Recommended Software or Hardware

Often students and parents ask about equipment needed to do Freestyle work at home

Students can optionally check out a used iMac for use at home for the entire year while inventory is available. Fill out this online form to sign-up for equipment to use at home.
Students can also optionally check out (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED) a digital drawing pad for use at home for the entire year while inventory is available. Fill out this online form to sign-up for equipment to use at home.

The list below is what we use at Freestyle. None of it is required at home but is simply information for those who wish to purchase their own equipment that is compatible with Freestyle requirements.

All students take English.

All students will be required to bring their MVHS/LAHS Chromebook or personal laptop for English class.

All students take Digital Media.

All students use Intel (not M1) iMacs in Digital Media along with digital drawing pads.
Note: Chromebooks or a MacBook Air or a lower end laptop/desktop are typically not powerful enough to run the software we use for project work in any of the classes other than English.
All Freestyle students in all classes (except English) use Adobe Creative Cloud 202x Applications which includes Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Premiere Pro, After Effects, and Dreamweaver to name a few. Check your Freestyle email on instructions on how to get the Adobe Creative Cloud Applications for home computers. Install the software on your home computer and MVLA can provide the license for it so that it won't cost you any money. You do NOT need to purchase a subscription for Adobe applications.
All students also use for music production: AVID Pro Tools 202x, Propellerhead Reason 10, and Ableton Live. Please check your Freestyle email on installation and activation for use at home.

Some students take Animation as their 3rd elective class and use the following in the classroom:

Custom built PCs because of 3D Modeling and rendering requirements during their Senior year. These PCs are NOT available for check-out to use at home.
Wacom Cintiqs
DSLR cameras (we use Canon T6i or better)
Speedlites
Tascam DR-05 portable recorder for audio projects.
Autodesk Maya and other 3D modeling and animating software. Please check your Freestyle email on installation and activation with a free Serial Number for use at home.
Adobe Creative Cloud 202x Applications mainly Photoshop, Illustrator, Animate, and After Effects. Check your Freestyle email on instructions on how to get the Adobe Creative Cloud Applications for home computers. Install the software on your home computer and MVLA can provide the license for it so that it won't cost you any money. You do NOT need to purchase a subscription for Adobe applications.
DragonFrame Stop Motion Software

Some students take Design as their 3rd elective class and use the following:

Intel (not M1) iMacs
Wacom Cintiqs
DSLR cameras (we use Canon T6i or better)
Speedlites
Tascam DR-05 portable recorder for audio projects.
Adobe Creative Cloud 202x Applications mainly Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. Check your Freestyle email on instructions on how to get the Adobe Creative Cloud Applications for home computers. Install the software on your home computer and MVLA can provide the license for it so that it won't cost you any money. You do NOT need to purchase a subscription for Adobe applications.

Some students take Film as their 3rd elective class and use the following:

Custom built PCs more capable of handling 4k video. These PCs are NOT available for check-out to use at home.
Adobe Creative Cloud 202x Applications mainly Premiere Pro CC and After Effects for video editing. Check your Freestyle email on instructions on how to get the Adobe Creative Cloud Applications for home computers. Install the software on your home computer and MVLA can provide the license for it so that it won't cost you any money. You do NOT need to purchase a subscription for Adobe applications.
DSLR cameras (we use Canon T8i or better) which have full 1920x1080 HD video capability.
Tascam DR-40 portable recorder for film audio.
Various lights, tripods, mics, booms, etc. can be checked out for on location film projects.

If you wish to OPTIONALLY purchase your own hardware, here's some information for you that will ensure your computer will be sufficent for Freestyle projects.

For either PC or Mac computers to purchase for yourself, the above applications work best with 16 GB or more of RAM. The more RAM, the better.
Any Mac Pro, MacBook Pro, MacBook or iMac running Mac OS 10.14 or 10.15. We do NOT recommend purchasing a MacBook Air because it won't be powerful enough to run applications for Freestyle projects. The Apple Education Store has some deals for students.
Note that laptops, in general, can cause neck fatigue when constantly looking down at the screen instead of looking straight ahead. Neck pain ranks 4th in the leading causes of disability worldwide. Read this article.
Windows PCs - Contact Mr. Taylor or Mr. Cho about a PC recommendation.
Students can also sign-up and use lynda.com for video based tutorials