Tiltable & Rotatable @ SIGGRAPH ASIA 2016

Thanks to CGVisual.com, we were able to participate in the SIGGRAPH ASIA 2016 Exhibition held in Macao last week from 6-8th Decemeber 2016.  The show was busier than we expected! As a long-time SIGGRAPH visitor commented, "The show is  quite respectable!"  ​  (๑•̀ㅂ•́)و✧

28" Tiltable & Rotatable Surface

For this show, we brought to you the freshly baked Expresii running on a 28" 4K  screen held on a gas-strut flexi mount, which provides more degrees of freedom than the just-released Microsoft Surface Studio.  We still can't get  hold of a Surface Dial yet, so instead we use game controllers as our non-dominant hand   remote.  For pen input, we still use our trusted Wacom intuos 3 that supports stylus tilt sensing.  This new version of Expresii accepts user-definable game controller button assignment. We ran Expresii on an ITX desktop equipped with a mid-range nVidia GPU from the latest generation (Pascal ) for a very smooth painting experience.  This CPU used was only an  Intel   i5 from a few years back.  Although Expresii's simulation is so much more advanced than all other paint apps, no super computer is required to run it!  OpenGL is used for both our watercolor simulation and rendering.

Natural digital ink flow made possible by our software tech

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SIGGRAPH  is poised as the most prestigous  conference for Computer Graphics & Interactive Techniques in the world. This time with a large 28" 4K screen, we amazed many visitors  with the high-quality rendering of brush strokes and ink flows in Expresii.  Everyone says WOW when they see us start rotating the screen and the ink flows down according to the inclination -  just like in real life!     （°o°；）

The following video shows you the secret of how we combine low-cost off-the-shelf hardware with Expresii to crerate this amazing painting experience:

We got lots of praises  from Computer Graphics professionals including  Richard Chuang, co-founder of PDI.  ​It was much fun talking to visitors, student volunteers, or other booth staff members alike from all over the world.  Look at that cute fox  animation that got made right on the spot  below!  ୧༼✿ ͡◕ д ◕͡ ༽୨

Cute Fox Jump animation made by Angela Wong on the spot

Gamepad as Controller for Digital Painting

Did we mention we can‘t get hold of a Surface Dial so we use a gamepad instead? Both our i-rocks gamepad and the Dial are connected via bluetooth, but the former provides more direct buttons/control than the latter. It can also be held by your non-dominant hard for quick control as you paint (instead of having to be put on some  surface level enough so that it doesn't slide down). We believe this is generally preferred over the Dial by digital painters - we want to use muscle memory for fixed functionality instead of figuring what mode we are in  or going through radial menu . Wacom offers a similar hand-held Express Key Remote Control  with several buttons for their large Cintiq (vs. just one single button and a dial rim). And ClipStudio Paint also offers their own one-hand controller. If  one really likes a circular motion offered by the Dial, we can simulate it with the joystick, with which you can,  say,  circle clockwise & anti-clockwise for undo & redo. 

Let  us know if you prefer a Dial or a hand-held.

more collaboration please!

We look forward to Surface Pen being tilt-sensitive so that we no longer have to use another controller for adjusting the tilt. ​ We believe both mobile and desktop are important to creators so we will continue working our butts off to innovate in both spaces. It is great that now Microsoft enters into the creator market. We really hope hardware makers can work with us for the best expereince possible.  ​(•̀o•́)ง
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Acknowledgement​
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This SIGGRAPH ASIA booth showcase won't be possible without the tremedous help from:
Mark Lam of  CGVisual 
Ah Man from  VTech
H2o and Maggie from  lfxLab 
Angela Wong from  Rooftop Animation
​And Shuen Leung, who allowed us to print her Expresii artwork for the booth

We also thank all the old and new friends who came and supported us!