[left]Heya - yeah I’m really looking forward seeing what people have to say about this.
I’ve been thinking about attendig a course there for a few years now, but there’s always something stoping me from going. Right now i’m torn between going to London to Escape, or enrolling at Animation Mentor. I think i pretty much know what i want to know within Maya so i think going there would be pretty usless.
But still would be great to know.
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I have a few years ago. i did the Maya foundation course. I have to be honest and say that MY experience was not great.My tutor was useless, by the time he could answer any questions i asked, i had already looked them up in the help file. Incredibly, he is has done quite a lot of work in the FX industry, so i can only assume that he is a TERRIBLE teacher.
That said, i spoke to the the founder to voice my concerns and he was very forthcoming and offered me a discount on my next course, if i chose to do one. My only beef was with this tutor, everyone else was very professional and very nice. And they do seem to be a very good place to learn. The machines are fast the rooms are big enough and comfortable.
As for was it worth the money, well in my case no. It was almost a grand for 5 days of learning the foundations of maya which really really could have been picked up just a easily from a book. And i never really got the impression that i was getting my money’s worth. I think the value for money would come from doing more advanced courses. If that is what you are ineterested in then i dont think you will regret it.
I’m not sure you can compare Escape with Animation Mentor to be honest. One offers weekly courses and the other is a full on 18 month course that specialises in character animation.
So to sum up, i would say, yes they are good and you should consider them but pick your course carefully.
Marc
I’ve not been there myself, but i know a few people who’ve reported similar experiences to Marc.
[left]I did go down there at the beginning of the year just to have a look, and i was very impressed by the place, the atmosphere was spot on and i got a really awsome tour by one of the guys. The thing that impressed me more than anything was the contacts they have - i was only there for about an hour, and i got to meet Chris Ford from Pixar (renderman), so it does show they have strong links down there.
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I have been to Escape, and I have quite different views to that which Marc had.
My experience there was excellent, and to be honest from what I haveseen, unparalleled. I did the Maya Comprehensive course, the Shake Foundation Course and the VFX Production Grade course. When I did my Maya Comp course, a couple of years ago now, It was about 6 grand for 8 weeks I seem to remember and I thought that it was great. Since then the courses have been reshaped further and give you more time there for your money, which makes it even better than what I did.
Escape cant promise that you will get a job after the course, no 3D training institution can. But what Escape can offer is really great after course support to help you get into a job after your course. It isnt a case of ‘you have finished the course, get out next lot in’… Which is what I have seen other courses do. Escape now has a recruitment division to help get their graduates into jobs in the industry.
The contacts that they have with the big players of the UK 3D industry (Games and VFX) is better than I have seen from ANY university or other training center. These direct contacts into the industry are so valuable, and a great reason to take Escape seriously.
Holly, I went to Escape after doing a Sports and Exercise Science degree… So not really a course that was applied to 3D in any way at all, it goes to show that you dont need to be a fully fledged 3D artist before you go to get the anything out of the courses. I know alot of people who have gone to Escape after doing Computer Sceince degrees and got an awful lot from the courses.
Marc, you said that the Maya foundation coruse was abit slow. It wouldnt have been right for a course (that you can do with no prior 3D knowledge) to jump in at the first week and do advanced shaders, animation, and dynamics… I found it structured in a way that the opening days do teach the basics, but that is fundemental to build onto the later stages of the course. You can learn some of it from books, but I found that with a tutor there explaining it was so much easier. Also, i did not learn any bad habits, which im sure I would have done if I had started on my own.
I will not beat about the bush, the courses are expensive yes. But what you get for them is worth it. I have no regrets what so ever for going to Escape and can fully recommend going there. If you are even remotely curious then I say head down there and chat to them. The staff there will always have time to chat to you about the courses and what Escape is about. There is no better way to get an idea about it than to go there for a studio tour and chat to someone.
I have to say a bit about the VFX Production Grade course as this was where my Escape experiace really came into its own. It is a prime demonstration of the contacts which Escape has and probably couldnt have been attempted by another training center or university. The
course was built with and helped run by 6 UK production houses, The Mill, MPC, Framestore, Dneg, Cinesite, and Glassworks. The course had a 100% success rate with everyone getting a job in the industry after the placement which the course offered. You cant get much better than that.
There will always be people with different opinions. But all we can do is to share our views and hopefully that will help you to make your decision. But Holly, I would recommend that you went for a tour and a chat to the guys over at Escape if your even remotely interested in a course. But for me, Escape ticked all the boxes from staff and training, to facilities and environment.
Mark
As it’s important to hear more than just one persons experiences before making a decision such as this:
I took the Shake Comprehensive course just over a year ago. I have to admit to having been entirely useless at all things technical, with little or no real knowledge of what a compositor did exactly. I did though, have a totally open mind and a barrel load of enthusiam.
Thanks to the guys at Escape, I am now working as a Junior Compositor in a top house in soho. This is in no little way down to the training I recieved, along with the contacts I made, through the friends I gained at Escape.
Best of luck with whatever path you decide to take.
thanks everyone for your responses - this is exactly what I was looking for.
I think I’ll go down there for a tour and have a look around then probably change my mind about 50 times before coming to a decision 
I have to say they have been very good in replying to emails, answering questions etc and, IMHO, that’s a good sign of a top-notch organisation (i HATE bad customer service!)
anyway thanks again for the help
Holly
Well, in my defense, i didn’t say that they were no good. I made it very clear that i was just a bit unhappy with my own personal experience there. And even that was solely due to the awful teacher i had. Like i said, everyone else there was very very professional and the facilities are excellent.
As for not expecting too much, of course you are right. but when i ask a simple question like how to turn object motion paths on in the viewport and the guy is fumbling so much trying to find it that i look for the answer myself faster than him, then no…im not satisfied with the level im being taught at. Certainly not for the amount of money i am paying. of course i realise that it is a foundation course, but dont forget that is is a MAYA foundation course. You are expected to have 3d package knowledge. Its not a 3d animation basics course.
Anyway, like i said the first time. I think they are good from what i hear and see, just pick your course carefully. 
Marc
I did the production grade course with pascoe, great fun, good atmosphere and the tutors are brilliant. The classrooms are really comfortable to.
One of my mates is a tutor there - and he’s a genius.
Everything I know or have heard or experienced about Escape is that they are a “class” act (no pun intended).
But they do special 10quid taster days where you can go an do a days basic training - why not enquire about doing one of them so you can take a look around and see for yourself?
Thanks for all the advice
I went for a studio tour on Wednesday and was very impressed - particularly with the level of support they seem to give current and past students.
They were very attentive and gave me some excellent career advice. I felt they were genuinely interested in making sure that I made the right decision for me rather than just trying to plug a particular course. And it was great to get face-to-face advice from people in the industry.
I’m not sure the course is right for me at the moment (financial and timing reasons) but from what i saw I would recommend it to anyone else interested.
I did the Maya comprehensive (8 week) course 3 years ago. Was perfect for what I wanted. A fast way to learn all the Maya fundamentals. When I started working in the industry after that, I found that whatever task I was given, I had covered it in my course, so I could easily pick things up and build from there.
The tutors were very good and knew what they were talking about, and were willing to help if you needed some specific assistance.
You basically have to be enthusiastic about 3D in the first place, as it is relatively complex, so if you do the course, and don’t really pay attention and expect to be hand held through it, then you will probably not get your moneys worth (as some of my class mates found). Consequently, they found, 3d was not for them.
I definately recommend Escape.
Paul
I have watched Escape develop over the years and know the people who founded it. To be honest I was rather skeptical to begin with - I’m not a great believer in privately run courses in general - but in recent years the course has produced a lot of really good students and we now see it as a regular place to recruit from (I am a senior 3D artist at one of the larger UK VFX houses). As others have said, there is no single course that will guarantee employment in this industry but it is true that Escape have built some very strong links with industry which their students can use to their great advantage. Worth thinking about so long as you are focused and determined to make the most of what they have to offer.
@Vans08, from what I’ve heard and seen on their website, they help you to develop your skills to make a demo reel and they also have a ‘demo reel clinic’ where the tutors will help you/guide you on any problems you’re having with it.
@everyone else 
Is going to Escape after college a bad idea, or should you really go to Uni then Escape first? If I remember what I saw on their website (Escape’s) you get no official qualification from them. Would that look bad if you then applied for a job and had no qualification but they know you’ve been to Escape Studios?
Hey Alex.
As I briefly said in my post before, you dont need to head off to university before Escape. I know people who have gone to Escape after A-levels, worked hard and are now working in the Industry. I did a Sport and Exercise industry degree at uni, which was quite different to the CG work I am doing now… So in short, no you dont have to go. However, everyone is different and that was how things worked out for me.
Something I should add, is that if you are going to go to university and do a 3D course, then just go straight Escape… I would strongly recommend you consider Escape as a complete university alternative… The amount of people who openly admitted to me that my work at Escape after 12 weeks was better than their work at University after 3 years is staggering! Also the amount of people who felt let down by their university education and then went to Escape to make up for it is huge to…
To be honest, I dont think qualifications mean squat… You will not get employed through waving a degree certificate about, you will get employed for your work in a portfolio or show reel… Simple as that. This includes Escape too, you will not get a job by waving your Escape certificate about. What will hopefully get you a job is the skills in 3D/2D that Escape gives you to make a reel and portfolio. However, with Escapes ever growing industry presence and reputation, saying you went to Escape Studios might help towards people taking you seriousally and would be a good start.
Hope this helps.
Mark
Thanks Mark! That’s exactly what I wanted to hear :bounce: . I’ve wanted to go to Escape since I first heard about it a year ago, and will hopefully be going once I finish college (which is amazingly boring and well, crap)
Degree is helpful when you want to immigrate as a skill worker to some other country .Other wise the whole game is about the showreel no matter what qualifications you have under the belt .I have read thousands of advice pages books and stuff all have one answer Develop your showreel and enjoy the show…hope it helps .
So if I wanted to work in another country at some point, I wouldn’t be able to because you don’t get a degree with Escape? :argh:
The qualifications awarded by Escape are not accademically accredited, so they won’t count towards applicaiton for a work visa such as the US H1B. An accredited degree from a recognised institute of higher education is the requirment. Failing that you can try the “equivalent experience” route, but you’re talking about years of experience in this case.
However, not all countries have this requirement - but the US does.
j