PipelineFX, makers of Qube! software, the leading render farm management system for film production, game development and digital media programs, announced that the School of Visual Arts in New York City has joined the rapidly growing list of schools using Qube! to help students share rendering resources and speed up their projects.
Qube! helps 3D animation, computer graphics, game design and architecture programs maximize their computing resources by using workstations and/or dedicated servers for rendering. Qube! is easy for students to use, since they can submit their jobs from within such CG applications as Autodesk Maya, 3ds Max, SOFTIMAGE|XSI and NUKE and monitor their jobs with Qube!s simple GUI called Qubic.
The Computer Art, Computer Animation and VFX department at the School of Visual Arts is the premiere digital arts program in New York. With more than 700 students in B.F.A. and professional studies, the Computer Art department offers comprehensive studies in computer animation, visual effects and motion graphics. School of Visual Arts students have received awards by major international computer art competitions, including SIGGRAPH Electronic Theater and Art Show and Sundance Online Film Festival. The graduates are employed by the most prestigious studios, including Industrial Light & Magic, Disney, Warner Brothers, DreamWorks and Digital Domain.
The chair of the program, John McIntosh, said, We have been looking for a render solution that would service all aspects of our program and Qube! is the solution. With Qube! we can support our seniors as they produce thesis projects as well as letting our foundation students have access to the render farm. Without Qube! we had to severely limit render times. With Qube! we will have more students rendering faster with better results. This allows us to provide an aggressive curriculum for all our students and ultimately that is our goal.
Qube! is really a perfect fit for schools like the School of Visual Arts, said Troy Brooks, ceo of PipelineFX. Being cross platform and supporting most 3D and 2D applications allows Qube! to utilize all available resources to get longer and more complex projects done. Taking advantage of our low-cost education bundle and deploying a powerful render farm, the School of Visual Arts is giving their students and their program the resources they need to be prepared for real world production.
PipelineFX (www.pipelinefx.com), with headquarters in Honolulu, Hawaii, was founded in 2002. Qube! is used by world-class studios around the world, including South Park Studios, Electronic Arts, Buena Vista Games, DKP, Reel FX, Guava Graphics and Radical Ent. Qube! is used by schools around the world, including Carleton School of Architecture, Full Sail, University of Advancing Technology, Pratt Institute and University of Hawaii-Academy for Creative Media.
For more information on the School of Visual Arts Computer Art department, visit www.svacomputerart.com.
Bill Desowitz, former editor of VFXWorld, is currently the Crafts Editor of IndieWire.
