Introduction

Authors of content submitted to events sponsored by ACM SIGGRAPH should use the resources found on this page to prepare their content. Templates, specifications, examples, and information about permissions and third-party material can be found here.

Templates and Instructions

Authors who submit material to SIGGRAPH-sponsored events must use ACM's article template. The "acmsiggraph" template has been deprecated - please do not use it.

LaTeX and Microsoft Word templates for Windows and Macintosh (Office 2011, Office 2016) are available. The use of LaTeX is strongly recommended over Microsoft Word. The LaTeX template is distributed to major TeX repositories - you may find that it is already installed, or available via a package update on your computer (TeX Live 2016, MacTeX, MikTeX, etc.).

These templates should be used for submissions to SIGGRAPH-sponsored events, including the following programs and content categories:

• one to two page abstracts (Posters, Talks, Emerging Technologies, etc.)
• short papers
• technical briefs
• full-length technical papers

Authors who submit works for the Technical Papers program at the SIGGRAPH or SIGGRAPH Asia events must use the "acmtog" article type. (To add your submission ID to the paper, add "timestamp" to the \documentclass command, and put the submission ID value in the \acmsubmissionID command.)

Authors who submit work to any other program at the SIGGRAPH or SIGGRAPH Asia conference, except the Computer Animation Festival, Art Gallery, and Courses programs, must use the "sigconf" article type.

Authors who submit work to any other SIGGRAPH-sponsored event - Web3D, ETRA, I3D, etc. - must use the "sigconf" article type.

Art Gallery and Computer Animation Festival submissions to our annual conferences have their own formatting requirements; see the annual conference's web site for more information.

Course Notes are formatted at the submitter's discretion - no particular format is required - though we provide several examples (see below), and require that the rights management text the organizer receives appear on the first page of the course notes document.

Poster authors must prepare both a one- to two-page abstract, and a full-size poster to display at the conference.

If your content is accepted for presentation, you will receive the appropriate rights management text, including the article DOI and ISBN, to add to your final documentation upon completion of the rights management form. The sample documents have sample values that are safe to use for initial submission.

Please note that the examples which accompany the LaTeX and Word templates use numbered citations, and we (as an organization) prefer that you use the "author year" citation and reference style. The examples available below correctly use the "author year" citation and reference style.

Citations and References

We are using the "author year" citation style for content published in a SIGGRAPH-sponsored event. This applies to technical papers, technical briefs, and abstracts accepted to the SIGGRAPH and SIGGRAPH Asia conferences, and papers and poster abstracts accepted to other SIGGRAPH-sponsored events.

LaTeX users should make sure to include the following three commands in their source documents. The first commands are placed in the preamble of your document:

• \citestyle{acmauthoryear}
• \setcitestyle{square}

and this command is placed just before the \bibliography command:

• \bibliographystyle{ACM-Reference-Format}

Word users should format their citations as "[Author Year]" - example "[Smith 2017]" - and select the proper citation type.

Sample Files

For visual reference, a number of sample files are available. The "source files" link are ZIP files that contain the LaTeX source files and images used in them. The "author" version has a different rights management text block, and is suitable for display on the author's own web site. The "final" version is what is prepared for publication and is distributed through the ACM Digital Library.

• ACM TOG articles: submit for review (LaTeX, PDF), author version (LaTeX, PDF) final version (LaTeX, PDF) - (source files)
• Papers accepted to SIGGRAPH-sponsored events (short or full length), Technical Briefs (SIGGRAPH Asia), and workshop and symposia papers at our annual conferences: author version (LaTeX, PDF) final version (LaTeX, PDF) - (source files)
• One- to two-page abstracts: author version (LaTeX, PDF) final version (LaTeX, PDF) - (source files)
• Course Notes sample #1: (PDF)
• Course Notes sample #2: (PDF)
• Course Notes sample #3: (PDF)
• Poster sample #1: (PDF)
• Poster sample #2: (PDF)
• Poster sample #3: (PDF)

Rights Management, Permissions, and Third-Party Material
If your content is accepted for presentation and publication, you'll be asked to complete the ACM rights management form. Learn more about ACM's rights management policy at author.acm.org.

Using someone else's material in your content? Make sure you have permission to use it, and clearly identify it in your content and on your rights management form. ACM's policy on third-party material can be found at www.acm.org/publications/third-party-material.

The process of acquiring permissions to use material, even from your own employer, may be time-consuming. Please work on this part of your submission early in the process; don't wait until your content has been accepted.

Odds and Ends

• Curious about capitalization? This article may help.
• This article explains how to cite SIGGRAPH articles.
• Looking for CC-licensed images? Try search.creativecommons.org. Please do remember that "NC"-licensed images require specific permission from the copyright holder.

Questions?

If you have any questions about content formatting for SIGGRAPH events, or suggestions on how to improve these instructions, please contact Stephen Spencer at spencer@siggraph.org. Technical support for the article templates can be sent to acmtexsupport@aptaracorp.com.

ACM Article Template
Author Instructions for Papers and Abstracts

There are so many SIGGRAPH Asia programs. I don't know which one to submit my work to?
SIGGRAPH Asia includes a variety of publication programs: research papers (Technical Papers, Technical Communications), educational programs (Courses, Posters, Business and Innovation Symposium), exhibition programs (Computer Animation Festival, Art Gallery, Emerging Technologies, XR). It is useful to compare your submission to publications from previous SIGGRAPH Asia conferences.

The research paper programs (Technical Papers, Technical Communications) are for theoretical or critical work that thoroughly cites relevant previous work and rigorously demonstrates the validity of its conclusions. Although all SIGGRAPH Asia submissions are peer-reviewed, research papers undergo a more formal, journal-quality review process and are published in citable archives.

The research paper programs are differentiated from each other by their subject matter. Technical Papers focus on the science and engineering aspects of computer graphics and interactive techniques.

The educational programs (Courses, Posters, Business and Innovation Symposium) let you educate the graphics community about your work and related topics without writing a formal publication. In these programs, SIGGRAPH Asia attendees learn about interesting, useful, and novel techniques and principles in all areas of computer graphics and interactive techniques, including art, design, animation, visual effects, video games, interactive music, research, interactivity, and engineering. The educational programs are differentiated by format and emphasis:

• Talks are 20 or (rarely) 40-minute presentations. Talks can present anything novel that would interest and inspire SIGGRAPH Asia attendees: late-breaking research developments, ideas still in progress, the creative and technical thinking behind recent games and films, and more.
• Courses are longer instructional sessions. Courses are presented in two basic formats: short (1 hour and 45 minutes) and half-day (3 hours and 45 minutes including one 15-minute break). A SIGGRAPH Asia Course teaches a topic of interest to the computer graphics community and is typically presented by international experts in the field.
• Posters offer a light-weight, low-tech method for presenting student, in-progress, and late-breaking work. They are displayed throughout the conference; poster authors meet and discuss their work with attendees during Poster Sessions.
• Panels are forums for discussion, disagreement, controversy, and audience interaction. They are 1.75 hours long, and include a moderator and three or four panelists.
• Finally, you can exhibit your creations in the various exhibition programs. Clips from any type of computer-generated video sequence (computer animation, visual effects, video games, scientific visualizations, etc.) can be submitted to the Computer Animation Festival, Emerging Technologies (if the innovation is primarily technical), Art Gallery or XR.

All contributors to SIGGRAPH Asia Annual Conferences are now required to use ACM's rights management system to grant rights to publish accepted content rather than through the SIGGRAPH Asia Submission System. Essentially, submission tracking, jury review, and acceptance remain the same, but now the rights management is through ACM, the parent organization of SIGGRAPH Asia.

You will be asked to complete an ACM rights management form, which includes permission to record and distribute the audio and video of your recorded presentation through official channels of ACM/SIGGRAPH Asia. For most content types, this will be a Permission and Release form, which allows authors to retain copyright.

More Information on these options (the FAQ is particularly useful)

As a contributor to an ACM-sponsored event, the following expectations apply to you, should your content be accepted for presentation:

• You have permission to use everything that is in your presentation. This includes securing permission to use third-party material and providing documentation of that permission to ACM. (More information on the proper use of third-party material in your presentation)
• If you are using copyrighted musical compositions in your presentation, you must secure performing rights licenses.
• You must have the authority to grant ACM the right to distribute your presentation.

Once your contribution is accepted, you will receive a link via email to the appropriate form for your contribution.

My time-based media presentation makes use of commercially recorded music. Is this OK? What if I use my own rendition of someone else's song?

Using commercially recorded music in an animation is only acceptable if you acquire synchronization rights for the recording you are using, or performance rights if you use your own rendition of someone else's song. Such rights are your responsibility, and SIGGRAPH Asia will not purchase these rights for you. While in many cases music rights can be obtained inexpensively, well-known popular music is often difficult to license. For that reason, many submitters choose to work with composers and have scores designed specifically for their work.

Synchronization licenses must be secured for inclusion of copyrighted musical compositions in film or video presentations. Securing synchronization rights involves approvals from both the music publisher and the record label that owns the original master recording. This process is sometimes straightforward, sometimes painful, and sometimes, often for well-known popular recording artists, impossible. In the past, submitters of accepted pieces have had to cancel their participation in the SIGGRAPH conference due to music-licensing issues. Other submitters have had to replace their music tracks in a way that compromised their work. For these reasons, all submitters are encouraged to secure music rights for their work as early as possible in the production process. For more information on music licensing, and to find the necessary contacts for the recording you would like to use, see the ASCAP and BMI web sites:

You can also consider using public-domain music; various web sites provide listings and even some downloads. But be aware that although a song itself may be in the public domain, a particular recording of that song could be copyrighted.

There's an illustration in my paper of Elvis in "Clambake," which I got on the internet. Is that okay?

No, either get written permission to use the image or take it out. A reference in the text is OK.

Some of the supplementary material we intend to use in our submission is available or will be available as a publication. Do we need to discuss this in our submission?

Yes. Please discuss whether you have permission from the publisher to include this material in your SIGGRAPH Asia published materials, and if not, what alternate form you will provide.

I work for a large company, and I can't get the Submission and Authorization Agreement reviewed by our attorneys before the submission deadline.

We will not be able to accept submissions without a properly executed Submission and Authorization Agreement. This is to ensure that the process is fair to all submitters as well as to protect the work of our submitters. No extensions will be allowed for this. We recommend you download the PDF of the Submission and Authorization Agreement and review it with your legal department well in advance of the submission deadline.

My company's attorney has questions about the agreement. Who should they contact?

They should send a message to the Conference Management, and an actual human being will respond as quickly as possible.

My company policy prohibits me from signing the Submission and Authorization Agreement. What should I do?

On the submission form, you can delegate a representative to execute your agreement. Please remember it is your responsibility to ensure that the acceptance agreement is executed before the submission deadline, or your submission will be deemed incomplete and NOT reviewed by the jury.

Do you have any advice on how to write my abstract so that my submission will be accepted?

First of all, make sure your submission conforms to the submission guidelines. The jury has a small amount of time to review a large number of submissions. To maintain fairness, we have to be very efficient. Submissions that do not abide by the submission guidelines will be rejected without review. Authors should prepare their abstracts according to the ACM SIGGRAPH formatting instructions. For more information about ACM publication requirements, please review Instructions for Authors.

Non-native English speakers may wish to make use of the English Review Service to check for grammar and readability before submitting their abstracts. Please don't wait until the last moment to use this service.

It should be immediately obvious at the beginning of your abstract what the new contribution is. Just one or two sentences such as: "We present a new method that's N times faster." Or: "We have conducted a new study comparing A and B." Or: "Effect X in feature film Y presented a new challenge." Or something similar.

Can I submit earlier papers or technical reports as materials?

Yes, earlier papers or technical reports may be submitted as supplementary materials. However, the jury is under no obligation to read these materials.

Can I submit a URL pointing to my work rather than the work itself?

No. It's OK to include a URL in your submission so that we can get additional information about your work if needed. But in order to ensure fairness and adherence to our deadline restrictions, the jury will not examine the information at that URL when evaluating the submission.

Do I have to submit a supporting video of my work?

You're not required to, but it is often a good idea. The power of a video during the jury process cannot be stressed enough. The jury has a small amount of time to review a large number of submissions. Seeing the video can answer many questions that the jury might ask after just reading the abstract. It is a shame if the phrase "I wish they had provided a video" is uttered during the jury meeting. If your submission has an interactive, animation, or simulation component, we strongly encourage you to submit a video demonstrating your work in action, as it is very difficult to evaluate your work without this.

Should I use a specific filename convention for my submission material (for example, abstract, image, video)?

No. You do not have to worry about this. The SIGGRAPH Submission System will take care of that for you when you upload your material.

I am having trouble uploading the high-resolution digital image required for online submission. What should I do?

If, due to bandwidth restrictions, you cannot upload a high-resolution image or supplemental movies, please instead upload a lower-resolution version. If we need to include a higher-resolution version for jury review or publication stills, we will contact you to make arrangements. For more details, see .

My email address will be changing soon. How can I notify you of the update?

You will be able to change your email address in the online submission system. Please take advantage of this feature to ensure you are notified of your submission status in a timely manner. This will also give you the best chance of meeting our publication deadlines.

I have completed the online submission form, but the system still allows me to edit my account. Am I done?

Yes. However, you are allowed to edit your online submission account until the submission deadline.

I am trying to upload my video file through the online submission system, and I can't tell if it's working. It's been over an hour since I clicked the Submit button.

Uploading a large video file requires a significant amount of time even on a fast network connection. Even if it does not look like anything is happening, your movie file very likely is still uploading. Please test the system (and ideally, upload your final video) many days in advance of the submission deadline to gauge the upload time required for your material. Note that network performance may decrease close to the deadline due to the large number of submissions. Once your material is uploaded, a web page will indicate the successful upload, and you can return to the electronic submission page to re-download your material and verify that it uploaded properly. For more details, see .

Do you accept anything other than PDF for text-based submissions? It is easier for me to provide files in [your file type here]. Everyone can read those, right?

No. Please submit in PDF format. We expect our reviewers to support at least one review type that is self-contained and available on many operating systems (Windows, Mac OS, Unix, Linux, etc.). PDF provides easy standardization (universal viewer support, graphics, embedded fonts, etc.) for both the reviewer and the proposer. For example, it preserves intentional formatting by the submitter. Even ASCII clear text is not "universal" due to carriage-return differences, column widths, lack of graphics, etc.

My video files are larger than 100 MB. What should I do?

Do everything possible to make them smaller. The total size of your uploads should be below 100 MB. Jurors in various locations around the world will need to download the submitted videos, and we need to keep the total size of all submissions reasonable.

First, try decreasing the image resolution and/or using a better compression technique and/or settling for higher compression at the cost of somewhat reduced image quality. If you have tried very hard to do all this but still cannot get the size down, contact us and explain the specifics of your situation in detail, and we will see what we can work out.

What is the Submission and Authorization Agreement? Why must I sign it?

The ACM SIGGRAPH Submission and Authorization Agreement is a legal document that requires an acknowledgement of your right to show the material. This helps prevent situations whereby SIGGRAPH Asia presentations include material without permission that might lead to complaints or even legal action.

In addition, the Submission and Authorization Agreement allows you to grant or deny ACM SIGGRAPH Asia the right to use the material for various distribution purposes, and asks if ACM SIGGRAPH may use your materials for conference and organizational promotion in exchange for full author/artist credit.

All accepted submissions must be accompanied by a completed Submission and Authorization Agreement.

Are there any rules for how I should answer the questions?

There are only two requirements for completing the Submission and Authorization Agreement:

1. Your answers to the first two questions must be YES: "I have the necessary rights, permissions and/or licenses..." and "I grant non-exclusive, irrevocable, perpetual, royalty-free worldwide rights to ACM SIGGRAPH to present..."

A reply of NO to either question indicates that you do not have, and do not grant, the right to show the work, which will result in the work not being presented at SIGGRAPH Asia.

NOTE: While you must answer YES to these questions, you may grant or deny all other rights as you wish. Denying all other rights will result in the work being shown ONLY at SIGGRAPH Asia and not distributed or used in any other way. We encourage you to allow documentation of your work for the conference record and future promotions. However, we respect your right to grant or deny any of the remaining permissions as you wish.

2. The agreement must be "signed" (electronically) in order for the work to be presented at SIGGRAPH Asia. Failure to complete and execute an electronic signature on the Submission and Authorization Agreement will result in the work not being presented at SIGGRAPH Asia.

Permission to Use Materials

I have the necessary rights, permissions and/or licenses... I grant exclusive, irrevocable, perpetual, royalty-free...

You must answer YES to these questions in order for your work to be shown at SIGGRAPH Asia. A response of NO indicates that you do not have, or have not obtained, the right to show the work; this will result in the work not being presented at the conference.

Audio Rights

Please use the dropdown box to indicate whether or not your accepted submission contains audio; if so, please check the appropriate response to indicate if you have the appropriate license(s), or will obtain the rights, before SIGGRAPH Asia. Copies of any licenses obtained must be included with your accepted submission.

Can I just grant (or deny) all of the "permissions" to use my material?

Yes. You may use this space to indicate that you grant ALL distribution and promotional rights (or deny ALL distribution and promotional rights) for your accepted submission. Otherwise, individual permissions may be granted or denied in the sections that follow.

Distribution Rights

Written documentation (description of the work, contributor contact info):

• Print publications: conference program, proceedings, etc.
• Websites: SIGGRAPH Asia website
• Media/press: Press releases, conference publicity, etc.

Pictorial documentation (still images in the submission)

• Print publications: conference program, proceedings, etc.
• Websites: SIGGRAPH Asia website
• Media/press: Press releases, conference publicity, etc.

Video-based documentation (film, if it was part of the submission)

• Electronic publications: includes the Media Trailer
• Websites: SIGGRAPH Asia website
• Media/press: Press releases, conference publicity, etc.

The ACM Digital Library

Where permission has been granted, presentations will be videotaped and included in the ACM Digital Library as part of the conference record. The Digital Library is a repository of content from ACM conferences and publications that is made available primarily for reference and research purposes. Example: members of the Technical Papers Committee receive Digital Library access in order to verify that paper submissions have not already been presented or published at SIGGRAPH Asia or elsewhere.

Digital movie files in the ACM SIGGRAPH Asia Video Review (SVR) publications

The SIGGRAPH Asia Video Review (SVR) is a video publication (USB Stick) that documents the works showcased in the Computer Animation Festival, primarily for historical and educational purposes.

Contributors who grant permission for their work to be included in the SVR maintain full copyright to their work, and ACM SIGGRAPH is committed to protecting that. Though SVR is a tremendous educational resource, distribution is fairly specialized and limited through the ACM organization (not available through stores, etc.) for an unlimited time, or until sold out.

Webcasts of SIGGRAPH Asia conference presentations

Although webcasting is not currently scheduled for SIGGRAPH Asia , it is a possibility. If you do not wish to make your presentation and/or materials available via webcasting, please check Deny for this permission question.

For Use in Conference Promotion

I grant ACM SIGGRAPH permission to use video and/or audio recordings of my presentation for promotional and educational purposes, and I have the necessary rights...
Please check "Grant" if you wish to have your SIGGRAPH Asia presentation and/or materials used for conference promotion and/or education in the future, and you have (or have obtained) the rights to grant this permission.

I grant ACM SIGGRAPH royalty-free, non-exclusive permission to use the materials, in their original and/or modified forms, for conference promotion and organization publicity, and I have the necessary rights...
Please check "Grant" if you wish to have your submitted materials used to promote/ publicize SIGGRAPH Asia and you have (or have obtained) the rights to grant this permission.

Those submitting content to a SIGGRAPH Asia conference have the option of donating materials of educational value to ACM SIGGRAPH online resources for the benefit of the education community. Learn more.