Advertisement

You're blocking ads, which pay for BlenderNation. Read about other ways to support us.

TOSMI - Open Source Multimedia Training (almost) for Free

8

TOSMI LogoYes, you read right.

Open Source Multimedia Training organized by the InterSpace Media Arts Center and sponsored by the European Union.

Held in Bulgaria it will be available in two sessions, the first happening in May (14th - 20th) and the second in August (6th - 12th). Each session has 14 seats available, 7 of them will be select for a scholarship and a 7 days timeframe. Deadline for enrollment is 10th of April for the first training session and 30th of June for the second training session.

Going a bit into more detail on the real costs of the training, so you don't think I'm deceiving you.

Each session has a participation fee of 1000 Euros, and covers the 7 days training and accomodation in Sofia, including coffee-breaks and lunches. The fee will not include dinner and traveling expenses, so you will still have to spend some additional cash in food and getting to Sofia and back.

Now you must be thinking, then how is this free ???

I explain, among the 14 seats 7 of them will be selected for a scholarship, meaning that they will have the participation fee waived, where the only expense will be the traveling expenses and the dinners. And even if you don't get a scholarship you can ask for full financing to the EU MEDIA Programme (candidates from EU countries, Switzerland, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway) or the PHARE Programme (candidates from Romania). Thus making it Free Training.

The training is aimed at young professionals working in the fields of 3D CGI, post-production, video editing, animation, advertising and special effects. With a focus on improving the professional skills of the participants from the audio-visual industries (advertising, post-production, 3D graphics) and enable independent professionals to produce more quality content at lower production costs saving money otherwise for software licenses.

I couldn't stop mentioning that the training will focus mostly on Blender and Cinelerra for Professionals, but it doesn't stop there, covering everything needed to setup an Open Source studio, such as using free and open source software for recording and editing sound under GNU/Linux (and other operating systems), setting up and using version-control and groupware tools for optimizing the production process and going even deeper into building a render farm and optimizing hardware and software.

Now onto the official program for each session.

  • Introduction
    • History of free software
    • Quick overview of existing open source software
    • Free content
  • Computer 3D Animation
    • Modeling
    • Textures
    • Bone system, Deformers, Rigging
    • Animation
    • Rendering
  • Post-Production
    • Compositing
    • Effects and color corrections
    • Motion tracking
    • Video Editing
  • Audio
    • Main principles of audio manipulation under GNU/Linux
    • Audio editing and multi tracking recording
    • Effects and mastering
  • Technological Infrastructure
    • Selecting appropriate hardware
    • Selection of appropriate operating system
    • Cluster design and installation of non-centralized HDR and rendering
    • Project management software

As you can see from the program it will be a quite intensive training, so it is best if you already are familiar with most of the topics, to avoid loosing time on basic things and just absorb the most of it.

Last, but not least, the trainers.

  • Sanu Vamanchery Mana from India.
  • Theodore Dounas from Greece.
  • Vladimir Petkov from Bulgaria.
  • Stoycho Stanchev from Bulgaria.
  • Peter Slavov from Bulgaria.
  • Rui Campos (me) from Portugal.

According to the training coordinator, the first session still has seats available and scholarships, so, if you can make it, book yourself in the first session. The second session is supposed to get more people submitting applications, so your chances of being selected might be shorter.

Anyway, drop by the official website and get more information on the application for enrollment, the program, the trainers and the project itself.

8 Comments

  1. Hi Chris, I know some entries came in, but I will check with the project manager, so he can give some additional feedback to the applicants.

    -- Rui --

  2. WoW, I didn`t even know my country was so interested in CG. I am so excited.

    Just one question, why the hell don`t they advertise in local (BG) forums and sites. I'm so lucky visiting blendernation :P

  3. Dear Rui , i'd love to participate but the fees are quite expensive, i'm not don't really know how can i have a scholarship for full financing from the EU MEDIA Programme, could you please gice me a hand on it ! hope to ear from you soon ! Best Regards, Luis Tiago

  4. Hi Luis,

    Scholarships can be given by the Promoter/Organizer not by the Sponsor. Actually EU never gives full financing thats why we don't cover the travel expenses. And one more important thing: There is a restriction for eligible participants, they can be only from EU countries, Switzerland, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. I'm not agree with this, but it is the sponsor rule.

    Respect,

    Stoycho Stanchev

  5. Sorry for only answering now, but anything regarding funding should really be talked with the MEDIA desk near to you like mave mentioned, or the PHARE programme in case you are in Romania.

  6. super initiative !

    I think we can also see the price of this in comparaison with propriatary software,
    where 1000 euro means nothing:
    you don't even buy full potoshop,
    nor premiere pro or any other full featured editing software,
    neither any other 3d software of the same range,
    and all that WITHOUT training,
    wich in my point is the most important,
    as you can do sh..t with pro software if you can't use it efficiently ...
    and that you can do miracles with free software
    with good knowledge, enoegh practice,
    and most : with passion !

Leave A Reply

To add a profile picture to your message, register your email address with Gravatar.com. To protect your email address, create an account on BlenderNation and log in when posting a message.

Advertisement

×