Game Developers Conference (GDC) Drawing Near--Visual Arts Track

The GDC, March 4-8, is five days of intensive sessions provide information and inspiration in visual arts, game design, programming, audio, business and legal, and production. The GDC has a number of tracks and today we highlight the Visual Arts Track. The conference material states: "Free from many technological constraints, artists are now empowered to implement visuals that closely match the original vision. The focus of artwork is shifting to explore new ideas and art styles that can allow a game to stand out from the competition. The Visual Arts Track focuses on the specific, advanced techniques that take game art in new directions.

The Visual Arts Track Keynote will be given by Bill Kroyer, Senior Animation Director, Rhythm & Hues Studios and it is entitled "Fooling All of the People All of the Time"

Alienbrains Invade GDC 2003! Join NXN Software at Booth 524. Test drive NXN alienbrain 6.0 and see how our new productivity features and configuration management tools help development teams take control of their assets. In addition, come see leading developers as they show how NXN alienbrain's powerful asset management technology helps improve quality throughout a game's development cycle.

Thursday, March 6, 12:00pm-1:00pm, Room C1
NXN alienbrain and MYST IV
Guest Speaker: Catherine Roy, Producer, Ubi Soft Entertainment

Friday, March 7, 4:30pm-5:30pm, Room C4
NXN alienbrain and Splashdown 2
Guest Speaker: Dennis Booth, THQ - Rainbow Studios

Course descriptions of over 20 Visual Arts sessions are on this GDC web site and they include the following:

A Review of Current and Future Animation Issues: Erik Medina, Sony Computer Entertainment of America, Paul Steed, Microsoft Xbox; Rob Titus, Naughty Dog; Oliver Wade, Insomniac Games

Art Directors Panel: Aesthetics and the Almighty Dollar: Steve Caterson, Midway Games West; Linda Lubken, Cyrus Lum, Inevitable Entertainment; Jonathan Peedin, Red Storm Entertainment; Lee Petty, Circus Freak Studios; Steve Reid, Red Storm Entertainment

The 12 Principles of Traditional Character Animation Applied to 3D Computer Animation: Isaac Kerlow, Walt Disney Entertainment

Stepping Away From the Pack: Resources and Methods for Developing Art Styles That Are Memorable and Attention Grabbing: Doug Oglesby, Red Storm Entertainment; David Rose, Red Storm Entertainment

Creating Character Models: A Review of Current Techniques: Sam Coates, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe; Stefan Henry-Biskup, Liquid Development; Mai Lea Nguyen, Lucas Arts Entertainment

Hardware Shaders for the Artist: Steve Burke, Nvidia, and John Versluis, Inevitable Entertainment

Character Rigging and Animation: Martin Coven & Mookie Weisbrod, Inevitable Entertainment

How to Build a Better Cutscene: Adam Schnitzer, LucasArts Entertainment

Advanced Techniques in Creating Tile-Based Graphics for GameBoy Advance: Karthik Bala & Steve Derrick, Vicarious Visions

Facial Animation for Game Characters: Tito Pagan