Media Creation Software, Computers & Equipment

Lyons New Media Centre houses high-end media editing computers, fully loaded with media creation software, available to any current McMaster student, staff or faculty member. Most of which are in the main area of the Centre, but two are located within the VR room (L415), Edit Suite L416, and the large audio recording booth in the Audio Recording Studio (L414).

Software

Browse Media Software Categories

All software on this list is available on all computers in Lyons' main room, unless otherwise stated as unavailable. Anything with a note about remote access is available on the computer(s) listed in the link from home.

3D Creation

3D Creation

Animation & Motion Graphics

Animation & Motion Graphics

Audio

Audio

Digital Art

Digital Art

Graphic Design

Graphic Design

Photo Editing

Photo Editing

Video

Video

Web Design

Web Design

Other Software

Other Software

Browse All Media Software

The Adobe Creative Cloud suite is available on all computers in Lyons New Media Centre. Unless otherwise noted, all software is available on all of our computers (except the large audio booth computer, which has limited software).

  • Acrobat DC, Acrobat Reader DC & Acrobat Distiller - PDF creation, editing and reading
  • After Effects - visual effects & motion graphics
  • Animate - interactive animations (formerly Flash Professional)
  • Audition - audio recording, editing (available on ALL computers)
  • Bridge - file organization
  • Character Animator - animate 2D characters
  • Dimension - 3D graphic design
  • Dreamweaver - web design
  • Edge Animate - creating interactive web designs (formerly Edge)
  • Extension Manager - works with select Adobe programs to manage free and paid extensions from Adobe Exchange marketplace
  • Flash Builder Premium - game and application development
  • Fuse - develop human characters
  • Illustrator - graphics creation (especially vector graphics)
  • InDesign - page layout creations for magazines, posters, etc. for print design
  • Lightroom Classic - organize, view and edit large numbers of images/photos
  • Media Encoder - convert video files to various formats
  • Muse - web design/creation without needing code
  • Photoshop - graphics creation/photo manipulation
  • Prelude - is used in combination with Premiere to add metadata to video files
  • Premiere Pro - video editing
  • Spark - visual profiler for Flash content
  • SpeedGrade - colour grading on video footage
  • Substance - 3D texturizer

Outside of the Adobe Creative Cloud suite, we also have several stand-alone products for use. Unless otherwise noted, all software is available on all of our computers (except the large audio booth computer, which has limited software).

  • Audacity - open source, audio creation/editing
  • Blender - open source, 3D creation, video effects
  • Camtasia - screen capturing, video editing, captioning
  • Comic Life - comic/graphic novel-creation
  • Cura - open source, 3D printer slicing program
  • DaVinci Resolve - video editing
  • Discord (only on gaming PC) - gamer chat system (similar to Slack)
  • GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) - open source, graphics creation/editing (similar to Photoshop)
  • Inkscape - open source, graphics creation/editing (similar to Illustrator)
  • OBS Studio (only on gaming PC) - free software, screen capturing software, specifically for gaming 
  • Reaper - audio recording/editing
  • QuickTime - media player
  • Unity - cross-platform game engine
  • Windows Media Player - media player

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Computers & Equipment

Media Creation Computers

Each of Lyons' computers runs Windows 10, has a large monitor, standard keyboard & mouse, with a webcam attached. SD card readers and Wacom art tablets are available upon request at the Lyons Services Desk for use in Lyons. 

The computer in the large audio booth  in L414 (Audio Recording Studio) is used solely for recording purposes. Adobe Creative Cloud, Audacity and Reaper have been installed on this computer and there is a Blue Yeti mic that can be checked out at the Services Desk for use in the room, as well as headphones, if needed. 

Media Equipment

In addition to the in-person access to the computers described above, the following media equipment is available in the Lyons New Media Centre (Mills Library, 4th floor).

Art Tablets

Art Tablets (Wacom Intuos)

Cameras & Tripods

Cameras & Tripods

Policies

Users are expected to provide their own USB drives or portable hard drives. Lyons New Media Centre does not provide this for users. Other options may also include emailing files to themselves or use of cloud storage (users are expected to have their own accounts for such storage such as MacDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, etc.).

Although our computers have large storage spaces, it is not recommended to save files on them indefinitely. There is no guarantee that files will be there longer than that day, nor that anyone else may not have access to them. Remember that these are public computers that are used by anyone who comes into the Centre. It should also be noted that the data drives on these computers are not backed up, so files left on a machine that fails will be lost. 

Lyons New Media Centre and the McMaster University Library are not liable for any loss of files or information left on our computers.

Although the resources within Lyons New Media Centre are available to anyone on campus, it is considered to be a media lab. Misuse of the computer workstations may result in users being asked to move to another location.

  • The computers are for media creation/learning purposes only. All other usage (working on papers, doing online quizzes/exams, surfing the internet, checking email, etc.) should be taken to the computers in other areas of the Library.
  • The computer workstations are not to be used for studying, group meetings, nor as a table for eating food. These workstations are only for using media software.
  • These computer workstations are not equipped with plugs for external devices such as laptops. Please use the laptop bar, soft seating or table seating at the far end of the Centre (past the computer pods) to plug in and use laptops.
    • Note that there are no electrical outlets available for usage from the main doors to the computer pods (any plugs found are for staff use only). The booth seating also has no electrical available at either booth.

Fun Fact: There are 12 computers in the Centre's main room for a campus population of over 50,000, and is the only location on campus where any McMaster user can access some of the high-end specialty media software (such as Adobe Creative Cloud software).

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