"Escape Studios was amazingly helpful in kitting out our new studio. By explaining their own set-up and seeing ours, they were able to discuss what we needed. It was great to rely on people who can offer advice, show experience and answer all of your questions – even those you didn’t think of asking!"

Jon Yates, Director, Havendale Design Visualisation

Havendale Design Customer Story

The Client

Jon Yates is an experienced architectural visualiser whose portfolio includes high profile projects such as athlete’s apartments for the London 2012 Olympic Village and renderings for Southampton Football Club’s successful application for a new training ground to celebrate their 125th anniversary. He’s now started his own studio, Havendale Design Visualisation.

The Brief

When Jon decided to go it alone he wanted to recreate the level of performance he enjoyed at his previous studio in a smaller set up comprising the complete CG pipeline. As a start-up business, performance was important, but so was budget.

The Background

Jon originally discovered Escape Studios when he was asked to spec a new 3D network at his previous studio.

Frustrated by outrageous quotes from manufacturers that didn’t understand CG, he came across Escape Studios by chance. ‘I contacted them and they were amazingly helpful, answering a hell of a lot of questions. By explaining their own set-up and seeing ours, they were able to discuss what we needed. Finding Escape was my ‘eureka’ moment; finally someone knew what we were talking about. When it came to setting up my own studio, I knew exactly where to go.’

The Spec

• A versatile workstation able to process the complete CG pipeline
• Professional quality performance plus scalability for the future
• A sensible ticket price and good value for money.
• ‘Fit and forget’ reliability.

Our Solution

BOXX 4850 workstation
Autodesk 3ds Max, V-Ray and V-Ray RT software

Performance
The BOXX 4850 houses a powerful quad-core, performance-enhanced Intel® Core™ i7 processor (up to 4GHz), backed by a NVIDIA® Quadro FX graphics card and 64-bit scalability yet still fits into a compact case suitable for a small studio space.

Reliability
The BOXX 4850 features efficient cooling designed to run high performance tasks for long periods of time without falling over. It’s also backed by a 3-year manufacturer warranty.

Upgradeability
The BOXX 4850 casing is easy to access with lots of room inside for RAM upgrades if Jon needs to expand in the future.

Support
We provide Jon with our full support package so he can call on expert help at all times if anything goes wrong.

The Result

The BOXX-based system strikes the right balance between performance and value for money, exceeding Jon’s expectations by incorporating high-end technology at previously unheard of prices, as he explains, ‘I noticed the difference straight away. One processor could handle the job that took two before. All that with the same amount of RAM! BOXX machines are well designed, well made and are built to last with reliable components.’

When Jon faced the dreaded blue-screen before an important deadline his support contract with Escape Studios came into its own. ‘Within hours the Escape Studios technical support expert was able to help me locate the issue,’ says Jon, ‘They detected the driver problem in my graphics card and had the whole thing running again in 20 minutes.’

‘It’s great to be able to rely on people who can offer advice, show experience and answer all of your questions – even those you didn’t think of asking!’

For more information on Havendale Design, check out their website.