FAQ

Questions? Find the answers here.

 

  • Do I need to bring or buy my own computer?

    You don’t need to purchase a computer to come here as the digital media labs are open 24/7 during the semester for student use. But many students do buy their own computers. Most have at least some sort of portable storage (i.e., a thumb drive, or a portable hard drive with a USB connection), just so they can take everything with them and also for backup.

    Just about everything here is Windows-based, though a lot of our software will also run on a Mac. A Windows 10/110 machine would be most compatible with the labs. Laptop vs. desktop is up to you and how you expect to use the machine. For instance, will you take your class notes on it in other classes? For the digital media applications, you’d want at least 16 Gb of ram and a decent graphics card. We use nVidia graphics cards in the labs. If you end up taking some of the video classes, you’ll use a lot of disk space.

    Most assignments get delivered electronically, so you probably wouldn’t require a DVD drive. We have scanners and printers in the labs, and lots of other cameras and camcorders for check out.

    So it’s up to you. You can trade off time in the labs with the cost of a machine. There is a community in the labs that work with and help each other. You can bring a laptop into the labs as well as there is wireless in the whole building.

  • What kind of computer and software are available in our labs?

    The Digital Media labs on campus have:

    • Alienware Aurora R15 210-BFRK
    • NVIDIA(R) GeForce RTX(TM) 3080 Ti, 12GB GDDR6X 490-BICL
    • 13thGen Intel(R) Core(TM) i9 13900KF(24-Core, 68MB Total Cache, 3.0GHz to 5.8GHz P-Core w/Intel Thermal Velocity Boost) 338-CGVO
    • 2TB NVMe M.2 PCIe SSD (Boot) + 1TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s (Storage) 400-BOOE
    • 32GB Dual Channel DDR5 (2x 16GB) at 4800MT
    • Dell Multimedia Keyboard-KB216 Black (English) 580-AILI
    • Dell Wired Mouse BLK 570-AATH
    • US Power Cord 470-AEJY
    • Windows 11 Pro, English 619-APTO
    • Dark Side of the Moon 320-BCXT
    • Intel(R) Killer Wi-Fi 6E (6 where 6E unavailable) AX 1675, 2×2, 802.11ax, MU-MIMO, Bluetooth 5.2 555-BGST

    Labs are also equipped with Autodesk Creation Suite (Maya, Max, Mudbox, Motionbuilder), the Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere, After Effects, InDesign, etc.), zBrush, Syntheyes, Nuke, Modo, Houdini, and more.

  • What equipment is available for students to check out?
    • Canon T8Is (20) for photos and video
    • Tripods, dolly, steadicams
    • Portable audio recorders with microphones
    • Wacom tablets and pens
    • Light kits
  • How long before I start animating, or making a game, or shooting video?
    Students begin to animate, make games, or shoot videos in their first semester and go from there. There’s a Mid-Point review in your second year to look over your work and assess your potential to successfully complete the program.  So there is a lot to accomplish in your 1st year!
  • Can I tour the Digital Media Center to see the facilities?

    Of course.  Just sent an e-mail to digm.info@etsu.edu and we’ll arrange to talk to you when you are in town.  It’s good to combine this with a campus tour so you get the full picture of what it’ll be like to go to school here (http://goo.gl/bQD5LK)

  • Where do your students go when they graduate?

    Everywhere, and they do all kinds of different stuff. Lots of people in the studios working on games and movies, broadcast animators, matte painters, etc.  And a lot of you-never-thought-of-that stuff like digital media specialist at the Peace Corps, interactive designer for E-Bay, making 3D virtual stores for Proctor and Gamble, etc.  See for yourself in the digital media alumni group on Facebook.  It’s a long list.

  • What scholarships are available to students?

    Please visit our scholarship webpage here.