Render Motion Blur in Maya and Arnold

How to Render Motion Blur in Maya and Arnold:  This very simple and very short tutorial shows how to turn on Motion Blur in the Arnold Renderer in Autodesk Maya.  Why would we want to turn on motion blur? Because when we have very fast action, we almost always want motion blur; this simulates how our eyes actually see things in real life. 

How to Create a Render Sequence in Arnold

In this super simple tutorial we show how to export a Render Sequence in Arnold, in Autodesk Maya. First watch the tutorials on basic lighting setups, such as Lighting in Arnold with Physical Sky, or Lighting in Arnold with Sky Shader, and then watch this video to see how to render out a series of images that can be imported into Adobe Premiere or Blender - or any editing software - ready to export as a movie file.

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. 

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.

Alex Maynard Teaches Unreal Engine 17 Jan 2023

Alex Maynard teaches Unreal Engine

Tomorrow Tuesday 17th January Escape Studios welcomes Studio Assistant Alex Maynard to introduce our second year animation students to the power of Unreal Engine. 

Realtime rendering is a growing part of the animation production pipeline. Whether our students are studying VFX, animation, or games, Unreal Engine offers big savings in render times.

"Lighting for Animators" is Back on 26 Jan 2023

Steve Lall teaching at Escape Studios

Animation tutor Steve Lall is back on Thursday 26 January 2023 at to teach our 2nd year animation students the fundamentals of lighting animation in Arnold.

An understanding of lighting in Maya is a necessary part of the animation pipeline, and vital for the short films our students will make in PR5001, the 2nd year Studio Project Module which begins in 2022.

Steve will cover the fundamentals of lighting with Arnold, showing how our animators can achieve successful lighting setups with minimal complexity. We also have a series of videos on lighting at our Vimeo Channel to support the classroom instruction.

Materials, Lighting & Rendering Tutorials at Vimeo

3D VFX at our Vimeo Tutorial Channel 

Our Escape Studios Vimeo Tutorial Channel supports our students with online resources for Materials, Lighting and Rendering.  

Our Vimeo Tutorial Channel is our central hub for our animation and VFX video tutorials, making it easy for our students to find tutorials to support their classroom studies.  

We have tutorials on Materials, Lighting and Rendering in Arnold, Renderman, Unreal Engine, and also how to use Qube, the Escape Studios' Render Farm. 

3D VFX Tutorials at Our Vimeo Channel

Vimeo Tutorial Channel - 3D VFX 

Our Escape Studios Vimeo Tutorial Channel supports our students with online resources for 3D VFX; the majority of these tutorials were created by Head of Animation Michael Davies.

Our Vimeo Tutorial Channel is our central hub for our animation and VFX video tutorials, making it easy for our students to find tutorials to support their classroom studies.  

We have tutorials on 3D Modelling in Polygons and NURBS, UV Mapping & Texturing,  Materials, Lighting and Rendering in Arnold, Renderman, Unreal Engine, and how to use Qube, the Escape Studios' Render Farm. 

Rise of the Engines - Real Time on 5 Dec 2021

Animation in real time Sunday 5 Dec 2021

Join Escape Studios' Michael Davies and St John Walker for a panel talk on "Animation in Real Time" hosted by the London International Animation Festival (LIAF), revealing the secrets of real-time rendering in Unreal Engine.

The event is free and takes place online on Sunday 5 December 2021 at 11am.

Unreal Engine Summer at Escape Studios

Unreal Engine at Escape Studios

Why not learn the fundamentals of Unreal Engine online with Escape Studios this summer.  Our online courses in Unreal Engine have been launched in partnership with Epic Games, the creators of the software.

Unreal Engine is a real-time renderer that is changing the way that animation and VFX is working; the industry is rapidly switching from traditional (and time-intensive) ray-tracers to real-time rendering technology.  To sign up, follow this link to the official page, and register your interest. 

Edoardo Sartori Shot Creator at The Third Floor

Edoardo Sartori

Congratulations to Escape Studios student Edoardo Sartori who is now working part-time as a Shot Creator at one of the UK's leading previsualisation houses: The Third Floor.  

Edoardo is helping to previs a big budget Hollywood movie being made by one of the world's most famous directors. 

Edoardo has broken into the animation and VFX industry thanks to his extensive knowledge of real-time rendering in Unreal Engine, the rendering platform which is fast replacing traditional ray-trace technology. 

"Unreal Fortnight" Free Training 15-26 March

Escape Studios is proud to announce "Unreal Fortnight", a new training opportunity for real-time rendering in Unreal Engine from 15-26 March.    

Escape Studios is partnering with Epic Games and ScreenSkills to create "Unreal Fortnight", a series of short training courses in Unreal Engine,  to help retrain UK film production in the latest rendering  technology. The course is free for freelancers and furloughed workers; there is a small fee for sole traders and micro-SMEs.

Escape Studios Unreal Engine ATC

We are delighted to announce that Escape Studios has been officially certified by Epic Games as an Unreal Engine Authorised Training Centre (ATC).

This makes us the only officially certified Unreal Engine ATC in the UK.

Escape Studios began life as a software company, so it's not surprising that we have a strong focus on teaching the latest technology.  Unreal Engine offers our animators real-time rendering, saving huge amounts of time in production.

Tutorial on Physical Shaders in Arnold

We've uploaded a new series of tutorials at our Vimeo Channel, on the use of Physical Shaders in Arnold, taught by UG Program leader Michael Davies.  

In these tutorials you will learn how to create materials for glass, metal, thin film & iridium, sub-surface scattering, and cloth.

Escape Studios Official Unreal Engine ATC

We are proud to announce that Escape Studios is now an Unreal Engine ATC (Authorized Training Center); the only one in the UK and one of only two in Europe.  We are very honoured to be selected to be part of the program and to help train people in Unreal Engine.  As well as our Short Courses, UG and Masters programs we also train companies in UE4, most recently London VFX powerhouse Framestore.  Unreal's real time rendering capabilities, Blueprint system and ease of use is not only changing the games industry but the CGI industry as a whole, helping to speed up the process of animation, previsualisation, virtual reality and architectural visualisation.

How to Render Animation "On Twos"

We've recently uploaded a new video tutorial on how to render animation to look as if it was animated on twos, with UG Program leader Michael Davies.  You can find the video at our Vimeo Channel here.

Why Animators Must Test Their Pipeline Early

Test Render from "Animal Lover"

Part of the process of making an animated film is to test your pipeline thoroughly, so that you can rely on it to render out all your shots on time.

Rendering, as our head of Games, Simon Fenton, memorably puts it: "...is when everything starts to go wrong".  At Escape Studios, just like on production, we have deadlines, and those deadlines must be adhered to.

Rendering in Maya and Arnold at Our Vimeo Library

Arnold is the principal ray-trace renderer that comes bundled with Autodesk Maya. Below are some simple lighting setups in Maya and Arnold that can be learned very quickly and get great results. 

For our students who want to render in Arnold, animation tutor Lee Caller has put together a YouTube playlist of videos. 

In addition, UG programme leader and third year animation tutor Michael Davies has recorded his own Arnold tutorials, which you can find at our Vimeo Tutorial Channel here.

Lighting For Animators with Steve Lall

Steve Lall teaching at Escape Studios

Studio Assistant Steve Lall will teach our 2nd year animation students the fundamentals of lighting in animation today.

A basic understanding of lighting setups is an important part of the animator's toolkit, and a necessary part of the short films our students will shortly be making in PR5001, the 2nd year Studio Project Module which begins in a few weeks.

Steve will cover the fundamentals of lighting with Arnold, showing how our animators can achieve successful lighting setups with minimal complexity.

We also have a series of videos on lighting at our Vimeo Channel to support the classroom instruction.

Unreal Engine Tutorials at Vimeo

We've uploaded a new series of tutorials at our Vimeo Channel on how to use the Unreal Engine rendering pipeline.

Realtime rendering is a growing part of the animation production pipeline. Whether our students are studying VFX, animation, or games, Unreal Engine offers big savings in render times.

Many of our short films are rendered in Unreal Engine. The short films Planet Mars, Minuet and Adam & Eve Mk II were all rendered in Unreal Engine and enjoyed festival success, winning many awards.