FrameLatheDocs

Install

FrameLathe ships as a signed Windows installer. The download link arrives with your licence email.

FrameLathe is a signed Windows desktop installer, not a browser tab. The download is for buyers: your licence email has a personal download link for the current release, valid for 7 days. Lost it, or it expired? Enter the email you bought with at framelathe.com/download and a fresh link is emailed to you.

“Windows protected your PC”

The installer is signed, but FrameLathe is new, so Microsoft Defender SmartScreen may not recognise it yet and shows Windows protected your PC. Click More info, check that the publisher is Robert Williams, then click Run anyway. If the publisher is missing or different, don’t run it; get a fresh link from framelathe.com/download.

After install

  • The app processes video on this computer.
  • Once a licence is activated, it checks framelathe.com for updates and can download them at your request. Without an activated licence it does not check. If an in-app update fails, install by hand from the download link in your licence email, or get a fresh link at framelathe.com/download.
  • Installing an update restarts the app. When an update is ready, the foot of the sidebar says so, and Settings → Updates & licence installs it. Clips and photos still waiting in the queue are kept and are there after the restart, so they do not hold the update up. While a clip is rendering, you can choose Install after this clip (the next clip waits for the update) or Stop it and install now (which loses the progress of that clip); it does not restart under a running batch.
  • Opening Model Hub loads a public model index. Downloading weights is explicit.
  • First launch downloads the app’s video tools from framelathe.com, about 290 MB, once. A bar shows the progress; if the download cannot finish, the app says why and offers Retry, and clips cannot be added or rendered until it has. A clip that reaches the queue while the tools are still downloading (sent from Explorer, for example) gets its estimate and thumbnail once they arrive. Updates keep the tools and download one again only when it changed, so an update is a much smaller download. Nothing about your files is sent.
  • First launch also checks the engine and offers the one-time model download. It does not ask for a licence key or show the Hub licence notice.
  • The first time you open the Model Hub, it explains the Hub licence filter (on by default) and asks you to keep it on or turn it off before you can download or import anything there. While it is on, the Hub will not fetch or run models whose recorded licence string looks non-commercial or is missing. You can change it later in Settings → Advanced → Model Hub. Hub models keep their own licences either way.
  • The GPU add-on pack (NVIDIA / PyTorch wheels) downloads only when you request it.

None of those steps upload your files. See what leaves the machine.

Licence keys

A licence key records when your entitlement to updates ends. Polish, preview samples, and Start need a key bound to this machine. Import, plan, and thumbnails work without one. Paste the key from your purchase email in Settings → Updates & licence whenever you like. If you press Start or render a sample first, the app says a licence is needed and offers Open licence settings, which takes you there. Details live in the EULA and activation.

If setup fails

  • Run the installer as a normal Windows user with permission to write the install directory.
  • The first-launch tools download needs network access to framelathe.com and about 1 GB of free disk.
  • GPU-pack download needs network access to the PyTorch / NVIDIA indexes — not to a FrameLathe cloud renderer.
  • Weights come from the public model host when you request them, not from git.

Still stuck? Troubleshooting and Copy for support in the app.