This article is automatically translated.
We participated in SIGGRAPH Asia 2018 as Dwango Media Village (DMV). SIGGRAPH Asia 2018 is a conference on computer graphics and interactive techniques held at the Tokyo International Forum from December 4 to 7. An exhibition was also held from the second day of the conference, December 5, where companies and research labs could participate. In this article, we will introduce the content exhibited by Dwango Media Village and the conference atmosphere. A follow-up article summarizing the research lectures will be posted later.
Dwango Media Village conducted poster and demo exhibitions at the corporate booth.
Two types of posters were prepared.
One poster showcased thumbnails of DMV’s past research and projects. The poster included internationally recognized studies such as Neural Style Transfer and High-speed Clustering of Large and Multidimensional Vectors, as well as normal map estimation from line drawings and Voice Quality Conversion.
Projects featured included the nico-opendata where illustrations and comment datasets are publicly available, the recently released TekuTekuTekuTeku, the ongoing second phase of the Horse Racing Prediction Project, the Go AI Project DeepZenGO, and the open-source 2D animation software OpenToonz. Many attendees were impressed by the availability of illustration data for research purposes via nico-opendata and DMV’s attempts to merge game app development and research, as evidenced by the TekuTekuTekuTeku release.
The other poster highlighted two specific studies: 3D Pose Estimation and Automatic Colorization of Black and White Manga.
The 3D pose estimation study drew significant interest due to the current focus on 3D pose research across various industries, partly thanks to tools like OpenPose. We discussed its applications, including a presentation at a CV study group about using 3D pose estimation results to animate characters on mobile devices.
Regarding the black-and-white manga colorization research, we had fruitful discussions, especially since our paper was cited by Two-stage sketch colorization presented at Technical Papers. The industry’s ongoing interest in this research area remains strong.
We also demonstrated the reinforcement learning engine used in the recently released ARTILIFE project.
Many visitors, likely influenced by a recent tweet, stopped by to inquire, “Is this what I think it is?” The reactions varied, with some finding the moving creatures’ actions “strange” or “cute.”
At the venue, attendees could breed creatures, name them, and interact with the artificial life environment by adding food and obstacles. We displayed a ranking of creatures that consumed the most food, which is not a feature in the released app. Some attendees returned hours or even the next day to check on their creatures. The ARTILIFE app also allows live streaming on Nico Nico, among other features not demonstrated at the event. We hope many will explore these functionalities.
This year’s SIGGRAPH Asia was notably held in Tokyo, attracting many Japanese companies and students. Dwango Media Village will continue to strive to present both research and development at major conferences like SIGGRAPH. Thank you for your continued support.
A summary of the research lectures attended by participants will follow!
Chie Hurusawa
