Sunny Asadi Joins Screenskills Trainee Programme

Sayna "Sunny" Asadi joins Screenskills' Programme

Many congratulations to Escapee Sayna "Sunny" Asadi who has recently won a place on the 2023 cohort of Screenskills' Animation Trainee Finder Programme. 

Screenskills' Animation Trainee Finder Programme is an entry-level paid placement scheme which places trainees on animation productions to ensure a continued supply of talent to the UK animation industry. 

"Risen" Wins "Best VFX" at Ideal Film Fest

Congratulations to the makers of the short film "Risen", which has won "Best VFX" at the Ideal Film Festival.

"Risen" was directed by Jane Williams and produced by Muhadissa Hasham.  Emma Richards was the 2D Lead and Oguzhan "Oz" Arisoy was the 3D Lead.

In Risen, a mysterious demonic force emerges from a ruined churchyard.  

Risen was a collaboration between 3D VFX and 2D VFX students in their final year, working together to create a short film, simulating as closely as possible the workings of a real animation studio.

This is Risen's fifth festival award. 

"Green Friend" Wins Best Animated Short Award

"Green Friend" wins "Best Animated Short"

Congratulations to the makers of "Green Friend", which has won Best Animated Short at the Makizhmithran Film Festival.

Green Friend is a short animated film created by our second year animation students at Escape Studios. Green Friend was directed and produced by Hugo Whitworth.  It was completed as part of Studio Module PR5001, a collaborative module in which second-year animation students work together on short film projects.  This is the latest of many festival awards for Green Friend. 

"Luciferin" Wins "Best Sci-Fi" in Singapore Fest

Luciferin wins "Best Sci-Fi" in Indo-Singapore Film Fest

Congratulations to the makers of Luciferin, the VFX short created at Escape Studios by our graduating class of VFX artists, which has won "Best Sci-Fi" at the Indo-Singapore Film Festival.

Directed by Jake Roberts and produced by Bruno Urzi,  Luciferin was a collaboration between 2D and 3D VFX Students, working together to create a short film.  Luciferin tells the story of a marine biologist working in a deep sea biosphere.  

This is Luciferin's fifth festival award.  

ToonBoom Harmony Animation Tutorials - Steve Lall

Toonboom Harmony tutorials at our Vimeo Channel

We've uploaded a new series of animation tutorials in Toonboom Harmony for our Vimeo Tutorial Channel with veteran animator and Escape Studios' tutor Steven Lall.  

The Escape Studios Vimeo Tutorial Channel is our main hub for our animation and VFX video tutorials, supporting our in-class tuition.  Our tutorials cover Animation, VFX, Compositing, Rigging, Motion Graphics, Storyboarding & Character Design, Unreal Engine and Cinematography.

Matchmove in 3D Equaliser with Carlos Poon

Matchmove Process in 3D Equaliser with Carlos Poon

In this latest tutorial at our expanding Vimeo Tutorial Channel, Escape Studios tutor Carlos Poon explains the Matchmove Process in 3D Equaliser. 

Matchmove (aka Camera Tracking) is the process which allows us to place 3D objects into a 2D sequence and lock them in place, even when the camera is in motion. It is a vital part of the VFX process. You can find more VFX tutorials at our Vimeo Tutorial Channel.

"Good Soup" Wins "Best Animation" in Milan

"Good Soup" wins "Best Animation" in Milan

Congratulations to the makers of "Good Soup", the latest animated short created by our graduating class of animation students at Escape Studios, which has won "Best Animated Short Film" at the Milan Gold Awards.

Directed by Jessa Timog-Santiago and produced by Iulineia Filip,  Good Soup was made using Maya, Substance Painter, and Unreal Engine.  The editor was Rohnak Sharma.  

This is Good Soup's fifth festival award. 

Meet Your Tutors - Photographer Michael Hunter

Michael Hunter teaches Photography and Composition

Michael Hunter is a professional photographer who teaches Photography and Composition to our first year students at Escape Studios.

One of the first mini-modules our students will tackle in their first year at Escape Studios, "Photography and Composition ", introduces students to the art and craft of photography, and the compositional skills that underpin the medium. 

Create a Starry Sky with Arnold Skydome

In this short video tutorial (just five minutes long) we demonstrate how to create a starry sky in Maya with just a few clicks, using the Arnold Skydome. Using an HDRI night sky texture map (Google one to get started), we can create a night sky effect with little or no effort, using the Arnold Renderer.  To see the step by step plan, follow the outline below. You can find the tutorial video at YouTube here.

Back to the BRIT School - Home of The Creative Arts

BRIT school, Croydon

This week I was fortunate to return to the BRIT school, talking to 6th Formers about UCAS applications, life in the animation industry - and why BRIT students might want to apply to Escape Studios.

the BRIT school is a secondary school in Croydon with a special focus on the creative arts - including digital media. Some of our most talented Escapees have begun their studies at the BRIT school. 

Amy Winehouse was an alumnus, as is Adele, Jessie J, and the actor Tom Holland.

Rookies Ranks Escape Studios No 1 in The World

2023 Rookies Rankings

The Rookies, the international competition for aspiring VFX artists, has ranked Escape Studios No 1 in the world for Production Excellence in Immersive Media - a huge achievement for our students and staff. 

In other categories, we have been ranked No 3 in the UK for 3D Animation, 4th in the UK for Game Design, and 3rd in the UK for VFX Production Excellence.

Camera Tracking in Nuke with Klaudija Cermak

Camera Tracking in Nuke with Klaudija Cermak

In this video tutorial VFX Programme Leader Klaudija Cermak explains the process of Camera Tracking in Nuke. 

Matchmoving - or camera tracking - has traditionally been the responsibility of a 3D department or 3D VFX artists. However, 2D compositors can now do camera tracking in Nuke.

You can find Klaudija's video tutorial here.  The password is the same as for all our Vimeo Tutorial Videos.

Simple Lighting Setup in Arnold - Sky Shader

In this simple lighting tutorial, aimed at Autodesk Maya beginners, we explain how to achieve a basic lighting setup in Arnold using the Arnold Sky Shader. This is a simple lighting setup, only slightly more sophisticated than the Arnold Physical Sky tutorial - which is as simple as it is possible to achieve in Arnold, and gives good results for an outdoor scene with just a few clicks. 

Meet Your Tutors - Martin Gabriel

Martin Gabriel

Meet Your Tutors: VFX Producer Martin Gabriel teaches our evening class in Producing for Visual Effects.  Martin has worked in VFX for over twenty years, first as a VFX Coordinator and then as VFX Producer in London, Hollywood and in multiple international locations.  

Martin has experience of the process of VFX in film-making from pre-production to post, in film, television and commercials.  Martin's many movie credits include X-Men, Harry Potter, King Arthur and Tomb Raider.

"The Descent" Wins Best Trailer at FOF Awards

The Descent" wins "Best Trailer" at Future of Film Awards

Congratulations to the makers of "The Descent", the short film created by our second year animation students at Escape Studios, which has won "Best Trailer" at the Future of Film Awards.

The Descent was directed Sirisha Mutty and produced by Belle Leuschke, and was completed as part of Studio Module PR5001, a collaborative module in which second-year animation students work together on short films.

Meet Your Tutors - Jonathan McFall

Jonathan McFall

Meet Your Tutors - Industry Veteran Jonathan McFall teaches both our Concept Art Evening Class at Escape Studios and also our Evening Class in Character Creation. 

Concept Art and Character Creation are part-time evening classes, designed to fit around jobs and families, focused on preparing our students for entry-level jobs in the creative industries.

Jonathan McFall is a veteran VFX artist with experience on multiple VFX hits such as Immortals, Men in Black 3, Harry Potter and Wrath of The Titans.  Jonathan is a cg generalist, bringing a wealth of knowledge and software skills to his evening classes. 

Using AI To Make Better Animation

In the short video above we offer some suggestions on how to use AI to make better animation.  AI is a powerful tool for the creation of stories and ideas.  Watch the video above to see how to use Chat GPT to generate ideas to make our animation more interesting and inventive. AI represents the biggest technical advance in the animation & VFX industry since 3D animation began to replace traditional hand-animated feature films in the early 2000s.  Artificial Intelligence is here to stay - so let's make the best possible use of it.

"Risen" Wins "Best VFX" at Makizhmithran Fest

Risen", wins "Best VFX" at Makizhmithran Fest

Congratulations to the makers of the short film "Risen", which has won "Best VFX" at the Makizhmithran Film Festival.

"Risen" was directed by Jane Williams and produced by Muhadissa Hasham.  Emma Richards was the 2D Lead and Oguzhan "Oz" Arisoy was the 3D Lead.

In Risen, a mysterious demonic force emerges from a ruined churchyard.  

This is Risen's fourth festival award. 

2023 Escape Studios Games Reel

The 2023 Escape Studios' Games Reel is a selection of the very best work created by our talented games students over the past year.  As always, the games dept at Escape Studios continues to raise the bar in terms of the quality of their work, winning industry recognition and continuing to steer our graduates into the expanding games industry. 

Model and Texture a Cereal Box in Maya

In this super basic tutorial we show how to do very basic modelling and texturing in Autodesk Maya and Photoshop to create and texture Cereal Box.  This tutorial is divided into two parts - the Maya part, where we create the box and UV it (above), and the Photoshop part (below), where we finesse the texturing.  This exercise forms part of the basic introduction to Maya - our students can find many more tutorials on animation and VFX at the Vimeo Tutorial Channel here. 

"Previs Chess" with Sagar Rathod

In this short video tutorial titled "Pre-Vis Chess", Escape Studios' VFX tutor Sagar Rathod explains how the previsualisation ("previs") process works in vfx film-making.  What is previs? What is it for, and how do digital artists use it to solve practical film-making problems? This video forms a part of our growing library of video tutorials on Cinematography, 3D Layout, and Previs, which you can find at our Vimeo Tutorial Channel here. 

"End of The Line" Wins "Best Student Short" Award

"End of The Line" wins "Best Student Short"

Congratulations to the makers of "End of The Line" - the short animated film created at Escape Studios, which has won "Best Student Short Film" at the Makizhmithran Film Festival.

Directed by Eren Arnold and produced by Zoe Walker,  End of The Line tells the story of an inebriated passenger who must confront his inner demons on a night train.  

"End of The Line" is the final film created by our graduating class of animation students at Escape Studios.  This is its second festival award. 

"Bouya" Wins "Best Animated Short" in Singapore

"Bouya" wins "Best Animated Short" in Singapore

Congratulations to the makers of "Bouya", which has won "Best Animated Short" at the Indo-Singapore Film Festival. 

"Bouya" was directed by Chiyoko Coyte and produced by Alex Sellen, both studying the Art of Computer Animation at Escape Studios. Lorenzo Pelli composed the original score.

"Bouya" tells the hidden story of mysterious forest creatures working together to clean up the mess left by thoughtless humans.  This is Bouya's fifth festival award. 

Basic Lighting in Maya & Arnold - Physical Sky

 

In this simple tutorial, for Autodesk Maya beginners, we explain how to achieve a super basic lighting setup in Arnold using the settings in Physical Sky. This is as simple a setup as it is possible to achieve in Arnold, and gives good results for an outdoor scene with just a few clicks. For those who want to dig deeper into lighting and rendering, follow the link to our Vimeo Tutorial Channel, which has hundreds of video tutorials for our students.

"Our Ocean" Wins Three Awards at Cuckoo Film Fest

"Our Ocean" wins at Cuckoo Awards

Congratulations to the makers of "Our Ocean", which has won three awards at the Cuckoo International Film Festival - Best Animated Short Film, Best Director, and also Best Editor. 

Our Ocean was created by our fourth year animation and vfx students, studying the Art of Computer Animation and VFX.   

Written and Directed by Priya Shah, and produced by Ethen Dent, Our Ocean was a collaboration with the charity "Ocean Generation".   

Dex and Troy are young sea turtles attending the 500th Anniversary of the Fish City Festival, an annual underwater celebration where they meet their angel fish friend Maya. 

Tragically, careless human activity from above threatens the festival with catastrophe. 

This is the latest of many festival awards for Our Ocean.

"Risen" Wins "Best VFX" at Art Film Awards

"Risen" wins "Best VFX" at the Art Film Awards

Congratulations to the makers of the short film "Risen", which has won "Best VFX" at the Art Film Awards.

"Risen" was directed by Jane Williams and produced by Muhadissa Hasham.  Emma Richards was the 2D Lead and Oguzhan "Oz" Arisoy was the 3D Lead.

In Risen, a mysterious demonic force emerges from a ruined churchyard.  

This is its third festival award. 

3D VFX Taster Day Sat 14 October 2023

On Saturday 14th October 2023 at 10am we're hosting a 3D VFX "Taster Day" at our new Escape Studios North Greenwich Campus.  Taster days are a great chance to find out more about the courses at Escape Studios, how they run and who teaches them.  

Come along on Saturday and learn the basics of 3D Modeling, how to create simple geometry, and make it look real.

"Roupell St" Wins "Best Trailer" at Art Film Awards

"Roupell St" wins "Best Trailer" at the AFA

Congratulations to the makers of the short VFX film "Curiosities of The Ruthless Roupell St", which has won "Best Trailer" at the Art Film Awards. 

Directed by Oliver Chenery and produced by Victoria Arraez, "Curiosities of The Ruthless Roupell St" was a collaboration between 2D and 3D VFX Students, working together to create a short film. 

This is its fourth festival award. 

Beginner Maya Tutorial - Dice Texture

In the free video tutorial for beginners in Autodesk Maya (we have a lot of new beginners starting with us this month) we tackle a super simple modelling and texturing exercise - how to create a die (single of dice), bevel it, and texture it, downloading a free texture map from the web. The tutorial is aimed at complete beginners who have never used Autodesk Maya before. In addition, you can follow the steps outlined below, including - for extra sophistication - how to add a bump map (not covered in the video above). You can find more videos on modelling and texturing in Maya at our Vimeo Channel here. 

"Green Friend" Wins "Best Super Short" in Florence

Green Friend wins "Best Super Short" in Florence

Congratulations to the makers of "Green Friend", which has won "Best Super Short" at the Florence Film Awards. 

Green Friend is a short animated film created by our second year animation students at Escape Studios. Green Friend was directed and produced by Hugo Whitworth.  It was completed as part of Studio Module PR5001, a collaborative module in which second-year animation students work together on short film projects.  This is the latest of many festival awards for Green Friend. 

Clement Gharini Explains the Art of Cinematography

Clement Gharini, Escape Studios' Head of VFX, has released the first of a series of tutorials on the Art and Craft of Cinematography for students of VFX, Animation and Games.  Clement Gharini worked as a camera operator and compositor for more than 20 years in the film industry before joining us at Escape Studios; he teaches cinematography and compositing, as well as running our Green Screen and Motion Capture pipelines.  In this first cinematography episode Clem addresses two simple questions: What is Cinematography? And...Who Needs It?

Marc Stevenson Animation Programme Leader

Marc Stevenson

Many congratulations to Escape Studios animation tutor Marc Stevenson, who is our new Program Leader for animation at Escape Studios.  

Marc is currently teaching our second year undergraduate students the art of animal & creature animation (module AN5002) and also the Art of Character Animation (Module AN5001).

Marc Stevenson is a very experienced animator with credits on multiple Hollywood VFX hits including Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire, Fast & Furious 6, Avengers, Age of Ultron, Moon, and Victor Frankenstein.

"Lux Mediae Noctis" Wins Best Short at Tekka Fest

"Lux Mediae Noctis" wins "Best Micro Short" at Tekka Fest

Congratulations to the makers of "Lux Mediae Noctis", the VFX short film created at Escape Studios by our graduating class of VFX artists, which has won "Best Micro Short" at the Tekka International Film Festival.

Produced and directed by Henry Claud N'Guetta and Enrico Vaccari, Lux Mediae Noctis was a collaboration between 2D and 3D VFX Students, working together to create a short film.  

This is the third festival award for Lux Mediae Noctis. 

Undergraduate Open Day Sat 21 Oct & Sat 18 Nov

Open Day Saturday Sat 21 Oct & Sat 18 Nov 2023 

Escape Studios is hosting two new free undergraduate open days on Saturday 21st October and Saturday 18th November 2023.

Escape Studios' Open Days are a chance to find out about our undergraduate degrees in Animation, The Art of Games and Visual Effects.

An Open Day is an opportunity for potential students to find out how they can follow in the footsteps of our award-winning alumni, and also to check out our shiny new North Greenwich Campus.