Friday, November 12, 2010

Sponsor Profile: Fanshawe College

Fanshawe College is one of the premier design colleges in not only Ontario, but Canada. One of their most exciting programs, and one that would primarily interest DIG attendees is the Multi Media Design and Production program. According to their website "If you like movies, websites, and games that blow you away with special effects and animation, you'll be right at home in the Multi-Media Design and Production program. Take your creative skills to the next level and gain experience in computer-based web design and programming, 3-D, special effects, animation, game design, effects for film and video design for print. You'll get hands on, practical training from industry professionals and have the freedom to create you own visual and audio masterpieces."

Here's a video that gives a first hand account from the students about how Fanshawe was the perfect choice for them
One of these industry professionals, Dan Rickard, will be on hand at this years DIG conference. Having worked on dozens of games including Batman Arkham City and Arkham Asylum, Borderlands, Army of Two 40th Day, Hulk, Wanted, Blacksite, Sacred 2, and most of the Battlefield series, Dan's experience speaks volumes as to the kind of quality instruction and expertise that Fanshawe provides its students.


In his session, Animation Workshop: Character Creation Dan will use game development tools Mudbox, 3ds, and Photoshop for character creation.  Delegates will learn to develop a high poly sculpt, a low poly mesh, map creation and texturing, Lip Sync animation, and full body animation of biped characters interacting in a fight sequence.  The workshop will take place Friday November 19th as part of the DIG 2010 Conference. You can register online for the conference workshop!


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Thursday, November 11, 2010

Speaker Profile: Dr. Sam Trosow

Dr. Samuel Trosow is an Associate Professor at the University of Western Ontario teaching in both the Faculty of Information and Media Studies (FIMS) and the Faculty of Law.

Focusing primarily on law relating to the digital environment and copyright issues, professor Trosow is currently the principal investigator on a research project at FIMS titled "Mobilizing User-Generated Content for Canada's Digital Content Advantage" In his presentation at DIG 2010 he will be reporting on the work done in the advantage study and its implications for future public policies.

Dr. Trosow also serves as the Network Investigator and Project Leader of the GRAND-NCE in Vancouver, a comprehensive research program headed by a board of leaders in both business and academics whose goal is to understand the underlying technologies of new media, animation, and games, in order to better understand how these high growth industries can lead to social, legal, economic, and cultural benefits for Canadians.

Here is an example lecture of Dr. Trosow's involving copyright law, an issue sure to be touched on as he speaks at this year's conference!
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Sunday, November 7, 2010

Speaker Profile: Tonya Constant


In 2007, Tonya was working as a QA tester for game developer Beanbag Studios when she was promoted to head of the writing department, working on projects such as EA's "For Dummies" series of games fot the PC and Nintendo DS

After leaving Beanbag in 2009, Tonya, along with colleagues Hayley Patterson and Melanie Lagrou, founded The Ant Firm, a video game testing company based in London, Ontario, where she focuses mainly on the business development and marketing of their products. With her background in both QA and game production, Tonya has an appreciation for the "art of games testing".

According to her Ant Firm profile, Tonya is an avid gamer obsessed with zombie franchises, underwater dystopias and the actress Sada Thompson.

Tonya is just one of many local London game developers that will be at this years DIG Conference, sharing their insight on not only the gaming industry, but why they choose to call London home. Pin It