Jon LeBrie, chief technology officer of Weta Digital, has been announced as keynote speaker of CMP Media's 17th annual Game Developers Conference (GDC), March 4 - 8, 2003, in San Jose, California. LeBrie is the principal architect of the digital infrastructure used to create the Academy Award-winning digital visual effects in THE LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy. In his keynote, "Fleshing Out Middle Earth: Weta Digital Creatures," LeBrie will discuss specific approaches to crowd animation, creature setups, digital doubles, Ents, the specific challenges involved in bringing Gollum to the screen and how the concept of 'creative iteration' informed the development of one of the world's largest digital visual effects infrastructures. The GDC offers more than 300 sessions, which provide valuable information, diverse perspectives and inspiration to all game developers. Attracting more than 10,000 attendees annually, the GDC provides an independent forum for developers from around the world to set the agenda for the next generation of games. Other notable speakers include Will Wright, co-founder of Maxis, the driving force behind SIM CITY; Paul Debevec, lead graphics researcher, University of Southern California, whose techniques were used to create the Academy Award-winning virtual background for the "bullet time" shots in the film THE MATRIX; and Raph Koster, creative director, Sony Online Entertainment, whose credits include STAR WARS GALAXIES: AN EMPIRE DIVIDED and ULTIMA ONLINE. February 5, 2003 is the LAST day to pre-register for the conference. A 30% pre-registration discount is offered until 4:30 pm PST. Visit www.gdconf.com to register.
