With 70% of the course fee funded by Skillset, the Sector Skills Council for the UK creative media industries, the course is aimed at anyone in the film industry and will give sufficient training to become immediately employable in roles such as Junior 3D Artist or Camera Tracking professional.

The Skillset 3D for Visual Effects course will offer practical training in the integration of CG in to live action covering areas such as 3D creation, animation, camera tracking, advanced lighting and compositing. Studio training will be supported by interactive tutorials and additional e-learning materials to help students revisit topics where necessary.

The course starts on May 24th and runs for 12 weeks. Potential applicants need to be already working in the film industry in order to qualify. Details on how to apply can be found here.

To enter, all you need to do is post your portfolio as a response to our video. As a reminder, the winner of CG Whiz will get a place on one of Escape’s world class 3D training courses, plus a much-coveted work placement at Oscar-winning visual effects company The Mill. There are also two 12 month online Maya courses and a behind-the-scenes tour of The Mill on offer for the runners up, plus subscriptions to leading industry magazines 3D Artist and Shots.

What are you waiting for? Get your entries in now! We won’t count any entries posted after 00:00 31^st October, so don’t waste any more time.

Here at Escape Studios, we’ve been working with The Mill, Beam TV, 3D Artist Magazine and Shots magazine on something rather special to help make your autumn a lot more exciting…

If you’re a recent graduate or self-starter in the world of CG and 3D animation looking for a leg-up into the world of films and visual effects, our new online competition will be music to your ears (and effects to your eyes): we’re giving away a place on one of our fantastic Visual Effects training courses, plus a work placement with those amazing folks over at The Mill.

If that wasn’t enough, for the runners up we’ve got two 12 month online Maya courses, a behind-the-scenes tour of The Mill, plus 10 one year subscriptions to industry magazines 3D Artist and Shots.

To get involved and enter, all you need to do is post your animation or graphic illustration portfolio as a video response to this YouTube video by the 30th October 2009. That’s it!

If you aren’t doing so already, make sure you follow @Escape_Studios on Twitter for all the latest news and views, and use the #CGWhiz hashtag to tweet about the competition.

For full details, see the competition homepage at: www.escapestudios.com/CGWhiz

We can’t wait to see your entries. Good luck.

The tutorial introduces you to the tools that big animation studios like Pixar use to bring objects and characters to life. It  is aimed at giving you a basic grounding in key framing, animation curves, blendshapes and a whole host of other industry standard tools.

Just click here to access this free animation tutorial.

Something I didn’t talk about before was the advantage 3D films have of making illegal copies from cinema films virtually impossible. We all know that in the past, production companies have faced criticism from cinemas that are reluctant to install the equipment, such as new projectors, necessary to show 3D movies due to the expense. I can’t help but think they are failing to realise how these movies can help protect the cinema industry. 3D pictures will not only cut down on piracy, but cinemas will also be able to add a little more to the admission charges – increasing their ticket revenue – while offering customers a high quality viewing experience that can’t be replicated at home (for the time being at anyway).

I thought it was interesting to see Pixar relaxing its policy of revisiting past hits such as Toy Story and Cars – it obviously thinks that 3D movies will be able to attract larger audiences, providing the film is up to scratch.

However split reactions are already emerging following the 15 minute preview. Film reviewer, Kevin Maher, thought the trailer only managed to reveal how 3D is the ideal format for demonstrating the laws of diminishing returns. According to Maher, there was nothing in the footage to suggest that “3D is anything other than a trick to squeeze more out of the giddy, yet increasingly wearisome thrills, of point-of-view movie chases.” Whereas, Paul Carter, head of cameras at Axis, believes that with more money now in the system we should see 3D cinema move forward on the back of Avatar’s release.

As far as I’m concerned the future success of 3D cinema is by no means certain, but with advances in 3D tools such as Maya, Nuke and ZBrush, there is real potential to dramatically enhance the quality of the viewing experience. However, I can understand why the scepticism exists. In the past, 3D blockbusters have gained a bad reputation with the visual effects adding little to the poor scripts and storylines. Like any major box office smash, it’s only when great directors, producers and storylines align that I think we’re going to see an era defining motion picture. Avatar definitely has the potential to be groundbreaking, and I’m looking forward to its release later this year, but its success will all come down to how good the story is – no amount of technology is going to improve a movie which lacks that basic principal.

If you’d like any information on how to get into the 3D film industry, check out our classroom courses and online 3D courses we currently have available:

Nuke for 3D artists

Visualisation with 3ds Max

ZBrush Foundation

Maya Core Training

Uxbridge College has become the first further education institute in the country to invest in Escape Studios’ Maya courseware. The college, a Beacon establishment and one of the top ten performing colleges in London, is incorporating units of the Escape course into its own teaching, ensuring its students benefit from the expertise of Escape’s world class tutors.

Whilst other further and higher education institutes have paid for their students to access Escape’s online courses in their spare time, Uxbridge College is the first in the UK to structure the teaching of over a third of its weekly contact time around Escape’s courseware. Awarded an ‘Outstanding’ report by Ofsted, the college has a reputation for offering the best teaching methods and facilities possible to its students, and this new partnership supports Uxbridge College’s position as a centre of excellence.

Zulfiqar Choudhry, course developer at Uxbridge College said “We’re always looking to ensure our students are receiving the most innovative, high quality education and training. Partnering with Escape Studios allows us to tailor our courses to maximise the opportunities available to graduating students and means that our courses are always up to date. Uxbridge College is working to close the gap between vocational training and the academic education system, and our partnership with Escape Studios is a fundamental step towards achieving this.”

Demonstrating Uxbridge College’s approach to securing the best teaching methods, Zulfiqar has already completed an Escape course in Maya, and plans to enrol in the VFX course when it begins in November. “Computer graphics isn’t like teaching English, or Maths, where the basic components are the same whether you’re learning it now or ten years ago. What I learnt as a student and what I’m teaching now are worlds apart, and to maintain our high education standards we need to stay at the forefront of what the industry needs. We would be doing our students a disservice if we didn’t strive to be as close to cutting edge as possible.”

Mark Cass, Commercial Director at Escape Studios said “One of the key issues with vocational education is relevance and usability. Uxbridge College is completely committed to providing its students with the right skill set to enter their chosen industry, not just an education. That’s what makes this partnership so attractive to both Escape Studios and Uxbridge College, that our two philosophies are so closely aligned when it comes to the goal of these courses. The end result is not graduation, or the completion of a module, it’s when students take their skills and use them to secure future employment.”

As a Beacon college, Uxbridge College not only educates its own students, but also works with other colleges and organisations to share its expertise. Beacon status is awarded by the Government’s Learning and Skills Improvement Service (LSIS).

Students on the BTEC National Diploma in Games Development and Higher National Diploma (HND) in Interactive Media will all be taught modules incorporating the Maya core bundle, whilst the latter course will also have the VFX bundle taught in its second year.