Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1030364
STATE OF THE INDUSTRY www.postmagazine.com 39 POST SEPTEMBER 2018 Subscriptions allow small groups and individuals to ramp up for projects, but it doesn't allow them to hang on to software and increase their skills during dry periods. JPR believes the gulf between large com- panies and individuals or contractors is going to be an important topic in the con- tent creation industry. Often, the two sides do not seem to understand each other. The panel, which included Ton Roosendal, a leading content creation pro- gram developer; two developers of virtual studio software — J.C. Prunier of Pocket Studio and Mathieu Mazerolle product manager of Athera; an independent artist Ian Spriggs; and Jellyfish Pictures CTO Jeremy Smith, who builds collaborative system, held a range of views on the topic of licensing, but they were unified in their desire for better ways to collaborate and support for independents and small houses. What will happen is what always happens, there will be plenty of options, but employers will call the shots. If they do, however, they will also have to pay the bills for cloud-time and maybe even soft- ware licenses. The creative industries are embracing open source because these in- dustries are founded on collaboration and content exchange. Questions of licensing, per force, adapt to the requirements of the creatives as well as the studios. Beyond the panel, JPR sees the de- mand for programmers, artists, scientists and designers continuing to be strong and we're seeing startups arrive in emerging and reborn markets such as augmented reality, virtual reality and casual games. The arrival of new APIs and platforms are also stimulating development. Firms are actively looking for people who can use and exploit these new programs and their associated hardware accelerators. There is always the fear that as technol- ogy becomes more powerful, job resourc- es might correspondingly dry up. There are challenges: companies will be able to hire the best person for the job rather than the person most conveniently located for the job. Automation is going to streamline workflows, and possibly reduce head count in some areas. But, this is a time of expanding opportunities. Right now, the more work that can be done, opens the way for more work. That may not last forever, but given the news coming out of this year's SIGGRAPH, there is a solid and healthy period of development and work ahead for the next three years. The panel of industry pros during the Jon Peddie luncheon at SIGGRAPH; Maher (le) moderated. HP's Mars Home Planet Experience offered SIGGRAPH attendees a thrilling VR adventure. Jon Peddie presents the hard facts in CG graphics.