Terrafold

Licence and trial

Terrafold works fully offline. A licence key is a short block of text that Terrafold checks on your own computer: nothing is sent anywhere, and the key is not tied to a computer. It names one licensee (you or your company) and works on the computers you use.

The 30-day trial

Without a licence key, Terrafold is a full trial for 30 days from the first time you start it. The status bar shows Trial: N days left. A trial never ends while you work: Terrafold decides when it starts, so a session that began on the last day keeps every feature until you close it.

Viewer mode

After the trial, or when your licence does not cover the version you are running, Terrafold starts in viewer mode. The status bar says Viewer mode — Buy / Enter key, and a banner above the model offers the same two buttons.

In viewer mode you can:

  • open, view and walk through models, and use scenes;
  • export images (File ▸ Export ▸ 2D Graphic, Section Slice, Animation frames, and renders from Window ▸ Render);
  • change the model to try things out;
  • use the command-line tool for reading and images: terrafold-cli info, export to PNG, render, animation.

You cannot:

  • save (File ▸ Save, Save As, Save a Copy As, Save As Template);
  • export models: File ▸ Export ▸ 3D Model (.tfo, COLLADA, OBJ, STL, glTF, 3DS, DXF, KMZ);
  • export the garden quantities or the plant schedule as CSV;
  • write model files from scripts, the command-line tool (convert to model formats, --out, sample), the control channel or MCP.

When you try, Terrafold explains why and offers to enter a key. Your work is never lost: automatic recovery copies are still written in viewer mode, and as soon as you enter a licence key you can save, without restarting.

Entering a licence key

  1. Choose Help ▸ Enter Licence Key….
  2. Paste the key from the e-mail (everything from -----BEGIN TERRAFOLD LICENSE----- to -----END TERRAFOLD LICENSE-----), or choose Open .tfl file… and pick the file you received.
  3. Choose Enter Key. Terrafold checks the key and tells you in plain words if something is wrong (for example when a line is missing).

Help ▸ About and the status bar then show Licensed to and your name. Help ▸ Licence shows the licence type, its dates and the versions it covers.

On the command line:

terrafold-cli license status          # the licence or trial state
terrafold-cli license install my.tfl  # enter a key (- reads it from standard input)
terrafold-cli license remove          # remove the key from this computer

The desktop app and the command-line tool share the key. In the web version the key is kept in your browser's storage for the Terrafold site.

Licence types

  • Perpetual: use Terrafold forever, including the versions released during the first year (until the "updates until" date in the key). A version released later shows viewer mode and tells you which versions your licence covers; the versions you had keep working.
  • Yearly subscription: Terrafold works until the "valid until" date in the key, plus 14 days of grace to renew.

To buy a licence, see the buy page.

The licence agreement

The first time Terrafold starts it shows the end user licence agreement, which you accept to continue. You can read it again in Help ▸ Licence Agreement or on the website.