Join us for an epic digital panel dedicated to fostering diversity and inclusion in the gaming industry. This event unites game developers, designers, storytellers, and enthusiasts to tackle the challenges and unlock the opportunities to create a more inclusive gaming landscape. Power up your network by connecting with industry leaders, dive into an insightful panel discussion, and level up your strategies for breaking down barriers and championing representation in games. Whether you're a veteran player or a newbie to the field, this digital panel is your ultimate chance to connect, learn, and contribute to a more inclusive future in gaming.

Hear from a panel of technical visionaries as they explore the role of Universal Scene Description (OpenUSD) in fostering open data exchange—not just in media and entertainment, but across industries. From traditional filmmaking to virtual production, architecture, engineering, construction, automotive, and manufacturing, our team of experts will explore how USD opens the door for seamless connectivity and collaboration across large-scale 3D projects of all kinds. 

This course aims to educate participants on the innovative integration of machine learning (ML) techniques for deformation approximation within Maya software. Using approximations for (part of) a deformation stack can highly improve interactivity when using complex rigs, and can significantly improve the portability between different applications. It is designed for animators, game developers, VFX artists, and any professional interested in exploring the intersection of ML and 3D animation. This course will explore a demo of a rig with computationally expensive muscle deformations that is reduced to a simple, general, black-box neural network that only requires inputs from the motion system. We'll show the entire setup process in detail. In addition, we'll go over best practices, tips, and limitations to help users get the most out of this tool for their production needs.

In the fast-paced world of product design, there's a universal challenge to stay ahead of trends while efficiently bringing products to market. X-Rite has addressed this with innovative solutions benefiting automotive brands and industrial designers alike. The PANTORA application simplifies digital material creation, offering a standardized platform for storing and sharing complex material data to streamline design workflows. The AxF format ensures compatibility and collaboration across platforms. Join us to explore how PANTORA and AxF can transform your approach to material design and 3D visualization.

Arcadis is a global architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) and infrastructure player with engineering teams working closely with visualization teams in Australia, Manila, Canada, and Romania. Since early 2019, Arcadis has provided traditional client-requested visualizations. As a leading AEC company and Autodesk Partner, Arcadis wanted to enhance its visualization capabilities through a new digital workflow integrating immersive worlds and mixed reality in its mobility business. The convergence of media and entertainment with the AEC industry through technology marks a transformative shift in both sectors. Traditionally distinct, these industries are increasingly finding common ground as they harness the power of advanced technologies to collaborate and innovate, and Autodesk is at the forefront of merging this technology to continue to deliver innovation to customers. This convergence continues to evolve and promise to redefine traditional boundaries and pave the way for innovation between these two industries.

This session will delve deep into BIG's workflow with D5 Render, discovering how BIG harnesses this AI-powered tool to enhance architectural design processes. You will also gain exclusive insights into AI integration and visualization trends from Jens Majdal Kaarsholm, director of design technology at BIG. Come to learn firsthand how these advancements drive design progress, streamline workflows, and ignite fresh creative possibilities. Whether you're an experienced industry professional or an enthusiastic newcomer, this session promises to deliver invaluable insights into powerful architectural methodologies at the forefront of innovation.

AI tech may get all the attention, but there isn't an AI solution for the critical workflows that architects need to tell the stories of their projects. Designers want visualizations that simultaneously capture a building's aesthetic complexity and the hard data points of energy efficiency, occupant movement, and traffic flow. AI isn't delivering, and Chaos is stepping up. Come see the latest tools for Revit users to conduct energy analysis, with results that can be generated and understood by everyone contributing to your Revit project. Then see how to easily assemble visualizations from across teams and creation tools into real-time explorations, with animations features that go far beyond what design tools are made to support. Learn how quickly you can bring design options to life with stunning ray-traced rendering, dynamic crowds of digital humans, and realistic vehicles traffic. Chaos will show how all of this is possible today for the casual users while meeting the demands of specialists.

In a world increasingly powered by artificial intelligence (AI), the voices and perspectives of women are critical to shaping its responsible and effective development. This panel discussion will bring together a diverse group of women who are leading the charge in AI. They'll share their unique perspectives on the challenges and opportunities that AI presents, with a focus on its impact across various industries and disciplines. They will also discuss the initiatives they're championing to foster greater diversity and inclusion within the field. This discussion will highlight the importance of empathy, creativity, and critical thinking in shaping AI for good. Join this lively discussion and gain valuable insights from these trailblazing women in AI.

This session will explore how you can integrate D5's AI-powered tools as a core component of your design workflow, essentially becoming the go-to companion alongside your modeling software. Through the introduction of D5 Lightmode (a DCC add-on that seamlessly takes your designs into AI for an effortless generation of refined architect-friendly reference images) alongside D5 Livesync (the live link plug-ins that synchronize changes with D5 in real time from modeling software like Revit and 3ds Max) and finally D5 Render (a real-time renderer with the best balance between efficiency and quality), you can take advantage of this AI-powered workflow to slash the grind in design, collaboration, and learning. We'll cover nifty tips and tricks to supercharge your workflow, helping you crank up the speed of delivery while focusing on what matters the most: innovating and refining your designs.

Join artist Danial Ezzati in a captivating session where we'll explore the groundbreaking project "Persepolis Reborn: A Virtual Journey to the Achaemenid Empire," where art, technology, and cultural preservation converge. Through this initiative, Danial embarks on a mission to combat the threat of digital colonization by authentically representing Iran's rich heritage and architectural marvels. Explore the immersive experience that transcends traditional boundaries, offering a profound exploration of Persian identity and history. Discover how "Creative Reconstruction" not only safeguards cultural heritage but also serves as a universal model for preserving endangered traditions worldwide. Join the movement of cultural preservation and digital liberation as Danial unveils the power of art and technology to inspire change and ignite a brighter future.

Join Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) to discover its journey of adopting and deploying OpenUSD to build an interoperable Spatial Technology Stack (STS) with tools that include Maya software, 3ds Max software, Epic Unreal, and McNeel Rhino. The STS lets ZHA build immersive digital twins that enable deeper integrations between design and construction, enhance spatial experiences, and increase efficiencies in design and review cycles. In the session, we'll cover how no-code or low-code platforms and APIs, such as NVIDIA Omniverse, are enabling ZHA to build proprietary tools. These tools allow the firm to interact with and manipulate its data sets in processes such as robotics and digital fabrication. This approach reduces material waste while increasing sustainability and innovation. Join us to explore how this innovative approach revolutionizes architectural design, making it more engaging, responsible, and accessible to the architecture, engineering, and construction industry.

Join Fernando Macedo—founder and COO of SPIRIT Animation Studios and creator of KARL's Animated Franchise—for an exclusive lecture that will unveil the challenging strategies behind creating a global franchise with more than 1 billion views. Whether you're a talented artist with big dreams or a business owner, this event promises invaluable insights that can catapult your venture to extraordinary heights. Since its debut at Disney Channel, KARL has evolved into a franchise with three seasons, spin-offs such as Karl Babies (season 2) and Ketchup Jack: A Villain Story (feature), games, and e-books—reaching audiences worldwide. Macedo will share knowledge about strategic brand development on how to craft a brand that resonates on a global scale; maximizing engagement across diverse platforms; and monetization strategies that ensure sustainable revenue. Macedo is a veteran industry leader frequently present at global pitchings. He was invited to be a juror at the 51st Annual Annie Awards, and was a speaker at SIGGRAPH Bogotá.

As technology continues to evolve, the intersection of 3D design and artificial intelligence (AI) presents exciting opportunities for innovation in content creation. In this session, we'll showcase experimentation with innovative techniques—namely, ComfyUI, ControlNet, and Stable Diffusion—to forge a future pipeline that seamlessly integrates 3D rendering with AI-driven processes. We'll outline a visionary approach toward empowering artists and streamlining the content creation process. By using advanced AI algorithms and data-driven insights, we aspire to give artists greater control over their creations as they enhance their efficiency and creativity while using Autodesk tools, specifically Maya and Arnold software. Our vision for the future pipeline revolves around achieving a seamless transition from 3D design to AI render, while empowering artists with unprecedented control over their creations.

Booleans are a foundational part of content creation, yet it was frowned upon to use traditional polygon booleans in media and entertainment projects. To solve this problem, Autodesk rebuilt their booleans from the ground up within 3ds Max software, creating a new, powerful, and trusted solution in the Boolean Modifier that unlocks exciting new workflows and capabilities. In this session, you'll learn about how and why this new system was created for 3ds Max, which benefits it provides, and how you can use it to its maximum potential in your own work to create amazing content for film and TV, games, XR, or 3D printing projects.

This case study will showcase a new and innovative tool that Arcadis and Autodesk Consulting have developed. The tool is a significant enhancement in the interoperability between 3ds Max and Civil 3D software, with new features that will substantially shift the gamification efficiency in architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) and infrastructure sectors. The interoperability features boost faster integration, reduce manual tasks, and decrease task time by more than 50%, leading to more-streamlined communications, more-efficient processes, and an increase in productivity and delivery. The transformation includes the creation of a new AutoCAD command, the development of a new add-in utility for AutoCAD and 3ds Max 2024 software, and an advanced approach to transforming CAD 2D infrastructure and AEC designs into 3D animated scenes. This advanced and innovative approach will pique your interest and open new possibilities for your visualization work.

The architecture, engineering, and construction industry has a long history of using 3D tools for design and planning. Such tools are built for handling large quantities of data, but tend to focus more on physical accuracy than visual fidelity. While new tools are emerging to visualize projects in high-quality 3D before they're built, they're typically solutions that can't easily be extended to work with all the new technologies driving innovation in the video game industry. In this session, we'll cover techniques we've developed for rendering large architectural and infrastructure environments in real time. We'll discuss the challenge of importing these models into the Unity gaming engine, as well as the opportunities it affords in terms of improving fidelity, adding interactivity, and building for multiple platforms, including virtual reality (VR). We'll also discuss practical applications for these techniques, such as multi-user review sessions, public feedback gathering, and interactive training building.

DLR Group anticipates that more than 80% of its workforce will need upskilling in the next two years. Sound familiar? During this session, DLR Group will present its approach to learning and development, featuring a comprehensive skills matrix that aligns skill levels—both technical and other critical ones—with specific tasks and functions performed. DLR Group will illustrate its journey that began four years ago with new-hire skill assessments and evolved into a program that ensures all employees, regardless of their roles or departments, possess essential skills and customized career paths. Learn how DLR Group used Power BI, along with learning management tools such as Pinnacle Series and KnowledgeSmart by Eagle Point Software, to build a program that supports its key focus areas and future business needs. Leave with ways you can help your firm facilitate mentorship opportunities, identify potential software cost savings, improve talent recruitment, and impact overall employee satisfaction.

Discover the essentials of design visualization in our AU class. Learn how to effectively use 3ds Max software for modeling, Arnold for rendering, and Moxion for collaborative workflows. Gain practical skills to create visually striking designs efficiently and accurately.

SAMSUNG C&T uses digital twins to optimize building operations. We have developed a digital twin with BIM and AI in an office building with a total floor area of 100,000 square meters, and we are utilizing it to operate the building. The basic functions are the Energy/Asset/Space Management, and Virtual Tours. In particular, the energy management function monitors building energy usage in real time. And we have developed 10 solutions for energy management that can save energy while maintaining the comfort of occupants in the building. These solutions are derived through AI-based machine learning models and optimization algorithms to provide real-time notifications to building operators for sustainable and optimized building energy management. Therefore, SAMSUNG C&T aims to provide efficient building operation and management services by simultaneously implementing digital spaces, going beyond the role of a construction company that constructs physical spaces.

The Autodesk 2024 Design and Make report showcases that 77% of companies report that upskilling employees is important. They also report they lack resources needed to design training programs. The Design and Make report also reflects that between 2021 and 2023 there's been a 143% increase in Autodesk's Media and Entertainment certification adoption, a 71% increase in AECO certification adoption, and a 100% increase in Autodesk's Design and Make certification adoption. Professionals and educators will learn about Autodesk's recognized certification and how earning certification helps validate your skills to employers and gives you the ability to differentiate yourself in this competitive labor force. Attendees will learn about available learning and training to upskill in Autodesk products. Additionally, they'll learn about our global distribution channels and reduced-price bulk vouchers for teams or students. Lastly, we'll discuss available state government funding for students. Twenty-five random attendees will receive a free voucher to take a professional Autodesk Certification exam.