It’s not often that I see something that just makes me pause and wonder in amazement, but a few days ago, I came across a short video that did just that.

The students on our Mentored Courses have been talking to us about their experiences through out their study with us and we thought we'd share their feedback with you. 

I have just attended an Autodesk 'start of financial year kick off meeting' and the guys there mentioned this little jewel.

Garreth Gaydon, Lee Danskin and escapee Ben Cantor are going to be joining a live Q&A session on 'How to Break into the Visual Effects Industry' hosted by the Guardian online.

This month, I am tackling some pretty technical issues that affect CG artists on a daily basis. I am going to walk you though the often over-looked issue of Gimbal, using a whole bunch of examples to explain what it is, what causes it and the issues it can have over our animations.

Chaos have been super busy working on their new V-Ray 2.0 for Maya, so when the opportunity came up to chat to Chaos’ top man, CTO Vlado Koylazov, we didn't hesitate to get the inside scoop. So, for the lowdown on where the new ideas come from, what's in store for future releases, and his favourite CG project, read on.

Silent Studios are by no means a big company. As a team of four, they are a tight knit unit comprising a Creative Director, a Music Director, an Art Director/Designer and a Composer. However, they have certainly made some noise (quite literally) in the world of digital media. The Creative Director, Nathan Prince, came to Escape Studios to talk to our classroom students about digital media and how CG is playing a massive role in what they do every day. Liam described Silent Studios as a design and music partnership that blends moving image, creative direction, graphic design, installation and musical composition. A little bit of everything then.

Last year, Apple shook the tech world when it released the iPad, and it quickly became the must have gadget for 2010. Apple is now in the spotlight again with lots of hype around iPad 2. It's all very well lusting after one of these little babies, but for me, the real question is "what can a 3D pro like me actually use it for?".

We are always looking for a glimmer of hope with any budget... These days it's hard to find any. And that's certainly the case for the UK Games industry. I appreciate we are a niche sector, but the fact that we are a long established (in CG terms) and vibrant industry that allows us to lead the way just goes seemingly forgotten. The petition paperwork will have been 'filed' and once again we find that there is no support.

This week Escape is very pleased to welcome Mark Pascoe from Rushes to speak to our current classroom students. Mark joined Rushes 5 years ago off the back of the Visual Effects Production Grade course at Escape, doing the Maya comprehensive course before that. He is currently in the Film and TV department at Rushes, taking up a technical role on projects. He has also been nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Series.