Please note!

This guide is intended for version 23.2 and later. If you are running an earlier version of Craft Director Studio please refer to the manual found here.

How to activate & configure your subscription

This guide help you configure and understand what functions you is available to you and your subscription.

Making changes to your subscription

Please note! that you are unable to make changes if you have purchased your subscription through a reseller.

Please note! that the customer portal will not confirm whether the entered email is linked to an account. If you have any inquiries, please contact us, and we will assist you as best we can.

By logging in to the Customer Portal using the email associated with your subscription, you can:

  • Cancel or re-enable your automatic subscription renewal.
  • Add or remove seats
  • Update your payment method
  • Update your contact / billing details

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Activating a Subscription on a workstation

When you have received a subscription code, you activate it using one of the following methods.

A. Activate your seat via the License Manager:

  1. Open the License manager from the Main menu of Craft Director Studio.
    Main menu licenser manager
  2. Click on Import license to open the Import license form.
    License Manager Import license
  3. Remove the pre-entered text and enter your activation code.
    Import subscription activation code
  4. Click OK, and your license should be up and running.
  5. license manager activated license

 

 

B. Tool pop-up window

  1. Create a tool that requires a subscription, such as 4-Wheeler Extended.
    Create tool drop down 4-wheeler extended
  2. A pop-up window should appear.
    No license pop-up window
  3. Click Activate, remove the pre-entered text, and enter your activation code.
    Import subscription activation code
  4. Click OK.
  5. Done.

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Workstation checkout mode configuration

 

Floating (default)

This is the default option. It fetches a seat when the Craft Director Studio plugin is enabled on the workstation. If no seat is available, the license manager will notify you.

30 day roaming

Checks out a seat for 30 days. This makes it possible to work offline without the need for internet connection. The 30 days are renewed as soon as the workstation is able to connect to the internet. If the workstation does not have internet connection during 30 days it is returned back to the server automatically. The seat can be returned by switching checkout mode to Inactive or Floating (returned when 3d program is closed down).

Indefinite

This option checks out the license until the subscription expires. If the license is renewed, and the workstation have access to internet it will automatically update to the new expiration date. To return the seat to the server, switch the checkout mode to Inactive or Floating (returned when the 3D program is closed down).

Inactive

Enabling this mode causes the workstation to return any active seats to the server. The workstation will not attempt to retrieve any seats from the server until a different checkout mode is selected.

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Ports used

If you are having issues with unlocking the Professional tools in Craft Director Studio you might need to make sure that your firewall supports access to port 443 at lich.craftanimations.com.

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Silent installation

Windows

Please Note. The installer does not support silent mode. In order to deploy CDS in batch, you need to do some manual work:

  1. Install CDS on a reference machine
    On this machine, extract the following items:

    • The plugin file installed on the host applications plugins folder (in 3ds max its a .gup file located in the plugins folder, in Maya it’s a .mll file located in the bin/plug-ins folder.
    • The 32-bit registry in
      • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Craft Animations
    • The CDS system folder (usually located in C:\Program Files\Craft Animations) (For render nodes you should not include the license server pointer as CDS does not require a license for rendering)
    • (Optional) If you like to copy specific settings for CDS you can also make sure to copy the settings.json file located in the CDS system folder “C:\Program Files\Craft Animations\directorstudio” (if not visible, please start Craft Director Studio and change and save a setting in the preferences and it will be created).
    • Create a new registry string value under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Craft Animations\Director Studio\lich and enter in the subscription token as value data.
    • (Optional for Maya users) To autoload Craft Director Studio on startup add the following row to the users pluginPrefs.mel file found under C:\Users\<username>\My Documents\Maya\<version>\prefs

      evalDeferred(“autoLoadPlugin(\”\”, \”craftdirectortoolsadaptor_maya<version>\”, \”craftdirectortoolsadaptor_maya<version>\”)”);

      Where <version> is exchanged with version number of Maya. For example 2024 or 2025. craftdirectortoolsadaptor_maya2025

  2. Place these items onto the target computers. Add the files on the same locations, and CDS will be able to run and use the subscription token.

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