SIGGRAPH Attendance Falling Despite Rise in M&E Graphics

by Ralph Grabowski

ANAHEIM, CA (SIGGRAPH 2013) July 24, 2013 - Those that put on shows, like SIGGRAPH, have ways of making them seem big and busy. They can block off a large part of the exhibit hall with curtains, hiding unrented space. They can pack it with students.

Jon Peddie shows slide in SIGGRPAPH attendance

But Jon Peddie Research, a small firm, has examined the graphics industry for about twenty years. They are not fooled.

Each year at SIGGRAPH, the firm sponsors a lunch for invited guests. The lunch features a panel discussion by experts in the graphics field -- albeit M&E (media and entertainment) graphics, not CAD graphics.

Before the panel began, however, Mr Peddie presented some of his research. The slides he showed included the following trends:

• Attendance at SIGGRAPH is falling but falling even faster is vendor participation (I would suggest, however, we should be glad SIGGRAPH is around at all)
• Attendance is falling even as the M&E industry is growing exponentially
• Mobile devices are at the tipping point, because of this year's introduction of OpenGL 3 to mobile chip sets
• Tablets will soon switch from being consumption devices to creation devices; all that's needed is for Android OS to become better, Mr Peddie concluded.

The panel discussion, about democratization, was, unfortunately, nearly impossible to follow, due to the horrid acoustics on the hotel ballroom. The best I could gather, it was all about film issues, not something that interests us CAD nuts.

Comments

[ScottMoyse]

Or as Windows 8 or later based tablets gain traction... Since that OS is already capable of running applications to create content rather than Android which is miles behind in that regard.