Thursday, May 5th, 2016 Posted by Jim Thacker

Use Deadline for free this month


Deadline’s new on-demand licensing model, introduced with version 8 of the software, released earlier this week. To promote the new model, Thinkbox Software is offering users free licensing hours throughout May.

Thinkbox Software is providing a month’s free on-demand licensing of Deadline, its renderfarm management system. The promotion enables artists and studios to use Deadline 8 for free throughout May 2016.

On-demand licensing: new in Deadline 8
The offer is intended to promote the new on-demand metered licensing model introduced in Deadline 8, announced at NAB 2016, and released earlier this week.

Intended as an alternative to traditional floating licences, the system will enable users to pay for Deadline on a per-minute basis: for example, when using extra cloud-based render nodes during crunch periods.

It may also be a more cost-effective alternative to perpetual licences in the common situation when artists’ workstations are added to a studio’s renderfarm when not in use overnight.

Time will be pre-paid in blocks of multiple thousands of hours, with a separate fee for the associated usage of third-party tools, such as The Foundry’s Nuke and Katana, and Chaos Group’s V-Ray renderer.

You can read more about the licensing system on the new Deadline on Demand website, and more about the other new features in Deadline 8 itself – which include a new proxy server function – on Thinkbox’s blog.

How to claim your free licensing hours
The introductory offer extends to both Deadline itself and the tools you can use with it: as well as Nuke, Katana and V-Ray, that means Krakatoa, Thinkbox Software’s own volumetric particle renderer.

The free licensing time is provided in blocks of 10,000 hours on a first-come, first-served basis throughout May, with any unused time expiring at 12am PDT on 1 June 2016.

To request the free hours, you’ll need to email sales@thinkboxsoftware.com or call 1-866-419-0283 in order to get an offer code that you can enter in Thinkbox’s online store.

Getting set up is a reasonably involved process, so you can find a starter guide on Thinkbox’s blog.

“We invite anyone and everyone to take advantage of this opportunity and really hammer our system so we can fine tune the store and this new on-demand model,” said Thinkbox Software founder Chris Bond.

Pricing and availability
Deadline 8 itself is available for Windows, Linux and Mac OS X. Perpetual licences are still available, and cost $195.00 per render node.

Read more about the free usage-based licensing offer for Deadline 8 on Thinkbox’s website