The School of Architecture offers 24-hour access to two computer labs in Rooms 014 and 004 of Slocum Hall. The labs are open to all architecture students who have obtained SOA Network Accounts. Access to the labs is restricted during specified class times, schedules of which are posted on the entrance doors.

  • The tables and floors in the labs are not to be used for cutting or model building.
  • Food and drink are forbidden in the computer labs at all times. Lab accounts will be disabled for two days for ignoring this policy.

During the school year (not including breaks), the lab is open 24/7. The School reserves the right to close the lab in the event of major problems and/or malfunctions. In addition, the lab may be closed periodically for regular maintenance. No one will be permitted to enter the lab or print during this time. Computer lab accounts may be temporarily disabled during this time. Summer hours are generally reduced and student accounts are disabled except for those enrolled in summer course work.

If a student leaves the lab, they must logout. “Camping” a computer is not allowed, as the demand on the number of computers is too great. Leaving one’s personal belongings at a computer does not ‘reserve’ the computer while one is away. Other students have the right to logoff unattended computers, and they are not responsible if the student who failed to logout did not save his/her work. Unattended computers may be auto-logged off after 20 minutes, and unsaved work will be lost.

Room 014 – Large Computer/Teaching Lab

This lab contains 40 PCs running Windows 10 and a ceiling mounted digital projector. Classes are regularly taught in this lab.

  Quantity Connected
to Network? 		Login
Required? 		Specs Notes
Work stations 40 Y Y

Dell Precision 3650: Xeon 6-core W-1370 2.9-5.1ghz processor, 32gb DDR4 ram, 8gb Nvidia Quadro RTX 4000 video card, 500gb Samsung EVO 970 Plus NVMe SSD, 25” monitor

 

Dell Precision 3630: Xeon 6-core E-2286G 4.0-4.9ghz processor, 32gb DDR4 ram, 6gb Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 video card, 500gb Samsung EVO 970 NVMe SSD, 25” monitor

For software list, see below 

Room 004 – Small Computer (Overflow) Lab

This lab contains 18 PCs running Windows 10, two PCs acting as print stations, and two PCs acting as scan stations. A 65” paper trimmer is located here.

  Quantity Connected
to Network? 		Login
Required? 		Specs Notes
Work stations 18 Y Y Dell Precision 3630: Xeon 6-core E-2146G 3.5-4.5ghz processor, 16gb DDR4 ram, 5gb Nvidia Quadro P2000 video card, 500gb Samsung EVO 970 NVMe SSD, 25” monitor For software list, see below
Scan stations 2 N N Dell Optiplex T3610: Xeon quad core 3.6ghz, 12gb ram, 500gb SSD, 22” monitors Use USB drive to move files off computer. For scanning tips, click here. 
Print stations 2 Y Y Dell Precision T3600: Xeon Quad Core 3.6ghz, 8gb ram, 2gb AMD W5000 video, 10K HDD, 19” lcd monitor For printing PDF and DWG files only.  



CAUTION: The scan stations have special software that completely restores the machine to a standard configuration whenever the machine is restarted (whether intended or due to power failure or computer crash). Do not store any files on these computers or the desktop, as they will be lost when the computer is restarted.

Lab Software

Workstations in both labs run Windows 10 and contain the following software applications. Students can install many of these programs on a personal computer (see this link).

  • 7-Zip
  • Adobe Creative Cloud (Acrobat Pro, After Effects Pro, Dreamweaver, Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop, Premier Pro, Substance Designer+Painter)
  • ArcGIS 10.8; ArcGIS Pro 2.8 (25 licenses)
  • Arduino IDE
  • Arnold render engine with plugins for Cinema 4D, 3ds Max, Maya, SolidWorks
  • Audacity
  • Autodesk 3dsMax Design 2023
  • Autodesk AutoCAD Architecture 2023
  • Autodesk AutoCAD 2023
  • Autodesk Fusion 360
  • Autodesk Map 3D 2023
  • Autodesk Maya 2023
  • Autodesk Meshmixer
  • Autodesk Mudbox 2023
  • Autodesk Netfabb Premium 2023
  • Autodesk Recap Pro 2023
  • Autodesk Revit 2023
  • Autodesk Structural Bridge Designer 2023
  • Blender
  • Cinema 4D (5 licenses)
  • Climate Consultant
  • ClimateStudio
  • Cura
  • Davinci Resolve 18
  • Gehry Technologies Digital Project (1 license)
  • Filezilla FTP
  • Google Earth Pro
  • Irfanview
  • iTree 2022
  • Handbrake
  • Houdini (6 licenses)
  • Keyshot, Keyshot VR, Keyshot Network Render (20 licenses) + plugins for 3DS Max, Maya, Fusion, Revit, Rhino, Solidworks, Sketchup
  • Lossless Cut (lossless video trimming)
  • Lumion 11.5 (50 licenses) + DWG & Revit bridge
  • Marsh Sun-path Analysis & related programs
  • Materialise Magics (10 licenses)
  • Microsoft Image Composite Editor (image stitching)
  • Microsoft Office 365 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, OneNote)
  • OBS (Open Broadcaster Software)
  • OpenStudio
  • Preform
  • Processing
  • Python 3.x
  • QGIS
  • Quixel Megascans + Bridge + Mixer
  • Rhino 7
  • Rhino plugins: Grasshopper, Paneling Tools, Section Tools, Weaverbird, ClimateStudio, Enscape, LandsDesign, Firefly, Karamba, Ladybug+Honeybee+Dragonfly, Human+Treefrog, UMI
  • SAP2000 23 (15 licenses)
  • Sculptris
  • SketchUp Pro 2022 (20 licenses)
  • SolidWorks 2021 (5 licenses)
  • Terragen
  • Twinmotion
  • Unity
  • Unreal Engine
  • V-Ray for Rhino (50 licenses), Sketchup Pro (3 licenses), Revit (3 licenses, Maya (3 licenses)
  • VLC Player

Several programs are limited in the number of licenses. If all licenses are in use when you try to run one of these programs, the program either won’t start, or you will get a message that you are in the ‘queue’.

If you are having problems with the lab software, check the Help page.

Free and Low Cost Software

Students can get free or low cost versions of many of the lab programs for use on a personal computer. Visit this link for details.

Student File Storage

  • Each computer has a folder on the C drive called Student, which is specific to that computer and can be used as a temporary location to work on files. When working with files, copy them to this Student folder. Remember not to leave files on the C drive when you are done–there is no guarantee that they will be there the next time you login.
  • Each student has 100gb of storage space on the lab file server, which can be accessed under This PC as the H drive or as Documents. This folder is accessible from any lab computer. Avoid opening or working on large files directly from this space; file corruption or program crashes can result when working on files across the network in this manner. Instead, copy the files to the Student folder on the C drive and work on them from there. File operations such as opening and saving will usually be much faster. When you are done working, copy your files from the Student folder back to your Documents/H drive.
  • There is a lab-wide scratch folder that is accessible from G:\ARCH\Student Scratch from any lab computer. This folder is shared between all lab computers, so is a great way to share files between students. Files can be stored here for up to 24 hours, but may be deleted earlier if the drive runs low on space. Files are routinely deleted after 24 hours.
  • The School will not provide backups of data left on the lab computers or on the network shared folders. It is essential that you make multiple backups of your work. Loss of work on any computer is no excuse for failure to meet a presentation or course deadline.
  • Only architecture related files can be stored on the school’s shared network folders. Other files are routinely deleted. These include music files, programs, installation files, or pirated software. If pirated software is found on shared folders, the person who uploaded it will lose access to SOA computing resources.
  • All shared network folders are emptied twice each year: on or about December 21 and May 20.