IT Spec for Escape Studios Classrooms

HP Z640

One question we get asked a lot by prospective students is "what is the current spec of the Lab Computers for students at Escape Studios"? In other words, "how good is your tech?".

Fortunately, we bought all our machines brand new in September 2016 and they are excellent workstations. The main workhorse in all our classrooms is the HP Z640 Workstation, which has more than enough capacity to do the job. It's a high-end HP Z series workstation with dual Xeon processors and Nvidia Quadro series graphics cards

The full spec is as follows:
Dual Intel Xeon E5-2630v3 2.4 GHz 8 Core
32 GB DDR4 RAM
2 x 256 GB SSD
Nvidia M4000 Graphics Card

As for Monitors, were using the MonitEizo CG277.  

We also provide all our students Wacom Intuos tablets, recognising that tablets are now industry-standard and much better than a traditional mouse. 

As for software, we provide students with the full Adobe Suite, plus (naturally) Autodesk Maya for animation, Nuke for Compositing, and Houdini for effects and simulations. If the industry uses it - then so do we.

Of course specs can and will change over time, but rest assured we will always make sure we have excellent kit.

And don't forget, if you want to try out some of this stuff at home, you can download a free student license of Maya, and even get the Adobe Suite free for 30 days.  

The Escape Studios Animation Blog offers a personal view on the art of animation and visual effects. To apply for our BA/MArt (September 2017), follow this link. To apply for one of our intensive 3 month animation short courses, click here.