Apple at Siggraph 2004

[MacRumors]

According to one reader, Apple will have a "huge" presence at Siggraph this year.

Siggraph 2004 is "the 31st international conference on computer graphics and interactive techniques". The conference takes place between August 8-12, 2004 in the Los Angeles Conference Center in Los Angeles, California.

Last year, while Apple had a "strong presence" at Siggraph 2003, they did not hold an official booth... This year Apple is reported to have one of the largest presences of any vendor in the show.

 

[virividox]

unleash the graphic power of the g5 upon the world and see other platforms tremble

 

[AssassinOfGates]

Hmm, i remember reading one anylyst's views on how Apple might acquire Pixar now that they dumped disney, and since both are obviously owned by Jobs. I find this hard to believe, but if it were to happen this is probably where. I can also only hope that Pixar makes a new short

 

[Stike]

Smells like a huge Pixar presentation of Renderman on a G5... corresponding with new G5s? Would be the right moment to reveal them..

 

[lind0834]

xServe xGrid - Pixar.

 

[mac15]

Interesting, I'm pretty much certain they'd be showing off the new Xserve G5s and some sort of a render farm demo type thing. I don't think Apple really need any more exposure in the graphics department

 

[redAPPLE]

i do not think SJ OWNS pixar and apple.

he is the CEO, but not the owner.

 

[IronChef]

Been to Siggraph in 2003

Apple did NOT have a huge presence...just a booth sponsored by some professional trainers teaching Shake. It looked and felt like a corporate training session but they didn't let people just walkup and touch the machines.

Shake was terriffic but I think in the light of letting users ask pro-level questions...the booth was not that impressive.

 

[arn]

Originally posted by redAPPLE
i do not think SJ OWNS pixar and apple.

he is the CEO, but not the owner.

Actually... Steve Jobs was the owner at one point I believe... he bought the company from Lucas.

Since then, it's now a publically traded company... so no one person "owns it"... but Jobs may still have a significant share of it.

arn

 

[beelesbob]

Shake was terriffic but I think in the light of letting users ask pro-level questions...it was not that impressive.

Hmm, yes, shake isn't that impressive... It was only used to composite LotR: RotK, that's not a big professional production requiring a lot of compositing special effects.</sarcasm>

Bob

 

[Sol]

X Grid & Pixlet to be shown off?

In Siggraph Apple can show off its latest technologies, including the G5 XServes, X Raid, Pixlet, Shake and X Grid. If XGrid can be used by non-Apple applications like Maya and Renderman then 3D artists would have another good reason to go Mac.

It would be great if Apple announced that high-end 3D cards will be compatible with G5 PowerMacs. For some reason this has not happened yet.

 

[ThomasJefferson]

3 points beelesbob !

 

[BaghdadBob]

This wouldn't be a MacRumors article without at least one negative rating. What gives?

Renderman seems the most likely.

 

[ipiloot]

Originally posted by arn
Actually... Steve Jobs was the owner at one point I believe... he bought the company from Lucas.

Since then, it's now a publically traded company... so no one person "owns it"... but Jobs may still have a significant share of it.

arn

Afaik Steve still holds 55% of Pixar.

 

[justytylor]

Originally posted by beelesbob
Hmm, yes, shake isn't that impressive... It was only used to composite LotR: RotK, that's not a big professional production requiring a lot of compositing special effects.</sarcasm>

Bob

Hate to do this to you, but you need to learn to diagram sentences. IronChef meant that the presentation wasn't that impressive, what with the inability to actually get on machines to use the software. Perhaps the employees doing the Shake demo weren't terribly knowledgeable at the time? Remember, IronChef points out that "Shake is terrific" right at the beginning of the sentence you criticize. No need for <sarcasm> if you're not going to read closely.

Justy

 

[ITR 81]

Originally posted by arn
Actually... Steve Jobs was the owner at one point I believe... he bought the company from Lucas.

Since then, it's now a publically traded company... so no one person "owns it"... but Jobs may still have a significant share of it.

arn

Jobs owns 55% of Pixar and rest is owned by individual share holders.

Fox News did special on Disney and Pixar...in which Roy Disney said ME was making a big mistake and is killing the company.

 

[Mr. Anderson]

Sounds great, G5s (rev C by August might be a bit much to ask for), XGrid, speed bumped XServes - now I'll bet lots of people would love to see Maya Unlimited ported to the Mac - that would make some serious tremors in the 3D App market....

I'd love to go, but I don't think it will happen.

D

 

[stingerman]

Originally posted by ITR 81
Jobs owns 55% of Pixar and rest is owned by individual share holders.

Fox News did special on Disney and Pixar...in which Roy Disney said ME was making a big mistake and is killing the company.

And his ownership of Apple continues to grow. I believe it is over 6% now. That is no loose change by any means. A purchase of Pixar's Renderman in exchange for Apple stock, would give Steve a larger share of Apple. I can see the day when Pixar's software development arm goes over to Apple and Apple acquires other software, such as Maya. It makes sense to me.

 

[Mr. Anderson]

Originally posted by stingerman
I can see the day when Pixar's software development arm goes over to Apple and Apple acquires other software, such as Maya. It makes sense to me.

There was a rumor about Apple buying Maya - Alias/Wavefront last year - caused a huge stir, actually. Enough of one that the President of Alias/Wavefront definitively said in an interview that it wasn't going to happen. Given that, and the fact the Renderman is now available for purchase, we might see a Apple 3D app based on Renderman before Apple buys up Maya.

It would make more sense, but a huge effort in development, since Renderman isn't a simple system. And they'd need a modeler as well.

D

 

[srobert]

Originally posted by mac15
Interesting, I'm pretty much certain they'd be showing off the new Xserve G5s and some sort of a render farm demo type thing. I don't think Apple really need any more exposure in the graphics department

On the contrary I think that the mac platform lost a good deal of graphic professionnal users in the Moto-Dark-Ages. Ans since all the major apps are available on both platforms, Apple has to make a point that there is an advantage in using a "more expensive' mac for your graphic needs.

I think you may be right on the render farm though.

 

[hokka]

Originally posted by ITR 81
Jobs owns 55% of Pixar and rest is owned by individual share holders.

Fox News did special on Disney and Pixar...in which Roy Disney said ME was making a big mistake and is killing the company.

It's 56% to be precise [according to Page 32 of Pixar's 2003 financial report - http://www.shareholder.com/Common/Edgar/1002114/891618-03-1511/03-00.pdf ]

"Our Chief Executive Officer, Steve Jobs, beneficially owns approximately 56% of our outstanding Common Stock as of March 4, 2003. As a result, Mr. Jobs, acting alone, is able to exercise sole discretion over all matters requiring shareholder approval, including the election of the entire board of directors and approval of significant corporate transactions, including an acquisition of Pixar. Such concentration of ownership may also have the effect of delaying or preventing a change in control of Pixar, impeding a merger, consolidation, takeover or other business combination involving Pixar, or discouraging a potential acquirer from making a tender offer or otherwise attempting to obtain control of Pixar."

Ha! by the look of things SJ is not going to let the Apple past fiasco happen again! He has TOTAL control...

 

[jrv3034]

I have a feelin that the G5 won't reach Rev B until then. This would mean we'll have the dual 2GHz as the top of the line for almost a year, and then make a huge leap into 3GHz range.

On the contrary I think that the mac platform lost a good deal of graphic professionnal users in the Moto-Dark-Ages. Ans since all the major apps are available on both platforms, Apple has to make a point that there is an advantage in using a "more expensive' mac for your graphic needs.

It would be awesome if Renderman showed up for the Mac. They've already said in the G5 promo video that they felt the G5 was the most powerful computer out there. Let''s seee them take advantage of that.

 

[Mr. Anderson]

The Rev B. G5 won't wait until August - a whole year before we see a speed bump? That would just be deadly and stupid - harkening back to the days of Motorola supplied chips.

Not to mention the mass hysteria/angnst that would precede the wait. Apple would be getting some serious flak for putting off the upgrade that long.

D

 

[Selecter]

Best guess is around march, first week or last week. Believe or Mac OS rumors posted something on this I actually agree with. They claim Apple is holding back release of the Rev. B's becuase they are stuffing a lot of those 970fx's into the Xserves meant for the Virginia Tech upgarde, which unlike last time where they pissed some poeple off. they know whats coming and can take care of Virginia Tech without impact to other customers. Last I heard there are 1,600 Xserves going in there. So that's 3200 CPUs used JUST for 1 customer.

It's rare that macosorumors makes sense, but that does make sense to me.

 

[silvergunuk]

Mmmmmm interesting

I hope Apple announces that they bought Luxology and Alias. Modo as a modeler and maya for animation, rigging and particle system and put it all in a package with a cut down version of renderman for a nice tidy sum of $2000.

Apple could have held off with the release of the new G5 because of an announcment by the Hypertransport consortium to move over to version 2 with faster speeds and the ability to support PCI Express