I have been checking out all the entries received so far into our CG Whiz competition, and it's been a lot of fun watching all the work submitted. Thanks to everyone who has entered so far.

The actors unions and writers strikes are having a major negative impact on the film making capabilities all over the world. First, there was LA some years ago with their writters' strike. Now they threaten the film production in NZ according to the recent news. 

I caught up with Nicholas Lovell of GamesBrief the other day to find out what he'll be talking about at TIGA's Self-publishing seminar next Wednesday. Here’s what he had to say, and it’s pretty interesting stuff:

Those of you into weird mathematical equations will probably have heard of Benoît Mandelbrot - who is famous for being the father of fractal geometry. Sadly he died a few days ago, but not without leaving us with the most amazing body of work.

We’re eight days into this year’s CG Whiz competition, and we’ve been amazed by the quality and number of entries through the door so far. It’s going to be a tough one to judge and to think we’ve still got three weeks to go to see what talent’s out there.

According to Variety we have been saved from yet more badly converted stereo films - check out the story here. Warner Brothers have canned the release of Harry Potter Deathly Hallows part 1 in 3D. This is due to quality issues, that were mainly due to time constraints, and Warner have come to the conclusion that the converted film was not high enough quality. I can only applaud them for not releasing yet another stereo nasty.

CVMP is a unique opportunity to network with production and post-production specialists from the worlds of film, broadcast, games and imaging and graphics researchers. If you register on or before 17th October 2010 you can save yourself £100 on full registration!

There seems to be some momentum growing behind CityEngine and out of all of the new products in the market it certainly seems one to keep an eye on!

Skillset have recently announced a new funding scheme which will allow individuals working in the UK film industry to apply for a bursary towards various types of training.  The scheme is aimed at increasing the high-end visual effects skills within the film industry so individuals who want to get additional training under this new funding can identify a course or a training provider that meets his or her needs and apply for bursary from Skillset.

I am delighted to announce that Escape Studios has been bestowed the honour of being Pixar's RenderMan International Reseller of the Year 2010! With around 20 worldwide RenderMan partners, we are super pleased with this news!