PFTrack Studio 26.11.05: borrow a licence and take PFTrack offline
Standfirst: PFTrack Studio 26.11.05 is available now. Studio licences can now be borrowed for up to 14 days, so an artist can run PFTrack on one computer with no internet connection: on set, on location, or behind a restricted network. When the work is done, the licence goes back to the studio's floating pool.
Take a licence with you
Studio licences float across a studio's authorised workstations and are validated online. That suits a facility, but not a laptop on a recce or a workstation on a closed set. Borrowing closes that gap.
The studio decides who can borrow
Borrowing is off until the Account Owner turns it on for individual computers on the Studio account page. Only those computers can borrow, so the studio keeps control of where its licences go.
How it works
While online, the artist clicks Borrow Licence in the toolbar and chooses how many days they need, up to 14. PFTrack shows the date and time the borrow will end before they confirm. For that period the licence belongs to that computer alone and runs without a connection. Nobody else on the account can use it, so one licence is never in use in two places. The toolbar shows when the borrow ends, turning amber in the last 24 hours and red in the final hour.
Give it back early
Back online, Return Licence sends the licence straight back to the pool without interrupting work. If the artist forgets, it returns automatically when the borrow period ends. Borrowing works with perpetual and rent-to-buy licences; a rent-to-buy borrow ends no later than the licence itself.
Studio or Enterprise?
Borrowing is for teams that are online most of the time and offline for a stretch. Networks that are permanently isolated or air-gapped remain the job of PFTrack Enterprise, licensed through a local PFBucket Server with no dependency on The Pixel Farm's servers.
PFTrack Studio 26.11.05 is available for download now.
Available for Windows, macOS (Apple Silicon) and Linux (RHEL-compatible) from your Studio account. The Studio EULA and Account and Sales Terms have been updated to cover borrowing. See the documentation for how to borrow and return a licence, and the PFTrack Development Record for the full release notes.
