Courses
Submission Deadline: 27 June 2021, 23:59 UTC/GMT (Closed)
For over 30 years SIGGRAPH Courses have been the premier source for practitioners, developers, researchers, scientists, engineers, artists, and students who want to learn about state-of-the-art computer graphics and related topics. For SIGGRAPH Asia 2021, hundreds of attendants will attend its courses to broaden and deepen their knowledge, and to learn the secrets behind the newest techniques.
The SIGGRAPH Asia 2021 Courses program aims to help push the boundaries of Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques by providing master classes by leading international experts from academia and industry. Courses may target any level of expertise (from beginner to expert) as presenters distill key concepts and ideas into self-contained presentations.
We particularly welcome courses that embrace the Live! theme of SIGGRAPH Asia 2021, however that may be interpreted. Courses can fulfill many educational roles and cover a wide range of relevant topics, including:
- Innovative ideas and novel paradigms;
- Different areas of computer science, e.g., big data, machine learning, vision, and others;
- Other disciplines, from art to design, from science to technology and engineering;
- Initiation to related skills, e.g., storytelling, visual psychology;
- Focus on different applications, e.g., gaming, manufacturing, medicine, cultural heritage, etc.
Courses should be short (1 hour 45 minutes) or half-day long (3 hours 45 minutes). We are not accepting proposals for full-day courses. We welcome presenters from different to learn from their unique perspective on the topic. Note that courses usually fall into one of the following categories:
Introductory: An introduction to a topic, suitable for attendees with little or no background in that area. These courses can range from basic topics through more advanced concepts. The important criteria for this type of course are that it should guide attendees through the material in a sensible way and not assume substantial prior knowledge in that specific topic. For cases where the material is not considered “core” computer graphics, the proposers must clearly demonstrate how SIGGRAPH Asia participants would benefit from the course.
State-of-the-art: Best practices and state-of-the-art methodologies for computer graphics professionals. These are advanced courses presenting the best the field can offer to professionals in a specific subfield. Proposers should demonstrate that there is likely sufficiently many participants in the subfield to make the course attractive.
New trends: Consolidation of a new and emerging research trend. This type of course can guide new researchers in the area and help facilitate transfers to practical applications.
Hands-on: A course that provides opportunities for attendees to learn by doing, through the industry's most-popular technologies. They are intended for a limited audience on a first-come, first-served basis. If you are considering such a course proposal, please contact us prior to the submission deadline to discuss suitability and any special arrangements needed.
Your proposal should be tailored to the specific topic and its relevance to the attendees. Therefore, if you feel that your course does not fit the above options, please contact us and we will be happy to provide suggestions and feedback.
Proposals for courses that have been presented at previous SIGGRAPH or SIGGRAPH Asia conferences are welcome. In such cases, the proposal needs to provide justification why the course should be repeated at SIGGRAPH Asia 2021.
SIGGRAPH Asia attendees are both local and international. They include established industry professionals, students, professors, researchers, engineers, producers, and artists. Their expectations are diverse, and no course can attract all delegates. We are looking for outstanding courses, at beginning, intermediate, and advanced levels, on SIGGRAPH's most popular and fundamental topics.
Format
Courses are presented in two basic formats:
- Short (1 hour and 45 minutes) - we recommend a single lecturer for a Short Course
- Half-Day (3 hours and 45 minutes including one 15-minute break) - we recommend two to three lecturers for a Half-Day Course.
Language
The official language of SIGGRAPH Asia 2021 is English. Verbal presentations, slide presentations, and course notes are expected to be in English.
Courses Chair
Professor, Computing and Mathematical Sciences
California Institute of Technology
USA
Video Presentations
As SIGGRAPH Asia would be a Hybrid event, a video presentation will be a prerequisite for all submissions. Depending on the requirements of your program, a pre-recorded video presentation or supplementary video will be used and presented at SIGGRAPH Asia. This will allow your work to gain extensive coverage and give our global community the opportunity to learn about your submission.
Submissions are due on 27 June 2021, 23:59 UTC/GMT. Courses proposals must be submitted electronically via the SIGGRAPH Asia Submission System:
- Log in to the SIGGRAPH Asia Submission System
- Select "Begin a New Submission"
- Select "Create" for the Courses submission form
Use these instructions to ensure that your submission is complete and that it meets all applicable program requirements: Courses proposals must be submitted electronically via the SIGGRAPH Asia Submission System. No other method of submission will be accepted, and only the files and supporting material uploaded through the submission system will be considered for review.
Please review and carefully follow the submission requirements below. Incomplete or wrongly completed submissions will not be considered. When you begin the form, your submission will be assigned with submission identification (ID) number that will be used to identify your submission throughout the review process. You can modify the form up until the deadline. If required information is missing, your form will be marked Incomplete. Incomplete submissions will not be reviewed or accepted.
We strongly encourage starting the submission form well before the deadline. Submit your work before the submission deadline 27 June 2021, 23:59 UTC/GMT. All forms must be completed, and all materials must be successfully uploaded by that time. The submission deadline will be strictly enforced. Please do not wait until the last minute to upload your files.
For more information about uploading files for your submission, please see Uploading Files
Submission Form
Basic information about your submission (page 1)
- Permissions (page 2) and presentation format (page 3).
- Additional submission information, including lecturer names, affiliations, and contact information, as well as title of the course, and a single-sentence summary (50 words or fewer).
- One "representative image" suitable for use in the conference web site and promotional materials. See Representative Image Guidelines.
- Statement of permissions to use the submitted materials.
- Course Description, Syllabus/Schedule including duration of topic sections and lecturers.
- Length of the course: short (1 hour and 45 minutes) and half-day (3 hours and 45 minutes including one 15-minute break).
- Intended audience, prerequisites, and level of difficulty.
- Bio Form. Please provide short bios (100 words max) for each of your lecturers or panellists. We recommend one lecturer for a short course, and two to three lecturers for a half-day course.
- Sample of Course Notes. This is an outline of materials and a representative sample of the type of Course Notes that you plan to provide if your course is accepted. The review sample need not be long or complete, but it should be clear and concise, and it should demonstrate the expected quality of the learning materials that will be available during and after the conference.
Formatting guidelines and examples of well-formatted course notes can be found at http://www.siggraph.org/learn/instructions-authors - Special presentation requirements, if any.
- Submission categories and keywords to help ensure your submission is reviewed and juried appropriately.
- Optional: You may also provide examples of other materials, demonstrations, or exercises that support the course topics.
Please note: All entries must be uploaded to the SIGGRAPH Asia Submission System. No discs or drives will be accepted.
Educator's Resources Submission option
Those submitting content to a SIGGRAPH conference have the option of donating materials of educational value to ACM SIGGRAPH online resources for the benefit of the education community. Learn more.
For more information about uploading files for your submission, please see Uploading Files.
For additional submission information, please see the FAQs.
Deadlines
Online submission forms must be completed no later than 27 June 2021, 23:59 UTC/GMT | 27 June 2021, 16:59 Los Angeles (U.S.A. - California) | 28 June 2021, 01:59 Paris (France) | 28 June 2021, 08:59 Daegu (South Korea)
Click here to convert time zones.
General Submission Policies
For more details on SIGGRAPH Asia’s General Submission Policies, please go to SIGGRAPH Asia’s Submission Information page.
Courses can fulfil many training/educational roles:
-
Introducing a core graphics area, suitable for someone with little background in that area. These can cover various topics, ranging from introductory to advanced. The jury evaluates these based on whether they believe the course will guide an attendee through the material in a sensible way.
- Introducing a topic related to graphics but not considered "core" graphics. The jury evaluates these courses based on the expected benefit of the knowledge to a typical SIGGRAPH Asia attendee.
- Consolidating a new and emerging research trend. The jury evaluates these courses based on their potential to facilitate knowledge transfer for practical applications and guide new researchers in the area.
Well-attended, strong courses may be re-submitted in subsequent years. Recently taught courses must provide justification for why the course should be repeated. Courses taught longer ago should explain why the material should be revisited, and what new advances will be covered (or why the material should be revisited despite no new advances). Introductory courses have the potential to be repeated more frequently than advanced ones, as the potential audience is larger.
Jurors are asked to evaluate your submission using four criteria: Concept, Novelty, Interest, and Quality. The final submission score is based on a combination of these factors. For example, a submission that is high quality, has broad appeal, and contains something new is likely to be accepted, while a submission that is incremental, of interest to only a small number of people, and poorly written will probably be rejected.
Concept
How exceptional are the ideas, problems, solutions, aesthetics, etc. presented in this submission? How coherently does the submission convey its overall concept?
Novelty
How new and fresh is this work? Is it going to be novel to a substantial number of the SIGGRAPH Asia participants?
Interest
Will conference attendees want to attend this course? Will it inspire them? Does it appeal to a broad audience? This is partly a measure of how broad the potential audience is and partly a measure of the overall clarity and novelty of the proposal.
Quality, Craft, and Completeness
How well is the proposal constructed? This is a measure of the course proposal's quality of expression, clarity of thinking, and how clearly and completely it explains the course and its intentions. It also measures the quality and completeness of the supporting materials.
Some reasons courses are rejected:
- Example notes or slides fail to communicate key ideas clearly and informatively.
- Materials narrowly cover an area, without sufficient justification for that narrowness. A course should provide a comprehensive overview, and not just focus (for instance) on the presenter's own techniques or on the methods used in a particular company.
- Previous courses have sufficiently covered the area so few participants will want to attend a new course on the topic.
- The jury feels the topic is too narrow to attract sufficient participants at SIGGRAPH Asia.
All contributors to SIGGRAPH Asia Annual Conferences are now required to use ACM's rights management system to grant rights to publish accepted content rather than through the SIGGRAPH Asia Submission System. Essentially, submission tracking, jury review, and acceptance remain the same, but now the rights management is through ACM, the parent organization of SIGGRAPH Asia.
You will be asked to complete an ACM rights management form, which includes permission to record and distribute the audio and video of your recorded presentation through official channels of ACM/SIGGRAPH Asia. For most content types, this will be a Permission and Release form, which allows authors to retain copyright.
More Information on these options (the FAQ is particularly useful)
As a contributor to an ACM-sponsored event, the following expectations apply to you, should your content be accepted for presentation:
- You have the permission to use everything that is in your presentation. This includes securing permission to use third-party material, and providing documentation of that permission to ACM. (More information on the proper use of third-party material in your presentation)
- If you are using copyrighted musical compositions in your presentation, you must secure performing rights licenses.
- You must have the authority to grant ACM the right to distribute your presentation.
Once your contribution is accepted, you will receive a link via email to the appropriate form for your contribution.
Detailed information and instructions as well as deadlines will be sent to submitters along with the acceptance letter.
You will be notified of acceptance or rejection in mid-August 2021.
After acceptance, the SIGGRAPH Asia Submission System will allow you to update basic information about your course and upload any final materials for inclusion on the conference program and web site. This information needs to be finalized four weeks after acceptance. Be prepared to deliver your final versions of your work before these dates, or your acceptance may be rescinded.
If your course is accepted, you will need to submit:
- Copyright permissions or clearances on any restricted materials
- Submission and Authorization Agreements from all speakers
- A final set of electronic Course Notes
- Digital supplementary materials (for example, sample code, datasets, documentation, demos, animations)
- A final course timeline listing the topics and speakers in chronological order
The time and location of your course will be posted on the SIGGRAPH Asia website well in advance of the conference.
Publication
All accepted work will be documented in the SIGGRAPH Asia 2020 website and distributed through the ACM Digital Library.
Presenter and Contributor Recognition
Presenters / Contributors of each accepted submission have to register for at least one conference pass. Please visit our registration page to view the various registration categories for each program.
Please see the Recognition Benefits for a summary of what you will receive if your work and/or proposal are accepted by SIGGRAPH Asia.
You can apply for a 100% discount for up to one presenter per half-day course or per short course via the submission system.
Once your contribution is accepted, you will receive a link via email to the appropriate form for your contribution. You will be required to prepare the final print-ready file following the specifications in the acceptance notification.
Other Details
You will be able to update your basic submission information so that it can be included in the conference program and website. This information needs to be finalized two weeks after acceptance.
If your work is accepted, you will be required to prepare the final print-ready file following the specifications in the acceptance notification.
Please note: The schedule to provide your final material after receiving the acceptance notification is very tight. Please plan your personal schedule accordingly. For instructions about preparation and delivery of your final content for publications, please carefully follow the instructions in the acceptance letter.
You will be able to update your basic submission information and any final materials so that it can be included in the conference program and web site. This information needs to be finalized two weeks after receipt of acceptance notifications. Please be prepared to deliver your final versions of your information and work on or before these dates.
Deadlines
Nature of Content
Completeness, Work in Progress
Work Submitted Elsewhere
Review and Upon Acceptance
Deadlines
Can I submit after the deadline?
No. The deadlines is absolute. All submissions receive equal consideration up to the published deadline. Please respect other contributors and allow time for unforeseen circumstances in your submission, including (but not limited to) network connectivity, equipment failures, job impacts, life or family events, etc. These are outside of SIGGRAPH Asia direct control and cannot be accommodated fairly.
Why is this so absolute?
Firstly, the answer is fairness and equal opportunity for consideration. This respects the contribution process for all submissions. Secondly, the deadline was set as late as possible while still allowing sufficient time for quality review, production, and delivery at SIGGRAPH Asia. Immediately after the submission deadline, we start processing and reviewing the submissions on a very tight time schedule, and we cannot accommodate exceptions.
How will SIGGRAPH Asia address server-side network failures?
SIGGRAPH Asia is only responsible for the availability of the submission server. If necessary, the conference chair will authorize an appropriate adjustment (and will prominently post notices at several locations online). All other network failures between your location and the SIGGRAPH Asia server will not affect the submission deadlines. Please submit early to avoid connectivity-support problems or last-minute submission-server performance issues.
The SIGGRAPH Asia English Review Service failed our schedule, so it is SIGGRAPH Asia's fault that our proposal is late. Can I have an extension?
No. The English Review Service makes no guarantee for service turn-around. It is also administered separately from the conference program. Please schedule your work appropriately. For the best chance of having your submission reviewed by the English Review Service, please make sure it is submitted and marked "complete" in the submission system at least 14 days before your program's submission deadline.
Nature of Content
My company sells educational software. Can we make a sales presentation?
No. The exhibition is the best place for that.
I have a great idea for a presentation, but I am not sure if it is appropriate (too basic, advanced, fuzzy, etc.) for SIGGRAPH Asia.
Please send it in and let the SIGGRAPH Asia jury make the decision.
Can my company have a dedicated session in which we present a collection of talks about various aspects of a large project?
Possibly. You are welcome to submit a collection of related submissions. However, the scheduling and grouping of accepted material will ultimately be decided by the SIGGRAPH Asia committee.
My company has a great new product that is of general interest to the SIGGRAPH Asia community. Can I submit an abstract about it?
A simple product announcement or sales pitch is not appropriate for the courses program. However, a methods or systems description that presents the engineering design and algorithms behind the product could be appropriate. If you are an exhibitor, and you are interested in a presentation on all aspects of your new product, please contact Exhibition Management about organizing an Exhibitor Talk.
English is not my first language. Can I submit and present in another language?
No, but ACM SIGGRAPH's International Committee can provide some help with English. Please see the English Review Service.
I am a sixth-grade teacher, not an expert in computer graphics or interactive techniques, but I have designed something using computer graphics software, interactive techniques, games, etc. that really helps my math, English, dance, etc. students. Should I submit it?
Probably! SIGGRAPH Asia educators are very interested in how new techniques can be used for pedagogical purposes. Submissions in this area that have the best chance for acceptance should clearly demonstrate how learning is improved with computer graphics or interactive techniques.
Why is it necessary to specify an intended audience for a course? The intended audience should be the average SIGGRAPH Asia conference attendee, no?
No. The attendee population is very diverse. Your detailed audience identification helps both proposal evaluation by the review committee (program balancing) and proper marketing to interested conference attendees.
We have a great idea for an educational session on an unusual topic. Should we submit it?
SIGGRAPH Asia seeks innovation both in topic and presentation, so yes! New ideas that relate to some aspect of computer graphics and interactive techniques are most welcome. Your proposal should clearly explain this relevance.
Should all submissions be prepared anonymously, like Technical Papers?
No. The review process is single blind, which means the reviewers will know who the authors are, but the authors will not know who the reviewers are. Your submission should be as close to its final form as possible (see Completeness, Work in Progress), including the names of all collaborators on the work and their institutions. Potential conflicts of interest are taken into account when submissions are assigned to reviewers.
Completeness, Work in Progress
Are partial or incomplete submissions considered?
Incomplete submissions will not be reviewed. Contributors are required to minimally meet all submission requirements by the published deadline. The jury will evaluate the merit of each completed proposal as it was submitted at the deadline, even if it does not meet the author's personal quality objectives. Please allow enough time to meet your own quality goals.
Work Submitted Elsewhere
Can I submit work that I have published or presented, or has been accepted for publication or presentation, elsewhere?
Yes, though with some caveats. First, you must indicate the prior appearance via the checkbox on the submission form and provide a description of how and where the work appeared. Second, be aware that SIGGRAPH Asia attendees expect to see things they have never seen before. The jury will decide if the novelty and impact of the submission warrant acceptance despite its appearance elsewhere.
Can I submit work to SIGGRAPH Asia and also submit a more complete description to other conferences (for example EGSR, SGP, or SCA) while the submission is still in review?
The other conference or journal is likely to consider this an unacceptable "dual submission", so you must check with them. If they are OK with it, SIGGRAPH Asia is OK with it. But if you intend to submit this work elsewhere before the conference, you must indicate this intent via the checkbox on the submission form and provide a description of where you intend to submit and when it would appear.
Can I submit work that was presented at a previous SIGGRAPH conference?
The submission form has a checkbox that requires you to indicate this fact. The jury will decide if the novelty of the submission warrants acceptance regardless of prior presentation or publication. Courses may remain valuable from year to year and will be considered by the jury, but proposals should clearly offer compelling reasons for repetition.
Review and Upon Acceptance
How does the jury select pieces?
All submissions are juried together, and there are no strict rules for acceptance. The jury primarily looks for a combination of innovation and excellence. A longer list of traits the jury typically looks for includes originality, artistic achievement, technical accomplishment, technical innovation, production value, creativity, design, educational value, aesthetic appeal, community building, and social responsibility.
What makes a proposal great?
Topics and proposals come in all shapes and sizes. Well-written proposals effectively communicate their ideas so that reviewers can assess the submission's benefits to SIGGRAPH Asia attendees. Strong proposals clearly answer questions regarding relevance, content, and background.
The reviews we received from the jury were highly positive and outstanding, and we still did not get accepted. Why is this?
Ideally, everyone would have a chance to present their best work at the conference. It would certainly make the selection process easier! Unfortunately, this is not always the case. Many great proposals do not make the cut because we lack rooms, resources, and schedule time. Here are some possible reasons for rejection:
- The work is not sufficiently outstanding to justify its presentation length.
- The submission did not show enough improvement over previous presentations.
- The submission overlapped with better proposals in a similar area.
- The submission overlapped with topics that have bigger anticipated attendance in a similar area.
- The work was not strong or relevant.
All deadlines are 23:59 UTC/GMT.
27 June 2021
Submission Deadline
July - August 2021
Jury Reviews
15 August 2021
Acceptance Notification
13 September 2021
Final Materials Due
14 - 17 December 2021
SIGGRAPH Asia 2021
*Publications content will be available in the ACM Digital Library one week prior to the conference.
ACM SIGGRAPH strives to create a welcoming and nurturing community for everyone working in computer graphics and interactive techniques independent of gender, sexual orientation, ethnic background, religion, country of origin, or abilities. Work submitted to this program should be in alignment with these values.
For any submission to an ACM SIGGRAPH conference or Standing Committee activity, the person in charge (PIC) of the program should be aware of and sensitive to potential issues pertaining to the ACM SIGGRAPH values of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. If an issue is identified, then the authors of the submission shall be asked to modify their submission to resolve the issue before acceptance. If the PIC is unsure if there is an issue, then they should contact the Chair of the DEI Committee for advice.