The more obsevant among you will have noticed that I didn't publish my round up for a couple of weeks - apologies for this, but I decided it was time to take a well deserved holiday. Still, I am back now, and here is my usual Weekly Round-Up of News, with stories that I have picked up over the past week. If you have suggestions for stories I missed, just drop me a line or post a comment.
News Round-Up: Monday 17th Oct 2011
Here is my usual Weekly Round-Up of News, with stories that I have picked up over the past week. If you have suggestions for stories I missed, just drop me a line or post a comment.
News Round-Up: Monday 10th Oct 2011
Here is my usual Weekly Round-Up of News, with stories that I have picked up over the past week. If you have suggestions for stories I missed, just drop me a line or post a comment.
News Round-Up: Monday 3rd Oct 2011
Following on from last week's announcement about our Weekly Round-Up of news, here are the stories that I have picked up over the past week. If you have suggestions for stories I missed, just drop me a line or post a comment.
News Round-Up: Monday 26th Sep 2011
Here is my usual Weekly Round-Up of news with the stories that I have picked up over the past week. If you have suggestions for stories I missed, just drop me a line or post a comment.
News Round-Up: Monday 19th Sep 2011
Following on from last week's announcement about our Weekly Round-Up of news, here are the stories that I have picked up over the past week. If you have suggestions for stories I missed, just drop me a line or post a comment.
News Round-Up: Monday 12th Sep 2011
For some time now, I have been doing a weekly round up of news for our own internal use at Escape Studios. I never actually thought of sharing it more widely until someone pointed out to me last week, that actually, maybe it would be useful to the people who read this blog.
23 MARI Tips In 23 Days on Twitter
MARI is a relatively new piece of software, and is becoming more popular with artists as its reputation for efficiency and adaptability becomes more widely known. As with any piece of new software there is a period of trial and error before you really get to know its full capability. It is in light of this that Henry South, lead texture artist at Framestore, is offering to share his top 23 tips when working with MARI.
US Teachers Get Disney Training to Make School Fun
I know it sounds nuts, but I promise this is not a joke. My colleague Susan wrote a post about this yesterday in our US Blog and pointed to an article in the Washington Post entitled "To inspire, schools take a page from Disney".
New Event: Andy Bechtolsheim Discusses the Solution for a Better Network Platform
Ever find yourself wondering about a better alternative to your current network setup? Could there be a larger, faster and more predictable solution out there for your server / storage requirements? You are not alone in asking this question. This is fast becoming a major concern for many IT teams in the media and entertainment sector. That’s why we will be addressing this very topic at a special event being held in London on September 16th, 2011. Andy Bechtolsheim, a highly respected figure in the Information Technology industry is coming to London to share his expertise on this issue. Andy has been involved in the IT industry throughout his career. He has witnessed first-hand how computing infrastructures have scaled over the decades, and how network speeds have failed to keep up.
An Evening with NUKE and MARI; A Huge Success
In a fast paced industry, where new technologies are being introduced more frequently, it can be difficult to stay on top of which products successfully aid efficiency and quality in our work. It’s great to know that some companies take an opportunity to show off their products and how they are being utilised in the industry. Last Thursday I made a special effort to attend an event for NUKE and MARI software. The torrential down pour that evening made venturing out difficult, so I was glad to see so many people were able to attend. Armed with umbrellas and rain coats well over one hundred of us braved the weather to enjoy an evening with NUKE and MARI, an event hosted by Escape Studios in collaboration with The Foundry and HP.
Career Changes Ahead for Creative Pros
A few weeks ago we launched our Creative Futures report, which looked at people in the creative industry and how they were prepared to take pay cuts and self fund their own training if it meant getting ahead in their careers.
Escape Studios at the London International Animation Festival (LIAF)
I'm really honoured to have been asked to join a panel of speakers for a session on Continual Professional Development (CPD) Education and Training at the International Animation Festival (LIAF) in London.
A Third of UK Children Still Struggle in the Three-Rs
I was driving home from work last night, and as per usual, I tuned into the PM program on BBC Radio 4. Among the usual daily political squabbles about the Hacking Scandal, the debt crisis in America and the conflicts in Libya and Syria, there was a piece about the 2011 Sats results that caught my attention. Well, when I say "caught my attention", I actually mean that it left me reeling with anger and bemoaning the fact that we so often fail children. Let me explain...
Free Tutorial: Paint Effects in Maya
If you want to create a seamless finish for your CG scenes, this is the video tutorial for you. This month, I've created a tutorial that explores how paint effects can be used to embed models into backplate environments simply and easily.
What's in this Tutorial?
First off, we'll take a look at paint effects and will explain how you can paint onto geometry. In order to do this, you’ll need to understand the importance of an object's UV which we will discuss as well. You'll then learn how to access a host of preset paint effect brushes that you can find in Maya.
Ed Vaizey, Minister for Culture, Visits Escape Studios
Dom, Mark and I were delighted to play hosts to Ed Vaizey – the UK Minister for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries – yesterday.
Private Colleges Set to Undercut on Tuition Fees
Did any of you read this recent story (Private college undercuts on tuition fees) published on the BBC? If you haven’t, it basically focused on the emergence of competition in the education sector from private colleges. The journalist, Sean Coughlan, took the example of the ifs College of Finance in London who recently announced that they would be charging fees of £5,750 to £6,000 per year.
New: Key Compositing Concepts Webinar
There are some key compositing concepts that every artist just starting out in the industry should know about. That’s why I have decided to put this webinar together. I will walk you through those concepts, concentrating on a shot that involves Roto, Paint and Rig removal. This is something that I cover in great detail in the Compositing for Production Course that I teach at Escape Studios. I teach about all the techniques that our students will be required to use when they get a job in the industry. This practical knowledge is essential and my aim for this webinar is to give you a taste of these techniques helping you to stand apart from the competition.
Why Are Young People Made to Choose Between Math Or Art?
When I was picking my GCSE's and A levels I had to pick between two routes, Maths or Art. This I believe, is still the case, but I'd like to ask why?!
Do Universities Need To Teach Basic Job Skills?
An announcement by Edge, the education charity, caught my eye this week. It said that universities should now be required to teach employment skills as part of degree courses. According to its latest study, employers now believe too many graduates are unfit for the workplace.