Saw this article in GamesIndustry.biz and was a bit shocked.
Stereographic 3D - Who's getting it right?
Stereographic: looks like this time it might be here to stay. But with differing techniques in post and production and delivery mechanisms still in flux who's getting it right?
Free 1-Week Mentored VFX Training
So, to celebrate the launch of our Online Mentored VFX course, we have decided to go mad and give away for free the first week of the course to fifteen lucky people.
Houdini 11 Ready for the Masses?
Free RenderMan Tips and Tricks Webinar
Hi Everyone, my name is Chris Ford from Pixar Animation Studios and I manage Pixar's RenderMan business from our studio in California. I am delighted that Escape has kindly offered me the opportunity to contribute an occasional guest blog post.
Growing up with Maya
I had a picture sent to me from an old colleague this week (above). It was taken in the "fake" Getaway pub on the 4th floor of SCEE’s (Sony Computer Entertainment Europe) offices in Soho.
Free Evaluations of modo Production Now Available
Luxology are now giving away modo Production Evaluations for free. The Production Evaluation gives you access to more much more content than you would normally get with the free Basic modo Trial – so it actually gives you can a chance to properly test drive modo.
Inception Zero Gravity
For me the best movie so far this year has to be Christopher Nolan's Inception. it will be interesting come Oscar time to see if the Academy and the world at large agree. It is a fantastic combination of amazing direction and cinematography, a gripping script and amazing VFX. The best VFX are the ones you don't see and only afterwards do you think "How did they do that?".
California Dreams
As part of our ongoing commitment to the US, we have recently been on a whistle stop tour of California visiting all of the leading lights in the VFX and animation industry. Lee and I were lucky enough to visit the likes of ILM, Pixar, Dreamworks, Sony Imageworks and Tippett Studio. It was like walking into a living museum of the best VFX and animation has to offer, from the original costumes and matte paintings from the Star Wars series to the giant Luxo Jr outside Pixar's HQ. We were completely in geeky film heaven. Lee's excitement at seeing models and maquettes from some of his favourite movies was very obvious. For those of us who know him, well there is no volume control!
4DMax Helps Creates New Identity for Willie’s Chocolate Factory
Our friends at 4DMax are 3D data capture specialists and have been blazing a trail recently with their work scanning heads, bodies, objects and environments for some very high profile VFX movies. We’ve tried the technology here at the Escape Studios’ offices using the heads of a few weary volunteers to see how the technology works. The results are amazing!
Two showreel tips
Those of you who follow us on Twitter will know that we had our first ever realtime Twitter feedback session on Monday. I am told I should refer to them as Tweetups or Twitter parties, but if truth be told, it was a simple, honest, online showreel clinic! We asked our followers to send us links to their reels, and Lee Danskin, our Training Development Director, provided his usual professional feedback.
New Hot Fix for 3ds Max & 3ds Max Design 2011 Released
Autodesk have just releasd a brand new Hot Fix for Autodesk® 3ds Max® 2011 and Autodesk® 3ds Max® Design 2011.
Highlights from Siggraph 2010
I recently returned from nearly a week out at SIGGRAPH and thought I’d put together a few highlights to share with you.
Robert Holmes takes time out to talk about his career to date
It’s always great to find out how escapees get on after their training and enter the world of work. Last week, we met up with ex-student Robert Holmes out at SIGGRAPH. Since his time at Escape, Rob’s gone on to work on some amazing projects at The Mill. He took time to tell us how he got his break and what’s needed to be successful in this industry.
Escapees work on Rooney
Now almost as hyped an event as the World Cup itself, the Nike ad this year starred a host of big names, from our own Wayne Rooney through to Franck Ribiery of France, Italy’s Fabio Cannavaro and even shiny Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal. Most people will have seen at least one of the shorter clips, if not the full thing, and the eagle eyed among you will know that the guys at the Mill were on hand to provide the VFX wizardry.
Escape Studios at Siggraph 2010
Escape Studios is going to SIGGRAPH in Los Angeles next week. We’ll have a booth at the SIGGRAPH 2010 Job Fair (booth #26) and we’d love to see you there. Drop by and pick up some of the Escape Studios goodies!
Fusion 6.1 Out Now
For those of you that have been eagerly waiting for the next release of Fusion, you’ll be pleased to know that Version 6.1 is out now and available for shipping.
New mentored courses for long distance learners
Today we’ve launched a brand new set of online mentored learning courses to offer a helping hand to international grads and drive the next wave of computer graphics talent. The twelve-month course offers the same high quality, interactive training experience as our flagship Visual Effects classroom course.
ZBrush - major announcements!
Our friends at Pixologic have done it again... There seems to be no stopping the development team and now Windows and Mac users will unite!
On Monday August 9 ,2010 existing users will be able to upgrade FREE OF CHARGE! Updated versions of all major plugins, and GoZBrush support for Modo, Cinema 4D, 3DSMax and Maya for Windows and Mac systems.
More information about ZBrush 4.0 and its features will be presented closer to launch date.
Competition reminder
It's great to see entries coming through for our Graduate Design Awards. Just a quick reminder you need to upload your show reel to our YouTube channel and then complete your entry by sending your contact details to escapestudios@brands2life.com. We need your name, showreel title, email address, telephone number, year of graduation, university and course attended.