After the usual slow down over the festive & new year period, here at Escape Studios recruitment department we're now experiencing a big surge in demand for freelancers, right across the board.
Phoenix FD 2.0 Release
Chaos Group recently released Phoenix FD 2.0, the latest version for their grid based simulator. This latest version now comes with liquids, foam & splashes simulation capabilities, a particle shader and GPU preview improvements.
A Cube Made Out of Gears
Sometimes, you just come across something which simplify defies logic and the laws of physics... Today, I did just that when I discovered this incredible piece of 3D printing. It just goes to show the magic you can create with such technology. And if you fancy trying to build something like that yourself, here is where you can find some instructions.
Amazing Realistic Paintings of Children’s Drawings
An old colleague of mine (thanks Miles!) recently posted this link on his Google+ profile and I was instantly mesmerised. Illustrator Dave DeVries has had the amazing idea of taking children’s drawings and representing them as ‘realistic’ paintings in a project called “The Monster Engine”. The results are absolutely amazing. The artist describes his initiative as “a book, a demonstration, lecture and a gallery exhibition. The premise for all three came from one single question: What would a child’s drawing look like if it were painted realistically?”
A MARI Massive Update!
3D Art by Yuki Matsueda
Every so often, I come across something that makes me pause for a second. I did just that yesterday in one of my usual web trawls.
Naiad by Exotic Matter; A Driving Force in Fluid Simulation
A few months back FX Guide released an article on The Science of Fluid Sims. If you didn’t manage to catch it at the time, you should definitely check it out now. It is a great read for anyone looking to know a little more about the science and evolution of fluid simulation and what the future holds for its craft. The article should also set you up nicely to understand the importance of what the company Exotic Matter are working towards with their new product Naiad.
IKinema Wins CGW Silver Edge Award at SIGGRAPH 2011
SIGGRAPH is the worlds leading conference on computer graphics and interactive techniques. Each year they welcome thousands of artists, research scientists, gaming experts and developers, filmmakers, students and academics to Vancouver from 74 countries around the world.
Join The MARI Massive
Are you a MARI user or have an interest in MARI, then you may be keen to know that a group of artists are getting together on November 24th in London, Soho for a few beers. The venue is currently top sectret but will be released soon.
Mingle and network with fellow MARI users over a drink. There are a few special gifts up for grabs too.
I've also heard that some of the MARI engineers should be attending, which is a great opportunity to ask those all important questions! Should be quite a geek fest.
The Electric Theatre Collective; New VFX Facility Now Open In Soho
There is a new VFX facility in town to have recently opened their doors for business. They are a trio of young visual effects professionals who have proven talents across a range of high profile projects both in the UK and US. This company is the Electric Theatre Collective, and we would like to congratulate them on a very impressive start up. We believe these guys are destined for great things as they venture into the sometimes uncertain territory of running their own facility and build a strong foundation around the name Electric Theatre. We wish Giles Cheetham, James Sindle, Daniel Stanhope Marum and their team every success in the years to come.
KATANA 1.0 Release: Andy Lomas Q&A
Yesterday afternoon The Foundry announced the release of KATANA 1.0, the much anticipated look development and lighting tool. In addition to this, The Foundry also shared the news that Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), a Lucasfilm Company, have purchased a licence of this latest version with the hope to boost their production pipeline across their ILM and Lucasfilm companies.
The Foundry and Escape Studios UK Tour
The UK has a flourishing VFX industry that is attracting business from all over the world. In terms of film production in this country, we’re securing huge business. The standard of work being produced here is world class, and it’s impressive to see how this industry is flourishing right across the United Kingdom. For those of us who work in London, sometimes we risk embracing the city as being the centre of the universe, paying far too much attention to what’s going on locally, rather than what’s happening countrywide. Granted Soho is a hub for post-production, but if we were to look beyond the M25 and further North, East or West, we would find an amazing number of talented companies working on some fantastic projects.
Degas, Picturing Movement
What relationship if any, a nineteenth century impressionist painter has to today's CG artists is an interesting question, and one that occurred to me whilst at the Degas exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts. Degas and the Ballet examines in detail the redoubtable French artist's devotion to his favourite subject, placing it in context alongside the then nascent, new media of film and photography.
Framestore Integrate IKinema
IKinema are a relatively young company based in the UK with a very special product that is improving the workflow among VFX departments. For anyone lucky enough to have worked with this programme they will know that the IKinema technology is a powerful plug-in and a real asset to any project working with motion capture and animation. It’s an incredible tool with advanced solver settings and a flexible constraint system. It's no wonder Framestore, one of the top VFX companies in Europe, are taking full advantage of this tool by integrating it into their motion capture pipeline.
The Power of Making
To escape from the heat over the weekend, I went to a great exhibition at the V&A. If, like me, you like to know how stuff is made, this is the exhibition for you. It's called The Power of Making.
Fine Art – Your route into VFX
Not many traditional artists ever imagine that they’d be able to transfer their artistics skills from the studio to the computer but in fact it’s quite the opposite. The current growth of the VFX industry in the UK means there is a growing demand for fresh creative talent. Learning the skills is the easy bit; it’s the creativity that the industry is looking for and that really is something that you’re born with.
The Foundry Announce New Product
Though a very powerful compositing tool NUKE has been missing a component many artist could benefit from. HIERO is a new product in development at The Foundry that hopes to provide the missing link for a more efficient shot management system in your VFX pipeline.
Autodesk Incremental Suite Webinar Recording Now Available
On September 7th, 2011 we held a webinar for Autodesk’s 2012 version of the Entertainment Creative Suites. As ever, registrations for this Autodesk webinar were plentiful, and we're delighted so many of you were able to join us on the day.
Autodesk 3ds Max Design Competition
Autodesk have an awesome competition running at the moment, with great prizes for the winning and runner-up entries. They are calling out for submissions of a scene or design created on either 3ds Max 2012 or 3ds Max Design 2012. The winning entry will be featured on the 3ds Max Design 2012 box cover and splash screen. Entries will not be judged on production quality, but rather on imagination, innovation and an ingenious use of the Max logo. They are looking for inventive concepts or renderings of architectural designs as well as mechanical or industrial production design. So be adventurous.
CityEngine: Mapping Out The Locations on Pixar’s 'Cars 2'
Pixar, renowned for their cutting edge animation, know better than anyone the advantages of saving time where possible. The technical directors and supervisors on Cars 2 were faced with the challenge of building locations for this feature length animation. Those of you who have seen the sequel will remember that the lead character, Lightning McQueen, is being sent around the globe to race in the world Grand Prix. The challenge for the Pixar creative team was to build recognizable cities, on a very broad scale.