Each time I watch a student show reel I am always blown away by how professional they look and this one (above) by Escapee Alastair Cross has impressed me in particular. Being a novice to the world of visual effects I’m always interested in getting to know how it all comes together and the ‘step-by-step’ breakdown he includes is extremely insightful.
Summer’s here?
With temperatures managing to, ahem, ‘soar’ into the low 20s this week I’ve become accustomed to spending my lunch break basking in the sun on Shepherd’s Bush Green and even dared to dig out the sun cream at one point!
My Dream Home?
I’ve always said that when I grow up I want to live in a tree house. I’m really drawn to the idea of being raised high up off the ground in a home built among the trees, preferably with a natural spring or waterfall running nearby. Well, the Sky Tower in Tom Cruise’s latest movie, Oblivion has certainly given that idea a run for its money.
Lee's App of the week: The Walking Dead: Assault
I officially love The Walking Dead but hate the long breaks in between series (can I get an Amen to it's return this month!) so thankfully Skybound - the same company that publishes TWD comics - has produced a top-notch game app to see us through those tough times and give us our zombie slaughtering fixes.
The 3D Printing Revolution!
View Conference announces cash prizes for 2013 winners!
Our friends over at View Conference Italy, last week unveiled that they will be providing cash prizes for winners of their different awards. The prizes vary from top of the range tablets to a lump sum of 2000 Euros. The categories for application are as follows (complete with direct links)
You water believe it!
Heinz Maier is an amateur photographer who has undertaken a rather unique project.
Weird Wins!
With the US release of Paranorman last month (UK release 14th September), sporting giants Nike have released a one of a kind edition of their synonymous, ‘foamposite’ sports trainer. Only 800 of these Paranorman themed pumps were made and get this - they could only be won by weirdos.
Taking the next step into VFX wizardry!
Before becoming a mighty VFX warrior, you need to become a master of Maya. That is why our VFX courses are designed so you dedicate significant time to mastering the tools inside Maya before taking the next step into more advanced visual effects. And of course, it’s only when you know the limitations of any creative tool, that you know how far to push it.
Match It with 3.1
Last week we informed you of the new releases from the Pixel Farm, PFTrack and PFMatchit.
Putting The "New" in PFTrack and PFMatchit
We are pleased to share you that The Pixel Farm products PFTrack and PFMatchit are now available on the Escape Studios Technology Store.
The Joy of Stop Motion Animation - Behind the Scenes Special
Working in the CG industry, I have always been fascinated with stop motion animation. Growing up watching films like Tim Burton's 'Nightmare Before Christmas', I have always wondered what goes on behind the scenes and how it all works. And, funnily enough, a couple of months ago, the flat where I live actually turned into an animation studio overnight.
Full of E.Motion
On Tuesday, a lucky few of us got to go on a trip that ventured outside of the confines of the Shepherds West building. Drinking more coffee than one body ever needs, we went to do some film and games grade motion capture at the impressive facility at E.Motion.
Cracking Job by MPC & mocha Pro
If you’ve been hiding under a rock for the last, let’s say 6 months to a year, then you may be unaware of the new Tim Burton movie, Dark Shadows, released this month.
The Studio Workshop: Camera Scale
Happy Tuesday, loyal readers. Here's a quick one relating to a problem that popped up a few times for the students last week. This is for anyone taking who has tracked footage into Maya and finds their tracking markers don't line up, because they've forgotten one simple step.
Quantum Hoax
When five students from the Centre NAD University in Montreal Canada were given a film project, to create a viral hoax using CG assets integrated into live action footage, they could scarcely have predicted the success their movie would be.
The CAMERATRACKER for AFTER EFFECTS 24hrs Discount Offer
Attention all Adobe After Effects users, today may be your lucky day. The Foundry are running a massive discount on CAMERATRACKER, where you can save over 40% if you purchase a nodelocked version today. This offer is for a limited time, running over the course of January 24th only. The promotion will close at midnight tonight, where ever you are in the world.
CVMP - Last Call for Short Papers
It seems there is an abundance of technology conferences to choose from this year. For fellow technology enthusiasts out there, this is an exciting time, as we are treated to an ocean of updates, new releases and ground breaking developments. One conference we give a particular seal of approval to is the much anticipated CVMP (Conference for Visual Media Production), now in its 8th year running. This is a conference dedicated to the geeks of the visual media production industries, whether that is in film, broadcast or games.
Hot of the press: PF Track 2011 Released
The latest version of PFTrack has just been released, and it looks like The Pixel Farm dev team have been quite busy, packing in a lot of new features, Python scripting and even a new architecture in this latest release. The full list of features have yet to be released but here are just some of the things you can expect in PFTrack 2011...
The 5 Miserable VFX Jobs That Make Movies Possible
I came across this blog on the 5 miserable VFX Jobs that make movies possible and found it quite amusing... ;-)
