Escape Studios Blog

Ready, Set, Design.

Thu, 23 May 2013 12:13:27 +0100

Set design is a real passion of mine, and I recently found this great video on the film club website, even though I’m a 3D artist I thoroughly enjoy seeing real models The host of the video, ‘Film Club’, is a fantastic charity educating and transforming life through film, they set up film clubs in both Primary and Secondary schools across the UK. This particular video is of a rather...

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Get Me To The Church On Time!

Wed, 22 May 2013 16:29:19 +0100

Escape VFX student receives recognition at BSC Event. One of the things I like most about my job is being able to interact with the students when they come into the Breakout Space throughout the day. It’s always nice to have a chat with them about how their projects are going or what plans they have after class, especially when I get to discover that one of our very own VFX students, George...

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Make it Polycount

Wed, 22 May 2013 12:19:59 +0100

As a 3D lover I am also a regular frequenter of Polycount. Some of you out there will no doubt already be familiar with this site, but for those that aren’t – it’s a community of pros and hobbyists that specialise in creating 3D for videogames, and it is always brimming with infatuating content. 2 links on the site have caught my eye of late; the first is this collaboration with ‘Sketchfab’....

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The Scouts take on Game Design!

Wed, 22 May 2013 10:02:08 +0100

It’s no longer just about woggles, tying knots and collecting firewood, as the Scouts of America have fully embraced the digital age with perhaps the world's first digital badge of merit! Getting started young with an eye to CG's place in the economy now and in the future – the Scouts of America have launched an initiative to engage with young enthusiasts interested in CG. The Boy Scouts had...

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VFX on your tablet!

Tue, 21 May 2013 11:13:07 +0100

Cinefex, the long standing centre of behind the scenes VFX information is now finally available on the iPad and online, check out the free copy of issue 127. The edition created for iPad, is jam packed with all the content you’ll find in the print version of the magazine – but this bad boy includes double the amount of photographs (some of which are interactive) allowing the reader to smoothly...

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3D Print your way to your very own Golden Ticket!

Tue, 21 May 2013 09:44:29 +0100

There’s been a lot of controversy recently over the seemingly limitless possibilities to 3D printing, but for every gun that’s created, it looks like there will be hundreds of these bad boys made to level out the playing field of naughty vs nice. Sugar sculptures. These awesome creations use white sugar as their base material and print the most bizarre looking of 3D structures that are also...

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Riding the storm

Tue, 21 May 2013 09:25:11 +0100

Helen Hunt ain’t got nothin’ on me… Some of you may remember my previous blog anticipating a rather hectic conclusion to last week, with a Graduation, an Open Day and One-Day Taster Courses all in the space of three days my feet hardly touched the ground! Well, I’m pleased to say it all went without a hitch and I survived - just. Beer and conversation were flowing well on Wednesday night as we...

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Toto, I have a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore…

Wed, 15 May 2013 15:38:55 +0100

Escape whips up a whirlwind of activity this week. It certainly felt like the calm before the storm when I came into work on Monday, there was a buzz of energy slowly building through the office in anticipation of what was going to hit us from today onwards. With Clementine Lo guest speaking at our Academy Tour this morning, three courses graduating this afternoon and our One-day Taster Courses...

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How's your trivia?

Mon, 13 May 2013 15:58:20 +0100

Everyone loves a bit of trivia, and for fans of US TV series, here’s a fun trivia site if you want to go above and beyond when it comes to televised entertainment, and learn more about the creators of your favourite shows. This site 'universeries' has a vast collection of US series collected in a rather visually exciting multi coloured mind map, the site mashes up 3D data visualization with...

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Saddington Baynes heads to L.A.

Mon, 13 May 2013 12:37:07 +0100

Taking newly appointed MD, Jigisha Bouverat along for the ride… It’s exciting times ahead for the guys at Saddington Baynes who announced recently that they will be opening an office in L.A. this coming June. Formerly Director of Art Production at TBWA/Chiat/Day, Jigisha Bouverat has left her 24 year post to spearhead the imminent launch of the new premises. Saddington Baynes’ CEO Chris...

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Iron Man 3 - VFX Straight out of London

Fri, 10 May 2013 12:22:15 +0100

It’s a delight to say that a sizeable chunk of the VFX for Iron Man 3 were produced right here in London, and many of them by our friends at Framestore. Their contribution to the project undeniably creates the all-round key look for the movie. The third instalment of the Iron man trilogy has been received very well all over the world, directed by Shane Black, this movie is, in Stark’s words…...

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MPC comes to Escape

Thu, 09 May 2013 09:12:46 +0100

Okay folks, our Academy Tour is almost upon us; on Wednesday 15th May Escape Studios will once again open its doors to all you VFX lovers out there wishing to get ahead of the game in the industry. We’ve been spoiling our attendees recently with special talks from the guys at Framestore, 2d artist Simon Richardson and esteemed animator Paul Chung and I’m pleased to say that this time is no...

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Ray Harryhausen - A VFX Legend.

Wed, 08 May 2013 10:00:22 +0100

Very sad to hear that VFX legend Ray Harryhausen passed away yesterday, at the grand age of 92. Harryhausen created such films as Jason and the Argonauts (1963) and The Clash of the Titans (1981). He created his models by hand and shot them frame by frame to create some of the best known battle sequences in 20th century cinema. An official announcement from the Ray Harryhausen Foundation was...

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A Deadly Combination!

Tue, 07 May 2013 10:44:43 +0100

In this modern age, the desk of the busy designer is likely to be filled with graphics tablets, laptops and PC’s, and let’s be honest, there is such a thing as too much clutter. But hopefully when this invention hits the design world, things will change! French designer Amir Labidi has developed a laptop concept with the working title ‘LapTouch’ and it’s designed specifically for the creative...

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VFX vs Motion Graphics

Fri, 03 May 2013 10:04:42 +0100

In my early career exploring VFX Vs Motion Graphics; I was very tempted to try my hand at film title sequences. I loved the design aspect, the story telling requirement and strong visuals used to captivate the audience right from the start. But in the end, my decision to go down the compositing route came down to two basic reasons, a) Because at the time jobs on film titles were far and few...

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Denmark Invasion!

Thu, 02 May 2013 15:10:48 +0100

Escape takes on a decidedly Nordic air… We’ve had the pleasure of welcoming 3D College Denmark to our studios this week. Over the last two days the college’s first year VFX and Game Art students have arrived in their droves, eager to find out what delights await them should they decide to continue their studies here after they complete their current courses. The poor guy on the main reception...

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McLaren P1 Light Painting Video - Check it out!

Thu, 02 May 2013 09:51:16 +0100

Feast your eyes on the behind the scenes footage of the McLaren P1 Light Painting video. You may remember the launch in 2012 but I've only come across the 'behind the scenes' footage now and I hope you will enjoy it as much as I do. This motion light painting film consists of stop-motion, long exposure photography, light painting animation, driven by real-life wind tunnel data and two motion...

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3DCS 2013

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 13:15:49 +0100

Kicking yourself that you missed this year’s 3DCS? You might remember back in March I wrote about how the 3D Creative Summit was causing a bit of a stir among my colleagues here at Escape. With the legendary Sir David Attenborough leading an impressive line-up of key figures in film and TV there was certainly a reason to get a little excitable. Well, those of you who didn’t manage to make it to...

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Monsters & Legends - Nothing like a bit of cryptozoology!

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 09:51:53 +0100

As every grown up kid knows, good children's books are a pleasure, and appeal as much to the adults reading it as they do to the kids. The general rule for me is that the better the illustrations the more engrossing the book, and this one hits the nail on the head, ‘Monsters and Legends’ is described as a ‘magic of reality’ book and within it's pages explores the wealth of possibilities that...

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Step-By-Step

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 16:30:00 +0100

Each time I watch a student show reel I am always blown away by how professional they look and this one (above) by Escapee Alastair Cross has impressed me in particular. Being a novice to the world of visual effects I’m always interested in getting to know how it all comes together and the ‘step-by-step’ breakdown he includes is extremely insightful. Alastair studied a VFX course at Escape and...

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