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Mark Cass

Mark Cass

mark@escapestudios.com

On yer bike..

On yer bike..

I was recently asked to ride the Chiltern 100,  I’m attempting the 58 miles ride for a children’s charity at the end of May.

Now for those that know me, well, they know I am not particularly ‘active’ – I guess that’s why they ask people like me to do charity events, it’s a challenge!

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Tue 8 May 2012: 9:38am

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How did I get a job with that reel?

We always like to showcase our wonderful ‘Escapees’ work. Adam Dewhirst is no exception. However, what I thought we would do is take a look back to Adam's early work to where he is today... It's an interesting journey…!

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Fri 13 Apr 2012: 11:22am

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Who's That in the Spotlight?

Who's That in the Spotlight?

Every month, Develop review the brightest and best courses and colleges in the world of Computer Graphics. And this week, we've found ourselves in the spotlight!

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Thu 5 Apr 2012: 2:30pm

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ZBrush giving you more..

ZBrush giving you more..

Pixologic are at it again! Another release of ZBrush (4R3) and not disappointingly they have added another bunch of cool new features!

What makes this taste even sweeter for ZBrush customers is that again the upgrade is completely FREE! Since day one Pixologic have never charged for an upgrade, which is pretty amazing. Of course it means it now has a huge following and user base. Quite smart really!

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Wed 14 Mar 2012: 12:57pm

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Arthur Christmas: A Must See at Xmas

Arthur Christmas: A Must See at Xmas

Arthur Christmas is a must for any child wanting to get into the Christmas spirit this year. I know this as both of my children loved it and my test was to see whether or not I actually stay awake!

It's just fun. The CG is not meant to be ground-breaking - it simply is not Tintin - but that really wasn't the point. If you just want to go see a feel good children's movie then there is nothing better. It also has a great cast and some of my personal favourites actors: Hugh Laurie, Jim Broadbent and Bill Nighy (who continually makes me smile whatever he appears in or talks over).

Aardman have done a great job and they should be very happy with it, it has their stamp all over it. 

Enjoy!

1 Comments Mark Cass

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Tue 13 Dec 2011: 8:30am

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There's Mo Escape Gallery

There's Mo Escape Gallery

Yesterday was the last day of Movember, and we took this opportunity to take one last set of photos of team 'There's Mo Escape'. I am sure you will agree with me that we look like mighty fine with our moustaches!

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Fri 2 Dec 2011: 11:20am

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BallAHolic: How to Make an Innovative 3D iPhone Game

BallAHolic: How to Make an Innovative 3D iPhone Game

I stumbled across a very cool iPhone game and loved how it felt, played and looked. I did some research and managed to get one of the team to write this blog post! Here is what Christian Buettner, from A Local Chaos Project, had to say about their creation:

0 Comments Mark Cass

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Thu 1 Dec 2011: 8:39am

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Is it really Movember again?

Is it really Movember again?

Yes, it is. That time of year when many of us give up our face real-estate to grow some facial hair in the name of prostate cancer. This year is no exception and team "There's Mo Escape" and its 16 members of varying facial hair success, are just 10 days in...

For some of us it's hard to see we are actually partaking in the fund-raising event. But hey, we are having fun trying... If you have a spare 50p and want to see how stupid we all look as we'll post some pics then please feel free to donate

0 Comments Mark Cass

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Thu 10 Nov 2011: 8:47am

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One to Watch: Naiad Fluid Sim

One to Watch: Naiad Fluid Sim

There was a great article on FX Guide on Fluid Simulation recently. It's a computational issue that has been around for quite some time now and clearly it's something that the makers of big packages like Maya and Houdini cannot focus 100% of R&D time on.

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Fri 23 Sep 2011: 3:23pm

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Scratch-and-Sniff

Scratch-and-Sniff

I suspect that readers of the Escape Studios Blog will not be the type to rush out to the big screens to see Spy Kids 4D. Or at least admit to it...

4 Comments Mark Cass

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Wed 7 Sep 2011: 12:57pm

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Pixar Announce RenderMan for Maya 5!

Pixar Announce RenderMan for Maya 5!

Our friends at Pixar have announced that the release of RenderMan for Maya 5 is being planned for this autumn.

0 Comments Mark Cass

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Wed 24 Aug 2011: 9:36am

Hayes Davidson Put Our V-Ray for Max Course to The Test

Hayes Davidson Put Our V-Ray for Max Course to The Test

Matt Clinch is an Associate Partner at world renowned architectural visualisation practise Hayes Davidson; we asked Matt to give us some feedback on one of our recent online courses, V-Ray for Max, and here is what he had to say.

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Fri 5 Aug 2011: 10:41am

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A Lost Art?

A Lost Art?

My walk down memory lane continues... 

I went on a simulator ride called 'Slot Car Boogie' at the weekend. it was actually made by some old friends at Rocket Films in Bournemouth quite some years ago. 1996 I believe! Rocket Films are sadly no longer trading but it lead me to wonder who makes these kind of films today? It's hard to find any reference of it in the UK, which is a shame as we were obviously quite good at it.

This work would have been done on a Silicon Graphics machine running PowerAnimator. To put this into perspective, this would have cost around £60-80K for the SGI hardware and the software for just one artist... Oh, how lucky we all are now! 

If you know of any companies that do this type of work in the UK, do let me know.

As with most of my memory lane trips, the memories were normally pre Internet revolution. I have however found this on YouTube, Slot Car Boogie by the originator Ian Williams.

1 Comments Mark Cass

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Tue 2 Aug 2011: 8:34am

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Memories of Digital Media World...

Memories of Digital Media World...

I had an email reminder today that Siggraph is less than two weeks away. It got me thinking about travel and how many of us probably miss the good old days when we would all go to Siggraph on our annual trip. These days, we are not only too busy, it's also harder to justify when all the information we could only find in trade shows is now available at our finger tips on the Internet. 

For some reason 'Digital Media World' popped into my head. Is anyone old enough to remember DMW? It was THE show to be at in Europe and was held in London every November. It was the trade show part of an awards ceremony called LEAF. I did a quick Google search, but couldn't actually find any links to DMW that I could point you towards - it's obviously that long ago!

2 Comments Mark Cass

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Thu 28 Jul 2011: 11:12am

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Farewell to Potter

Farewell to Potter

It wouldn't be right to let Potter go by and not say a word about it?

Personally I loved it - the early days especially and finally HP7 which was amazing, even in 3D!

And for all our friends in Soho, it's also an end to something which has played a major part in the rise and growth of VFX in the UK. The Industry would have survived and prospered without it but I am not sure it would have had the meteoric rise it did if ILM had not passed the work over to this side of the Atlantic...

2 Comments Mark Cass

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Wed 20 Jul 2011: 2:55pm

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A Crowded Market?

A Crowded Market?

For many years now Massive has owned the crowd sim market space, especially at the high end of VFX. Of course some of the larger post-houses have written their own tools, but the availability of any other commercially viable product has been limited.

0 Comments Mark Cass

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Fri 8 Jul 2011: 9:00am

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L.A. Noire in 7 Years!

L.A. Noire in 7 Years!

So how long does it take to make a console game? Of course it varies from project to project but Team Bondi are no strangers to long haul development.

0 Comments Mark Cass

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Mon 27 Jun 2011: 4:25pm

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Zappar: A Total Geek Fest!

Zappar: A Total Geek Fest!


I thought it was going to be one of those 'office' moments when a colleague pulled some papers out of his bag and said "you must see this"... He is important, so I paid good attention...!

2 Comments Mark Cass

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Tue 21 Jun 2011: 10:25am

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Annecy Animation Film Festival

Annecy Animation Film Festival

Every June I look forward to heading off to Annecy, not for the sight seeing (although it is a very beautiful place) but for the Film Festival of course. Sadly however, I didn’t attend this year.

1 Comments Mark Cass

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Thu 16 Jun 2011: 10:49am

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The Core Skills of VFX

The Core Skills of VFX

Skillset, the industry body which supports skills and training for people and businesses in the UK have put together a nice VFX Core Skills handbook that you may be interested in.

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Fri 3 Jun 2011: 9:40am

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30% Discount on RealFlow Upgrades

30% Discount on RealFlow Upgrades

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).

0 Comments Mark Cass

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Thu 26 May 2011: 3:16pm

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Visual Effects Society Slams Hollywood

Visual Effects Society Slams Hollywood

Some of you may have never heard of the Visual Effects Society (VES) - see the previous link or last paragraph if you have not.

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Thu 26 May 2011: 2:30pm

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Escape Studios Courseware On The iPad?

Escape Studios Courseware On The iPad?

We had an enquiry from one of our online students asking if she could view our online courseware on an iPad via the Skyfire app to view flash content... As we have not yet worked on mobile releases of our learning system (busy building fab courses), I thought I would take a look at it as I was kind of intrigued.

So I invest my £2.99 and loaded her up! I was amazed I could get in to our system and play the video content! Sadly my joy soon tempered when I could not make out the text in the 3DS Max interface. #disappointed!

The loading was also a little clunky to be honest, you would select a video to view and it would load a little window in the bottom left hand of the screen and find the video. Not elegant.

Not to be beaten I decided to look at some additional apps. Whilst I am sure there are others I came across iSwifter. It was also cheaper at £1.79 ;-)

So I was again a little disappointed, this time with the speed of scrolling in our system... However - once I played a video it was seamless, no drop outs excellent quality and I was really very happy with the results.

Whilst we do not 'officially support' the iPad or mobile devices, I now know at least I can grab iSwifter and load up a video with my iPad. If you do have an iPad and want to try this out iSwifter do allow you to take a peak so why not grab one of our free tutorials and give it a go?

Have a great weekend everyone.

1 Comments Mark Cass

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Fri 20 May 2011: 7:57am

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Digital Domain IPO?

Digital Domain IPO?

We have talked recently about how well the UK is doing in VFX so it's nice to see some noise happening in the US also. Digital Domain saw its revenue from visual effects climb to $101.9 million last year - up 70% from 2009, according to its filing. Whilst DD have already had one attempt at going public in 2007, they seem convinced that now is possibly the right time.

1 Comments Mark Cass

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Tue 17 May 2011: 11:51am

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Pixar Release RenderMan Pro Server 16

Our friends at Pixar have announced the release of RenderMan Pro Server 16! 

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Tue 10 May 2011: 7:40am

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Looking for a Summer Internship?

Looking for a Summer Internship?

Are you looking for something to do this summer? Ever heard of StudioAKA? They are a London based multi-BAFTA winning animation production company, known world-wide for their amazing innovative work. And they may want you for the Summer!

They are looking for a bright spark to work in the field of DB & pipeline development (within June to August).

4 Comments Mark Cass

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Fri 6 May 2011: 11:47am

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Autodesk 123D?

Autodesk 123D?

Carl Bass - CEO of Autodesk - announced at the Wired Business Conference that they were launching a new product... Wait for it, it's called 123D. OK, so forget about the naming convention... What does it actually do and what does it mean for 3D artists?

2 Comments Mark Cass

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Thu 5 May 2011: 12:12pm

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The Pixar Podcast

The Pixar Podcast

I stumbled across 'The Pixar Podcast' recently, I just thought I would share it with you in case you had not seen it.

0 Comments Mark Cass

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Tue 3 May 2011: 2:56pm

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V-Ray Online Training - Shhhh.... Keep It Secret

V-Ray Online Training - Shhhh.... Keep It Secret

Shhhh, don't tell anyone but the images in this blog have been 'lifted' from our brand spanking new self directed course: VRay 2 for 3DS Max... We are very happy with it... But keep it quiet as it may help improve your skills ;-)

5 Comments Mark Cass

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Thu 21 Apr 2011: 2:58pm

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Rhythm & Hues: Effects Apprentice Program

Rhythm & Hues: Effects Apprentice Program

Calling all escapee's and graduates... An opportunity to be part of this amazing apprentice program in California!

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Fri 15 Apr 2011: 8:50am

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3ds Max Feedback Forum

3ds Max Feedback Forum

I have just attended an Autodesk 'start of financial year kick off meeting' and the guys there mentioned this little jewel.

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Thu 14 Apr 2011: 10:19am

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Autodesk 2012 Line-up Now Available!

Autodesk 2012 Line-up Now Available!

We blogged on the 3rd of March that Autodesk had announced their new 2012 product line-up. Well, today you can get your hands on all the new toys! If you have a current support contract simply access your subscription portal to download your 2012 version.

1 Comments Mark Cass

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Mon 11 Apr 2011: 9:21am

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UK has been NUKED!

UK has been NUKED!

We have been totally amazed over the past couple of months over the number of companies that are looking for NUKE ops at all levels.

4 Comments Mark Cass

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Fri 8 Apr 2011: 9:18am

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25 Years of Pixar Animation

25 Years of Pixar Animation

I'm sure many of you will have seen the film medley that represents 25 years of Pixar Animation. Well, it's amazing to be reminded of all their fantastic work - not just the images and characters, but the stories also. They pretty much have it all. I would personally like to thank Pixar for The Incredibles, which for me is unsurpassed. Simply brilliant.

0 Comments Mark Cass

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Wed 30 Mar 2011: 8:29am

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Budget Brings no Relief for the Games Industry

Budget Brings no Relief for the Games Industry

We are always looking for a glimmer of hope with any budget... These days it's hard to find any. And that's certainly the case for the UK Games industry. I appreciate we are a niche sector, but the fact that we are a long established (in CG terms) and vibrant industry that allows us to lead the way just goes seemingly forgotten. The petition paperwork will have been 'filed' and once again we find that there is no support.

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Thu 24 Mar 2011: 11:30am

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Budget day - Tax relief for gamers?

Budget day - Tax relief for gamers?

Dr Richard Wilson, TIGA CEO, submitted a petition to Number 10 Downing Street yesterday, calling on the Government to introduce Games Tax Relief in the Budget on March 23rd. Richard also handed in a copy of TIGA’s publication Budget for Growth: Powering the Video Games Sector to Support the Economic Recovery to officials in Downing Street.

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Wed 23 Mar 2011: 9:16am

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Games BAFTA's Announced Last Night

Games BAFTA's Announced Last Night

Last week I mentioned the 'red carpet day' for Games companies at the BAFTA's. Well, The awards ceremony was last night and the results are in!

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Thu 17 Mar 2011: 12:38pm

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Tech Industry will be Affected by Mega Japanese Earthquake

After the shocking events that hit Japan there is of course a severe knock on effect to our industry in terms of technology.

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Thu 17 Mar 2011: 9:24am

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Red Carpet Day for Games at the BAFTA Awards

Red Carpet Day for Games at the BAFTA Awards

Is it any wonder that the games companies in the UK have a hard time? So many companies going out of business already this year (and it's only March) and seemingly no government support or tax breaks. Whilst computer games feature as heavily in many people's lives as film, I suspect that few know about the games BAFTA awards.

Well, it is red carpet day for the games industry on Wednesday 16th March 2011 and you can view the awards online starting from 8:30 PM. Will the awards ever make it to live TV? OK maybe not, we don't generally know these faces as they are not on the big screen. But give a thought for the awards, the games and the technology these guys produce - they need everyone's support... It's not like we don't play games right?

Has your favourite game been nominated? Check out the nominees here. For me in the family section it has to be Kinect Sports but good luck to everyone who has been nominated! 

0 Comments Mark Cass

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Tue 8 Mar 2011: 9:13am

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London VFX Houses Create Wizardry

It was great to see a write up in Variety about the big four post houses in the UK for more than one reason.

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Tue 1 Mar 2011: 7:47pm

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Autodesk Announces Intent to Acquire Scaleform Corporation

Autodesk Announces Intent to Acquire Scaleform Corporation

"Another Autodesk purchase" I hear you cry as the news gets out that a cool $36 million CASH is to be spent on Scaleform

0 Comments Mark Cass

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Tue 22 Feb 2011: 10:33am

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VFX wins at the BAFTAs

I don’t think anyone was too surprised by last night’s BAFTAs. Personally, I was really pleased to see Inception win the Special Visual Effects award. With the hardware becoming more powerful, the software more sophisticated and the work ever more creative, as an industry the bar is set incredibly high, and it’s always great to see how people are constantly pushing the boundaries of what’s possible. It’s even more impressive when you consider who else was nominated.

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Tue 15 Feb 2011: 2:33pm

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Enter the Draw to Win a BOXX Workstation

Enter the Draw to Win a BOXX Workstation

If you’ve read the BOXX reviews and seen the results, you’ll be pretty excited to learn that we are giving away a BOXX super-fast high performance machine, in a brand new competition.

1 Comments Mark Cass

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Fri 28 Jan 2011: 3:06pm

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3DBOXX8550 Sets the Benchmark in Architectural Visualisation

3DBOXX8550 Sets the Benchmark in Architectural Visualisation

BOXX has impressed the reviewers again at UK's Develop3D magazine, this time proving it’s a serious contender in the Architectural Visualisation space.

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Fri 28 Jan 2011: 12:00pm

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New versions of MARI 1.2, NUKE 6.1v4 & NUKE 6.2v2 Out Now!

New versions of MARI 1.2, NUKE 6.1v4 & NUKE 6.2v2 Out Now!

The Foundry team have been hard at work, announcing three new releases in as many days. There are some new cool features added to MARI to improve its 3D texture painting capability, and NUKE has loads of feature enhancements and fixes worth checking out. Here is a summary of what you can expect from the new releases:

2 Comments Mark Cass

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Tue 25 Jan 2011: 4:43pm

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BOXX: An Inside Perspective

BOXX: An Inside Perspective

There has been a lot of talk and reviews of BOXX machines lately. To find out a little more about what makes them perform so well, I caught up with BOXX’s Director of Marketing and Business Development, Shoaib Mohammad to get the inside scoop…

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Thu 20 Jan 2011: 5:26pm

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TACTIC Make New Video Tutorials Available

TACTIC Make New Video Tutorials Available

Are any of you into production asset management? Then this could be the ideal resource for you. Southpaw have just launched a new 'video page', where you can gain access to loads of useful resources for how to use their TACTIC software. 

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Thu 20 Jan 2011: 9:03am

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3DBOXX 4860 tops the charts

3DBOXX 4860 tops the charts

BOXX has again topped benchmarking tests in a new product review by Desktop Engineering released this week.

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Fri 7 Jan 2011: 10:09am

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Autodesk 2011 Upgrade Promotion: Last days

Autodesk 2011 Upgrade Promotion: Last days

If you want to upgrade to Autodesk’s 2011 products for less, then you may want to check out Autodesk’s Upgrade Promotion, but hurry there’s just over a week left.

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Thu 6 Jan 2011: 4:02pm

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TACTIC software's CEO speaks out

TACTIC software's CEO speaks out

Gary Mundell, Southpaw’s CEO sheds some light on how using a production asset management system like TACTIC, can help studios better manage their production pipelines and streamline their workflows. Here's what he had to say...

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Wed 5 Jan 2011: 2:39pm

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New release of NUKE 6.2 - Out Now

New release of NUKE 6.2 - Out Now

Hot of the press: the latest release of NUKE and NUKEX has just been released!

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Mon 20 Dec 2010: 5:17pm

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New release of Fusion 6.14 – Out Now

New release of Fusion 6.14 – Out Now

Eyeon are giving customers a special Christmas treat with the new release of Fusion 6.14, and a new discounted upgrade pricing for anyone upgrading from Fusion 5 or earlier.

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Mon 20 Dec 2010: 10:12am

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Maxwell Render 2.5 – Out Now

Maxwell Render 2.5 – Out Now

The latest version of Maxwell Render has been released this week, with a neat new technology called Maxwell Fire. This is a new interactive rendering tool which gives users instant results when setting up a scene, so you can preview scene lighting and materials within seconds. This is pretty neat and should make a difference to your workflows.

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Fri 17 Dec 2010: 3:09pm

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Phoenix FD version 1.20 Released

Phoenix FD version 1.20 Released

The latest version of Phoenix FD, Chaos’s newest product is now available for download.

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Fri 17 Dec 2010: 12:04pm

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And the winners are...

And the winners are...

As part of the new release of RenderMan Studio 3 and RenderMan for Maya 4, we ran a competition to give three lucky people the chance to win a limited edition Pixar’s RenderMan Walking Teapot.

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Fri 17 Dec 2010: 9:36am

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TACTIC 3v1 - Now Available

TACTIC 3v1 - Now Available

The new release of TACTIC 3.0.0.v01 is now available for download. It's the latest update to TACTIC 3. Not sure how many of you have had a chance to look at version 3, but here is a quick low down.

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Thu 16 Dec 2010: 5:58pm

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Luxology’s modo 501 – Out Today

Luxology’s modo 501 – Out Today

This is hot of the press: the brand new version of Luxology’s modo 501 has just landed and it’s packed with loads of new features.

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Thu 16 Dec 2010: 11:30am

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V-Ray 2.0 for 3ds Max – Out Now

V-Ray 2.0 for 3ds Max – Out Now

The long-awaited V-Ray 2.0 has been released, with some great new features and additions that will really give you better and faster results.

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Tue 14 Dec 2010: 2:48pm

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3 Reasons BOXX 8550 is The Fastest Workstation in the World

3 Reasons BOXX 8550 is The Fastest Workstation in the World

There has been a lot of talk about the BOXX 8550 XTREME lately, and why it’s the fastest workstation in the world. Many of us are naturally suspicious of all the marketing hype, but on proper investigation, these claims are actually based in pretty solid facts... Here’s the low down.

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Thu 9 Dec 2010: 3:35pm

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Xbox Kinect Versus Playstation Move

Is everyone tired of the comparisons by now? Maybe it's just me...

So much talk about which is better, how much physical space you need to play Kinect vs continued calibration for Move - lag and response and on and on..

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Wed 8 Dec 2010: 2:08pm

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Thank you technology customers!

Thank you technology customers!

Last night we had some of the finest brains and talent in Soho out for our Technology Christmas drinks.

We just want to really thank all those who came along and hope you enjoyed the evening.. We certainly did and it was great to see so many new and familiar faces!

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Fri 3 Dec 2010: 1:13pm

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Yo Mo' Bro - Movember Results

Yo Mo' Bro - Movember Results

With Movember now over, I just wanted to say a huge THANK YOU to everyone for being so sporting and not taking themselves too seriously with their Mo'. We have raised £2,076 (currently) which leaves us ranked 468 Nationally, which we think is pretty good form.  I thought I’d share our leaderboard with you:

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Wed 1 Dec 2010: 2:45pm

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MediaCity UK - Salford Quays, Manchester

MediaCity UK - Salford Quays, Manchester

I was invited up to take a look around MediaCityUK UK last week. I didn't really know what to expect, I had heard quite a bit about the developments over the past few years but it had always been 'up North' and at the back of my mind.

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Mon 29 Nov 2010: 3:21pm

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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1

I went to see HP7 at the weekend. We are all different but I really miss the magical events of the early Potter, I guess I just didn't want him to grow up!

The VFX work was amazing, as always, well done to everyone involved. Would the film have been enhanced if it was in 3D? I think possibly so, but as we all now know, 3D as an afterthought is not the way to go.

I do worry about having a 'two parter' personally, you are going to the cinema knowing that there will not be a resolution. But that said, the cinema was full and that has to be a good thing for the industry. Count down to the final film... or will it be?

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Mon 22 Nov 2010: 10:58am

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Pixar's RenderMan amazing 40% price reduction!

Pixar's RenderMan amazing 40% price reduction!

Yesterday, Pixar announced an unprecedented price drop in their flagship product RenderMan® Pro Server. The 40% reduction will allow studios and freelancers that were previously unable to buy into the technology, to get a slice of the Film / VFX industry standard renderer. With the global CG expansion, Pixar appreciate that the growth of renderfarms is real and happening now, this move allows existing customers to ramp up their rendering capabilities in a more cost effective manner whilst allowing smaller shops and freelancers access to the toolset.

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Tue 16 Nov 2010: 10:39am

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IKinema: New Animation Plug-in for Maya

IKinema: New Animation Plug-in for Maya

If you use Autodesk Maya for animating characters and models, then you may want to check out this cool new animation plug-in called IKinema.

1 Comments Mark Cass

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Mon 15 Nov 2010: 9:33am

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Escape Studios' Mo progress

The team here at Escape are on day 12 of the Mo' growing, for some of us it's more like no growing... But it's all for The Prostate Cancer Charity so we don't care!

We have some updated pictures, please laugh, we are every day!

Please sponsor us, any amount really appreciated!

1 Comments Mark Cass

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Mark Cass
Fri 12 Nov 2010: 11:40am

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Win A Pixar’s RenderMan Walking Teapot!

Win A Pixar’s RenderMan Walking Teapot!

To celebrate the new release of RenderMan Studio 3 and RenderMan for Maya 4, we’re giving three lucky people the chance to win a limited edition Pixar RenderMan Walking Teapot.

0 Comments Mark Cass

Posted by
Mark Cass
Tue 9 Nov 2010: 3:49pm

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Escape Studios Hosts VFX Workflows Event at Aardman

Escape Studios Hosts VFX Workflows Event at Aardman

Escape Studios will be taking the Foundry’s products on the road with an event at Aardman Animation studios in Bristol on the 25th of November.

0 Comments Mark Cass

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Mark Cass
Fri 5 Nov 2010: 10:15am

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V-Ray 2.0 Pre-orders Now Available!

V-Ray 2.0 Pre-orders Now Available!

The new version of V-Ray for 3ds Max is now available for pre-order. This new 2.0 has undergone a significant revamp and now includes the V-Ray 3ds Max rendering engine along with V-Ray RT CPU and V-Ray RT GPU - that’s a whole lot more than you used to get!

0 Comments Mark Cass

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Mark Cass
Wed 3 Nov 2010: 10:53pm

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BOXX to ship with new Quadro Fermi 2000

BOXX to ship with new Quadro Fermi 2000

BOXX machines will now be even faster following nVidia’s recent announcement that they will be releasing a brand new graphics card, the Quadro Fermi 2000. This is the lastest addition to the nVidia Quadro Fermi Series, which are the industry’s only GPU-accelerated cards made for coping with HD-SDI video and 3D stereoscopics.

0 Comments Mark Cass

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Mark Cass
Wed 3 Nov 2010: 10:44pm

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iPad in education?

iPad in education?

We all love gadgets, and anything from Apple generally creates interest for good or bad. Enter the iPad. Well, it has been around for a while now, but other than playing Angry Birds, does it really have other uses?

1 Comments Mark Cass

Posted by
Mark Cass
Wed 27 Oct 2010: 9:04am

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Movember = facial hair for Escape Studios' Men!

Movember = facial hair for Escape Studios' Men!

Dear friends of Escape Studios... We have decided to take part in Movember this year.... OK, let me explain...

2 Comments Mark Cass

Posted by
Mark Cass
Thu 21 Oct 2010: 10:33am

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AutoCAD for the Mac

AutoCAD for the Mac

Autodesk have released AutoCAD for the Mac after its announcement back in August.

0 Comments Mark Cass

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Mark Cass
Tue 19 Oct 2010: 2:04pm

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Pixar's RenderMan Studio 3 is out!

Pixar's RenderMan Studio 3 is out!

RenderMan Studio 3 has arrived and it packs some punch! Speed and lots of features and enhancements, including support for Maya 2011.

RenderMan Studio is Pixar's advanced suite of tools for shading and lighting TD's.

4 Comments Mark Cass

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Mark Cass
Thu 14 Oct 2010: 9:44pm

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CVMP 2010 Amazing speaker line-up

CVMP 2010 Amazing speaker line-up

CVMP is a unique opportunity to network with production and post-production specialists from the worlds of film, broadcast, games and imaging and graphics researchers. If you register on or before 17th October 2010 you can save yourself £100 on full registration!

0 Comments Mark Cass

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Mark Cass
Thu 14 Oct 2010: 3:30pm

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CityEngine 2010.2 Available Now

CityEngine 2010.2 Available Now

There seems to be some momentum growing behind CityEngine and out of all of the new products in the market it certainly seems one to keep an eye on!

0 Comments Mark Cass

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Mark Cass
Wed 13 Oct 2010: 2:57pm

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Escape Studios Awarded Pixar's RenderMan International Reseller of the Year 2010!

Escape Studios Awarded Pixar's RenderMan International Reseller of the Year 2010!

I am delighted to announce that Escape Studios has been bestowed the honour of being Pixar's RenderMan International Reseller of the Year 2010! With around 20 worldwide RenderMan partners, we are super pleased with this news!

0 Comments Mark Cass

Posted by
Mark Cass
Mon 11 Oct 2010: 8:26am

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Autodesk Subscription Advantage Packs arrive

Autodesk Subscription Advantage Packs arrive

Autodesk have started something new for those on support: it's called Subscription Advantage Packs. This is a way for those that pay the price of subscription to get new features dropped in, fast... One of the most awaited 'drops' is Mudbox on Linux!

0 Comments Mark Cass

Posted by
Mark Cass
Mon 4 Oct 2010: 11:18am

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The Most Exciting RenderMan Toolset in Years!

The Most Exciting RenderMan Toolset in Years!

The upcoming RenderMan for Maya 4 and RenderMan Studio 3 offers mouth watering upgrades & new features; we are busy working away on the RenderMan Certified courseware and will cover these cool new workflows in depth.

1 Comments Mark Cass

Posted by
Mark Cass
Fri 1 Oct 2010: 10:40am

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Nuke, Mari, Ocula now available at Escape Studios!

Nuke, Mari, Ocula now available at Escape Studios!

I’m pretty excited to announce that Escape Studios is now an exclusive reseller for The Foundry’s top products, Nuke, NukeX, Mari and Ocula.

0 Comments Mark Cass

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Mark Cass
Thu 30 Sep 2010: 4:04pm

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Escape Studios hosts TIGA’s Self-Publishing Seminar

Escape Studios hosts TIGA’s Self-Publishing Seminar

As part of this year’s London Games Festival, we are going to be hosting a free TIGA event in our studios. If you want to get an insight into self-publishing your games, come along and chat with the pros.

0 Comments Mark Cass

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Mark Cass
Thu 30 Sep 2010: 12:10pm

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GoBOXX 1640 Really Goes!

GoBOXX 1640 Really Goes!

The GoBOXX 1640 was recently reviewed by Cadalyst, and underwent a benchmark assessment designed to test and compare the performance of all sorts of systems running AutoCAD.

0 Comments Mark Cass

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Mark Cass
Thu 30 Sep 2010: 12:08pm

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Neil Thompson of Bizarre Creations to present at Autodesk’s Manchester Event

Neil Thompson of Bizarre Creations to present at Autodesk’s Manchester Event

Autodesk have announced that Neil Thompson, the Studio Art Director at Bizarre Creations will be taking the guest speaker spot at this year’s Manchester event.

0 Comments Mark Cass

Posted by
Mark Cass
Fri 24 Sep 2010: 1:00pm

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Diary of a Wimpy Kid

Diary of a Wimpy Kid

"Dad, can we go to the cinema?" Yes it was that time of the summer holidays when the children will do anything to get out of the house. I exclaimed "But we have already seen everything that's any good!"

0 Comments Mark Cass

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Mark Cass
Tue 21 Sep 2010: 12:20pm

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Online courses updated to reflect the Maya new 2011 UI

Online courses updated to reflect the Maya new 2011 UI

If you are a user of any software package you'll know that at least once a year software developers deliver an update. Autodesk's Maya 2011 was no exception. 3D users had become accustomed to Maya's UI over the last 10 years but Autodesk thought it was time for a change, enter Maya 2011. So this release brings all sorts of challenges for the diehard Maya user, it has a new interface... I hear the screams of "where did you put that" and "what on earth does this icon represent"!

0 Comments Mark Cass

Posted by
Mark Cass
Fri 17 Sep 2010: 12:13pm

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IBC 2010 - Amsterdam

IBC 2010 - Amsterdam

I spent my weekend at IBC in Amsterdam, poor me I hear you cry!

0 Comments Mark Cass

Posted by
Mark Cass
Tue 14 Sep 2010: 3:47pm

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The latest in Artificial Intelligence

The latest in Artificial Intelligence

We now offer a cool new artificial intelligence (AI) piece of software for game developers called xaitment.

0 Comments Mark Cass

Posted by
Mark Cass
Tue 14 Sep 2010: 10:01am

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V-Ray for 3ds Max Version 2.0 Announced

V-Ray for 3ds Max Version 2.0 Announced

I am sure most of you will have heard this week that Chaos have announced they will be releasing the long-awaited version 2 of V-Ray for 3ds Max.

1 Comments Mark Cass

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Mark Cass
Fri 10 Sep 2010: 5:09pm

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Escape opens the BOXX with Boston

We’re pleased to announce that we are now going to be selling BOXX Technologies’ machines exclusively in the UK. This means that people buying workstations like the 3DBOXX 8550 Xtreme will now have access to next day shipping, reduced build times and local customer support.

0 Comments Mark Cass

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Mark Cass
Thu 9 Sep 2010: 2:54pm

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Houdini 11 Ready for the Masses?

Houdini 11 Ready for the Masses?

Now that the competitive race between Maya and 3ds Max has somewhat run its course (because they are both owned by Autodesk), we look to other developers to see what they are doing to close the gap.

1 Comments Mark Cass

Posted by
Mark Cass
Tue 7 Sep 2010: 7:36am

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Growing up with Maya

Growing up with Maya

I had a picture sent to me from an old colleague this week (above). It was taken in the "fake" Getaway pub on the 4th floor of SCEE’s (Sony Computer Entertainment Europe) offices in Soho.

0 Comments Mark Cass

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Mark Cass
Thu 2 Sep 2010: 10:19pm

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Free Evaluations of modo Production Now Available

Luxology are now giving away modo Production Evaluations for free. The Production Evaluation gives you access to more much more content than you would normally get with the free Basic modo Trial – so it actually gives you can a chance to properly test drive modo.

0 Comments Mark Cass

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Mark Cass
Wed 1 Sep 2010: 10:55am

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Autodesk Entertainment Live Tour goes to Manchester

Autodesk Entertainment Live Tour goes to Manchester

We're excited to announce that we'll be heading to Manchester with Autodesk next month for their Entertainment Live Tour event.

0 Comments Mark Cass

Posted by
Mark Cass
Thu 26 Aug 2010: 11:00am

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CVMP - Call for Short Papers

Those of you who see themselves as techno geeks and like to keep up with the latest research and developments in media production will want to check out this year’s CVMP conference.

0 Comments Mark Cass

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Mark Cass
Thu 26 Aug 2010: 10:18am

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Brand New Fluid Simulator Phoenix FD - Out Now

Brand New Fluid Simulator Phoenix FD - Out Now

Our friends at Chaos have just released a brand new fluid simulator plug-in for 3ds Max called Phoenix FD. The new plug-in is designed to make it easier for artists to simulate fire, smoke and haze more realistically and accurately than in 3ds Max alone.

1 Comments Mark Cass

Posted by
Mark Cass
Thu 12 Aug 2010: 5:19pm

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New Hot Fix for 3ds Max & 3ds Max Design 2011 Released

Autodesk have just releasd a brand new Hot Fix for Autodesk® 3ds Max® 2011 and Autodesk® 3ds Max® Design 2011.

0 Comments Mark Cass

Posted by
Mark Cass
Thu 12 Aug 2010: 2:04pm

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Fusion 6.1 Out Now

Fusion 6.1 Out Now

For those of you that have been eagerly waiting for the next release of Fusion, you’ll be pleased to know that Version 6.1 is out now and available for shipping.

0 Comments Mark Cass

Posted by
Mark Cass
Tue 20 Jul 2010: 3:46pm

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ZBrush - major announcements!

Our friends at Pixologic have done it again... There seems to be no stopping the development team and now Windows and Mac users will unite!

On Monday August 9 ,2010 existing users will be able to upgrade FREE OF CHARGE! Updated versions of all major plugins, and GoZBrush support for Modo, Cinema 4D, 3DSMax and Maya for Windows and Mac systems.
More information about ZBrush 4.0 and its features will be presented closer to launch date.

0 Comments Mark Cass

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Mark Cass
Mon 12 Jul 2010: 10:00am

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Chaos UK Tour

Chaos UK Tour

The Chaos team held their very first UK event in London last week demonstrating V-Ray pipelines and some cool new technologies that are yet to be released. It was a fun afternoon with plenty of tips and demos from both Peter Mitev and Vlado Koylazov showing us just how the experts do it in V-Ray.

0 Comments Mark Cass

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Mark Cass
Thu 8 Jul 2010: 11:49am

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More Autodesk Hotfixes

Autodesk have just released a new set of hotfixes for their 3ds Max series of products for you to get stuck into.

0 Comments Mark Cass

Posted by
Mark Cass
Mon 5 Jul 2010: 2:14pm

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Heard the hype about CityEngine? Free trial now available!

There has been lots of talk about CityEngine recently... and until now you couldn't easily try it out.

0 Comments Mark Cass

Posted by
Mark Cass
Thu 24 Jun 2010: 3:01pm

Exclusive 'Go Pro' Offer for Graduates

Every budding professional needs professional software, so we have devised a brand new promotion to help CG graduates who want to pursue commercial work, get the professional set-up they need.  This means you can now upgrade student licences to full commercial versions for half the price, and be on your way to becoming a professional CG artist.

0 Comments Mark Cass

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Mark Cass
Wed 23 Jun 2010: 1:38pm

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V-Ray for Maya 1.50 SP1 release

Chaos Group have just announced the availability of the new V-Ray for Maya 1.50 SP1, fully compatible with Maya 2011 a free of charge release for all existing customers.

0 Comments Mark Cass

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Mark Cass
Fri 18 Jun 2010: 8:57am

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Maxwell Render World Cup Promo

Next Limit have just announced a World Cup inspired promotion which will see Maxwell Render’s price drop, the further Spain progress in the tournament. This is quite an interesting promotion and there is no mistaking Next Limit is supporting their home country, Spain.

0 Comments Mark Cass

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Mark Cass
Thu 17 Jun 2010: 11:13am

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Maya Entertainment Creation Suite 2011 Review

If you have not had time to check out the fresh looking Maya 2011, maybe you would like to read a quick review from our friends at AWN.

0 Comments Mark Cass

Posted by
Mark Cass
Thu 17 Jun 2010: 10:27am

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MAXON Summer Special

MAXON Summer Special

MAXON have announced a Summer Special pricing promotion on their CINEMA 4D software. The promo includes three of their top selling software editions: the Broadcast Edition for motion graphics, the Architecture Edition for visualisation, and the Studio Bundle for 3D professionals, all discounted at 50%. There are discounts for upgrades as well, and the MAXON Service Agreement is also available.

0 Comments Mark Cass

Posted by
Mark Cass
Tue 15 Jun 2010: 10:58pm

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Delapost Paris Gives RenderMan Thumbs Up

Delapost Paris Gives RenderMan Thumbs Up

We love getting a behind the scenes look at productions and we're quite excited to chat to Delapost Paris about their recent ‘Penguins in Heaven’ project. Here we catch up with Emmanuel Koltès who gives us an insight into the making of the commercial, and specifically how Pixar’s RenderMan was used.

1 Comments Mark Cass

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Mark Cass
Tue 8 Jun 2010: 1:46pm

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3DEqualizer4 Summer Pricing Promo – Save 50%

Good news: Science.D.Visions have just announced a great Summer promotion. You can now buy a licence of 3DEqualiser4 along with 12 months support for 50% less.

0 Comments Mark Cass

Posted by
Mark Cass
Tue 8 Jun 2010: 11:39am

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Autodesk Educational Creative Suite 2011 - Now Shipping

If you’ve been patiently waiting for the new Autodesk Educational Creative Suite 2011 to become available, we’ve got good news for you. The new 2011 Suite has now been released for shipping,  meaning we can now ship all orders as soon as they are placed.

3 Comments Mark Cass

Posted by
Mark Cass
Fri 4 Jun 2010: 4:06pm

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Autodesk Maya 2011 Hotfix 1 Released

V-Ray for 3ds Max Advanced Training

Chaos will be in London this July, and we have decided to team up with them to deliver a one-day V-Ray for 3ds Max Advanced Training Course.

1 Comments Mark Cass

Posted by
Mark Cass
Fri 28 May 2010: 11:22am

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Autodesk Finance Deal: 0% Interest Finance or Pay Nothing for 5 months

Did you know that Autodesk are offering some pretty interesting finance deal at the minute?

1 Comments Mark Cass

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Mark Cass
Fri 28 May 2010: 11:19am

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Realflow 5 Out Now!

Realflow 5 Out Now!

RealFlow’s Version 5 has just been released, and we are quite excited about some of the new features and improvements our friends at NextLimit have made.

0 Comments Mark Cass

Posted by
Mark Cass
Fri 28 May 2010: 11:16am

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Next Gen Intel CPUs: More power in a smaller box

If you’re like us and have been struggling with the limits of 4-core machines for your CG applications, then you’d be just as excited about Intel's Next Generation CPU 6-core 32nm processors. They are probably the biggest advancement in CPU cores for over two years.

0 Comments Mark Cass

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Mark Cass
Fri 28 May 2010: 11:09am

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Pixar RenderMan User Group Meeting tonight!

We are all looking forward to the UGM tonight with our very technical friends at Pixar! Over 200 people in attendance... should be a great night and plenty of Escape $ behind the bar!

0 Comments Mark Cass

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Mark Cass
Thu 27 May 2010: 3:09pm

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V-Ray for 3ds Max SP5 Released

Our friends at Chaos Group have just announced the release of the new Service Pack 5 for V-Ray for 3ds Max.

0 Comments Mark Cass

Posted by
Mark Cass
Wed 19 May 2010: 9:01am

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Autodesk Subscription Payment Plans

If you’re like most of us, and love to get your hands on the latest Autodesk 2011 products but cringe at the thought of paying the total sum up front, then you may want to check this out. We’re now offering prospective Autodesk 2011 users the option of funding their set-up with subscription payment plans from Autodesk Finance.

3 Comments Mark Cass

Posted by
Mark Cass
Mon 10 May 2010: 8:24am

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Storage Explored Part 1: Bandwidth Efficiency

Hello world!

We nerds are back to get deeper into storage and the various options and solutions out there. We're starting a multi-part blog series to try and help people get a better technical grasp over storage for media and entertainment. There's a vast majority out there that see storage as a mystic and cryptic situation; and we aim to help change that and aid normal people in their battles on the subject. We get a large number of enquiries about this at Escape Studios - and for too long, too many people have been purchasing the wrong hardware and software for the right purpose.

0 Comments Mark Cass

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Mark Cass
Wed 5 May 2010: 4:38pm

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Pixar release Tractor!

Pixar have just announced the release of it's much anticipated Distributed Processing Solution for RenderMan and Other Applications!

0 Comments Mark Cass

Posted by
Mark Cass
Fri 30 Apr 2010: 9:55am

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Expert training for modo enthusiasts

Expert training for modo enthusiasts

We have some exciting news for aspiring modo artists wanting to learn modo straight from the experts. Luxology's very own expert trainer, Andy Brown will be delivering an introductory two-day course at Escape Studios in June. This course is ideal for artists who are new to modo and want to learn more about the interface and efficient modelling and shading workflows. You will also discover how to accelerate the production process by utilising time-saving modo features like presets, assemblies and kits.

0 Comments Mark Cass

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Mark Cass
Thu 22 Apr 2010: 5:02pm

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The Official Architectural V-Ray Demo Reel Released

The Official Architectural V-Ray Demo Reel Released

Chaos have released their official Ach Vis 2009 Demo reel today. It showcases some really cool imagery from very talented Arch Vis artists.  This is definitely worth a peek if you are interested in Arch Vis and want to see some amazing work from the industry’s top Arch Vis Studios.

0 Comments Mark Cass

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Mark Cass
Thu 1 Apr 2010: 3:08pm

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Fusion Master Class – Dates Announced!

We have good news for all Fusion users out there. We are going to be hosting an exclusive three-day Fusion master class, which will be delivered by eyeon’s expert trainer, Eric Westphal.

0 Comments Mark Cass

Posted by
Mark Cass
Thu 25 Mar 2010: 12:27pm

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Escape Studios Helps Havendale Deck out a start-up Arch Vis Studio

A while back we helped kit out a start-up arch vis studio set-up up by an arch vis artist Jon Yates. Jon came to us wanting to set up his very own studio, and needed to recreate the performance and scalability he was used to, but this time on a tighter budget and within a more restricted space.

2 Comments Mark Cass

Posted by
Mark Cass
Thu 25 Mar 2010: 12:11pm

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Become a Phoenix Fluid Dynamics Beta Tester

Our friends at Chaos have developed a new product called Phoenix Fluid Dynamics which is designed to simulate fluids in a quicker and more realistic way.  Apparently, it simplifies and speeds up the process of simulating things like fire, smoke and haze.

0 Comments Mark Cass

Posted by
Mark Cass
Thu 25 Mar 2010: 11:53am

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Weta's making of Avatar – Inside Scoop

Our friends at Science D Visions have released an insightful interview with Weta Digital, the Studio credited with delivering over 300 stereoscopic matchmoves for Avatar.

1 Comments Mark Cass

Posted by
Mark Cass
Wed 17 Mar 2010: 2:55pm

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Autodesk and Epic Games Team Up to Streamline Autodesk-to-Unreal Workflow with FBX

This is hot off the press from Autodesk at the Games Developers Conference in San Fran... Rather than paraphrase their release, I thought you'd like to see it in its entirety. So here it is:

0 Comments Mark Cass

Posted by
Mark Cass
Fri 12 Mar 2010: 11:34am

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Autodesk Unveils 2011 Versions of Digital Entertainment Creation Software

Autodesk Unveils 2011 Versions of Digital Entertainment Creation Software

We have some exciting news from Autodesk today. They have just unveiled the 2011 versions of its Digital Entertainment Creation software with the promise of increased production efficiency, especially in terms of  interaction, workflow, interface design and interoperability. The release dates are yet to be announced, but from what we've seen the new versions promise great value and some avant-garde technology developed with the likes of Sony Pictures Imageworks.

0 Comments Mark Cass

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Mark Cass
Wed 10 Mar 2010: 3:39pm

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CG Workflows with Avatar

On Wednesday we were at the Apollo cinema in Picadilly, for our CG Workflows event with Framestore, looking at some of the extremely difficult shots they were asked to tackle on Avatar.

2 Comments Mark Cass

Posted by
Mark Cass
Fri 5 Mar 2010: 12:32pm

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ZNews! Pixologic release new plug-in...

There seems to be no stopping for the development team at Pixologic with the announcement of the release of UV Master, a plugin for ZBrush 3.2 Mac and ZBrush 3.5R3 WIN.

0 Comments Mark Cass

Posted by
Mark Cass
Thu 25 Feb 2010: 9:50am

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What would have Pompeii looked like in 80 AD? Part II

What would have Pompeii looked like in 80 AD? Part II

To answer comments posted by Zeropuff1234, we asked the CityEngine’s creator, Pascal Mueller, CEO of Procedural Inc to shed some more light on what CityEngine can do and how to get a more realistic look by populating cities with people.

0 Comments Mark Cass

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Mark Cass
Fri 5 Feb 2010: 10:24am

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What would have Pompeii looked like in 80 AD?

What would have Pompeii looked like in 80 AD?


This 3D reconstruction of ancient Pompeii is quite neat. Generated with Procedural’s CityEngine, it shows how quickly a 3D city can be created using a plug-in, and eliminate the time-consuming tasks of manual modeling and design often required in games, post-production and architectural visualisation. It is also up to 10 times more efficient at creating urban environments than existing packages. It is completely brand new to Escape Studios – no need to say we are quite excited about it.

4 Comments Mark Cass

Posted by
Mark Cass
Mon 1 Feb 2010: 11:34am

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Service Pack 3 for modo 401 Released!

We have lots of exciting new developments from our friends at Luxology.

0 Comments Mark Cass

Posted by
Mark Cass
Fri 29 Jan 2010: 10:51am

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Turtle now supports Autodesk Maya 2010!

The new Turtle™ 5.1 version for Autodesk Maya 2010 has been released!  Illuminate labs have made improvements to their rendering and baking plug-in for Autodesk Maya, to make it better for lighting and content creation in next-gen game development.

1 Comments Mark Cass

Posted by
Mark Cass
Tue 19 Jan 2010: 9:00pm

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Autodesk Project Cooper...

We have just come by an interesting little tool from our friends at Autodesk - and it's free!

0 Comments Mark Cass

Posted by
Mark Cass
Mon 18 Jan 2010: 12:33pm

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Autodesk Mudbox 2010 Service Pack 1

Our friends at Autodesk have released the first service pack for Mudbox 2010.

0 Comments Mark Cass

Posted by
Mark Cass
Fri 15 Jan 2010: 12:08pm

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Maya and Max 2010 - Free courseware offer!

Hi there,

The Tech Team at Escape thought it may be nice to offer some additional value to the service we provide when anyone buys a new commercial license of Maya or Max.

0 Comments Mark Cass

Posted by
Mark Cass
Thu 14 Jan 2010: 8:27pm

V-Ray for 3ds Max Service Pack 4a - released.

Hi all, the Chaos Group have released Service Pack 4a for V-Ray for 3ds Max and has been added to the download section of their website.

0 Comments Mark Cass

Posted by
Mark Cass
Tue 15 Dec 2009: 10:10am

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VFX in the making of 2012

VFX in the making of 2012

Check out this interview with Marc Weigert, the 2012 Co-producer and VFX Supervisor behind the blockbuster 2012.  His team of  over a 100 artists worked on this feature and formed the central VFX hub for the movie. To their credit they completed an astonishing number of shots within a very short timeframe using a traditional pipeline,  including eyeon's Fusion and Generation. Here he chats to eyeon's CEO Steve Roberts about the Visual Effects in the film.

0 Comments Mark Cass

Posted by
Mark Cass
Thu 10 Dec 2009: 4:15pm

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Softimage 2010 Service Pack 1 officially released!

The first Service Pack for Autodesk® Softimage® 2010 has just been released and is available for download. The SP1 includes nearly 70 fixes for rendering, animation, and comes with a new version of Autodesk® Crosswalk technology, a handy content transfer toolset which should make it easier to move Softimage content in and out of Autodesk® 3dsMax® and Autodesk® Maya® pipelines. The SP1 is great news for those on the Linux® platform who can now access the Autodesk® Face Robot® app. designed make it easier for face rigging and animation for realistic characters. For more information on the new features or to download the SP1, check out here.

0 Comments Mark Cass

Posted by
Mark Cass
Thu 10 Dec 2009: 4:14pm

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Online MasterClass: Developing assets for “Rock Band: The Beatles"

Today marks the beginning of Autodesk’s 3December –  an annual event, celebrating 3D computer graphics and the artists who create them.

0 Comments Mark Cass

Posted by
Mark Cass
Tue 1 Dec 2009: 4:02pm

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Hurry - last days to save 59% on Autodesk Upgrades!

There are only a few days left to get huge savings to the latest Autodesk 2010 releases - saving you up to 59% on Softimage 2010, Maya 2010 and 3ds Max 2010 Suites if you order before the 1st December, 2009.

0 Comments Mark Cass

Posted by
Mark Cass
Fri 27 Nov 2009: 2:35pm

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New feature - Nick's Doodles

Here at Escape Studios, we pride ourselves on our close links with the industry. One of the ways we maintain these links is by having tutors who have done the jobs they teach. This means that our tutors are some of the best CGers in the business, and they’re an incredibly creative bunch.

0 Comments Mark Cass

Posted by
Mark Cass
Fri 27 Nov 2009: 2:05pm

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ZBrush 3.5 R3 for Windows now released!

We have good news for all users of Zbrush: the new ZBrush 3.5 update for Windows has just been released. It's called R3, and it has loads of new features and enhancements as well as a better toolset. If you are a registered user of Zbrush, you can download it for free here.

0 Comments Mark Cass

Posted by
Mark Cass
Wed 25 Nov 2009: 10:30am

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Hollywood producer, Charlotte Huggins to discuss 3D breakthroughs in film and TV.

For those in the film industry, this may be an interesting event for your December diary. The Institution of Engineering and Technology is holding the inaugural John Logie Baird event on the 8th December entitled ‘3D – Back to the future’.

0 Comments Mark Cass

Posted by
Mark Cass
Wed 18 Nov 2009: 4:45pm

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Upgrade to Maya, 3ds Max and SoftImage 2010 apps and save up to 59%!

For those of you wanting to get their fingers on the latest versions of Maya, SoftImage and 3ds Max, you can now get considerably more bang for your buck with our new Upgrade Promotion. #

0 Comments Mark Cass

Posted by
Mark Cass
Fri 13 Nov 2009: 10:45am

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Online Maya courseware at The Arts University College at Bournemouth

Hi all,

I recently caught up with Paul Hilton, Senior Lecturer BA (Hons) Animation at The Arts University College at Bournemouth. AUCB recently purchased our online Maya coursware for themselves and their students, so I asked Paul how they were finding the experience:

0 Comments Mark Cass

Posted by
Mark Cass
Fri 6 Nov 2009: 1:10pm

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V-Ray® for Autodesk® 3dsMax® Service Packs Officially Released!

The newest build of V-Ray has officially been released! You can now upgrade your version with new Service Packs and get brand new and modified features for free.

0 Comments Mark Cass

Posted by
Mark Cass
Fri 6 Nov 2009: 1:00pm

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Amazing Student Software Offer

If you have seen our website you should know that Autodesk have a pretty fab student offer on at the moment. If not, check it out here.

1 Comments Mark Cass

Posted by
Mark Cass
Wed 14 Oct 2009: 3:31pm

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Autodesk Maya, now truly unlimited? – Maya 2010

Our friends at Autodesk have made some pretty spectacular changes to their Maya package by consolidating their packages in to one. Gone are the days of Maya Complete and Maya Unlimited, we’re now left with one standard solution. So it might come at a higher cost but is it worth it?

1 Comments Mark Cass

Posted by
Mark Cass
Mon 24 Aug 2009: 9:20am

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Colleges and Universities: the great resource debate.

I have been travelling around the UK countryside visiting academic institutions over the past six months. I have made many observations during that time, and feel it is time to share some of them.

0 Comments Mark Cass

Posted by
Mark Cass
Fri 10 Jul 2009: 3:23pm

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