Chapter 1 · Getting Started
1.4Licensing
Without an activated licence, TenPix Cloth runs as a demo. On a workstation the demo simulates up to 25,000 vertices in the scene at once, for the first 100 frames of the animation range (at frame rates below 24 frames per second, about the first four seconds: 50 frames at 12 frames per second). After them the cloth holds its pose. A scene that simulates more vertices is not simulated at all, and the licence line on the Solver panel says so with the count.
- In the demo, Save cache writes TenPix caches (.tnc); Alembic (.abc) needs a licence. A saved cache of either kind plays and renders.
- On a render farm or in batch mode the demo simulates nothing and saves no cache; cached garments still play and render. Farm machines need an activated licence.
- Everything else works as in the licensed product. Some builds are free builds that need no licence; their About window and licence line say so.
To activate TenPix Cloth on this computer:
- Select a cloth object and open its Tnpix Solver panel.
- In the Licence group, click Licence.... (The About window has the same button.)
- Type or paste the licence key from your purchase receipt into the Key field. The key has
the form
XXXXXXXX-XXXXXXXX-XXXXXXXX-XXXXXXXX; spaces and letter case do not matter. Paste pastes the clipboard. - Click Activate this machine. The key is checked once with the store, which needs an internet connection, and then held on this computer.
Once activated, every garment simulates at full size and the plug-in works offline. The licence is re-checked quietly every 14 days; a computer that cannot reach the store keeps working. Reinstalling the plug-in or installing a newer build does not use another seat of your licence.
Licence window
- Key
- Your licence key from the purchase receipt.
- Activate this machine
- Checks the key with the store once and holds it on this computer. Counts one of the key's seats.
- Check now
- Checks the key with the store now instead of waiting for the 14-day check. A refunded purchase returns the computer to the demo.
- Deactivate this machine
- Removes the licence from this computer; it returns to the demo. Activating the same key on this computer again does not count a second seat.
The demo build
TenPix Cloth also comes as a demo build, made for trying the plug-in: its About window reads rc-demo after the version number. It is the same plug-in with the demo's limits built in - up to 25,000 vertices in the scene, the first 100 frames, simulation on a workstation only, caches saved as .tnc - and nothing lifts them. It needs no licence and takes no key, so it cannot be activated: its Licence... buttons show a note instead of the licence window, and the Solver's licence line begins with Demo build.
To work without the limits, install the licensed build and activate it with your key. A garment played from a TenPix cache plays and renders in every build, so caches saved with the demo build can be used in the licensed one.