Wednesday, March 18th, 2020 Posted by Jim Thacker

Get CG software for free during the coronavirus outbreak


Adobe’s marketing image for Substance Suite, created by Nikie Monteleone. The firm has reset the trial period on its Substance tools, making it possible to use them at home during the coronavirus pandemic.


As the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic forces people worldwide to self-isolate to help slow the spread of the disease, the CG community has begun to respond.

Over the past few days, developers of CG software have begun to offer free licences of their products to anyone who needs to work from home during the next few months.

Below, we’re rounded up the current coronavirus support programs, which include free trial editions, educational and commercial licences of CG software from developers including Adobe and Foundry.

We’ll add more companies as they announce free licences. Post any we’ve missed in the comments, and we’ll add those to the list too.

CG software available free during the coronavirus pandemic

Who: Adobe
What: Substance Suite (Substance Painter, Substance Designer, Substance Alchemist and Substance Source)
The deal: The trial editions of the tools have been reset, making it possible for anyone to use them at home
How long: 30 days
Get a free 30-day trial of Substance Suite

Who: Adobe
What: Creative Cloud software (including After Effects and Photoshop)
The deal: Students and educators at qualifying institutions can now use the tools at home for free
How long: Until 31 May 2020
Get Creative Cloud tools free for use at home

Who: Adobe
What: Team Projects for After Effects and Premiere Pro
The deal: The cloud based video collaboration system is now available free to individual subscribers
How long: Until 17 August 2020
Find out more about free Team Projects access for individual After Effects and Premiere Pro subscribers

Who: Andersson Technologies
What: SynthEyes
The deal: Existing users of SynthEyes 1208 and later can get temporary six-week work-at-home licences
How long: 42 days (may be possible to get a further temp licence if restrictions persist)
Get a free six-week SynthEyes work-at-home licence

Who: Boris FX
What: Sapphire, Continuum, Mocha Pro, Silhouette (2020 editions only)
The deal: Floating licence users with active support contracts can apply for extra free work-at-home licences
How long: 60-day licences
Get free work-at-home licences of Boris FX’s software

Users with node-locked licences can deactivate them then reactivate them at home, as explained here.

Who: CelAction
What: CelAction2D
The deal: Users can get free work-at-home licences until the end of their current project or school year
How long: Until the end of your current project
Read more about free work-at-home licences of CelAction2D

Who: Chaos Group
What: V-Ray, Phoenix FD
The deal: Existing university customers can get free work-at-home licences for students and teachers
How long: “While campuses are closed”
Get free educational work-at-home licences of V-Ray and Phoenix FD

Chaos Group has also posted instructions on accessing existing licences of its software from home.

Who: Corel
What: CorelDRAW
The deal: Existing subscribers or perpetual licence holders can install a second business licence at home
How long: Until 31 May 2020
No additional registration required: you can use your existing serial number for the free second licence.

Corporate and academic licence holders for CorelDRAW Graphics Suite can provide employees and students with additional free work-at-home licences. Find more details here.

Who: Corel
What: Gravit Designer Pro
The deal: Free for 90 days, or free until the end of the school year for students and educators
How long: Offer availabe until 31 May 2020
Get 90 days of free online access to Gravit Designer Pro

Who: Dynamixyz
What: Live Instant (real-time facial capture system)
The deal: Free ‘stay home’ trial licence
How long: Until 30 June 2020
Get a free ‘stay home’ licence of Dynamizyz Live Instant

Who: e-on software
What: Creator subscriptions to Vue and PlantFactory
The deal: Creator subscriptions are now free to anyone
How long: Two months
Get a free Creator subscription to Vue and PlantFactory

Users with existing Creator subscriptions can request a free 60-day licence of PlantCatalog. Studios with floating Enterprise subscriptions can request extra node-locked licences for staff working from home.

Who: Escape Motions
What: Inspirit
The deal: The iOS app for generating symmetrical patterns like mandalas has been made a free download
How long: No end date for the offer
Download iOS digital art app Inspirit for free



Who: ftrack
What: ftrack Review
The deal: The shot review and approval tool is now available free to anyone
How long: Until 31 May 2020
Get ftrack Review for free

Who: Foundry
What: All software (includes Nuke, Mari, Modo)
The deal: The trial editions of the tools have been reset, making it possible for anyone to use them at home
How long: 30 days
Get a free 30-day trial of Nuke, Mari or Modo

Foundry already offers one year’s free access to its tools for new students, and free non-commercial licences of Nuke and Mari. You can find more details its blog post on COVID-19.

Who: Frame.io
What: Frame.io (online collaboration, tracking and review tool for video editors and VFX artists)
The deal: Educational institutions, non-profits and healthcare organisations can get a free Enterprise licence
How long: 90 days
Find out how to claim a free 90-day Frame.io Enterprise licence

Other Frame.io users can also claim 2TB of free extra online storage during the next 90 days.

Who: Insydium
What: Cinema 4D plugins (X-Particles, Cycles 4D)
The deal: The trial editions of the tools have been reset, making it possible for anyone to use them at home
How long: Both trial periods have been extended to three months until 21 June 2020
Get a free three-month trial of X-Particles or Cycles 4D

Visit Insydium’s regularly updated webpage for further news, including free training videos.

Who: Isotropix
What: Clarisse iFX
The deal: Existing users with node-locked licences can get a temporary 60-day work-at-home licence
How long: 60 days
Find out how to claim a free 60-day work-at-home licence of Clarisse iFX

Students and teachers at educational institutions officially supporting Clarisse iFX in the curriculum can also claim free work-at-home licences of the software.

Who: Kitbash 3D
What: Packs of stock assets for kitbashing 3D scenes
The deal: Free Utopia kit for “creating bright art in dark times”
How long: Indefinitely
Get Kitbash 3D’s free Utopia kitbashing kit

Who: Marmoset
What: Hexels, Toolbag
The deal: The trial editions of the tools have been reset, making it possible for anyone to use them at home
How long: 30 days
Get a free 30-day trial of Marmoset Toolbag

Existing licences are tied to the user, not the workstation, making it possible to use them from anywhere.

Who: Mekajiki
What: RenderGarden for After Effects
The deal: A new free, fully functional Home Edition of the render acceleration software
How long: “Expires when coronavirus pandemic eases”
Get the free Home Edition of RenderGarden for After Effects

Who: Nukeygara
What: Akeytsu
The deal: Trial edition of the animation software extended to two months (use code 2MF-DHGjV)
How long: Two months
Get a two-month free trial of Akeytsu

Who: Numerion Software
What: Carbon Cloth (cloth simulation plugin for Maya and Houdini)
The deal: Anyone can use a temporary free floating licence of the plugin (requires internet connection)
How long: Until “at least 30 April”
Get a free floating licence of Carbon Cloth for Maya or Houdini

Who: PopcornFX
What: PopcornFX Editor
The deal: Commercial subscriptions to the editor are free for one month
How long: Until 19 April 2020
Get one month’s free subscription to PopcornFX Editor

Who: Pulze
What: All software (3ds Max tools for architectural visualisation)
The deal: The trial editions of the tools have been reset, making it possible for anyone to use them at home
How long: Until 30 June 2020
Get a free temporary licence of iClone or Character Creator

Who: Quadspinner
What: Gaea
The deal: Artists and students who already use Gaea can apply for extra free work-at-home licences
How long: Indefinite
Get a free work-at-home licence of Gaea

Who: Reallusion
What: All software (includes iClone and Character Creator)
The deal: Existing multi-seat workgroup and academic users can get an extra free temporary licence
How long: At least 60 days – now extended until 30 June 2020
Get a free 60-day trial of Pulze’s architectural visualisation tools

Reallusion has also temporarily cut the price of its software by 50% in its online store if you use the code COVID19STAYSAFE at checkout

Who: RE:Vision Effects
What: All products (effects plugins for compositing and editing software)
The deal: Users with floating licences can temporarily convert them to non-floating for use from home
How long: “We will see how things go in two months”
Read RE:Vision Effects’ FAQs about licence conversion

RE:Vision Effects is also cutting the cost of the upgrades to the latest versions of its software – necessary for licence conversion – by 50% if you use the order code COVID_19 in its online store

Who: Serif
What: All Affinity software (Affinity Photo, Affinity Designer, Affinity Publisher)
The deal: Serif has rolled out a new 90-day trial version of the entire Affinity suite for Windows and macOS
How long: Extended until 20 June 2020
Get a free 90-day trial of Serif’s Affinity tools

Serif has also cut the price of all of the Affinity apps by 50% during the coronavirus outbreak

Who: SGO
What: Mistika Boutique and Mistika VR
The deal: Current active subscribers can claim additional free 30-day work-at-home licences
How long: 30-day licences
Find out more about free 30-day work-at-home licences of Mistika Boutique and Mistika VR

Who: Shotgun Software
What: Shotgun
The deal: Shotgun Software has extended its free trial period for Shotgun to 31 May 2020
How long: Until 31 May 2020
Get a free trial of Shotgun

Who: Toon Boom Animation
What: Toon Boom Studio
The deal: Artists and students who use Toon Boom Studio can apply for extra free work-at-home licences
How long: 30-day licences
Get a free 30-day work-at-home licence of Toon Boom Studio

Who: Ziva Dynamics
What: Ziva VFX
The deal: Existing users with Studio subscriptions can get unlimited node-locked remote licences
How long: Until 18 May 2020 or “until further notice”
Find out how to apply for free remote licences of Ziva VFX

Ziva VFX has now also temporarily removed the cooldown period between uses of evaluation licences, making it possible to use the trial edition of Ziva VFX indefinitely.

Other changes to services for CG artists

Who: ACM Siggraph
What: Access to the ACM Digital Library
The deal: Accessing or downloading research papers from the library is temporarily free to everyone
How long: Until 30 June 2020

Who: Autodesk
What: All products (including 3ds Max and Maya)
The deal: Payment terms for new subscriptions and subscription renewals have been extended to 60 days
How long: Until 7 August 2020

Who: Conductor Technologies
What: Cloud rendering
The deal: Conductor is waiving some of its fees and offering free virtual wrangling for the immediate future
How long: Until “at least May 2020”

Who: Escape Motions
What: All software (includes Flame Painter and Rebelle)
The deal: Prices down 20%. Slovakian medical funding initiative ktopomozeslovensku.sk gets 10% of sales
How long: No end date has been announced for the offer

Who: Golaem
What: Golaem
The deal: Golaem is transferring commercial licences of the crowd simulation tool to personal machines
How long: No end date has been announced for the transfers

Who: iCube R&D Group
What: 3ds Max and Maya plugins (including MultiScatter and VRayScatter)
The deal: The price of the plugins has been reduced by 20% during “these uncertain times”
How long: No end date has been announced for the offer

Who: MattePaint
What: MattePaint (online library of matte painting resources)
The deal: Anyone with an existing licence can suspend their subscription for three months
How long: Up to three months

Users paying for a subscription by credit card can suspend it by logging into their account. Anyone paying for a subscription by PayPal should email support@mattepaint.com.

Who: Pixar
What: RenderMan
The deal: Payment for RenderMan has been deferred for 60 days
How long: Until 30 April 2020

Pixar has also reduced the price of new licences of RenderMan by 25% until 30 April 2020

Who: Pluralsight
What: Online video training for a range of DCC software
The deal: All of Pluralsight’s training courses are free throughout April 2020
How long: Until 30 April 2020

Linking to Pluralsight’s website currently gives an error message, but you can find it at pluralsight (dot) com.

Who: Soft8Soft
What: Verge3D for Blender, 3ds Max or Maya
The deal: A range of flexible or delayed payment options for existing users
How long: No end date announced

Who: Unity Technologies
What: Unity Learn Premium (online Unity training)
The deal: Now made available free indefinitely
How long: Forever