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.