Oregon3D Inc., The Academy for Digital Arts & Sciences, is offering an Intro to Urban Simulation course. Scheduled for Sept. 14, 2004, this one-day course offers an introduction to the dynamic field of urban simulation, aimed at students seeking a general overview for a broad range of projects in entertainment, business and government.
Oregon3D has announced it will offer a series of classes specifically devoted to content creation for the Unreal Engine, the leading 3D technology platform pioneered by Epic Games. Scheduled during the SIGGRAPH 2004 Conference, this one-day session will run on both Aug. 9 and Aug. 10, from 9:00 am to 3:30 pm in the Los Angeles Room at The Wilshire Grand Hotel in downtown Los Angeles.
The Media Design School, New Zealand's premiere learning institution for the digital arts, announces a slate of new faculty additions that include Tom Zuber, Patrick McNabb and Richard Hicks, going into its visit to SIGGRAPH 2004 conference at the Los Angeles Convention Center from August 10-12, 2004 at booth #1958.
National Cartoonists Society's 2002 Newspaper Illustrator of the Year and international syndicated cartoonist and illustrator Steve McGarry will speak to animation, videogame, art and design students at The Art Institute of California-Orange County, July 28, 2004 at 11:30 am.
The Gnomon Workshop has six new DVDs touting the concept design work of Mark Goerner and Neville Page in conjunction with Design Studio Press. Goerner's two titles illustrate sketching and rendering interior spaces; and Neville Page's four DVDs take you through character design, painting and detailed techniques for rendering eyes and flesh.
Digital-Tutors (DT), an award-winning service of PL Studios Inc., announced the release of its mental ray training kit for Maya. This highly requested training kit provides core data needed to learn the extremely powerful mental ray rendering system. The mental ray kit features step-by-step instructions on sub-surface scattering, hdri, global illumination, final gathering, displacement mapping, light baking and more.
The Hollywood Post Alliance is presenting the 2004 Summer School Program, a tutorial on post-production. The program will run from July 23 - 24, 2004. The workshop will kick off on July 23 with drinks and hors doeuvres at 6:00 pm followed by as case study on SPIDER-MAN 2 at 7:00 pm.
Oregon3D Inc., The Academy for Digital Arts & Sciences, will be holding a two-day open house scheduled for July 20 and 21, 2004. Technology presentations will focus on game development and design/visualization applications.
Oregon3D's Game Development Day: July 20, 3:00 to 7:00 pmPresenters from Turbo Squid, RTzen, Right Hemisphere and other guest speakers will explore the tools and techniques used to create today's top-selling videogames.
Alias announced its full lineup of new Maya Learning Tools to accompany Maya 6, the latest version of its 3D animation and special effects software. Maya Learning Tools are books and DVDs that offer self-paced learning for 3D professionals, students and enthusiasts. Alias will release dozens of DVDs and books in the coming months for a variety of learning levels, many in time for SIGGRAPH (Aug.
Gnomon School of Visual Effects' Maya Fast Track program for summer 2004 begins July 5 and runs through Sept. 10. This intensive, nine-week program is designed primarily for individuals already familiar with 3D and who want to get production-ready on Maya as quickly as possible. Consisting of nine one-week classes, the Maya Fast Track program is based on industry-approved Gnomon courses.
The Fast Track includes three hours of lab time after class, five days a week.
The Art Institute of Phoenix (TAIP) is now offering a new bachelor's degree program in Visual & Game Programming designed to prepare upcoming technical artists for the videogame and animation industries.
Students receive intensive training in the foundations of art and design before entering into the more technical areas of programming for 3D animation. Students learn the essential skills to effectively solve technical problems and effectively bridge between the technical programmer and the creative artist.
Gnomon School of Visual Effects now has open registration for the summer term (June 28-Sept. 12). Meanwhile, the curriculum for digital courses (including image-based techniques and character skinning) will now reflect new tools and techniques. Erick Miller, lead technical director of Digital Domain, will be the new character skinning instructor, while Kyle Jefferson of DreamWorks will again teach previsualization and animatics.
Professor Ron Morse, as part of the Asian studies program, will start a new course on anime and manga at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, reports THE LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL.
"Most people stop reading comic books when they're six years old," said Morse. "It's more than childish stuff. It's a serious sociological critique."
The class was spurred by the growing influx of anime in the U.S. Morse comments that serious issues such as drug addiction, prostitution and murder make anime worth studying at a university level.
Bobby "Boom" Beck and Carlos Baena of Pixar Animation Studios and Shawn Kelly of Industrial Light & Magic have launched the new online animation school, AnimationMentor.com. The interactive school is a place where students will learn from guest professionals in the feature film industry. AnimationMentor.com hopes to become an international education hub that is more affordable than traditional art schools. Classes are scheduled to begin in fall 2004, and students can join at any time until seats are full. Enrollment will begin in September 2004.
Computer Master Institute of Technology (CMIT) has announced that, along with its e-Business and New Media Studies Diploma graduates, CMIT's first all female class of Advanced Digital Animation students have completed their studies.
The new Center for Digital Imaging Arts (CDIA) at Boston University is enrolling students of all ages and experience levels for a variety of certificate programs and workshops in digital filmmaking, photography, 3D animation, game design and visual effects.
Students may sign up for intensive training through a nine-month certificate program or basic skills through a foundation certificate or workshop series. Courses range from Beginning Photography for the Digital Age to Digital Film Boot Camp and all levels of Photoshop, editing, lighting and real-world assignments.
An intrepid group of students from Minneapolis will be trekking to Northern California to attend VES 2004, the Visual Effects Society's sixth annual Festival of vfx, June 18-20 in San Rafael. This will be the third year in a row that the aspiring visual effects artists and animators from The Art Institutes International Minnesota (AIM) will attend the festival, accompanied by faculty member Michael Heagle, an instructor of Visual Effects and Motion Graphics.
Expression College for Digital Arts of Emeryville, California, announced that its digital visual media students were chosen to design and produce the graphic openings for the Visual Effects Societys (VES) sixth annual VES Festival on June 18-20 in San Rafael, California. A team of Expression students under the direction of instructor Stephen Kopels is also responsible for videotaping all of the presentations for the VES archives.
Kaydara announced its first Certified Courseware DVD for MOTIONBUILDER, the company's award-winning character animation solution. INTRODUCTION TO MOTIONBUILDER 5.5 is an interactive training guide that teaches users the fundamentals of using MOTIONBUILDER more effectively to create character animation. From interface and general concepts to exporting to other 3D applications, users will learn step-by-step how use MOTIONBUILDER for their own projects.
The Academy Foundation, the educational and cultural arm of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, has distributed $400,000 in financial grants to 43 college and community film programs across the United States.
The Academy Foundation's Grants Committee, chaired by actors branch member Janet MacLachlan, selected the following programs for the 2004-2005 allocation:
The allocations include:
INTERNSHIP PROGRAMS
$12,500 to:
California Institute of the Arts, Valenica, California.
Oregon3D Inc., The Academy for Digital Arts & Sciences, is offering a six-week Oregon3D Character Animation Camp, June 6 thru July 16, 2004. It gives students a series of challenging courses designed to immerse participants into the world of character animation. Taught by certified instructors and renowned industry professionals such as Mike Wellins, award-winning former director from Vinton Studios, the Oregon3D Character Animation Camp offers a series of six, individual weeklong classes that range from the history of animation to creating a finished piece of high-quality animation.
The Oregon3D Character Animation Camp is a multi-week "camp experience." Students who cannot commit to the entire six weeks have the option to sign up for the Oregon3D Character Animation Camp's courses a-la-carte at regular course prices, or subset of classes for a discounted rate. Those students, who register for the whole six-week camp, can choose either a Maya or 3ds max specialty track. The Oregon3D Character Animation Camp courses are as follows:
The Art Institute of California San Francisco (http://www.aicasf.aii.edu) has announced a new scholarship program designed for videogame industry professionals interested in furthering their education. The school is offering special scholarships ranging from $1,000 to $5,000 to individuals who are or have worked in the game industry. Scholarships must be applied for tuition in the school's Game Art & Design (Bachelor of Science) or Visual & Game Programming (Bachelor of Science) degree programs.
Renowned sound designer and mixer, as well as USC alumnus, Gary Rydstrom will deliver the commencement address at the 2004 USC School of Cinema-Television Commencement Ceremony on May 14, 2004 at the Shrine Auditorium. Rydstrom will accept the prestigious Mary Pickford Outstanding Alumnus Award, given in recognition of his innovative and prolific work in film sound.
World-renowned designer, concept artist and futurist Syd Mead will speak and sign the books OBLAGON and SENTURY (his latest) at Gnomon School of Visual Effects on Thursday, May 20 at 7:00 pm.
The Art Institute of California - San Francisco is hosting special Summer Studio Workshops, June 22-25, giving high school seniors the opportunity to explore the creative arts, meet fellow young creative people and learn about new design technologies. The hands-on workshops will be held for students interested in learning more about videogame development, computer animation, graphic design, fashion design, interior design and Web design. Students can choose one of five different workshops.
