We're always hot on the trail of the world leaders when it comes to visual effects. However, as much as we can rant and rave about present and future releases, it’s often worthwhile to be reminded of memories from the past, to gain some perspective, and appreciate exactly how far we’ve come…
Happy 10th Birthday V-Ray!
Some of you may, or may not, know that V-ray is currently celebrating it’s 10 year anniversary. So, to mark the occasion, what could they be doing? Are they throwing a week long wild party? A massive shopping spree for all employees? Or maybe a month's extra holiday time to all...
Wreck-It Ralph
I think it's safe to say that most of you now know I love a bit of Disney. So, whenever I hear news of new releases, you get to hear about them. Therefore, I would like to bring to your attention the trailer for Disney’s new release; Wreck-it Ralph.
From Past To Present
It’s always interesting to see how different studios rank, whether it’s in regards to gaming, films or television. On Wednesday, Develop Online released its top 100 best studios, which, let’s be honest is always good to have a nose at. This time, however, what made it more interesting for us is the fact that two escapees have gone on to work for the number one voted UK game’s developer, Traveller’s Tales!
Scene Stealers
Film4’s innovative new project ‘Scene Stealers’, is one that waters the seed of creative license, and thus, one that is screaming out to our free thinking, boundary smashing escapees. The project is an opportunity to get your work onto a global platform and represent the world of Visual Effects.
Bad Hair Day?
If we are watching a live action film with actors, it’s very rare that one of the main character features we concentrate on is the hair. Occasionally a judgemental comment of whether it looks good or not is thrown out there but that’s the extent of it. The average viewer will fail to notice if the colour looks wrong in one of the scenes or that it doesn’t look realistic enough.
Pixar Top 10 Characters
I like to end a Friday with a chirpy, feel good post. So, following on from my blog yesterday of Pixar’s top 13 movies; I had to post about this second Pixar ranking order. IGN has released their thoughts on who the top 10 Pixar characters are, and I have to say that I am genuinely shocked at who, and where, they have placed certain individuals.
Pixar Films Rank #1?
For those of us who like to indulge in a little bit of Pixar, whether it’s to appreciate the animation or just because you love a 'feel good' film, we all tend to have our favourites. My top 5 Pixar films (in no particular order) consist of Monsters Inc, Finding Nemo, Toy Story 3 (Ken is just hilarious the entire way through), Up and Wall-E.
E3, On The Flip Side
As shown in this real time tech demo by Epic Games Unreal Engine 4, there are a host of improvements coming to the next generation of console and PC games. These are notably, real time dynamic lighting and particle effects as well as massive improvements to the UDK itself, enabling developers to leverage all these improvements much easier and faster. Then, just to show off Square-Enix, creaters of the hugely popular Final Fanstasy series, go and show what their latest real time tech is made of, and that really is impressive.
Stop, Motion Time
Some of you may have read the Frankenweenie blog from last week, well, after doing a little research on the film myself I came across this video that I think anyone who is interested in the film, the director, or stop motion should watch.
The Return of Mike Wazowski
Many of you will know who I’m referring to if I mention Sulley, Boo and Mike Wazowski. If you don’t, shame on you. They are, of course, the main characters from Disney’s Monsters Inc. The film won an Oscar, a BAFTA and a variety of other awards for its storyline, music and character animation. So if you haven’t seen it, invest, as it’s definitely worth a watch.
All Fear Frankenweenie!
Tim Burton is one of my favourite directors, with my favourite animation film of all time (so far) being The Nightmare Before Christmas. Nearly every film he has done I’ve loved, whether it’s Batman Forever, Corpse Bride or my favourite. Everything about the films scream his trademark ‘look’, from the plots and animation to his infamous dark twists which make him so easily recognisable. It won’t come as a shock to you then, that his latest film, Frankenweenie, is no different.
The Summer Must-See Movies Take 2
I have already aired my excitement over the new Batman film The Dark Knight Rises in yesterday's blog. However, after searching through more of the summer "must see" films on IGN I came across another film I am excited to see; Ted.
Gamers Paradise: What Should we be Getting Excited About?
Epic Games released this trailer of the Unreal Game Engine at the E3 Festival last a few weeks back and it got me thinking, what else can we look forward to seeing this year?
The Summer Must-See Movies
Whilst scrolling through the IGN website I stumbled across a page that I wanted to share with you all, even if it is just a check list! IGN has released their list of top summer movies for 2012 and, although many of them have been released (and you can cross them off on your check list), there are still plenty of brilliant CG films being released over the upcoming months.
Has E3 Spelt the End of VFX? Possibly Not!
I was on holiday last week, enjoying the almost total lack of sun, and having a week long geekasm at the E3 coverage. Imagine my surprise, then, to come back to work at Escape to discover hardly a mention of all that awesomeness on the blog. This is not, I thought to myself, acceptable. So have a peek at this!
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!
Massive Discount on Motion Synthesis Software, Endorphin 2.7
Great news for all you animators out there, Escape Studios and Natural Motion are teaming up to bring you an incredible promotion on endorphin 2.7. Here's the deal: you can save up to 90% on this software if you buy before February 14th, 2012.
January Free Tutorial: How to Animate a Bird Flap (Part 2)
For those of you who logged into my November Free Tutorial entitled Animate a Bird and Make it Fly, you'll remember that I promised to deliver a second part to it. This tutorial uses a pre-created rig, which you can buy here and explores the mechanics of bird locomotion. It costs just $5 and trust me, it’s worth it. If you'd like a re-cap of what was in part 1, you can find all the details here.
