The Softimage Creatives launch event went ahead on May 29th as planned, and it was nothing short of amazing. There was an incredible turn out of XSI enthusiasts, which confirms to us all that the community of users is still very much alive. Over 150 people squeezed into Jerusalem Bar on Rathbone Place to celebrate the launch of the London Softimage user group, and among those were visitors who travelled from Ireland and the continent. It’s this dedication to the cause that will undoubtedly help make the independent Softimage user group a real success, and I’m sure it has proved to the SiC founders that their efforts have not been in vain.
Game Over... For Now!
We know it has been a long time coming but we finally managed to get our hands on some insider info into the HBO series Game of Thrones. The second season has been just as intense and enthralling as the first and with the production for the third season renewed just two days after the second series aired, we hope to see a lot more of Westeros soon!
Compositing: Creating the Illusion
Want to introduce yourself to some of the fundamental techniques of compositing? Well now you can. The lovely Simon Richardson, compositing escapee and one of our esteemed Studio Assistants here at Escape, has put together a free NUKE tutorial that will demonstrate exactly that. This short video will walk you through a basic CG rebuild inside NUKE, using Maya’s Mental Ray passes. For anyone starting out using this software, it’s a great insight into the processes behind building a shot ready for edit.
The President With A Past
Now this movie has been cropping up a lot recently. Our friends at Assimilate worked on it with their software SCRATCH, so we thought we should shed a little more light on it.
Get Involved With The Foundry
The Foundry are planning on launching a range of new online live product demos this summer, set to be a regular feature on The Foundry website. But before anything is set in stone they want to know what YOU want to hear about!
Monster success with mocha Pro V3
The mocha Pro V3 event took place last night at Framestore screening room in London. The event was a great success so a big thank you to everyone who came down.
Transforming Theme Parks
A month ago I was fortunate enough to be one of the lucky few to preview the newest attraction at Universal Studios, Transformers the Ride.
CVMP 2012 – Final Call For Papers
Visual Effects Society Global Visual Effects & Technology Expo
The Visual Effects Society (VES) are holding their annual worldwide VFX career fair this year in LA, New York, Montreal, San Francisco and London. This daylong event brings together some of the biggest names in the business and aims to inform, educate and employ the VFX community.
Where Could a Career in VFX Take You?
Doing a VFX course can lead your career in many directions. For many of our students it has been the launching pad for a career in post-production, for film, TV and commercials. Many students have also gone on to work in other areas such as games and architectural visualisation. We teach the fundamentals and practicalities of working in CG, paving the way for what you will eventually specialise in.
The Next Step in VFX
You may or may not have heard about a recent preview, so to speak, of Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit, a movie due in cinemas at the end of this year. This has created some concern and confusion over the film. Now before I continue, the aim of this blog isn’t to go into depth about these concerns specifically, because to be honest there are many websites already talking about it and I simply want to suggest some of the potential repercussions.
Autodesk and Adobe: The Start of a Beautiful Relationship
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.
Softimage Creatives: Launch Event Line-Up Released!
Great news Softimage users out there… the line-up for the launch Softimage Creatives user group meeting has been released. And for those of you who are hoping to attend, I think you’ll agree this is a programme to get excited about.
Here’s the list of speakers and topics for May 29th 2012:
Studio Assistant Workshop - Final Gather Maps Part Two
Welcome back everyone!! I hope you all had a cracking weekend. Right now we are going to pick up where we left off on Friday with FG Maps.
Studio Workshop - Final Gather Maps
Ladies and gents, welcome to another Studios Assistant blog. Today's topic: Final Gather Maps.
A Decisive Moment
“The decisive moment. It is the simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event as well as the precise organization of forms which gives that event its proper expression” Henri Cartier-Bresson
Think It's CG? Think Again...Part Two
Welcome back to part two of our series on effects that you thought were CG.
Marmalade sandwich anyone?
I am destined to never grow up and quite frankly I refuse to see why I can’t stay immature for my entire life. I loved every single aspect of my childhood but the most memorable things for me were TV shows. Saturday mornings you would find me virtually attached to the TV for cartoon after cartoon. And another thing you should know is that I have a penchant for all things a little kitsch and retro. So if you combine these two elements you will understand why it is not possible for me to contain my excitement, especially after hearing this news.
Think it's CG? Think Again...
Special effects with computer graphics are all the rage recently. There are very few films produced these days without jaw dropping stunts courtesy of the digital department. But a lot of directors still prefer to shoot the real thing if they can as it nearly always looks better than the CG equivalent.