The second version of the 3DC Conference which is our "open event" was organized jointly by the Services/Contents Sub-committee and the Technical Sub-committee on December 14 at Takarazuka University of Art and Design Graduate School, Osaka Umeda Campus. The theme of this conference was "Near future of media education and 3D contents." There are various kinds of media contents around us now. How are they created and how are they utilized? And where are they going? We invited lecturers who have been active as leaders in the field of "media education" and "business" which seem to be totally opposites of each other in the field of 3D. They gave lectures from various points of view concerning the current status of 3D contents and their near future. In addition to the conference, an exhibition with demonstrations was held with participation of member companies and others. There were 29 members at the conference for a total of 55 people attending.

* Outline of lecture
Figurative arts have 3D features in essence. It is explicit in fashion designs, architectural designs, product designs and interior designs, etc. Furthermore, evolution in media expressions is pushing movies, animation and computer graphics toward 3D. Finally, our university approved expenses to support improvement in education and learning methods for "establishment of a 3D contents database for comprehensive designs in real space," and 3D will be introduced starting from design education. After that, we plan to introduce 3D to media education for more effective figurative art education and media education which can be achieved by shortening the time required from ideas to expression. I am going to talk about this to ask for your cooperation.

* Outline of lecture
I set my foot in the CG industry starting from 1985, and became a freelancer after working for a CG production company and a game software manufacturer. I am fully involved in the CG industry, but I have always been thinking about creative environments which are not handled only with CG and digital means. I hope that I will be able to share time here to look back on the path I have been taking and to think about how the young generation should think and act from now on with you. I would like to show you some recent CG works and the "making" of videos.

* Outline of lecture
The Japan Media Arts Festival organized by the Agency for Cultural Affairs in Japan has started in 1997 to appreciate creative media art works, and celebrated its 10th year in 2006. We can dynamically feel the trend of expression culture from various kinds of videos, still images, web sites, installations, commercials, music videos, short and long version animation and comics which are sent from all over the world. In this lecture, I am going to talk about the recent trends of media arts, situations in other countries and development of human resources in the media art field as well as introduction of the latest awarded works.

* Outline of lecture
Focusing on explanations of a CG animation work "Dice," which was selected for presentations at the SIGGRAPH Electronic Theater in 2005, I am going to give a lecture about "designs of movements" which also is a concept of this work. My definition of "designs of movements" is "processes and results of the generation of movements to convey visual appeal and beauty to the audience." In "Dice," only the rolling characteristic of dice is picked up as material for expression, but an important point was how to create an expression which appeals to an audience based on this simple motif. I am also going to talk about a trial to utilize classifications of basic factors of movements for CG design education. We translate movements from the standpoint of figurative arts, and we have been giving lectures for future CG designers.
* Website for reference:http://motion-design.jp

* Outline of lecture
Completely different from the period when I started CG creation, current digital environments including PCs are essential not only as direct means for expression for an individual but as a tool to output expressions to final devices and to the media. Originally, CG creation was extremely expensive and inefficient compared to traditional means. Now it has become less expensive and more efficient, but interestingly expressions of the young generation tend to be "healing" analog materials. Unexpectedly, they tend to be attracted by materials with more hand-made touch such as hand-written materials or frame-by-frame shooting of clay animation which needs a lot of time-consuming work. Of course, they capture, process and edit these materials in a digital environment, and output them on the Internet or as DVD contents. Most of video materials are processed, edited and fixed as 2D materials under the digital environment even if they are actually 3D data. If such material data and these environments can have simpler methods for making them 3D, creators will be able to get a more flexible output. To utilize 3D devices as a means for expression, it is essential to have interaction with methods for processing of materials.

* Outline of lecture
At "The British Museum - Mummy: the inside story" exhibition which has been held at the National Science Museum, Ueno, Tokyo, 3D contents focusing on volume rendering of mummies are presented. I am going to introduce technical cooperation by SGI Japan for public presentation of the 3D contents which are included in the collection of the British Museum and the appeal of these contents, and to provide prospects and business models for new ways of presenting of 3D contents.

Exhibition with demonstrations by member companies * Names are listed in the order of the name of the companies.

* Arisawa Manufacturing Co. Ltd.
"24-inch 3D monitors" (3D monitors by using glasses)

* InterScience Corporation
"High-resolution 3D monitors"

* NTT DoCoMo, Inc.
"Viewpoint-tracking 3D displays for mobile terminals"

* SEICO EPSON CORPORATION (Sanyo Epson Imaging Devices Corporation)
(1) "3D module showing 3D without glasses (4-viewpoint)", (2) "3D module showing 3D without glasses (8-viewpoint)"

* Sharp Corporation
"Notebook computer which handles 3D, 'PC-AL3DH'"

* NAMCO BANDAI Games Inc.
"Real-time & interactive 3D display system"