Like many other film fans, my journey with Pixar’s original animation classic Toy Story, has been an emotional one. From the age of 5 I’ve watched every instalment of the Toy Story trilogy, each time within a week of its release at the cinema, even the third, which as a 20 year old I saw in 3D, twice.
Take Your NUKE Fluency to the next level!
We've invited Victor Perez to share some of his top tips and tricks when working with Python in NUKE. Having studied our Compositing for Production course back in 2009, Victor has gone on to master NUKE to a highly professional level. Voted this year’s second most valuable nukepedia.com contributor, and one of the first official Nuke certified trainers, Victor has prepared a webinar to show you what’s possible when you apply Python scripting to a project.
What connects Harry Potter, Thor, Hugo and Game Of Thrones Series One?
Want to know what Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Thor, Hugo and Game of Thrones Series One have in common?
The Economic Impact of the UK Film Industry
Following a lot of doom and gloom surrounding the UK economy, it’s always nice to read something positive about an industry contributing towards economic growth. The BBC posted an article this week discussing an independent report examining the impact of the film industry on the UK economy. And we feel this report is just the thing we need to restore faith in the creative talent that exists this side of the pond, so it can be nurtured allowing the industry to flourish even further.
The VFX Festival 2012 - Get your tickets now!
Step into the mind-blowing world of VFX with The VFX Festival! Escape Studios has created the first ever four-day festival exploring the breathtaking world of visual effects, held in London on 10th-13th October.
Celebrating a decade of UK visual effects, the festival will be packed with the most respected VFX talent, visionaries and companies who have helped shape the industry. Offering inspirational insight behind the clever trickery in this booming VFX industry, with an exciting four-day programme packed with insider knowledge and information, showreel demos, hands-on workshops and exclusive premieres, it's perfect for those with a creative talent or thirst to develop their VFX Career.
Scalability, Stability & Simplicity with Qube! 6.4
PipelineFX, makers of Qube! have announced the release of render farm management tool Qube! 6.4. With additional features including new tools for smart farming, MobileView access for supervisors via a free smartphone app, the ability to set priorities limits and control of how much of your workstation is available to the render farm with QBLocker, all with a single click of a mouse.
Webseries spotlight: Red vs Blue - Part I
And here we arrive at the end of our spotlight on web series blogs that have cool visual effects. And fittingly, we will wrap up with one of my absolute favourite shows.
This show began with a few friends recording themselves playing Halo; Combat Evolved(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo:_Combat_Evolved), and dubbed voices over the top to create humorous shorts. Now, ten years later, those few guys have become Rooster Teeth(http://roosterteeth.com/home.php), and are the proud owners of the internet's longest running webseries, Red vs Blue(http://roosterteeth.com/archive/?sid=rvb&v=more). RvB has won many awards, and now has a huge fanbase(http://rvb.wikia.com/wiki/Red_vs._Blue_Wiki) over the entire world.
In the begining, RvB was a clever nod to the nuances of videogaming; two teams, of the aformentioned colours, trapped in a boxed canyon with two identical bases with no purporse or logical goal other than to kill eachother. There was a heavy emphasis on humour, specifically for gamers and Halo fans. Over the last decade, however, it has evolved. The length of the episodes has grown, the cast has greatly expanded, the plot has twisted and turned dramatically, and although they are split into seasons, the episodes actually tell one long continuous story from start to finish, which at this point clocks in at over 18 hours. It's basically one really, really long film.
The comedy has continued - and improved - over the years. However what's more impressive is the story, and how, despite it being created on a year by year basis, it continuously managed to tie itself into past events to create on long complex yet sophisticated narrative.
Both visually and in terms of production value, you can see how the show has adapted over the years. In its beginning(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BAM9fgV-ts), RvB was filmed in an almost bootleg fashion, where large black bars covered the top and bottom of the screen to cover the Halo HUD, and the aiming reticule is always visible in the centre of the screen (They have since gone back and 'remastered' these episodes for HD quality). As the popularity of the show increased, Bungie(http://www.bungie.net), the creators of the Halo series, gave the guys at Rooster Teeth the means to record and render their exploits with their own in game cameras. Rooster Teeth have also cleverly used their stories to explain the visual differences that occur as new versions on Halo are released. For example, when they began to use Halo 2(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_2), the cast were blown into the future, where everything looked better and shinier.
Then, at the start of season 8(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQ9pCqbwCFo&list=ELKa7KIIcrH8k&index=3&feature=plpp_video), and totally out of the blue, RvB started using action sequences have been made with fully scripted fight scenes that involve stunts not possible with the previous game engine. CG had crept its way into the show, and in a big way; multiple people beating the incredible hell out of each other, huge explosions, space fights, giant weapons, and jaw dropping set pieces littered season 8, including an hilarious 8 minute sequence of Tex destroying the Reds and Blues(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ke9wtbzGjCI&feature=relmfu), and her epic final battle against Washington and The Meta (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgweBtQLL5g&feature=relmfu).
Since then, the show has cleverly incorporated fully CG sequences by showing flashbacks to Project Freelancer(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQ3OZfPsP2E&list=ELYWB-pNdHjy0&index=2&feature=plpp_video) that tie into the current story. They've also built models for their characters underneath the suits of armour they wear, allowing their helmets to come off. It's important to remember that this is still a low budget show so the graphics aren't movie quality, but it's perfectly forgiveable considering the sheer amount of action and artistic direction used.
For those of you who're desperate to follow RvB in all its glory after this extremely thorough and well-written blog (which, I'm sure, will be all of you) it's important to point out a few things. The first 3 season's do look a little rough by today's standards, and it takes just a little bit of time for the cast to refine their voices. While it's fine to skip ahead to see the kind of quality you'll end up with, I urge you to start at the beginning, otherwise you'll fail to grasp most of the long running jokes. Also; it's totally hilarious, heartfelt, intelligent and constantly impresses with its ability to create a complex and intriguing story using just a few multilayer maps from a video game. So you should watch it anyway.
It terms of visual effects, RvB delivers incredibly over the top sequences that rival any film this side of The Avengers(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0848228/). In terms of the series as a whole, there's a reason this show has been running longer that most television shows, keeps winning awards, had it's fictional game Griffball incorporated into Halo 3 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_3), and generally keeps getting better every year (this has even seen the inclusion of Elijah Wood to the cast). It's the best and longest running webseries out there, and well worth you're attention. Now go; you've got 18 hours of webshow to watch this weekend. Enjoy!
And here we arrive at the end of our spotlight on webseries blogs that have cool visual effects. And fittingly, we will wrap up with one of my absolute favourite shows.
WoW - the mists of Kung Fu Pandaria
MMO game (that’s massively multiplayer online game, for those who don’t know) World of Warcraft sometimes has a bad rep outside of, well, the world of World of Warcraft. However with the recent release of a trailer for this September’s add on, ‘Mists of Pandaria’ even loyal fans are starting to dish out criticism. Many of whom are insinuating that WoW has taken a turn for the worst, in an attempt to appeal to a mass market of gamers, turning their back on their real audience in the process.
3D Artist review our VFX course
If you’re an avid reader of 3D Artist magazine, then make sure to look out for an article on Escape and the VFX course we run here. Released in this weeks issue (issue 46, September 12th), this is a rather lovely article. The 'Course Focus' section is a regular feature in this mag, so we’re pretty chuffed they wanted to include our VFX course in this issue.
Union VFX's 'River Zoom'
In a bid to cure our post-Oylmpic blues, we've been re-watching Union VFX's fantastic opening sequence, comprising a mix of real photography, animation and CG elements, which helped to kick off the celebrations at the opening ceremony for the Games.
September’s Free Tutorial: "Hellboy" Inspired Maya Animation
For those of you looking to get more adventurous in Maya, September’s free tutorial is a must see. This is the perfect opportunity to spice up your showreel with something a little different, while learning a diverse range of new skills in the process.
VFX for TD's – Going the distance!
How much can you learn over 12 weeks? Well hopefully after seeing some student work in yesterday’s blog you’ve realised, quite a lot actually! Learning the tools that create impressive 3D visuals is the hard part. After that, it’s a process of applying what you’ve learnt to more ambitious projects and making sure you push yourself to continue learning.
Virtual Reality - An art soon to be perfected?
Fusion ioFX
The Escape Studios Technology team have received some rather exciting new solutions recently, one of which being the new Fusion ioFX board.
Weird Wins!
With the US release of Paranorman last month (UK release 14th September), sporting giants Nike have released a one of a kind edition of their synonymous, ‘foamposite’ sports trainer. Only 800 of these Paranorman themed pumps were made and get this - they could only be won by weirdos.
Making VFX magic in a matter of weeks!
Want to know what can be achieved in just 12 weeks of a VFX for Production course? Take a look at some of the work by the students who graduated last month.
Augmented Reality - A real game changer
Sometimes a new piece of equipment struts onto the gadgetry scene, reminding us all, just how hard it is to keep up with the rapidly evolving trends in the technological world we live in.
Escaping to IBC 2012
The 2012 IBC Conference & Exhibition is now in full swing in the buzzing city of Amsterdam. Let’s just say, you’re not going to find a hotel room very easily right now! Jason Jenner and I from the Escape Studios technology team are here to represent our partners in the world of tech. We’re here all week, so if you want to get in touch, please drop us a line.
Taking the next step into VFX wizardry!
Before becoming a mighty VFX warrior, you need to become a master of Maya. That is why our VFX courses are designed so you dedicate significant time to mastering the tools inside Maya before taking the next step into more advanced visual effects. And of course, it’s only when you know the limitations of any creative tool, that you know how far to push it.
Last Chance to Book! VFX Taster Classes Start Soon...
The one-day VFX taster classes kick off a week on Monday. If this is something you want to participate in, make sure to book your place soon. For anyone considering taking the first step into a career in VFX, this is your chance to get a practical insight into what it’s like to study with us.
