Computer Animation Festival: Submission Rules & Requirements

Qualifications for Entry
We expect that works submitted for the SIGGRAPH Asia 2009 Computer Animation Festival will have been completed on or after 1 January 2008. Entries should be listed in one of the following categories:

  • General (most animations should be in this category)
  • Real-time (work that was rendered in the same amount of time it takes to play back)
  • Scientific visualization or research

We primarily showcase work for which the computer was essential to the creation of the piece. If you are unsure about anything, please feel free to contact the Computer Animation Festival Chair.

How to Submit Your Work and Upon Acceptance
1. Complete the SIGGRAPH Asia 2009 Computer Animation Festival Online Submission Form (required). It provides instructions on how to submit your entry and allows you to edit or correct your form as many times as you need until the submission deadline (27 June 2009, 23:59 GMT/UTC). At the end of the online submission process, you will be assigned a submission ID number.

Important: All descriptions, captions, and notes to the jury must be in English. If your first language is not English, and you need some help, please consider the English Review Service.

2. Upload a movie file for the jury to evaluate your work.

  • File size: under 500 MB
  • File format: QuickTime (preferred); AVI or MP4 also acceptable
  • Vaild video codecs: H.264 (preferred), Sorenson, Mpeg-4, Divx, Wmv

Other formats or submission methods will not be reviewed. You will also need to upload a representative still image.

If you have any questions about uploading files, please feel free to contact the Computer Animation Festival Committee. We will be happy to help.

3. Notification
In late July or early August 2009, you will be notified whether your work was accepted into the SIGGRAPH Asia 2009 Computer Animation Festival, and whether it was scheduled for screening at the Electronic Theater or the Animation Theater. Each year, we have far more submitted pieces than we can accept, and we are not able to accept many deserving pieces. For accepted pieces, the process will continue as follows.

4. Acceptance Agreement
If your submission is accepted by SIGGRAPH Asia 2009, an Acceptance Agreement will be produced from the Permissions section of your online submission form. You must digitally sign this document within two weeks after submission. If we do not receive your completed, signed Acceptance Agreement, your work cannot be presented at SIGGRAPH Asia 2009. See Upon Accpetance for more information.

5. Preparation of Final Movie
If your submission is accepted by SIGGRAPH Asia 2009, and your final piece is different from the version you provided for the jury to evaluate, you will need to provide the final animation afterwards. Especially for those pieces selected for presentation in the high-quality Electronic Theater format, we expect that you will provide a separate higher-quality version.

NOTE: SIGGRAPH Asia 2009 Computer Animation Festival policy requires that the total time for end titles and credits together is no longer than seven seconds. While this is not required for the jury process, please be prepared to follow this procedure in your final version.

6. Final Movie Submission Formats
The final screening material with proper formats must be received by the Computer Animation Festival no later than 4 September 2009. The final format requirements vary based on where your piece will be screened.

For Electronic Theater pieces, our preferred format is an uncompressed (or lossless compressed) 24p QuickTime file sent via hard drive. We can also accept 24p material via HDCam-SR or HD-Cam. We do not accept individual TIFF and audio files due to the potential for timing confusion.

For Animation Theater pieces, we accept high-quality QuickTime movie files. Upload as well as submission via hard drive is supported for digital files. We can also accept pieces via NTSC DigiBeta or Betacam SP tape. The show will be presented at NTSC framerates.

Hard drives and tapes will not be returned by mail. They may be picked up at the SIGGRAPH Asia 2009 Computer Animation Festival office at the Yokohama Pacifico convention center during the conference.

Submitters are responsible for all shipping and transportation costs, insurance charges, and customs fees that may be incurred in shipping materials to the festival.

If you have any questions regarding jury or final submission formats and/or codecs, please contact the Computer Animation Festival Committee.

7. Screening
Selected works will be presented in theaters during SIGGRAPH Asia 2009.

8. Presenter Recognition
See the Presenter Recognition Policy for a summary of what you will receive if your work is accepted by SIGGRAPH Asia 2009.