Legal

Software License Agreement

Version: 1.0 · Last updated: 2026-10-16

The short version (not part of the agreement)

This box is a plain-language summary to help you read the agreement. The numbered sections below are what actually apply.

You rent the right to use our 3ds Max plugins for as long as your subscription is paid. Free products are free to use for as long as you like.
One paid seat = one workstation, however many copies of 3ds Max you open on it. Render nodes on your farm are free.
Everything you make with our tools belongs to you. No royalties, no credits required.
Don't share, resell, crack or reverse engineer the software. Each copy carries an identifier tied to your account so leaked copies can be traced.
The software checks your license with our server regularly. It sends no scenes, file names, file paths, models or images. Crash and debug reports are only sent if you choose to send them.
If your subscription ends, scenes still open and save, but our plugin objects stop rendering until you renew.
If you are a consumer, the law where you live may give you rights this agreement cannot take away. Nothing here reduces them.

1. Who this agreement is between

1.1 This agreement is between Machine3D LLC, an Oregon limited liability company, of 2644 Alder St., Eugene, Oregon 97405, USA ("Machine3D", "we", "us") and the person or organization that installs or uses the Software ("you").

1.2 Accepting. You accept this agreement by ticking the acceptance box when you buy a subscription, when you install the M3D Tool Manager, or when you first download a Product, or by using the Software. If you do not accept it, do not install or use the Software.

1.3 On behalf of a company. If you accept for a company, studio or other organization, you confirm that you are authorized to bind it, and "you" means that organization. Its employees and contractors may then use the Software under section 3.6.

1.4 Age. You must be at least 18 years old, or the age of majority where you live if that is higher, to accept this agreement.

1.5 Who sells to you. Subscriptions are sold to you by our reseller, Link (operated by Stripe), which acts as the merchant of record: it takes your payment, charges any sales tax or VAT, issues your receipts and invoices, and handles payment questions. The sale is governed by Link's own terms, shown at checkout. This agreement governs your license to use the Software, which comes from us.

2. Definitions

"Software" means our 3ds Max plugins, scripts and tools that we make available under this agreement (each a "Product"), including the M3D Tool Manager, the M3D License Server, their updates, and their documentation.
"Paid Product" means a Product that needs an active subscription. "Free Product" means a Product we list as free.
"Subscription" means your paid right to use one or more Paid Products for a billing period (currently one month, six months or one year), together with the number of Seats you bought.
"Workstation" means one physical or virtual computer. "Seat" means the right to use a Paid Product on one Workstation at a time, in any number of 3ds Max sessions on that Workstation.
"Render Node" means a computer running 3ds Max only to render or process scenes without a person working in it interactively (for example 3dsmaxcmd, 3dsmaxbatch, Backburner, Deadline or a similar render manager).
"License Server" means the M3D License Server program that holds your license and hands out Seats on your network.
"Output" means anything you create with the Software: scenes, models, simulations, caches, VDB files, images, animations and other results.
"Consumer" means an individual acting for purposes outside their trade, business, craft or profession. "Business Customer" means anyone who is not a Consumer, including freelancers buying for their work.

3. Your license to Paid Products

3.1 Grant. While your Subscription is active and you follow this agreement, we grant you a non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable, worldwide license to install and use the Paid Products in your Subscription, in object-code form, for any personal or commercial purpose, on up to the number of Seats you have paid for.

3.2 Seats. Each Seat may be in use on one Workstation at a time. You may install the Software on more computers than you have Seats; the License Server makes sure no more than your number of Seats is in use at once. A Product made of several plugins (for example VelVDB) uses one Seat per Workstation however many of its plugins are loaded.

3.3 Render Nodes are included. You may use the Paid Products on any number of your Render Nodes at no extra charge, while your Subscription is active. A Render Node used interactively by a person counts as a Workstation and takes a Seat.

3.4 License Server. You run the License Server on a computer you control. You may not make Seats available to people outside your organization, or run a License Server as a service for others. Your license may limit Seats to computers on a network range stated in your license file; if it does, Seats will only be served inside that range.

3.5 Versions. During your Subscription you may install and use any version of a Paid Product that we make available to you, including keeping an older version installed.

3.6 Your people. Your employees, and contractors working on your projects, may use your Seats on your behalf. You are responsible for their compliance with this agreement.

3.7 Evaluation and studio builds. If we give you a trial, beta or pre-release version, it is provided for evaluation only, may stop working at the end of the stated period, and section 14.4 (no warranty) applies to it as far as the law allows.

4. Free Products

4.1 Grant. We grant you a non-exclusive, non-transferable, worldwide, royalty-free license to install and use the Free Products, for any personal or commercial purpose, on any number of your computers and Render Nodes, for as long as we make them available and you follow this agreement. No Subscription or Seat is needed.

4.2 Getting copies. Download Free Products only from us, through our website or the M3D Tool Manager. You may install them on as many of your own computers as you like, but you may not redistribute them, share their installers or files, or offer them for download anywhere else. Anyone else who wants a Free Product can get it from us free of charge.

4.3 No fee, limited promises. Because Free Products cost nothing, we provide them "as is" (section 14.4) to the extent the law allows. Consumers keep any statutory rights that apply to free digital content where they live.

4.4 Separate licenses. Some Free Products are based on code written by others and come with that code's own license (for example M3D CoolPicker, which is a fork of CoolPicker by its original authors). Where a Product ships with its own license file, that license applies to the code it covers.

5. What you may not do

5.1 Unless the law where you are expressly allows it despite this clause (section 5.2), you may not, and may not help anyone else to:

a) copy the Software except to install it as allowed above and to make backups; b) sell, rent, lease, lend, sublicense, share, publish or otherwise make the Software, your license file or your license key available to anyone outside your organization; c) use more Seats at once than you have paid for, or try to get around the License Server, the license check, the Seat count or any network-range limit; d) remove, alter or hide the license check, the per-copy identifier described in section 10.3, or any copyright, trademark or license notice; e) reverse engineer, decompile or disassemble the Software, or try to derive its source code, except as section 5.2 allows; f) modify, adapt, translate or create derivative works of the Software; g) use the Software to build a competing product, or to train a machine-learning model to reproduce the Software's functionality; h) use the Software in breach of any law, including export and sanctions laws (section 18).

5.2 Rights the law gives you. Nothing in this agreement prevents you from doing something that the law where you are allows even when a license says otherwise, for example decompiling to make the Software work with other software where the EU Software Directive (2009/24/EC) or similar law permits it, or making a backup copy. Where such a right depends on first asking us for the information, please ask us first at support@machine3d.com.

6. Your work belongs to you

6.1 You own your Output. We claim no rights in it and charge no royalties. You do not have to credit us, although we are always glad when you do.

6.2 After your Subscription ends, scenes containing our plugin objects will still open and save, and the objects' settings are kept, but those objects will display as a placeholder and will not render or be editable until you renew. Output you already created (rendered images, exported caches and files) is yours to keep and use forever.

6.3 Keep your own backups of your Output. We do not store your scenes or files.

7. Subscriptions, renewal and cancellation

7.1 Terms and prices. The available terms, prices, number of Seats and the Products included are shown at checkout. Prices include or add tax as shown there.

7.2 Automatic renewal. Your Subscription renews automatically at the end of each billing period for the same length of period, and you will be charged the then-current price, until you cancel. We, or Link on our behalf, will remind you before a renewal where the law requires it, and before every renewal of a six-month or yearly Subscription.

7.3 Cancelling. You can cancel at any time in your Link account at https://app.link.com, or by contacting us at support@machine3d.com. Cancelling stops the next renewal. Your Seats keep working until the end of the period you have paid for; we do not refund the unused part of a period unless section 8 or the law where you live requires it.

7.4 Price changes. We may change the price of a Subscription for future periods. We will tell you at least 30 days before a changed price applies to your renewal, so you can cancel before it does.

7.5 Seat changes. You can add or remove Seats as offered in your account. Changes are charged or credited as shown when you make them.

7.6 Grace period and offline use. Your license is stored on your License Server and keeps working without contacting us until the end of your paid period plus a grace period (currently 14 days). If our servers are unreachable, your Software keeps working for that time.

7.7 Failed payment. If a renewal payment fails and is not fixed, your Subscription ends and section 6.2 applies after the grace period.

8. Refunds and cancellation rights

8.1 14-day money-back. If you are not happy with your first purchase of a Paid Product, you may ask for a full refund within 14 days of that purchase, for any reason, by contacting us at support@machine3d.com or Link support. This applies once per Product per customer. When we refund, your license for that Subscription ends at once and the Software stops working.

8.2 Statutory rights. If you are a Consumer, you may have a legal right to cancel a purchase of digital content, or to get a repair, a price reduction or a refund if it is faulty. Section 21 describes some of these. Nothing in this agreement limits them.

8.3 EU, EEA and UK Consumers: right of withdrawal. You normally have 14 days to withdraw from an online purchase. For digital content supplied immediately, that right ends once supply begins if you expressly asked for supply to start during the withdrawal period and acknowledged that you would lose the right. At checkout, or when you first download, we will ask you to confirm both, and we will confirm your choice to you by e-mail. Section 8.1 gives you a refund within 14 days of a first purchase in any case.

8.4 Refunds and your license. When a purchase is refunded or charged back in full, the license it paid for ends, and we may revoke the license file on your License Server.

9. Updates, changes and support

9.1 Updates. During your Subscription we will provide updates that we make generally available for your Paid Products, including fixes and security updates, through the M3D Tool Manager. You choose whether and when to install them, and you may stay on an older version (section 3.5). If you are a Consumer, we will supply the updates needed to keep the Software in conformity with this agreement for as long as your Subscription lasts.

9.2 Supported software. Each Product version states the 3ds Max versions and Windows versions it supports. We may stop supporting a 3ds Max version in new releases after Autodesk stops supporting it; existing versions you have installed continue to work.

9.3 Changes to the Software. We may change, improve or remove features of the Software for valid reasons, such as adapting to a new 3ds Max version, fixing a security problem, legal requirements or improving the product. A change will not cost you anything extra. If a change has more than a minor negative effect on how you can use a Paid Product, we will tell you clearly and in good time beforehand, and you may end your Subscription for free within 30 days of the change and receive a refund of the unused part of the period you have paid for (or, if you are a Consumer, any longer period the law gives you).

9.4 Discontinuing a Product. If we stop offering a Paid Product, we will tell you at least 60 days in advance where we can, it will keep working until the end of your paid period, and we will refund the unused part of any period beyond that.

9.5 Support. We provide support by e-mail at support@machine3d.com. We answer as soon as we reasonably can, but we do not promise a response time. Support does not cover your scenes, third-party plugins, or 3ds Max itself.

10. License checks and online features

The Software needs to talk to our servers to work as a subscription. This section tells you what it does. Our Privacy Notice at https://machine3d.com/privacy gives the full detail, including your rights.

10.1 License checks. The License Server activates your license with your license key, asks our server about once an hour whether a newer license file exists (for example after a renewal or a Seat change), and renews before your paid period ends.

10.2 Daily check-in. Once a day the License Server sends us: your customer id, an identifier of the License Server's computer (a one-way hash, not its name), the Products and Seat count on your license, the License Server version, and how many Seats and Render Nodes were in use. Our server records the time and the internet (IP) address it came from. Your Workstations and Render Nodes themselves do not contact us.

10.3 Per-copy identifier. Every copy of a Paid Product we build for you contains an identifier linked to your account. We use it to check that the copy is licensed to you and to trace copies that are shared or leaked without permission. Do not remove it.

10.4 What we never collect. The Software does not send us your scenes, models, files, file names, file paths, textures, renders, screenshots, user names, or the names of objects in your scenes.

10.5 Crash and debug reports. If one of our plugins crashes, or you choose to send a debug log, the M3D Tool Manager can send us a report. It is only sent if you choose to send it (you can set it to ask each time, always send, or never send), and you can open the exact file before it is sent. The Privacy Notice lists what a report contains and how long we keep it.

10.6 Revocation. We may revoke your license file through the license check if your Subscription ends, is refunded or charged back, or if we terminate this agreement under section 17.

11. Privacy

We process personal data as described in our Privacy Notice at https://machine3d.com/privacy, which is a separate document. Payment details are handled by Link/Stripe and never reach us.

12. Third-party software and 3ds Max

12.1 Open-source components. The Software includes open-source components, such as OpenVDB (Apache License 2.0) and the libraries listed in the THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.txt file shipped with each Product. Those components are licensed to you under their own licenses, and nothing in this agreement limits your rights under them.

12.2 3ds Max. The Software is designed for Autodesk 3ds Max, which you must license separately from Autodesk. We are not affiliated with or endorsed by Autodesk. "Autodesk" and "3ds Max" are trademarks of Autodesk, Inc. We are not responsible for 3ds Max or for other companies' plugins and renderers.

13. Ownership and feedback

13.1 The Software is licensed, not sold. We and our licensors own all rights in it, including copyright, trademarks and trade secrets. You get only the rights this agreement expressly gives you.

13.2 If you send us ideas or suggestions, we may use them freely without paying you or owing you anything, and you keep any rights you have in your own material.

14. Our promises about the Software (warranty)

14.1 What we promise. We promise that, during your Subscription, each Paid Product will work substantially as described in its documentation on the supported 3ds Max and Windows versions, and that we have the right to grant you this license.

14.2 If it does not. Tell us at support@machine3d.com. We will try to fix it within a reasonable time. If we cannot, you may end the Subscription for that Product and we will refund what you paid for the period in which it did not work. If you are a Consumer, you may have further rights under the law where you live (section 21).

14.3 Software is never perfect. Simulation and rendering tools work on complex data and can produce unexpected results or crash. Save your work often and check your Output before you deliver it.

14.4 Disclaimer (Business Customers, and Free and evaluation Products). Except for the promises in section 14.1 and any warranty the law does not allow us to exclude, the Software is provided "AS IS" and "AS AVAILABLE", and we disclaim all other warranties and conditions, express or implied, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, satisfactory quality, non-infringement, and that the Software will be uninterrupted or error-free. This section 14.4 does not apply to Consumers' statutory rights.

15. Liability

15.1 What we never limit. Nothing in this agreement limits or excludes liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, for intentional misconduct or gross negligence, or for any other liability that cannot be limited or excluded by law.

15.2 Business Customers. Subject to 15.1, if you are a Business Customer: a) we are not liable for any loss of profit, revenue, business, contracts, goodwill or anticipated savings, loss or corruption of data or Output, missed deadlines, re-rendering or re-simulation costs, or any indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages, even if we were told they were possible; and b) our total liability arising out of or in connection with this agreement in any 12-month period is limited to the amount you paid us for the Software in that 12-month period (or US$100 for Free Products).

15.3 Consumers. If you are a Consumer, we are responsible for loss or damage you suffer that is a foreseeable result of our breaking this agreement or failing to use reasonable care and skill. We are not responsible for loss that was not foreseeable, for business losses, or for loss you could have avoided by following our reasonable instructions, such as installing an update we provided to fix a defect, or by keeping backups of your work. Section 21 adds rules for some countries.

15.4 Some places do not allow certain limitations or exclusions, so parts of this section may not apply to you.

16. Your responsibility to us (Business Customers only)

If you are a Business Customer, you will compensate us for third-party claims, and the reasonable costs of defending them, caused by your breach of section 5 or your use of the Software in breach of law.

17. Ending this agreement

17.1 By you. You may end this agreement at any time by cancelling your Subscriptions and uninstalling the Software.

17.2 By us. We may suspend or end your license if you seriously or repeatedly break this agreement (for example by sharing your license, exceeding your Seats, or removing the license check) and, where the breach can be fixed, you do not fix it within 14 days of our notice. If we end it for any other reason, we will refund the unused part of any period you have paid for.

17.3 What happens. When the agreement or a Subscription ends, your license to the affected Paid Products ends, section 6.2 applies, and you must stop using those Products. Sections 5, 6, 12, 13, 14.4, 15, 16, 18, 20 and 22 continue to apply.

18. Export and sanctions

You will comply with all export control and sanctions laws that apply to the Software, including those of the United States. You confirm that you are not located in, or ordinarily resident in, a country or region subject to comprehensive US sanctions, and that you are not on any US government list of restricted parties, and you will not export or provide the Software to anyone who is.

19. US Government end users

The Software is "commercial computer software" and its documentation is "commercial computer software documentation" under FAR 12.212 and DFARS 227.7202. US Government end users acquire it only with the rights set out in this agreement.

20. Governing law and disputes

20.1 Talk to us first. If you have a problem, contact us at support@machine3d.com; most things can be sorted out quickly.

20.2 Business Customers. This agreement is governed by the laws of the State of Oregon, United States, excluding its conflict-of-laws rules, and the state courts located in Lane County, Oregon, and the United States District Court for the District of Oregon (Eugene Division) have exclusive jurisdiction.

20.3 Consumers. If you are a Consumer, this agreement is governed by the laws of the State of Oregon, but you also keep the protection of the mandatory laws of the country (or state) where you live, and you may bring a claim in the courts where you live.

20.4 The UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods does not apply.

20.5 Consumer dispute resolution. We are not obliged, and do not offer, to take part in alternative dispute resolution proceedings before a consumer arbitration board.

21. Rules for particular countries

Where a rule in this section conflicts with the rest of the agreement, this section wins for customers in that place.

21.1 European Union and EEA (Consumers). You have the legal guarantee that digital content conforms to the contract, for the whole time it is supplied under your Subscription (Directive (EU) 2019/770 and its national laws). If it does not conform, you are entitled to have it brought into conformity, and failing that to a price reduction or to end the contract. These remedies are not affected by section 14 or 15.

21.2 Germany and Austria (Consumers). Section 15 is replaced with: we are liable without limitation for intent and gross negligence, for injury to life, body or health, under the Product Liability Act, and under any guarantee we gave. For slight negligence we are liable only for breach of an essential contractual obligation (one whose fulfillment makes proper performance of the contract possible and on which you may regularly rely), and then limited to damage typical and foreseeable for this kind of contract. After the first period of your Subscription, if it renews automatically, you may end it at any time with one month's notice, and we will refund the unused prepaid part.

21.3 Automatically renewed subscriptions elsewhere. Wherever the law where you live gives a Consumer the right to end an automatically renewed subscription early, or a cooling-off period after a renewal, you have that right, and we will refund the unused prepaid part as that law requires.

21.4 United Kingdom (Consumers). You have rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 for digital content that is faulty or not as described, including a repair or replacement and, in some cases, a price reduction or refund. Section 15.3 applies to you.

21.5 Australia. Our goods and services come with guarantees that cannot be excluded under the Australian Consumer Law. Nothing in this agreement excludes, restricts or modifies any guarantee, right or remedy under the Australian Consumer Law. Where the law allows us to limit our liability for a failure to comply with a guarantee, and the Software is not of a kind ordinarily acquired for personal, domestic or household use, our liability is limited, at our choice, to supplying the Software again or paying the cost of having it supplied again.

21.6 New Zealand. If you acquire the Software for business purposes, the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 does not apply. Otherwise, nothing in this agreement limits your rights under that Act.

21.7 Canada and Québec. Nothing in this agreement limits rights under provincial consumer protection laws.

21.8 United States. Some states do not allow the exclusion of implied warranties or the limitation of incidental or consequential damages, so those parts of sections 14 and 15 may not apply to you. New Jersey residents: the limits in sections 14 and 15 apply only to the extent permitted by New Jersey law.

21.9 Other countries. If you live in a country whose consumer law gives you a cancellation, refund or guarantee right that cannot be waived (for example Brazil's seven-day right to cancel an online purchase), you have that right.

22. General

22.1 Entire agreement. This agreement, together with the Privacy Notice and the terms shown to you at checkout, is the whole agreement between you and us about the Software.

22.2 Changes to this agreement. We may update this agreement for valid reasons, such as a change in the law, a new Product or a change in how the Software works. We will tell you at least 30 days before a change applies to you. A change applies to a Subscription from its next renewal; if you do not agree, you can cancel before then. Changes that only benefit you, or that are needed for legal reasons sooner, may apply earlier. The version you accepted, and its date, are shown in the M3D Tool Manager.

22.3 Transfer. You may not transfer this agreement or your license without our written consent, except to a successor that buys your whole business, if you tell us. We may transfer this agreement to a successor to our business, provided your rights are not reduced.

22.4 Severability. If a court finds part of this agreement invalid, the rest still applies, and the invalid part is replaced by the valid rule closest to its intent.

22.5 No waiver. If we do not enforce a right straight away, we can still enforce it later.

22.6 Events beyond control. Neither of us is responsible for delays or failures caused by events beyond reasonable control, such as outages of internet, hosting or payment providers, but this does not affect your right to a refund for a period in which you could not use the Software.

22.7 Language. This agreement is written in English. If we give you a translation and it differs from the English, the English version applies, unless the law where you live says the translation must.

22.8 Notices. We may send notices to the e-mail address on your account or through the M3D Tool Manager. You may send notices to support@machine3d.com or 2644 Alder St., Eugene, Oregon 97405, USA.

22.9 Contact. Machine3D LLC · 2644 Alder St., Eugene, Oregon 97405, USA · support@machine3d.com · https://machine3d.com