Computer suites

With a wealth of computer suites across the School of Creative Arts, students can enjoy access to a wide range of specialist, professional software and equipment completely free of charge.

In addition to the 1,200 computers in our Learning Resources Centre, the School has a variety of PC and Mac Suites for different subjects, including dedicated, individual resources for graphic and 2D design, 3D modelling, music technology and sound design, film and television post-production, photographic workflow, and digital animation.

You won’t need to worry about paying for software, because students in our School of Creative Arts enjoy free access to Adobe Creative Cloud software on both campuses, which means the latest versions of renowned, industry-standard software such as Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Premiere Pro and After Effects are ready and waiting for you. On top of this, you’ll have the full Microsoft Office suite and 1 terabyte of online storage for all your files, courtesy of your free Microsoft Office 365 account.

3D and 2D design suites

The 3D Design PC suites house Quad-core i7 PCs with a standard package of Adobe Creative Cloud, Autodesk Entertainment Creation Suite and AutoCad. It also supports specialist digital 3D Design and Modelling activities which use programmes such as Solid Works and Rhino for 3D modelling, and Vector Works for spatial design. These programmes are recognised in the industry, so will enable you to build and expand your skills using the software of professionals in the field.

Our 2D Design Mac Suites run the latest Mac operating system with separate scanning machines to facilitate A4 and A3 scanning, as well as A4/A3 colour laser printing facilities for proofing design work. They run the Adobe Creative Cloud suite, which includes InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, Premiere Pro, After Effects, Dreamweaver and Acrobat Professional.

Animation suites

All animation suites are equipped with Intel i7 quad core computers accompanied by 24” full HD displays. There’s also a tablet on each desk by Wacom, a company widely recognised for their industry standard, innovative graphics tablets.

Accompanying this hardware provision is a full suite of industry standard animation-specific software, including the full Autodesk entertainment creation suite, Adobe Master Collection, Z-Brush and The Foundry Production Collective. On top of this, each specialist suite is equipped with the additional tools you need for each subject to ensure that there is no restriction to your creative flow.

Our world class tutors teach in suites with dual full HD projection and surround sound systems, so students can ensure their lessons are delivered clearly, comfortably and enjoyably.

Find out more about our Animation facilities.

Interactive media suite

On top of the standard software offering, all machines are installed with VVVV, a multi-purpose tool-kit for programming and real-time motion graphics, video synthesis, and audio. Every other machine has the Unity 5 games engine, a cross-platform game engine used to develop video games for everything from PCs and consoles to mobile devices and websites. The IMD suite is also equipped with a specialist Isadora workstation for interactive experimentation which is powered by Dual SLi graphics cards to ensure unrestricted real-time visuals.

Music computing

Music students can enjoy our fully equipped music computer suite, used both for practical teaching and independent study. Each seat has 21" iMac, secondary display, 49 key Novation MIDI keyboard/control surface and Avid Mbox mini audio interface. Software available includes Logic Pro X, Reason, Ableton Live Suite w/ Max for Live, Sibelius, Adobe CC and a whole range of other music and digital media programs which are recognised and used by professionals in the industry.

Find out more about our Music facilities.

Film

Our edit suites provide a quiet space for professional video and audio editing. The dedicated dubbing studio offers 5.1 surround sound capability using a Genelec speaker system, has both control and live rooms, and supports multi headphone monitoring and TV playback. In keeping with the industry standard, each room has Apple Mac Pro computers running software packages such as the full Adobe Creative Suite, Final Cut Pro, Avid Media Composer and Avid Pro tools, Logic Pro X, Propellerhead Reason as well as various third party software plug ins and utilities. We are an Apple Accredited Training Centre, and many of our courses are Avid accredited too.

Find out more about our Film Facilities.