At most venues supplementary material is an appendix annex. At UIST the central supplementary object is the video figure, and it is closer to a second first-page than to an attachment: reviewers at a venue built on demo culture watch it early, form their belief about whether the system is real, and read the paper through that belief. The 2026 Author Guide calls it optional but highly encouraged; for any paper whose contribution moves, responds, or renders, treat "optional" as theoretical.
| Property | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Length | At most 3 minutes |
| Resolution | 1080p (1920×1080) or 4K (3840×2160) |
| Container/codec | MP4, H.264 |
| Anonymity | Same standard as the paper — frames, audio, and filenames |
| Role | Helps reviewers evaluate the submission |
Captions/subtitles make the video robust to reviewers watching without audio and
prefigure the accessibility work required at camera-ready (see uist-camera-ready).
Build the shot list from the paper's contribution list — the video is the visual
twin of uist-experiments' claim-evidence audit:
0:00-0:15 Problem in one shot: the interaction that is impossible/painful today
0:15-0:45 The artifact working, uncut, on the core capability (claim C1)
0:45-1:45 C2..Cn each demonstrated in one continuous take
1:45-2:30 Breadth: 3-4 application vignettes, a few seconds each
2:30-3:00 Envelope honesty: one edge condition, then the closing capability shot
Production rules that pay at review time:
The soundtrack is argument, not atmosphere:
[ ] every cut between input and response is labeled or absent
[ ] each claim shot runs uncut for at least one full interaction loop
[ ] condition labels present for speed/user/environment changes
[ ] captions complete, spell-checked, synchronized
[ ] first 20 seconds show the artifact working (reviewers may not finish)
[ ] final frame is the capability, not a logo
Video leaks identity through channels PDFs do not have:
# Spec + metadata check on the exact upload file
ffprobe -v error -show_entries format=duration,size:stream=codec_name,width,height video.mp4
ffmpeg -i video.mp4 -map_metadata -1 -c copy video_clean.mp4 # strip container metadata
uist-submission); this is a UIST-specific obligation.uist-artifact-evaluation).Video production consumes the same final two weeks as paper polish and cannot start
before the system is stable. Book the capture rig, the edit pass, the caption pass,
and the compression/verification pass as calendar items at feature freeze
(uist-workflow), and dry-run the export pipeline early — render failures at 2 am
AoE are a recurring UIST deadline story.
[Video status] scripted / shot / edited / spec-verified / anonymized
[Claim coverage] video shows <k>/<n> contribution claims; gaps: <list>
[Spec check] duration · resolution · codec · captions · metadata
[Supplement set] <files + the section each supports>
[Risk] <the single most likely late failure in the pipeline>