OT: The Gathering 2

Sorry for posting this here as it is not exactly OpenGL related (but that’s Cass’ fault ).

I was just wondering if some of you were going to The Gathering 2 in Paddington on the 13th/14th of June (NVIDIA’s official conference on the GF4).

Nutty, I just saw your message in an old thread asking me this question (I have been out of the office lately). The answer is “yes” I am going (I have just registered). Are you as well ?

It would be nice to meet some of you guys over there.

Once again, sorry for this OT post. I’ll ask for it to be deleted if this is too much of a problem.

Regards.

Eric

Well, a great event, for sure and for £337 for the two days you’ll also get a GeForce4 Ti! But, I thought this event is mainly for DirectX users. Can someone who visited it last year tell us how close to DirectX it is? Or, are the talks so general that they are sdk-independent? Will there also be some OpenGL specific talks?

kon

I was at the first one and I must say that it was geared towards DirectX only.

That being said, there were great presentations on vertex programs and texture shaders (albeit with the DX8 names but who cares !). All in all, a lot of the techniques presented could be (and have been) used in OpenGL programs.

If the second edition is similar to the first one then it is interesting even for OpenGL programmers: I do not remember any of the speakers saying “DirectX is the only API”. Granted, they like to say that NVIDIA products are the best but that seems normal to me !

When I asked them about an OpenGL Gathering, they said that they did not think it would be a real success.

Now, if you can afford the conference, you should really try to attend it, even if the sole word “DirectX” triggers a heart attack for you .

Regards.

Eric

P.S.: as far as I understand, there will be a lot of talks about DX9. It’s always interesting to see where MS is driving their API (>cough< ).

I was there last year and I will be this year. It is a DirectX (D3D) event but it is allways good to know how is it evolving. There were also many techniques described that are independent of the API. I think this kind of events is more to relaxa and open you mind than to learn things.

Hi Eric. No I wont be there this year. I already have a gf4 anyway. Shame though, cos it was real good fun. Are they doing “Geforce Juice” again ?

Nutty

No idea about the Juice !!!

Sorry to hear you’re not coming. I suppose it is not really worth it when you already have the card anyway…

BTW, I have just received an e-mail from Richard Huddy confirming my registration. I took the opportunity to ask him whether his favourite line was still “batch, batch, batch”.

Here is his answer:

“No. I still quite like it, but now I enjoy rambling on about washing
machines and the number of buttons I have on my watch. It’s odd that I
manage to find a way of including that in a DirectX graphics talk - but I
do.”

I guess talks will really be interesting this year !

Regards.

Eric

Eric,

Actually, I’ll be doing a couple of the talks at this event. The discussion will
be DirectX-centric, but there’s plenty of new info that’s relevant to both APIs. And we can talk about OpenGL details offline.

I would definitely encourage OpenGL programmers to attend as well.

It’ll be nice to finally meet you in person, Eric.

Thanks -
Cass

Oh, and Nutty, I would regard the information you’ll get from The Gathering 2 as much more valuable than the GeForce4 Ti.

Originally posted by cass:
[b]
Oh, and Nutty, I would regard the information you’ll get from The Gathering 2 as much more valuable than the GeForce4 Ti.

[/b]

Anything ground breaking ? Or are the presentations about the same things as GDC 2002 ?

Cass,

I didn’t know you were coming, that’s fantastic news !!!

I’ll be very happy to meet you in person at long last (I have just checked and the first e-mail I sent you was around september 2000 ! Yes I know, I am a very organized person ).

Well, Cab is coming as well. I suppose other people from these forums are going too. That will be really nice to meet each other !

I am sure the talks will be interesting even if DX9 is the main focus as far as APIs are concerned. In my opinion, the fee of the Gathering 2 is “paying for the card”+“get two days of interesting technical talks for free”.

Well, that’s what I call an exciting perspective !!!

As a side note, i hope the cute violonist will be there this year as well…

Regards.

Eric

Paul,

This event will be almost completely new material, and an NDA is required to attend.

Thanks -
Cass

Hi Cass, shame I can’t go to see you in action. ahem.

What I meant was, after shelling out for a GF4, I dont really have the spare funds to pay for the event. I’m not sure my company would pay, as it’s not really relevant, being a console company and all.

Next year should be much more easy going on my wallet, so I’ll defo go to the next one if there is one. Provided it’s still in the south of UK

Nutty

Originally posted by cass:

Actually, I’ll be doing a couple of the talks at this event. The discussion will
be DirectX-centric, but there’s plenty of new info that’s relevant to both APIs.

Cass,

will be you talking about Direct3D? Have you changed from the OpenGL to the D3D group?

– Carlos

Carlos,

will be you talking about Direct3D?

Yes, but most of what I’m talking about is pretty api-independent.

Have you changed from the OpenGL to the D3D group?

I still do OpenGL work primarily, but it’s pretty easy to “switch hit” these days, so we don’t have separate devtech groups based on API.

Cass

Originally posted by cass:

I still do OpenGL work primarily, but it’s pretty easy to “switch hit” these days, so we don’t have separate devtech groups based on API.

Cass,
It was a stupid joke It was a surprise because it is the first time I will see you in an European conference. I hope to see you at The Gathering.
Thanks.
– Carlos

Count me in as well!

– Tom

This post will look like a “bump” for the topic and it is indeed…

So, for the moment, 3 of us (plus Cass who’s on the organizer’s side):

Cab, Tom, myself.

Is anybody else going ?

We’ll have to think of a way to find eachother at the registration (I’ll send you my photo !).

Regards.

Eric

Eric, I’m easy to spot: I’ll be the one that’s a foot taller than everyone else

– Tom

I’ll have a name tag.

Originally posted by cass:
I’ll have a name tag.

I wasn’t too worried about finding you: I have seen photos of your wedding (that’s the beauty of personal web sites !) so I should recognize you !

Moreover, I can’t see myself going to every guy that has a tag to check it (didn’t we all have tags last year ???)

Do you know when your talk will take place ?

Regards.

Eric