Free VFX Tutorials at Our Next Open Day at Bucks - Saturday 21 February

Model your own Gul Dukat at Bucks for free! Image: Wikipedia

Saturday 21 February is not just any old Open Day at Bucks. As well as the usual tour of our state-of-the-art facilities, Bucks tutors Dave Creighton and Nick Brown are offering free tutorials in specialist VFX software Mudbox and RealFlow, giving our prospective students a unique insight into the digital pipeline of the growing animation and visual effects industry.  So, if you come along on Saturday, what exactly can you expect to learn?

Dave Creighton will be teaching Realflow, a powerful tool for creating dynamic simulations in the visual effects pipeline. Think stiff like water, smoke, fluids - any kind of particle systems that would be hard to create using traditional keyframe methods. It's one of the leading new software packages and an essential part of the digital artist's toolbox.

Nick Brown will be teaching Mudbox, a superb sculpting tool, widely used in the industry, and one which can create fast accurate sculptures.  He'll be helping prospective students to create their very own Gul Dukat from Star Trek, showing how Mudbox can be used to create excellent results in a short amount of time.

Did you miss the January 15th deadline for UCAS applications? Fear not! We are still looking for talented animators and digital artists who want to pursue a career in creative media.  You can still apply, and we still want to interview you. So come along to the open day, have a chat, and send us your portfolio!

UCAS - not too late! But hurry!

Got questions about Animation? Or about visual effects work? Curious about careers, the kind of jobs available for animators and digital artists? - We have the answers.  Higher education is a big step and it's even bigger now that course fees have gone up. We want to make sure that all our students get excellent value for money, and receive an inspiring top-quality training that will ensure a successful career in industry.

High Wycombe. Arrive by car or by train

You can find out why we give all our students free laptops, and why everyone gets a free subscription to Lynda.com - one of the leading providers of tech tutorials for learning new software.  If you miss a session in class - just catch up online.

Free 1TB of storage for our freshers

This goes for our animation classes too; we have literally hundreds of online videos available exclusively to our students, hosted at Vimeo. Just log in, and start learning.  We also hand out free 1TB external hard drives, so you have enough storage for all the impressive work you produce here at Bucks.

We want all our students to have access to the latest tools, and we recognise that finance is tight for most students, so we won't burden you with extra costs and hidden charges.

So, come along and find out if Bucks is for you. And when you book a tour, make sure you ask to see the media facilities, not just the general tour. Why? Because at Bucks we strongly encourage collaborations between film-makers, working with other departments like sound design and performing arts, so you should check out what they do as well.

Sound design at Bucks

What makes Bucks unique is the state-of-the-art kit we have, the latest in sound design, music recording, motion capture, dance and performance, film and TV. Need a cameraman? We have those. Need a voice-over? We've got that. Come and take the tour and be as impressed as I was when I came for interview at Bucks two years ago.

The official page, which has more details, including signups, maps and directions, can be found here.

 ---Alex

For more on the experience of studying at Bucks New University, come and visit us at one of our Open Days,  take a virtual tour of one of our animation studios, check out what our students think of our course, and see why we're ranked in the top 12 creative universities in the UK. Find out why we're giving free laptops to all our students, and why we give all our students free access to videos at Lynda.com. Also, see what financial assistance might be available to you. Learn which is better for animation, a PC or a Mac? Get hold of a copy of a map so you can find your way around campus, and learn about motion capture at Bucks.