Though a very powerful compositing tool NUKE has been missing a component many artist could benefit from. HIERO is a new product in development at The Foundry that hopes to provide the missing link for a more efficient shot management system in your VFX pipeline.

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.

Autodesk have an awesome competition running at the moment, with great prizes for the winning and runner-up entries. They are calling out for submissions of a scene or design created on either 3ds Max 2012 or 3ds Max Design 2012. The winning entry will be featured on the 3ds Max Design 2012 box cover and splash screen. Entries will not be judged on production quality, but rather on imagination, innovation and an ingenious use of the Max logo. They are looking for inventive concepts or renderings of architectural designs as well as mechanical or industrial production design. So be adventurous.

Pixar, renowned for their cutting edge animation, know better than anyone the advantages of saving time where possible. The technical directors and supervisors on Cars 2 were faced with the challenge of building locations for this feature length animation. Those of you who have seen the sequel will remember that the lead character, Lightning McQueen, is being sent around the globe to race in the world Grand Prix. The challenge for the Pixar creative team was to build recognizable cities, on a very broad scale.

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. 

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 16^th, 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.

Our friends at Autodesk have just announced that from 27 September 2011, selected 2012 versions of Autodesk software will be available for download for subscription customers. Autodesk Subscription Advantage Packs offer early access to new product enhancements, giving you the very latest in Autodesk software. Subscriptions are available to contract managers, software coordinators or anyone who has been granted access to Autodesk product extensions.

We’re going to be hosting an event with The Foundry and Hewlett Packard called An Evening with NUKE and MARI in London on August 18th. The event is designed for professional artists who want to take a peek at the new features of NUKE, NUKEX and the newly launched bridge between NUKE and MARI. It will definitely be exciting to see first hand all that’s new in these products.

Thanks to everyone that attended out mocha Pro Event in Soho last Tuesday evening. 

Starting Monday, May 23 and all the way through to July 1 you can get a 30% discount on all upgrades of RealFlow 4 or earlier (including Standard, Nodes, and RFRK v1).