on behind-the-scenes, from animation to visual effects teams and the technologies and processes.

Avengers: Age of Ultron broke box-office records. (Source: Marvel Entertainment)

The Production Sessions are part of the 42nd annual Siggraph Conference, August 9-13 at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, California.