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.
A Successful UGM for Softimage
On 16th November 2011, Escape Studios and Autodesk joined forces to organise a Softimage user group meeting. The event was held at the Autodesk London office on Broadwick Street, where product manager Jason Brynford ‘Chinny’ Jones presented updates as well as a preview on the Softimage roadmap. An over subscribed event, the UGM attracted an obvious attendance from users within Soho but also users from as far as Sweden, France, Bulgaria, and Germany.
Book A HIERO Demonstration with Escape Studios
The news is travelling fast that The Foundry have a new product in development. This product is called HIERO and is thought to be the 'missing link' in shot management system for VFX pipelines. Designed specifically to help increase output and manage multiple jobs, this tool is said to be a game changer for the post production community.
Those Marvellous Movember Men
As the month of November draws to a close the marvellous Movember men can look forward to taking the razor to the top lip and shaving their new found hairy appendage, but before that liberating moment comes, there are still five days of important fundraising to go.
3D Consumer Apps From Autodesk
Autodesk are making a serious play for the consumer world, with their new 123D range of applications. Some time ago they came up with the 123D Cad and Make software aimed at people who wish to make models and get them produced via 3D printing and laser cutting shops. Though it held much appeal for students and hobbyists, its real target is small businesses.
Students Love our Mentored Training Courses
We have students from all over the world training with us - all from different walks of life and with different priorities and motivations. Whether they’re in full-time work or part time study, it’s our core aim to help them develop the skills required to progress their career as a VFX artist in a way that works for them. Our Online Mentored Training enables students to do just that – learning online, and working around day-to-day commitments.
New Release: Maxwell Render 2.6
The guys at NextLimit have just announced the release of Maxwell Render Suite 2.6 which introduces some great new features and improvements.
MARI vs. Photoshop Webinar Now Available to Watch Online
The MARI vs. Photoshop webinar held on November 2nd 2011 was hugely successful. Registrations were record breaking and there was an encouraging attendance on the day. For what is becoming a popular topic at the moment, The Foundry are certainly paving the way for the future of compositing pipelines with products like NUKE and MARI.
NVIDIA Maximus New Release
As a creative professional, we hope you’re going to find the information below as exciting as we do. Last week, 14th November 2011, NVIDIA announced the arrival of NVIDIA Maximus, a technology that is set to revolutionise the way we all work. Delivering significantly increased speed and productivity to any pipeline with a single system that allows you to achieve a range of compute-intensive and graphics-intensive tasks simultaneously, you may start to wonder how you ever managed without it.
The Illusionist: Beautiful Animation but is it Faithful to Tati?
I love Sunday. It’s my favourite day of the week: a day when I can 'veg out' and watch all the stuff on TV I don’t normally have time for. Yesterday, I settled down to watch a feature animation which had been on my ‘To Watch’ list for some time. It’s called “The Illusionist” and is a Franco-British collaboration, directed by Sylvain Chomet.
News Round-Up: Monday 21st Nov 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.
A Francophile's Take on Tintin
I went to see Tintin in 3D a few days ago - in itself, there's nothing unique about that, but I am both a Francophile living in England and a die-hard fan of Tintin, so I thought I would write my views about this new take on my childhood hero.
VES Awards: Send Your Entries Now
The 10th Edition of the VES (Visual Effects Society) Awards is upon us, and whilst I know many of you will already be working on your entries for it, I thought I would take time to write about it in this blog to encourage those of you who haven't considered entering the competition.
Blog Factor: Gee Talks About Our Obsession with Apple
I'm going to brave the topic of the recent consumer addiction to Apple products and why so many of us await the next newfangled version of iProducts. I mean what would we do without our minimum of twice a year apple hysteria?
November Free Tutorial: Animate a Bird & Make it Fly (Part 1)
When I created this tutorial, my number one objective was to ensure that whoever was learning could really use what they create and incorporate it into something that they might already be working on. That’s why this animation tutorial is so substantial and has been separated into two parts! This month, we will use a pre-created rig, which you can buy here and use to explore the mechanics of bird locomation. It costs just $5 and trust me, it’s worth it.
Movember Progress
We are halfway through Movember, and it's time to show off the progress achieved in the past couple of weeks. For us girls in the office, this time of year is a lot of fun! It's our time to taunt the boys and watch them act all manly. Very funny indeed. And of course, it's all in help of a good cause. Which reminds me,... feel free to donate all you can to "There's Mo Escape" (that's the name of our team), by clicking here.
A MARI Massive Update!
Resonance Producer Will Be Presenting Project To Escape Students
We are delighted to welcome Simon Jones from SR Partners to Escape Studios this week to present a visual treat 'Reasonance' to our students.
Another Week, Another Student Protest
Last week, disgruntled students took to the London streets to protest about tuition fees and the "privatisation" of universities. Frankly, I don't think it got the attention it deserved, but in an unstable world where the media is focused on the economic consequences of what Greece and Italy's political elite are up to, I can't say I am surprised. Shame though, because there is a lot that still needs to be said about this government's reform of the higher education system.
News Round-Up: Monday 14th Nov 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.