Last night I caught up with Stuart Howard, the Managing Director of a start-up VFX studio that’s doing some great work.
London VFX Houses Create Wizardry
It was great to see a write up in Variety about the big four post houses in the UK for more than one reason.
Visual Effects Benefit from New Rules at the Oscars
No doubt you’ll all be looking forward to the Oscars this weekend. It's particularly significant if you’re a VFX fan, with five nominees in the Visual Effects category this year rather than three.
The best animated shorts of 2010
As we move from January into February we’re left with no doubt that 2010 is well and truly behind us. What have we achieved this year? What did we create? Well, apart from 13 magazines – the creation was solely in your hands.
New kid on the block: 3D World's Andy Price
Exciting news on the Escape Studios blog - we’re pleased to announce that 3D World’s very own online editor Andy Price is going to be giving us his take on the latest CG action. For those that don’t know, Andy covers everything that's up and coming in the world of CG and animation for 3D World.
The Disney 50 at BFI Southbank
This looks like a great treat for anyone into animation. If you want to see where it all began, then check out The Disney 50 at the BFI, showing all 50 Disney films ever made.
Creating a Medieval City with CityEngine
Ever thought how hard it would be to design all the different buildings for a Medieval town and then deal with the layout and terrain?... Wow what a headache! Well, not such a headache any more. You can now create realistic looking medieval dwellings and villages that look like they have just come out of an episode of Merlin using CityEngine.
Thank you technology customers!
Last night we had some of the finest brains and talent in Soho out for our Technology Christmas drinks.
We just want to really thank all those who came along and hope you enjoyed the evening.. We certainly did and it was great to see so many new and familiar faces!
Last few places available for January 2011 Courses
As the end of 2010 approaches we're filling up fast for our next round of courses in January 2011. The last spot on our Compositing course has just gone, so the next seats available for that are now in April. We have also just filled our Character Animation course with Alex Williams so we now only have a few seats left on the two Visual Effects Production courses, taught by Mark Spevick and Dan Shutt.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1
I went to see HP7 at the weekend. We are all different but I really miss the magical events of the early Potter, I guess I just didn't want him to grow up!
The VFX work was amazing, as always, well done to everyone involved. Would the film have been enhanced if it was in 3D? I think possibly so, but as we all now know, 3D as an afterthought is not the way to go.
I do worry about having a 'two parter' personally, you are going to the cinema knowing that there will not be a resolution. But that said, the cinema was full and that has to be a good thing for the industry. Count down to the final film... or will it be?
To be academic or not, that is the question...
Here's a great piece of animation which illustrates something I care deeply about, the education system.
Top 5 Reasons to Use CityEngine
It's not often I see new technology come along with the potential to really make a difference in a pipeline. CityEngine is one such product that is gaining momentum in the industry and worthy of a closer look.
Pixar's RenderMan amazing 40% price reduction!
Yesterday, Pixar announced an unprecedented price drop in their flagship product RenderMan® Pro Server. The 40% reduction will allow studios and freelancers that were previously unable to buy into the technology, to get a slice of the Film / VFX industry standard renderer. With the global CG expansion, Pixar appreciate that the growth of renderfarms is real and happening now, this move allows existing customers to ramp up their rendering capabilities in a more cost effective manner whilst allowing smaller shops and freelancers access to the toolset.
IKinema: New Animation Plug-in for Maya
If you use Autodesk Maya for animating characters and models, then you may want to check out this cool new animation plug-in called IKinema.
RealtimeUK Complete Work on Kinectimals
I caught up with the guys at RealtimeUK to check out a project they've completed for Microsoft’s new Kinect console, and was really impressed with what I saw.
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”.
Two New Online Courses: ZBrush for 3D Artists & Character Animation Foundation
Today, we are launching two brand new online courses. One is an advanced ZBrush course for professionals; the other is a Character Animation course for 3D novices.
Missing the guys at Escape
A couple of weeks ago, we featured the work of Tracey Chung, who recently completed our Character Animation course. Tracey has been very busy since then working on her showreel, and we will keep you updated on her progress. But what I want to share with you today is a bunch of illustrations that Tracey created one day when she was clearly missing us all at Escape.
Pixar's RenderMan Studio 3 is out!
RenderMan Studio 3 has arrived and it packs some punch! Speed and lots of features and enhancements, including support for Maya 2011.
RenderMan Studio is Pixar's advanced suite of tools for shading and lighting TD's.