To save you time, the only important things you will take
away from this thread are: A. Boston Airport does not have a lot
of restrooms and the ones they do have are far away.
B. Do not buy Maya 8 Unlimited on it’s release date, wait.
Ok you can leave now.
If you are still here, a few things are necessary to point out.
I will be writing under various names in the other forums about
Siggraph and my experiences with their software. This is mostly about
Zbrush’s Booth. Not the software, the booth.
Others will tell you what was shown. It will be argued and fought about
in this forum for the next couple of weeks.
My perspective is “older kid”, hobbyist, amateur, eager learner,
First time Siggraph Attendee.
Housekeeping details:
- Left Newark Tuesday morning flight 6:49 am.
- Hit Siggraph floor at 10:00am Tuesday morning. Stayed
on floor until 5:00pm (no lunch, bathroom only) - Returned to Siggraph 9:30 am Wednesday,left floor 1:30pm.
- Arrived back home in NY about 9:00pm
Expenses; - Flight - 160.00
- Room one night Ramada Inn-160.00
- Parking at airport 50.00 ( would have been cheaper,parked wrong area)
- Souvenirs 60.00 ( hope the shirts fit)
- Meals etc - 20.00. ( Many thanks to the wino who told me about the Sub shop)
Now.
Have mentioned that I am a stranger to the graphic world. I am not, however, a stranger to expo’s, trade show’s,etc. Have helped put some together.
At most of these there are certain things in common,certain types of people
on both sides of the exhibit. Certain social structures.
For instance the type of business’ that exhibit. - The “Mom and Pop” type deal. The exhibitors are the owners and developers.
Very often, word of mouth, dark horse type success’ are from here. - The established exhibitor, very often has people working for and around him.
- The Corporate 900 lb gorilla.Many people, uniforms, look like an army,very
smooth.
The people that inhabit the booth are of a type also.
The Corporate Whore ( will refer to him as CW).CW serves many purposes,many are required for the success of the enterprise. Back slapper, “glad to meet you”,“in town long?”“yes, isn’t it”. He is a form of mega salesman, very often knowing very little, or worse
caring little about the product itself.Appearance is everything.
The “Spieler”. He goes back to the days of medicine show salesman.Extremely importantto the success of the booth. You can’t sell to people who are asleep.His is the corporate face and voice.
The “lackeys”, this is not said disrespectfully. You can’t sell if you ain’t got.
They ring up the purchases, adjust the music,“fix the tent”. They are the first inthe morning.They are the last to leave.
They are absolutely vital to the booth.If you have half a brain, these are the people to talk to on the side.
Quietly.
Of the top ten reasons for going to Siggraph,meeting Aurick was one of them.
Will not spell everything out,but over the years have developed a love/hate relationship.
He has constantly helped me, even when I have been making trouble for him.
One of the reasons Zbrush is what it is, is because of this forum.
Aurick is the forum.
In addition have found him to be extremely kind and fair man.
Aurick made a small mistake a few months ago and posted a partial photo here.
Finding him quietly was no problem.
Let me digress.
The Zbrush Booth is/was basically in the middle of the convention floor.
One of their neighbor’s is “Massive” and you can hear their demo’s when all is quiet.
In front of a large screen there were plenty of folding chairs.( thank God!!!)
Aurick on a small stand was to the left of the screen with a lap top quietly answering questions
Ryan, when not presenting was to right of the screen, Ofer Alon to his rear, seated with his computer and tablet. Surrounding them at certain times were the CW’s,( not to beat this into the ground) .Their salespeople were to the front of the booth and would take your order after the presentation.
The presentations were done approximately every half hour by Ryan.
Once or twice a day,a guest artist would demonstrate his work.
When I was there, Taron demonstrated a plugin for Adobe After Effects that no-one knows where to buy, how much it will cost, or when it will be available, if ever.
I had gone there to meet Aurick. I did.
I had gone to see the presentation. I did.
Now, what impressed me the most of the whole booth.
All day long the presentations were about the same, with the exceptions noted.
I would keep coming back at odd moments to sit down and watch.
Ryan would talk about Zbrush 2.5 and he would point at the screen.
Mr Alon would work his tablet in zbrush and the results would be on the screen.
They were creating the demo, basically, on the fly.Sometimes the results and
image were the same, sometimes not.
Mr. Alon, Pixolator, looks like a kindly uncle. Of the people in that booth
he was the most quiet, the most unassuming. No glad handing, no back slapping,no crude jokes.
Just quiet talent.
I have been privileged to see concert pianists at work.
I was privileged to see Mr.Alon at work.
He was truly fantastic to watch.At each demonstration his fingers would
fly over the laptop and something magical would appear on screen.
At the end of the presentation, he would very quietly stand up and
blend into the crowd.
It was truly something to watch and marvel over.
Quietly.
Watching him work was truly one of the highpoints of Siggraph.
A truly classy Gentleman.
;
