BASIC, STUDIO and CINEMA compared

Table of Content

set.a.light 3D comes in three editions — BASIC, STUDIO and CINEMA — plus two add-ons that a licence carries independently of the edition. This page says which control is there and which one is missing. Prices, upgrade paths and which add-ons come in which package are decided in the shop, so read this as the guaranteed minimum and the shop as the last word.

Applies to BASIC, STUDIO, CINEMA.

At a glance

  • Can I use continuous lights and practicals? From STUDIO up. BASIC has flashes and speedlights.
  • How many lights may a BASIC set hold? Five. The library refuses the sixth with a BASIC Edition Restriction notice.
  • Do I need an add-on for animation? Yes — the Animation Tool add-on, on any edition. The CINEMA trial includes it.
  • Can I render 4K? From STUDIO up. In BASIC the resolution list stops at 1920 px on the long edge.
  • Can I import my own 3D objects? With the 3D Import add-on, on any edition.
  • Do I need CINEMA for my own HDRIs or my own continuous-light models? Yes, for creating and editing them.
  • Does my edition expire? No. The free-update period can — see below; they are two different things.
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Which edition am I running?

Help → About set.a.light 3D prints your edition and the version. Without a licence it reads TRIAL. Help → License Management shows the same under Your Product, together with the Add-Ons your licence carries and the line that tells you how long updates are included.

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What BASIC leaves out

  • At most 5 light sources in a set. The limit is the same on every route that adds one — placing from the library, Duplicate, pasting and Alt-dragging a light off its own handle: the fifth light still goes in, the sixth is refused with BASIC Edition Restriction.
  • No continuous lights, ring lights, practicals or architectural fixtures — flashes, speedlights and the ring flash only. See Add and place lights.
  • No gobo: the Gobo – Projector shaper is hidden, and so is the Gobo Masks page of the App Manager.
  • No film cameras and no film rigs: they are hidden in the library and in the pickers, and the Film button in the camera inspector is greyed out. See Film camera.
  • No Light Meter object. See Measure light and lighting ratios.
  • No set templates. Three places are affected: the My Templates tab of the start window is missing, the Edit menu has no Save Current Set as Template and no Manage Set Templates, and the App Manager has no Set Templates page.
  • At most 7 of your own images per image library — Gobo Masks, Projector Images, Picturewall Images. The cap is on adding: with seven in a library you can still open one of them and replace its image, because the count does not grow. In addition, picture-wall images must be JPG in BASIC; the other two libraries take the general image formats in every edition. See Supported file formats.
  • The render resolution stops at 1920 px on the long edge. The 3840 px entry is not offered and the cap is enforced when the render starts, so a size stored under a bigger licence cannot outlive a downgrade. See Large and print-ready renders (4K).
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What STUDIO adds

STUDIO removes every BASIC limit above: unlimited lights, continuous lights and practicals, film cameras and film rigs, the gobo, the light meter, set templates, your own images in every supported format, and 3840 px renders.

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What CINEMA adds

  • The extended light models — 59 of the 107 heads in the catalogue. CINEMA carries them; on BASIC and STUDIO they need a licence with the extended-lights entitlement. See Light catalogue.
  • Creating and editing your own continuous-light models in the App Manager (CINEMA). The Default Dimming Curve on that page is a different thing: the page itself needs STUDIO or CINEMA, and the curve can be set there in both. See Add your own lights and light shapers.
  • Creating and editing your own HDRIs (CINEMA). Both routes ask the same question: the HDRIs page of the App Manager and the + in the map picker, which is only shown on CINEMA. See Use an HDRI environment.
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Add-ons

Add-ons are not tied to an edition: they are switched on by your licence, so a CINEMA licence without one does not have that feature either. Help → License Management lists both under Add-Ons:

  • Animation Tool — the ANIMATION tab, keyframes and video export. See How animation works in a shot.
  • 3D Import — importing your own 3D objects and the matching entries in the File menu. The licence screen calls it 3D Importer; this manual calls the feature 3D Import. See 3D import: what the add-on reads.

A CINEMA trial carries both add-ons for its duration. Your customer account lists what you own.

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The trial

Without a valid licence the program starts in trial mode and opens a dialog called Welcome to set.a.light 3D. It has no close button, and it appears at every start until you activate a licence.

  1. While the licensing server is asked, the dialog shows Checking for available trial. and the three edition cards are disabled — you cannot pick anything yet.
  2. When the answer arrives, the cards become clickable: Run Basic, Run Studio, Run Cinema. Pick one and the trial behaves like that edition. A line at the bottom prints Remaining Trial Time, in whole days, rounded up.
  3. The footer always keeps Activate, so a licence you have just bought can be entered straight away. Get a License sits in the footer while the trial runs and moves into the expiry view afterwards.

While you work in trial mode, two things differ from a licensed program: every final render carries a watermark, and the studio view shows a trial overlay. Both disappear the moment you activate.

When the time is up, the dialog swaps the cards for the expiry view — The Trial Version has expired. — and Activate stays in the footer.

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If the trial cannot be checked

A company network or a blocked connection produces a third state: Licensing Server Unreachable, with the text Your trial could not be checked because the licensing server did not respond. This is a connection problem, not a problem with your trial. Try Again repeats the check.

Try Again does one more thing worth knowing: it first retries a licence that is already stored on this computer but could not be confirmed. So seeing the trial dialog does not prove that your licence is gone — press Try Again before you re-enter a key. See License and activation problems.

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Your update period is not your edition

Your edition does not expire. What can run out is the period in which new versions are free. Help → License Management prints one of these lines: Free updates until {Date}, Free updates ended on {Date}, Your period of free updates has ended. when no date is known, Updates included, or Update status unknown — and Checking for updates while the check is still running. An extended-trial licence gets no such line at all.

When the period has ended, the program still runs and keeps working; only the newer version is behind Renew Updates. The whole flow is in Update set.a.light 3D.

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School and volume licences: what can be switched off

Independently of the edition, a licence can be issued with two things switched off. This is how school, education and volume licences are usually delivered:

  • The COMMUNITY tab. It is still there, and it reports Community is disabled through license settings instead of the browser. Ask whoever administers the licence. See The Community tab.
  • Model nudity. Models are always clothed. Child models are covered in every edition and every licence.
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The comparison tables

The edition limits are the three lists above. The two tables below cover the rest: the add-ons and what a licence can switch off. Each row is a limit — applies means the limit is in force for that edition, a dash means it is not. The add-on rows read applies in all three columns because an add-on is never included in an edition.

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Add-ons

Add-ons are bought separately and are not tied to an edition — a CINEMA licence without the add-on does not have the feature either. A CINEMA trial includes both.

Feature or limit BASIC STUDIO CINEMA Notes
The Animation tab, keyframes and video export need the Animation Tool add-on. applies applies applies
3D import and your own 3D objects need the 3D Import add-on. applies applies applies
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Settings that come with your licence

These are decided when the licence is issued and are the same in every edition.

Feature or limit BASIC STUDIO CINEMA Notes
The Community tab can be switched off for a licence (for example for school or volume licences). — — —
Avatar nudity can be switched off for a licence; child models are always covered. — — —

One behaviour needs a footnote of its own. New lights start with the modeling light switched on, except under a BASIC licence, where it starts off. It is a default value rather than a feature gate: it decides what a new light looks like when you drop it, nothing else, and a light saved with the pilot light off keeps that state in every edition. Switch it on per light in the inspector, see Light settings.

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Troubleshooting

  • A page or a category is missing from the App Manager. That is an edition restriction, not a fault. The lists above say which — and Manage your resources in the App Manager explains the difference between a missing page and a disabled button.
  • I bought an add-on and the program does not see it. It usually announces itself; otherwise use Update License in License Management — see License and activation problems.
  • How many computers may I activate? Your customer account lists your activations. The program only reports when a limit was exceeded.
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Related

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