EnsadLab and the Paris ACM SIGGRAPH professional chapter have compiled, over the past two years, a history of computer graphics in France.
This industry started in the early 80s and was focused mainly on entertainment. Our honorable guests from today's session are all keys actors from that era, and will testify how they started in the business, sometimes by pure chance.

We will retrace how the more important studios evolved from heavy in-house software to simpler turnkey systems in under five years. The founders of these studios will recall the trials and successes of the early days, when complete movies were being made on hardware that was less powerful than today's cell phones.

Thierry Frey,  Conference advisory group chair, SIGGRAPH Asia

Host

Pierre Hénon, Professor, École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs (EnsadLab)  &  ACM SIGGRAPH (Paris chapter)

How Computer Graphics Began in France in the Early 80's, a brief timeline.

Georges Lacroix, GL Consulting

"Fantôme": The Birth of a Crazy Company

Pierre Buffin, Founder and CEO, BUF Compagnie

The Beginning of Buf Compagnie in 1985 - Today one of the main Studios in Paris

Jean-Charles Hourcade, Red Cat Technologies

INA, first CG trials; TDI the creation of the Explore software, the world's most popular 3D animation package in 1991

Xavier Nicolas, Managing Director, Lucasfilm Animation,
Jerzy Kular, Director Animation & Gaming, Independent Author, DSK International Institute of Industrial Design, Animation & Gaming

Sogitec, the first CG studio in Paris; ExMachina main studio in Paris at the end of the 80's

Olivier Emery, CEO, Trimaran

Imagix-3D, the Beginning of 3D Animation Software Running on a PC in The 80's

Jaques Bled, CEO, Mac Guff Ligne

The Beginning of MacGuff in 1985 - Today one of the main Studios in Paris

Francois Garnier, Director, Founder and Creative Director, AmaK Studio,
Francois Garnier, Professor, Head of Research Program, EnsadLab

The Médialab’s “Starwatcher” - History of a Non-Standard Studio

Maurice Benayoun, Film Director, Media Artist, Co-Founder of Z-A Production,
Maurice Benayoun, Artistic Director and Co-Founder of CITU Research Center

Z-A Story : the Quarxs, God and the Devil

photo credit: Reiner Pfisterer