On Tuesday, a lucky few of us got to go on a trip that ventured outside of the confines of the Shepherds West building. Drinking more coffee than one body ever needs, we went to do some film and games grade motion capture at the impressive facility at E.Motion.
For all you bears out there...
I came across this video the other day and as well as making me laugh (for quite some time...) it got me thinking. How many film / cinema buff type people exist out there who are secret VFX stars in the making? I'm talking about the naturals here, the people you go to the cinema with who appreciate the stuff that doesn't even cross your mind, or the friend who is an absolute Playstation wizzard. Sometimes, putting two and two together doesn't come easily and associating your love of film or great visual trickery with a career are poles apart. Or sometimes for whatever reason it just isn't possible. Because of family or work commitments maybe becoming the person who's sat behind the cinema screen, rather than someone who's watching it just wasn't an option. So watch the video let us know if the bear is familiar!
Fight! Fight! Fight!
2D or 3D - which camp are you in? This age old fight is battled out by two of our studio assistants and it seems, there is a rather heated argument for both. I'll leave it up to the guys to convince you either way. If however, we can't resolve it in this post, a mud wrestle might be the only answer.
Trading Insider Secrets
Scott Squires, of Industrial Light & Magic, has a blog called Effects Corner. Scott talks everything VFX, from artistry to wages. If you are looking to read the frank ins and outs of the VFX world then Scott’s blog is the place to go. Scott has 35 years’ experience in the industry and has work on film projects like Van Helsing, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer and Stars Wars: Episode I – Phantom Menace.
His articles are well written and packed full of industry top tips. He talks you through key skills like camera tracking and 3D match-moving as well as providing links to some of the latest visual effects news.
Who's That in the Spotlight?
Every month, Develop review the brightest and best courses and colleges in the world of Computer Graphics. And this week, we've found ourselves in the spotlight!
A Picture Paints a Thousand Words...
Those smiles pretty much tell this story! On 28th of March 2012 one of our Compositing classes had the exciting opportunity of having their work critiqued by two of MPC's finest: Christine Troianello and Doug Larmour and they loved every minute of it. The project they were asked to complete was a 115'" shot requiring both roto and keying which is taught on the course. The assignment was not without its challenges though! They had to deal with heavy motion-blur, integration of the key and the roto, as well as the amount of detail certain parts of the shot required. Toya Drechsler took the time to explain what the whole experience was like.
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News Round-Up: Monday 27th Feb 2012
It's the time of the week when I share with you the news that picked my interest over the last seven days. This time, there are the following goodies on offer: a cool making of from Framestore, some great new tutorials, a trailer of Pixar's "Brave", a new trailer for Spiderman and lots of education news related to Michael's latest announcements regarding education reforms.
News Round-Up: Monday 20th Feb 2012
After an absence of a week, I am back again with my usual digest of news. This week, we have some great showreels from the likes of Pixomondo, a great trailer from Spiderman and even some tutorials.
Houdini Webinar – Send Us Your Questions
Thanks to everyone who tuned onto our Houdini webinar today, what a great turnout! Seems that everyone found it really helpful especially as Houdini is such a hot topic at the moment. We didn’t have time to get around to all of your questions, so if there’s still something that you’d like to ask, don’t hesitate, just reply to this post and I’ll get back to you with as much information as possible. We’re also going to be posting a recording of the webinar on our website soon so make sure you keep your eyes peeled for that. This is exactly the kind of stuff that we announce in our monthly newsletters so make sure you’re signed up to it.
UK Uni Fee’s Up – Applications Down
This was hardly surprising news, but the positive spin put on this stat by Universities UK, was that the drop wasn’t as great as predicted. However, a decrease of 8.7% is significant, and demonstrates prospective students are unable or unwilling to pay the increase in fees imposed by the current government.
There were more women than men applying, but the biggest drop is not amongst school leavers, down only 3.6%, but from older students over 21 which were down significantly.
However, there was also a slight increase in overseas students applying here, and conversely more UK students are applying abroad, for example, Maastricht University forecasts 600 applications.
It’s not rocket science figuring out that fees of £9000 p/a over a three year degree, plus all living costs will be a considerable sum to repay, and for a non-vocational degree, it will require serious thought to justify. After all, if the degree studied will not guarantee a job at the end earning you X amount, then being saddled with that kind of debt is a hefty burden to bear.
Even the prospect of the student idyll and those first tastes of freedom living away from the parents, in the life of Riley, may now seem a little indulgent.
In our sector, Animation and Computer Graphic degrees are wide ranging and extensive, but this can be both their strength and their weakness. Yes, you may learn a wide range of skills, direct your own mini movie masterpiece, and if you’re exceptionally talented and hardworking, this film may lead to a job winning Showreel.
The reality is too often we see films that are either strong in one discipline but severely lacking in others, so making the overall effect disappointing. Or either, so many students have worked on one jaw dropping movie, that it’s hard to see exactly how much of a role any one individual played in the overall execution.
If getting a job is your top priority, fair to say it’s better to study an in-depth industry specific course, such as we offer here at Escape Studios, rather than something less focused.
News Round-Up: Monday 6th Feb 2012
There's all sorts of goodies in this week's edition of my News Round Up: we have free sofware from DAZ3D, some cool VFX breakdowns, the usual Oscar related stories, and lots of lots of news on the state of the UK education system. Hope you enjoy it, and as usual, I welcome your feedback.
News Round-Up: Monday 30th Jan 2012
This week, my round up of CG news features software and hardware announcements, interviews with VFX professionals, and some cool new VFX breakdowns. Hope you enjoy it!
News Round-Up: Monday 23rd Jan 2012
My, what a busy week! There are announcements from the likes of Pixar about their RenderMan software, interviews with London studios such as Pixomondo and the much more education controversy. Here's my pick of last week's more interesting stories.
News Round-Up: Monday 16th Jan 2012
After an interesting last week in our Los Angeles studios, I have come back to what seems to have been a week dominated with announcements about the state of our education system. But my round up of news is not just about education news, and this week, there is news about what the London Olympic stadium is going to look like, details of Cinecite's internship program and lots more...
News Round-Up: Tuesday 3rd Jan 2012
It's been a while since my last News Round-Up... Hopefully, you will all be rested after this holiday season and rearing to go. So, to get you going, I have selected a whole bunch of news items which have been published over the last couple of weeks.
Dneg Champion ICT in Schools
It is exciting to see Double Negative lead the charge for the VFX houses, getting on board with Next Gen Skills and being extremely vocal in their support.
Training That Works For You
After a busy year of new course launches, we now have Visual Effects and Compositing training to suit everyone, whether that’s Classroom Training or Online Mentored study. We know what you need to learn but also understand that everyday life can sometimes make this difficult. This is why we’ve tackled this head on and ensured that our training is flexible and works for you.
December's Free Tutorial: Mastering Maya's Transfer Maps
I created this month’s free tutorial with one thing in mind: How can I help improve artists’ workflow’s? This tutorial explores Maya’s ‘Transfer maps’ tool and is designed to do just that. I’ve made sure that we cover this tool in great detail, providing valuable insight into how it works, and how you can avoid common problems. It’s a very practical, hands-on demonstration of the ‘Transfer maps’ tool and with it, you will learn how to bake a diffuse texture from multiple pieces of geometry to one individual model.
News Round-Up: Monday 12th Dec 2011
Here is my usual Weekly Round-Up of News, with stories that I have picked up over the past week. If you have suggestions for stories I missed, just drop me a line or post a comment.