Category: Education and Training

Animation Mentor, the Berkeley-based online character animation school, was selected by San Francisco radio station Alice @ 97.3 as a partner on its Alices 3-Minute Film Festival. The modern adult contemporary station unveils a new Morning Show-themed short film, each year, as part of the celebration. This years short was co-directed by Animation Mentors co-founder/creative director Carlos Baena, whose motion picture credits include FINDING NEMO and CARS.

Subhash Ghai's Mukta Arts and Film City have launched the Whistling Woods Intl. film school on the Film City campus in Mumbai, reports VARIETY. The school will begin classes in July and has a teaching staff that includes Bollywood actors Naseeruddin Shah and Shabana Azmi, helmers Ghai, Shyam Benegal and Aruna Raje.

Concept design luminaries James Clyne and Neville Page will be teaching two new courses at Gnomon School of Visual Effects during the spring 2006 term, which begins April 3. Clyne has developed and will teach Environment Workflow Techniques, while Pages course is Character Workflow Techniques. Both courses are five weeks in length.

Digital-Tutors announced the availability of the first interactive training solution for RenderMan for Maya and two introductory guides to Rigging and Enveloping in XSI.

INTRODUCTION TO RENDERMAN FOR MAYA provides more than three hours of project-driven training to increase the artist's understanding of RenderMan for Maya. Perfect for artists new to the powerful capabilities of RenderMan for Maya and experienced artists seeking time-saving tips and techniques.

Sorun Corp., a Japanese company that consults on information systems, and Digital Hollywood, a Japanese digital creation school, have announced they will be investing in a new digital media school set up at Nankai University in the northeastern Chinese city of Tianjin, reports Yahoo.com.

The Tianjin Sorun Digital Media school will open this fall with capital of 210 million yen (1.8 million dollars). Sorun Corp. will invest 81% of the capital, with Digital Hollywood and Nankai University supplying 9.5% each.

The Gnomon Workshop has released its first training titles from Stephen McClure titled, MATCHMOVING 101: FUNDAMENTALS. Matchmoving integrates computer-generated visual effects into a live-action plate for film, television, music videos or commercials. Using real-world situations, MATCHMOVING 101 takes the artist from the set-survey process through recreating camera elements in Maya.