Few of you will have missed this morning’s headlines about yesterday’s violent student protests in London. Taking to the streets is not something that comes naturally to British people – unlike the French, who view student protests almost as a right of passage. So, having 50,000 of them marching in London shows the level of discontent over the government’s recent decision to increase tuition fees.
The Pitfalls of Digital Perfection
At the end of every one of our intensive classroom courses, we get our students to present their finished work to their classmates and to our Training Development Director Lee Danskin. Last Friday, it was the turn of the escapees from our latest Visual Effects Production Course.
Escapee Jacob Flint Lands First VFX Job at The Mill
VFX escapee, Jacob Flint has just bagged a job at The Mill which as you can imagine he's pretty pleased about. The truth is, we are too. Having studied with us for 12 weeks on our VFX Production course, Jacob learned all of the vital skills that he needed to get started in the industry right away. He was pretty nervous during his interview but ultimately his skills shone through.
First Look at Students Work From Our VFX Mentored Course
Having started at the beginning of October, the first batch of students from our Online Mentored Visual Effects Course are well under way and the initial results of their work has been great.
Win A Pixar’s RenderMan Walking Teapot!
To celebrate the new release of RenderMan Studio 3 and RenderMan for Maya 4, we’re giving three lucky people the chance to win a limited edition Pixar RenderMan Walking Teapot.
MA Way
Last week, we launched our first academic qualification, an MA in Visual Effects Production, which we’re running with the University of Bradford. You’ll probably be wondering what we’re up to, what with everything that’s been in the news about how much university tuition is going to cost in the UK. Having collaborated on this project with some leading industry pros, however, I reckon we’re on to a winner. Here’s why:
Is Technology Making Us Stupid?
Now, I realise that it’s a bit of a leading question, especially as all of us in this industry rely so much on technology…
Will We See a New TimeSplitters?
Crytek UK have recently announced that they are talking to publishers regarding the viability of producing another TimeSplitters.
Escapee Alumni Company Roll Call
I was just looking over some of the people in our alumni group on LinkedIn and it was great to see the amazing list of companies Escapees are working at. To the have the CG industries peppered with so many people from our courses is a great feeling and we'd love to hear from anyone who isn't in the group so we can see where you are and what you've been up to.
Escape supplies Freelancers for Partizan Lab Project
After yet another busy month here on the Recruitment team I decided to get out, visit the front line and find out how some of our freelancers are getting on. Partizan Labs are currently in the middle of producing a series of CG commercials for the Carphone Warehouse and are using Escape to supply the majority of their freelancers for the project. I caught up with Henry Scholfield to get an inside scoop on the project and how using freelancers works for them.
Escape Studios Hosts VFX Workflows Event at Aardman
Escape Studios will be taking the Foundry’s products on the road with an event at Aardman Animation studios in Bristol on the 25th of November.
Midlands IGDA Chapter Event: Celebration of Indie Game Development
The Midlands chapter of the IGDA is holding an event for all their members on the 9th December at The Royal Pump Rooms at Leamington Spa from 7.30pm.
V-Ray 2.0 Pre-orders Now Available!
The new version of V-Ray for 3ds Max is now available for pre-order. This new 2.0 has undergone a significant revamp and now includes the V-Ray 3ds Max rendering engine along with V-Ray RT CPU and V-Ray RT GPU - that’s a whole lot more than you used to get!
BOXX to ship with new Quadro Fermi 2000
BOXX machines will now be even faster following nVidia’s recent announcement that they will be releasing a brand new graphics card, the Quadro Fermi 2000. This is the lastest addition to the nVidia Quadro Fermi Series, which are the industry’s only GPU-accelerated cards made for coping with HD-SDI video and 3D stereoscopics.
Mandelbrot on roughness
Judging by the high number of re-tweets and Facebook shares of the story I posted on October 19th about Mandelbrot, I figured this was a subject that interested many of you. I am glad I am not the only one!
Salvador Dali and Disney: An Unlikely Collaboration
I came across a tidbit of trivia the other day about Salvador Dali that set me on a little 'surf fest' on this incredible artist.
Wallace and Gromit Return to our Screens
I read something last week which made me angry, sad and yet hopeful at the same time… This one is a bit of a long story, and I hope it won’t sound too much like a rant, but I feel I owe it to all the people who, like me, felt rather disappointed when they watched “Wallace And Gromit: The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit”.