An article on the Telegraph’s website caught my eye today – apparently, professional computer gamers have the reactions of fighter pilots but the bodies of 60-year-old chain smokers. Dr Dominic Micklewright, from the University of Essex, conducted a series of physical and psychological tests to determine whether playing on computers could be defined as a sport.
Delapost Paris Gives RenderMan Thumbs Up
We love getting a behind the scenes look at productions and we're quite excited to chat to Delapost Paris about their recent ‘Penguins in Heaven’ project. Here we catch up with Emmanuel Koltès who gives us an insight into the making of the commercial, and specifically how Pixar’s RenderMan was used.
3DEqualizer4 Summer Pricing Promo – Save 50%
Good news: Science.D.Visions have just announced a great Summer promotion. You can now buy a licence of 3DEqualiser4 along with 12 months support for 50% less.
Autodesk Educational Creative Suite 2011 - Now Shipping
If you’ve been patiently waiting for the new Autodesk Educational Creative Suite 2011 to become available, we’ve got good news for you. The new 2011 Suite has now been released for shipping, meaning we can now ship all orders as soon as they are placed.
Autodesk Maya 2011 Hotfix 1 Released
Calling all Uni Grads
We are launching our new online competition to uncover the crème of the CG class of 2010 on both sides of the Atlantic. The CG Graduate Design Awards is the first international competition of its kind, where we’ll be giving the most talented graduates out there a helping hand into the competitive computer graphics world.
V-Ray for 3ds Max Advanced Training
Chaos will be in London this July, and we have decided to team up with them to deliver a one-day V-Ray for 3ds Max Advanced Training Course.
Autodesk Finance Deal: 0% Interest Finance or Pay Nothing for 5 months
Did you know that Autodesk are offering some pretty interesting finance deal at the minute?
Realflow 5 Out Now!
RealFlow’s Version 5 has just been released, and we are quite excited about some of the new features and improvements our friends at NextLimit have made.
Next Gen Intel CPUs: More power in a smaller box
If you’re like us and have been struggling with the limits of 4-core machines for your CG applications, then you’d be just as excited about Intel's Next Generation CPU 6-core 32nm processors. They are probably the biggest advancement in CPU cores for over two years.
Come along to our Open Evening
Lots of people can't make it to our day time courses or open days, so, we've decided to run an Open Evening for those people interested in attending our VFX, Maya and Compositing Evening Courses. The courses are perfect for those with busy working lives because they don't interfere with day to day work and you can also pay for them a module at a time, which makes finding the funds a lot easier.
Latest VFX Graduate Showreels
Check out some of the latest work from the VFX Course that's just finished. The work is really imaginative and demonstrates real technical ability - all pretty cool considereing they were here for just 12 weeks. If you're interested in VFX now is the time to get in touch so you can take advantage of our early bird discount.
Pixar RenderMan User Group Meeting tonight!
We are all looking forward to the UGM tonight with our very technical friends at Pixar! Over 200 people in attendance... should be a great night and plenty of Escape $ behind the bar!
Feedback competition winners
We’re pleased to announce the winners of our latest Facebook competition. Having submitted their showreels to the Escape Studios Facebook fan page, five people were selected at random.
Head of 3D at The Mill shares his showreel must-do's
Our friends over at The Mill, namely Head of 3D Jordi Bares, has compiled a list of crucial do's and don'ts to help you create a sought-after showreel. So, if you're aiming to catch the attention of a potential employee, you best read on...
Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Our New Animation Tutor
Meet our new animation tutor, Alex Williams who comes from a rich tradition of 2D animation. With over 20 years of industry experience that includes work as a storyboard artist, character designer and animator on more than 20 feature films for Disney, Universal, Warner Bros, Fox, DreamWorks and Sony, his film credits include animated masterpieces such as 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit?', 'The Lion King' and 'The Iron Giant'. His most recent work includes animation for the Oscar-winning 'Monster House', as well as 'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince'.
Calling all Animation Fanatics
In conjunction with their fantastic upcoming Ray Harryhausen – Myths and Legends Exhibition, the London Film Museum are offering the chance to meet the great man himself.
Frank Frazetta
Frank Frazetta, one of the first and most influential fantasy artists in the industry, died last week aged 82.
V-Ray for 3ds Max SP5 Released
Our friends at Chaos Group have just announced the release of the new Service Pack 5 for V-Ray for 3ds Max.
Friday Fun - Illusion Contest
Really looking forward to next week because it's the start of the games course here at Escape Studios. So, before the hard work begins for my students, here is a bit of Friday fun! Check out the impossible motion video.
