The John Hughes Institute

The John Hughes Institute is an educational entity and the sister company of Tau Films, headed by computer graphics pioneer, John Hughes.

We offer Advanced Specialization Programs (ASP's) that include micro-credentials and certificate programs in: Animation, Camera Tracking/Matchmoving, Character Rigging, Technical Animation, Character FX, Compositing, FX, Lighting, LookDev, Modeling, Pipeline Management, Production Management, VFX Editing, and Virtual Production.

These programs enhance professional growth and career opportunities for work in digital content and are available in a variety of formats. We also offer educational consulting/writing workshops, and career planning through JHI Pathways.

Our Focus

Colleges and Universities

Animation and VFX Studios/Onboarding and Production Training Curriculum Development and Deployment

National and Provincial Governments

We create bespoke curricula based on the specific needs of existing programs. These custom-made courses both complement and expand upon the existing offerings in digital content programs. We also offer Certificate/Diploma tracks and micro-credentials.

National and Provincial Governments

Animation and VFX Studios/Onboarding and Production Training Curriculum Development and Deployment

National and Provincial Governments

We provide master classes and workshops for workforce development and upskilling of industry professionals. We also offer micro-credentials.

Animation and VFX Studios/Onboarding and Production Training Curriculum Development and Deployment

We work with digital content studios to help design and implement education/training and micro-credential programs (and systems) for on-boarding and cross-training. We also provide L&D training programs for DCC houses.

Our Story

Co-founded by John Hughes and Shish Aikat in 2014, The John Hughes Institute is a digital content educational entity. Our faculty is composed of a global community of industry veterans: artists, technologists, and educators, who provide the best practices in the art + science of entertainment.

Our clients are students in colleges/universities aspiring towards a career in media and entertainment, and industry professionals seeking workforce development/upskilling.

JHI is the sister-company of Tau Films, an alliance of a global creative content and visual effects studio with an academy. Its mission is to realize the vision of John Hughes: educating artists, production, and technical staff in locations where Tau Films/JHI has a presence, and to serve the global creative content community.

John Hughes is the co-founder/President of Tau Films and JHI. In 1987, he co-founded Rhythm & Hues (R&H), an Animation and VFX house that received 3 Academy Awards for Best VFX in 1995, 2008, and 2013. For more than a decade, JHI and its preceding entity, Rhythm & Hues University/RHU (2007-2012), have been creating global societies.

Tau Films: The JHI Edge

While Tau Films recruits qualified JHI program graduates/artists, these recruits are not mandated by JHI to work for Tau Films. Rather, they choose Tau Films due to the nature of the projects, and related potential for career advancement.

A number of JHI faculty are Tau Films Leads/Supervisors, and they often become the supervisors of the new recruits in projects, thereby continuing the learning and exchange process.

JHI primarily uses production rigs/assets/elements derived from Tau Films productions that are battle-tested in production. This gives the students an opportunity to explore layers of complexity involved in production to match production quality.