Rigging with Michael Davies - Course Outline

Learn rigging from the man who rigged Smaug

We're getting ready for our newest evening class, starting on 14 May and running for 8 weeks until 9 July, all about the dark art of character rigging, and taught by the very talented industry veteran Mike Davies.

Mike's rigging credits include the Minions (for Illumination) and even Smaug (for The Hobbit), so we can't think of anyone better qualified to teach this class.

We've been working on a rough outline of this 8 week class, so that our students will have a better idea of what to expect on the course.

Challenges of VR - by Rewind

At the Blue GFX Expo this year we heard about some of the Challenges of Virtual Reality in an excellent talk by Oliver Kibblewhite, Head of Special Projects at Rewind, a creative agency based in LondonOliver Kibblewhite, Head of Special Projects at Rewind, a creative agency based in London.

VR is something of a "Wild West" right now, a potentially huge field that has yet to be explored. It's not yet clear how VR will become commercially viable, or even in what medium. But it is surely clear that, at some point in the (not so distant) future, VR will be a huge part of the entertainment industry. So, what (according to Rewind) are the challenges of VR?

SIGGRAPH Now - War for Planet of the Apes

"War for the Planet of the Apes" is surely one of the most impressive VFX films of 2017 - and a likely contender for best visual effects in the 2018 awards season.  To see how the sophisticated motion capture was done, go behind the scenes with Weta Digital VFX in this video by SIGGRAPH Now. Weta Visual Effects Supervisor Anders Langlands explains how body and facial performance capture systems were used to create the film's stunning VFX work.

Producing Animation is back on 5 June

Ultramarines

Animation Production is coming back to at Escape Studios on 5th June 2018. Our 8 week evening class (plus aftercare) starts at our Shepherd's Bush campus.

The class is led by Ultramarines producer Bob Thompson, an experienced industry veteran with a long and successful track record of producing animated feature films, commercials and VFX projects.

The course is designed to prepare producers to the challenges of pitches, budgets, spreadsheets and all the commercial knowledge that underpins our industry. And, of course, the creative side of the business - because every blockbuster project starts with a great idea.

So, what can students expect from this course?

Free Horse Rig by Mothman TD

horse rig by Motorman TD

We're liking this horse rig available for free download from the Mothman TD website.

It's an excellent choice for animating quadruped locomotion, a useful alternative to the (also very good) Rhett the Clydesdale rig.

So, how can our students (who have spent the last 4 weeks working on animal and creature locomotion and behaviour) get the most out of this rig?

Dinosaurs by Sebastian Kuder

We've been animating dinosaurs this past week at Escape Studios; the video above is a particularly successful example of dino locomotion by second year animator Sebastian Kuder. It's a great piece of work because it combines technical skill - the ability to bring a fantasy creature to life convincingly - with a compelling performance, making the piece fun to watch and entertaining for the audience. Congratulations to Sebastian on a great piece of work. To see more of the animation being done here at Escape Studios by our talented students, check out our YouTube Channel.

bhPathAnim for Creature Animators

The very talented Brian Horgan has just released a new path system for animal and creature locomotion.

At $30, bhPathAnim isn't free, but it is priced attractively and should be on any creature animator's wish-list from Father Christmas.

So, what is bhPathAnim (snappy name!) and what can it do?

Wolfdog Rig

Wolfdog

We're liking this Wolfdog rig, available for free download from highend3d.com. Wolfdog is loosely based on the character Balto from the movie, and has a good range of controls and even facial expressions.

The rig does have some limitations, especially in the way the wrists and feet have been rigged, but you can get some really nice character work out of Wolf dog.

VFX Festival 2018 - Who's Coming?

The countdown to Escape Studios' 2018 VFX Festival is on.  As in previous years, we've got some great speakers coming to talk about the latest developments in Animation, Games and VFX.

Below are some of the VFX, games and animation companies we're welcoming in February.

Storyboarding is Back: New Class 6 June 2018

Storyboarding will be coming back at Escape Studios in 2018.  Our next evening class in storyboarding starts here in Shepherd's Bush, on 6th June 2018.

This 8 week class meets one night a week each wednesday, and is led by the very talented Francesca "Chess" Adams,  a story board artist at Blue Zoo, one of London's leading animation houses.

Chess brings her experience of working on shows like Digby Dragon and The Go Jetters, reflecting the huge increase in animated content being created right here in London in recent years.

Animal Locomotion for Animators - Free!

Animal Locomotion for Animators is a free eBook by paleontologist and animal locomotion expert Stuart Sumida, which you can download from his website here.

The book is an excellent resource on animal locomotion, and very useful right now for our students - who are currently tackling animal and creature locomotion.

Stuart Sumida is a paleontologist who also works in showbiz; he has acted as advisor to countless Hollywood films including Spirit - Stallion of the Cimarron, where he gave extensive talks to the animators (including me) on horse locomotion. To find the free download, follow this link. And to read more about Stuart Sumida's work, see this blog post.

http://www.stuartsumida.com/ANIMATION/LocomotionImages.pdf

Leopard Rig by Truong

We're liking this Leopard Rig by Truong, available for free download at Gumroad. It is an attractive, well-structured rig with simple controls, and it's pretty easy to figure out how to use it.

In order to get real-time playback in your viewport in Maya, you need to go into your Animation Preferences (bottom right hand corner of the screen) and then Under Settings/Animation/Evaluation change Evaluation Mode to Parallel.

So, how do students get the most out of this rig?

London Animation Festival 1-10 December

The London International Animation Festival (LIAF), the UK’s largest animation festival, returns for its 14th year with a series of screenings of the best shorts and features, both domestic and international, including children’s screenings and the Best of the Fest.

Live Action Reference for Animators

Where can animators find useful live action reference? Reference is often a necessary starting point for producing believable animation.  Of course, YouTube is a great resource, but it can be hard to find what you want, and you may need to dig within YouTube to find particular channels that specialise in the particular kind of reference that you need.  Below is a list of some of the best online resources that our students have been using find the perfect live action reference for their shots.

Character Design is Back! 14th May 2018

Illustration by Andrea Torrejon

Our new evening class in Character Design has proved so popular that it is returning to Escape Studios on Monday 14 May, running until Monday 9th July 2018.

The course is an 8 week introduction to the art and craft of character design and, as with most of our evening classes, it's a part-time course, designed to fit around jobs and families, and taught by seasoned industry professionals.

Character Design is one of the most rewarding parts of our industry - and also one of the most competitive. As with everything we do here at Escape, the class will build up to a live industry brief, with the final project mapping as closely as possible to the experience of working in an industry environment.

Mike Davies - Rigging Smaug and The Minions

Minion by Mike Davies

Mike Davies is one of our newest tutors here at Escape Studios, leading an 8 week evening class introduction to rigging starting on 14 May 2018. Mike has a stellar industry track record, helping to rig Smaug from The Hobbit and the Minions from Despicable Me.

Rigging is a skill that every animator should know at least something about. Being able to open up a rig and tweak it, make adjustments and minor fixes, is an increasingly important part of the animator's toolkit.

We asked Mike to talk a little about how we got started in the industry, and what advice he might offer to students hoping to break into this most specialised of areas of the animation pipeline.

Mental Ray is Dead - Long Live Arnold

Mental Ray 3D Render

NVidia, makers of the once-ubiquitous ray tracer Mental Ray, have announced in a press release that it is to be discontinued.

Mental Ray used to come bundled free with Autodesk Maya and, until recently, have released a version of their software which is free for student use.

Concept Art Comes to Escape 7 March 2018

Concept Art by Cenay Oekmen

Concept Art is coming to Escape Studios on wednesday 7th March 2018, taught by the amazingly talented Cenay Oekmen. 

It's an evening class, designed to fit around careers and families, running for 8 weeks from Wednesday 7th March 2018.

The idea is to introduce students to the many techniques and skills that go up to make a well-rounded concept artist, including 3d and 2d software.

Character Creation at Escape Studios 16 May

Tutor: Philip Meredith

Character Creation is coming to Escape Studios on 16th May 2018.

This unique evening course will teach students how to create their own character designs and bring them to life.

Over 12 weeks you will design, model, texture, rig and animate your own character.  It's a lot to learn in a short amount of time, but we'll be using smart short-cuts wherever possible to make the process of creating a character from scratch as smooth and automated as it can be.

How to Design like a Rockstar

Eugene Riecansky, founder and CEO of Rockstar, a motion graphics company based in Norwich, East Anglia, gave a superb talk at last week's BlueGFX Expo titled "How to Design like a Rockstar". 

It was an excellent talk because it brought to life the extraordinarily fast-paced nature of doing video work for clients, working to insane deadlines to create unique video content for bands doing live gigs and performances.

11 Second Club October 2017

Many congratulations to our 2nd year undergraduate animators at Escape Studios for their stellar performances in October's 11 Second Club competition. Out of 187 entries overall, five of our students placed in the top 30, and ten in the top 60. To see some of the best entries, scroll down and watch the videos below.

Storyboard with Panel Forge Pro for Free

At last week's Blue GFX Expo, Blue Zoo’s Tom Box announced that Panel Forge Pro, their new storyboard and pipeline tool, is now available for free for student use.

Panel Forge Pro, extensively tested at Blue Zoo on Miffy the Rabbit and Digby Dragon, makes use of 3D Layouts to save time in Storyboarding, allowing board artists to use low resolution 3D assets to help set up camera angles and layouts.  Good news then for storyboard artists, who can now learn to use this new software for free.

Escape Animators Run Master Classes at BFI

Last weekend Escape studios staff and students descended on BFI Southbank, the London home of the UK film Industry, to deliver a series of talks, masterclasses and software demos to up-and-coming young film makers.

The event was titled BFI Future Film Labs – Post Production, and was a chance for Escape students to meet other film-makers and share ideas.

Among those who helped to deliver workshops were second year animation students Aaron Hopwood and Katerina Zacharakis, demonstrating some cool animation techniques.

Andrea Torrejon on Character Design

Andrea Torrejon, character designer for Rovio's famous Angry Birds series, will be teaching our character design evening class for the next three weeks, allowing our students to have the benefit of two tutors, bringing two very different perspectives to the art and craft of character design.

We asked Andrea to talk a little bit about her work, and what is involved in being a professional character designer.

Blue GFX Expo 2017 Thursday 9th November

Registration is still open for the Blue GFX Expo taking place in London on Thursday 9th November 2017.

We're suspending classes at Escape on Thursday, so that all our students can attend this excellent (and free!) event.

Star Wars Escape by Sebastian Kuder

Star Wars Escape by Sebastian Kuder

"Star Wars Escape" is a short fan film created by second year undergraduate animation student Sebastian Kuder. It's a sophisticated piece of work, almost 5 minutes long and involving a high level of skill in both animation and visual effects. We asked him to talk a little about the project, and how he managed to complete it with little time and less budget.

Get Ready For Our January Animation Course

The clock is ticking for our animation short course, starting in January 2018.  But what kind of preparation should students do before starting the course?  We teach all our students from scratch, but it's always good to do a little preparation and get a bit of a head start.

Below is a brief list of stuff to get you under way.  It's not comprehensive, and you don't have to do all of it, but tick off a few of the things on this list and you will be a making a great start on your animation career.

Why Animation Recruiters Live at LinkedIn

VIEW panel. From left: Amy Smith, Giorgio Xhaxho, Alex Williams, Tiffany Feeney, Angie Wojak

What do Animation recruiters look for from recent graduates?  How do they find fresh talent? At last week's VIEW conference in Turin I sat on a recruitment panel hosted by New York's School of Visual Arts (SVA) with two recruiters, Amy Smith from Framestore and Tiffany Feeney of Talent Outpost, an independent recruitment agency based in Switzerland.  Both of them had a lot to say on the subject of student demo reels, websites and how to be easy to find online. But most of all, recruiters want just one thing from animation graduates:

Star Wars - The Last Jedi - 14 December

Our Star Wars Student Event is happening again this year; Student Experience at Escape Studios are  hosting a screening of Star Wars - The Last Jedi at the Rich Mix cinema in Shoreditch, on Thursday 14th December.

All our students; short course, post-graduate and undergraduate, are invited, and our staff will be there too.  We're excited to welcome our students to this event - a great opportunity to see the latest VFX blockbuster, and also a chance for our students to find out about how the movie got put together.

ILM, Star Wars, & Virtual Reality

Vikki Dobbs of ILMxLAB

At the Turin VIEW conference this week, Vikki Dobbs Beck from Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) talked  about her company's newest venture - ILMxLab - a virtual reality pioneer that "invites audiences to step inside the world of our stories".

ILMxLab is all about "immersive experiences". Their challenge as a startup venture within ILM was to "leverage their in-house talent and create new experiences".

As Vikki put it, we are "entering an age of experiential storytelling". To create this new reality, ILMxLab needed to "take risks, to learn, explore and discover new ideas".

Kim White Reveals Secrets of Pixar Lighting

Kim White, Director of Photography on Cars 3

At this week's VIEW Conference in Turin, Cars 3 Director of Photography Kim White talked about what is involved in lighting a Pixar film.

As you'd expect, lighting a Pixar movie isn't just about technical skill - it's about helping to tell the story, supporting the narrative and solving visual problems along the way.

As Pixar movies get more and more realistic in their visualisation, the lighting department has had to draw on sophisticated reference and resources to make their work believable.

Lee Caller Teaching at Escape Studios

This week Escape Studios welcomed animation tutor Lee Caller, who is teaching our second year students character and creature animation. Lee is an animator who combines technical skill with a strong story-telling element - the perfect ingredients for a great animation performance. You can see his excellent dinosaur animation - "Tokyo Rex" - above. Lee is at Escape this week helping our second year students complete their first assessed animation exercise - an entry into this month's Eleven Second Club.

Harry Potter at the British Library

Harry Potter fans (and isn't that all of us?) will rejoice that the British Library is currently hosting a "History of Magic" exhibition, running until February 2018. One of the great advantages of studying animation and visual effects at Escape Studios in London is the access our students have to the extraordinary range of cultural resources in our city. The British Library is a short walk from our Holborn campus, and we encourage all our students to attend events like this one.

11 Second Club - October Contest

This week at Escape Studios our student animators are polishing their character animation skills by entering The 11 Second Club, the monthly character animation competition in which aspiring animators compete to win prizes and get their work noticed. Animators from all over the world participate, animating a character speaking a line of dialogue, which is provided on the first day of every month by the club.

UCAS is Now Open

UCAS - time to apply

Thinking of applying to Escape Studios to study the Art of 3D Animation, Games or Visual effects?  The UCAS applications system is now open, and we are welcoming applications for the third intake of our integrated BA/MArt in Animation, Games and VFX - first launched in September 2016.

Below are some good reasons why we believe we are building one of the best animation courses in the country, and how you can get started on your new career as a digital artist. Best of all - you will study in central London, a short walk from the centre of the industry, and learn from industry professionals with extensive experience.

Queen's Counsel wins CAT Award

Last week Queen's Counsel, the cartoon strip I've drawn in the Times since 1993, was awarded "The Cartoon Art Trust Award for Strip Cartooning" at the annual CAT Awards. The Cartoon Art Trust supports the Cartoon Museum in Bloomsbury, hosting the CAT Awards Dinner to raise funds for the museum and keep its doors open. At the dinner were some of the finest cartoonists in the UK - Matt Pritchett, Mac of the Mail, Nick Newman (who co-writes Private Eye), and plenty of politicians and lawyers to dig deep into their pockets to support the good cause.

Visual Storytelling with Buster Keaton

This week at Escape Studios our second year animators are completing a pantomime shot; creating a fun, entertaining piece of animation without words or dialogue. It's harder than it sounds. Without dialogue, you have to use camera, body language and facial expressions alone to communicate your story.  Of course, the masters of silent comedy faced the same problem, which is why animators can learn so much from the silent comedy stars like Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton.  In the eight minute video above you can see why Keaton was a master of the visual gag.  Why should animators study this stuff? Because animators are actors, and we have to make our acting work on a visual level.  If your scene doesn't work with the sound turned off - it isn't working.

Big Hero 6 Character Design Secrets

How do our favourite animated characters get designed? Character design on a feature film is often a long and complex process, involving a team of artists. In this excellent Disney video, Big Hero 6 Character designer Shiyoon Kim talks about how the characters in the film were created.  Watching videos like this is a window into the workflow of some of the most talented designers in our industry, and how they come up with original, fresh material.

16th Annual VES Awards - Student Entry

The 16th Annual VES Awards are now taking entries. Here at Escape Studios we encourage all our students to enter Category 23: Outstanding Visual Effects in a Student Project. 

The award is sponsored by Autodesk, who make Maya, the leading animation and VFX software, and is a great opportunity for any ambitious student to kick-start their career.

Escape Technology Short Film Challenge

Time to enter the Escape Technology Short Film Challenge.
Can you make a short film in six weeks?

Escape Technology have teamed up with Definition magazine, Boston, Adobe, Wacom, PNY, and AV3 to bring you our first ever Short Film Challenge.

Rigging Starts at Escape 14th May 2018

Learn from the man who rigged Smaug

We're excited to launch a new evening class in character rigging, starting at Escape Studios on 14th May 2018.

Come and learn rigging from Michael Davies, the man who rigged Smaug and also The Minions. As well as his industry work, Michael also has plenty of teaching experience teaching; so we can't think of anyone better qualified to lead this class. 

This 8 week course is designed as an introduction to rigging, to help 3D artists broaden their skillset, and also to introduce students to some of the automated rigging systems currently available.

You’ll learn all the basics of rigging in Autodesk Maya (an understanding of Maya basics will be helpful) and what character riggers do in the animation and VFX industry.

Steven Lall Studio Assistant at Escape

Steven Lall

Many congratulations to Escapee Steven Lall who has recently started work at Escape Studios as a studio assistant, helping our second year undergraduate animators to polish their skills.

Becoming a studio assistant at Escape Studios is a great way to launch a career in animation and VFX -  our studio assistants invariably move on to careers in industry, after working and studying here, perfecting their demo reels and developing industry contacts.

Fred O'Rourke Storyboarding Children in Need

Many congratulations to Escapee Fred O'Rourke who has recently started a new position as a storyboard artist working on a feature film for Children in Need.

Fred took our evening class in Storyboarding earlier this year, and polished his portfolio during the aftercare stage of the course. We asked him a few questions about the project, how he got the job, and what advice he might offer other students hoping to break into storyboarding.

Festivus is Back on Thursday 5th October

Festivus 5th October

Festivus is back! London's regular animation networking event is an opportunity to get to know people in the animation industry, find out who is hiring, and where the jobs are.

The latest Festivus event takes place on Thursday 5th October at The Comedy Pub in London from 6.30pm

There will be a number of guest speakers, including guests from Blue Zoo, one of the UK's leading animation studios.

Time to Enter the British Animation Awards!

British Animation Awards

It's time for our students to get ready for the British Animation Awards 2018. The awards come around every two years, and this year the ceremony will take place on March 15th 2018, at the BFI Southbank.

The British Animation Awards (BAA) invites all kinds of animation submissions, from student work to commercials, children’s entertainment, short films, experimental films, music videos and new technologies.

If you've done some animation, there's a category for you. And yes, there is a category for student films, and admission is free.  But don't wait - the looming deadline is friday 13th October.

2018 VFX Festival 6-8 Feb - Save the Date!

The countdown to Escape Studios' 2018 VFX Festival is on.  Just like last year, we'll be showcasing the best of VFX, Animation, Games and Motion Graphics.

There is no better way to find out about the latest trends in our industry, who is hiring, and what skills are in demand.  We strongly encourage all our current, past and future students to attend. Come and find out what the future holds for our industry.

Evening With Eamonn Butler Wed 4th October

Eamonn Butler

We're delighted to host an Evening With Eamonn Butler, head of animation at Cinesite, at Escape Studios' Holborn Campus on wednesday 4th October.

Eamonn is a director of Cinesite, one of London's major VFX houses, and a founder of the growing animated features side of the business.

Eamonn directs all aspects of Cinesite’s animation output, and there isn't anyone better qualified to talk to our students about animation, animation jobs, demo reels - and how to break into the business.

The event is free for all our students and we strongly recommend that all our animators attend - this is a great chance to meet one of the major players in our industry.

100 Ways to Walk by Kevin Parry

100 Ways to Walk is a series of walks acted out by Kevin Parry, and intended as inspiration for animators. The key point of the video is that the way we walk says a lot about who we are, how we are feeling, how our day has been. A great walk cycle is the entry point for character animation - can the animator describe a character simply by the way he or she moves? It's one of the first things we teach at Escape Studios, but a good walk cycle can remain elusive even for an experienced animator. Acting one out yourself, and filming yourself doing it, is a great way to get started.

Escape Labs with Jellyfish Tuesday October 10

Escape Labs is back!  On Tuesday October 10th we're welcoming Jeremy Smith, CTO, at Jellyfish Pictures, to talk about the latest developments in cloud rendering, looking specifically at the benefits of working in a virtual environment.

Escape Labs events are all about the latest tech in our industry, making sure we and our industry partners stay current with the latest trends. To book your ticket, follow this link. 

Will Smith Animator at Lipsync Post

Many congratulations to Escapee Will Smith who started a new job last week as a junior animator at Lipsync Post, working on a live-action feature film. Will started his animation career here at Escape Studios working as a Studio Assistant, but was quickly snapped up by Lipsync Post in their hunt for rising animation talent. We're sorry to lose him - but delighted to celebrate his success.

Tom Sito to visit Escape Studios Tuesday 3 Oct

Tom Sito

We're excited to welcome animator, director, and animation historian Tom Sito to Escape Studios next week, to talk to our students. Tom has had a stellar career in Hollywood animation, and is now a member of the Academy Board of Governors (that's the Oscars to you).

In 1998 Tom was included by Animation Magazine in their list of the One Hundred Most Important People in Animation, and he continues to be a major influence on our industry, teaching animation at the University of Southern California, writing books and lecturing.

We're lucky to have him come and visit, and sprinkle some Hollywood pixie dust on our studios.

Animation Production Starts Tuesday 26 Sept

Ultramarines

Animation Production starts at Escape Studios next week! Our 8 week evening class (plus aftercare) starts at our Shepherd's Bush campus on Tuesday 26th September 2017, and we still have a couple of seats open.

The class is led by Ultramarines producer Bob Thompson, an experienced industry veteran with a long and successful track record of producing animated feature films, commercials and VFX projects.

The course is designed to prepare producers to the challenges of pitches, budgets, spreadsheets and all the commercial knowledge that underpins our industry.

So, what can students expect from Animation Production?

Amanda Costa Studio Assistant At Escape

Amanda Costa

Congratulations to Escapee Amanda Costa who has just started a new animation job at Escape Studios this week, working as a studio assistant and helping to support our new cohort of undergraduate students learning 3D animation.

Becoming a studio assistant at Escape Studios is a great way to launch a career in animation and VFX -  our studio assistants invariably move on to careers in industry, after working and studying here, perfecting their demo reels and developing industry contacts.

Access VFX Starts Next Week

Access:VFX events are taking place next week, at visual effects studios across Soho. Access VFX is all about promoting diversity and inclusion in our industry.

Escape Studios have teamed up with our friends at The Mill, Framestore, Double Negative, MPC, Jellyfish Pictures, ILM, Blue Zoo Animation, Union VFX, Escape Technology, and UK Screen Alliance.

We're encouraging our students to attend these events; you can book your free tickets online through http://www.accessvfx.org/.

Animation Taster Day Wed 27 September

Animate a bird in flight

We're running another Animation Taster Day here at Escape Studios on Wednesday 27th September.

Taster Days are a great chance to learn about character and creature animation, and find out what an animator's job is all about.

You will learn how to use Autodesk Maya and get a hands-on introduction to 3D Animation techniques, all for just £25.

By the end of the day you'll have your own piece of creature animation - a bird in flight - uploaded to your YouTube channel.

So, how do you sign up?

Animation Insiders - Free eBook for Animators

Animation Insider's Ebook - free from Squeeze!

Animation students can now get a free copy of the Animation Insider's eBook, downloadable at no charge from Squeeze animation studio in Quebec.

This free digital download describes the workflow of talented animators like Mike Nguyen, Victor Navone and Jason Ryan.

It is a hugely useful resource for animation students - an insight into how experienced animators approach their work.

Dave Novis Animator at Lipsync Post

Many congratulations to Escapee Dave Novis who has just joined Lipsync Post as a junior animator.  Dave will be working on feature film combining live action with character and creature animation.

Dave took our animation course in 2016, and recently worked as a studio assistant at Escape Studios, helping to train up our latest cohort of animators.

Bring Your Own Animation - 18th September

Calling all animation Escapees - "Bring Your Own Animation" is taking place on Monday 18th September.

BYOA is an animation event that takes place every month at a pub in London, generally on a Monday night. This month the event is taking place at The Lukin pub in Fitzrovia.

Bring your animation demo reel on a USB or hard drive and get feedback from professional animators. You'll also hear the local gossip and find out the word on the street on where the animation jobs are.

KeyFrame MP - Video Playback for Animators

Keyframe MP Overview from Chris Zurbrigg on Vimeo.

KeyFrame MP - Video Playback for Animators - is an excellent video playback tool that does the job that QuickTime Pro used to do - only even better.  Most free video players, such as Media Player, won't give you frame-by-frame playback, making them of limited use to animators.  KeyFrame PM is a video player specially made for animators, with super useful features like scrubbing (with audio), single frame advance - all the stuff you need as an animator to play your work back frame by frame and trouble shoot the mistakes. At $79, KeyFrame MP isn't free, but it's much, much better than most of the free stuff out there. And, since Apple has stopped supporting the cheap and cheerful Quick Time Pro, KeyFrame MP now fills a big gap in the animator's tool kit.

Escape Studios at VIEW Wed 25th October

Escape Studios is going to VIEW, the 18th International VFX & Computer Graphics Conference that takes place every year in the beautiful Italian town of Torino (Turin).

We'll be there running a one-day workshop in Maya on Wednesday 25th October, demonstrating some cool creature animation techniques. The class is aimed at complete beginners and requires no prior experience with Maya.