SIGGRAPH Electronic Theater Screenings will take place July 26 – July 28th at the Los Angeles Convention Center

Los Angeles, CA – July 26 – SIGGRAPH 2010 – MAXON Computer, a leading developer of professional 3D modeling, painting, animation and rendering solutions, is pleased to announce that 3D artist, Daihei Shibata, has relied on its CINEMA 4D and BodyPaint 3D software applications to create a short film entitled, The Light of Life that will be included in the prestigious SIGGRAPH 2010 ‘Computer Animation Festival.’ The Festival is part of the SIGGRAPH 2010 Exhibition taking place at the Los Angeles Convention Center July 27th – 29th and the film will be screened at the convention’s popular Electronic Theater program. The Computer Animation Festival, celebrating its 37th year, is an internationally renowned forum for the presentation of the world’s most innovative and stimulating computer-generated animated films; festival screenings run today through July 28th.
The Light of Life has widely posted and been discussed online for being an inspirational work, with viewers claiming that the film’s mesmerizing ethereal beauty almost defies being categorized as CG. In a recent interview Shibata described the process of creating the film as crafting, “super normal beauty through soft and shining images that don’t seem to be CG.” The film is available on Vimeo (http://vimeo.com/groups/cinema4d/videos/9325052) along with a brief description that offers insight into Shibata’s thoughts on the piece, "Life is transparent, warm and swirls randomly like a soft light. And it constantly changes. Life illuminates itself and then it begins to illuminate a new life. A sprouted mass of innumerable lights becomes a flow before long, and then become part of the life-throb of ages. That ties life to this moment now."

Shibata, a director and 3D artist currently working for Tokyo-based WOW, created The Light of Life over the course of six months in his free time and used a mix of features in MAXON’s fully-integrated 3D package, CINEMA 4D, including BodyPaint 3D to texture the human figure and plant growth; Thinking Particles to achieve the glowing sparks that emit or interact with floating orbs; Xfrog, a third-party CINEMA 4D plug-in, to animate trees and plants; the Advanced Render to achieve the luminescent quality of the female character’s skin; as well as Adobe After Effects and Apophysis.

The Light of Life received the Grand Prize at the 2009 Asia Digital Art Awards and the film was recently featured as part of Saatchi & Saatchi’s New Director’s Showcase 2010 in June. To find out more about Daihei Shibata and his work, visit his website: http://www.daiheishibata.jp.

Screening Dates, Times and Locations

The Light of Life screenings during SIGGRAPH 2010 will take place at Los Angeles Convention, 1201 South Figueroa Street, Los Angeles, as follows:

    •    Monday, July 26th – 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. – West Hall B
    •    Tuesday, July 27th – 7:00 – 8:00 p.m. – West Hall B
    •    Wednesday, July 28th – 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. – West Hall B

MAXON at SIGGRAPH 2010

During the SIGGRAPH 2010 Convention, MAXON product demonstrations will take place during exhibit floor hours at Booth # 307, as follows:

    •    Tuesday, July 27th and Wednesday, July 28th – 9:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
    •    Thursday, July 29th – 9:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.