Strategic Communications and Marketing News Bureau

‘Solar Superstorms’ invited to show at SIGGRAPH 2016

The Advanced Visualization Lab at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at Illinois was recently invited to present its recent film “Solar Superstorms” at the 2016 SIGGRAPH Conference.

 This conference will be the 43rd annual international conference and exhibition on computer graphics and interactive techniques, and will take place July 24-28 in Anaheim, California.

NCSA’s AVL team was accepted to share the film in multiple venues of the conference. The first will be “Science of the Unseen: Digital Art Perspective,” organized by the Digital Art Community, which is an online exhibition that will be displayed in a social gathering venue at the conference called, “The SIGGRAPH Village.” The SIGGRAPH online exhibition will allow the chosen scenes to stay online for several years with ongoing publicity. This work will be seen not only by the art community, but also by the computer scientists and researchers who are at the forefront of developing new tools and presentation methods.

The other venue will be the SIGGRAPH Computer Animation Festival Electronic Theater, a special two-hour show that contains the best computer graphics short films of the year. The selections to be shown in the SIGGRAPH Electronic Theater are chosen by an internationally recognized jury that receives hundreds of submissions and chooses only a few to represent the best work of the year.

“Solar Superstorms” takes viewers on a turbulent journey through space, showing cutting-edge visualizations of the inner workings of the sun – some of which were computed on Blue Waters. The 24-minute film, narrated by Benedict Cumberbatch, teaches about solar activity, and how superstorms that occur on the sun have impacted Earth in the past and what threat they may pose to us in the future.

The AVL team at NCSA creates scientific content for film, using large amounts of data. The team strives to bring together art, science and technology. For more information, visit http://avl.ncsa.illinois.edu/.

Read Next

Life sciences Portrait of the research team posing together.

Minecraft players can now explore whole cells and their contents

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Scientists have translated nanoscale experimental and computational data into precise 3D representations of bacteria, yeast and human epithelial, breast and breast cancer cells in Minecraft, a video game that allows players to explore, build and manipulate structures in three dimensions. The innovation will allow researchers and students of all ages to navigate […]

Arts Photo of seven dancers onstage wearing blue tops and orange or yellow flowing skirts. The backdrop is a Persian design.

February Dance includes works experimenting with live music, technology and a ‘sneaker ballet’

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The dance department at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign will present February Dance 2025: Fast Forward this week at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts. February Dance will be one of the first performances in the newly renovated Colwell Playhouse Theatre since its reopening. The performances are Jan. 30-Feb. 1. Dance professor […]

Honors portraits of four Illinois researchers

Four Illinois researchers receive Presidential Early Career Award

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Four researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign were named recipients of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on young professionals at the outset of their independent research careers. The winners this year are health and kinesiology professor Marni Boppart, physics professor Barry Bradlyn, chemical and biomolecular engineering professor Ying […]

Strategic Communications and Marketing News Bureau

507 E. Green St
MC-426
Champaign, IL 61820

Email: stratcom@illinois.edu

Phone (217) 333-5010