Use this guide to plan, install and set up Chaos products for students and computer labs at your academic institution.
Introduction
If you manage IT at a university, college or school, this guide helps you choose a Chaos setup for your labs and students. Each section explains how the setup works, what you need and which configuration articles to follow. Academic licences are floating licences. Students share a pool of concurrent seats rather than having seats assigned to individuals.
Terminology
Chaos documentation uses commercial terms. This table explains what they mean for your institution.
Chaos term | Academic equivalent |
|---|
Chaos term | Academic equivalent |
|---|---|
Organization | Your institution's or department's tenant in the admin portal. |
Organization Administrator | The licence administrator, usually someone in IT or a department lead. |
Floating licence | A concurrent seat. One student uses it on one device at a time. Closing the product returns the seat to the pool. |
Chaos License Server | The campus or departmental licence server your institution hosts. |
Remote licensing | A lab computer set up to get its seat from the licence server. |
Cloud Licensing | Sign-in licensing. A student signs in to get a seat without a licence server. |
Floating License Sharing | The setting that creates a shared seat pool for any student in the Organization. |
Corporate Sign In | Institutional single sign-on. Students sign in with their university credentials. |
Chaos Credits | The balance that AI features and cloud rendering use. |
My Chaos portal |
Choose your setup
Answer these questions to choose your setup.
- Do students need Chaos software on their own laptops away from campus? If yes, use case 3.
- Do students only need lab access, with AI features such as Veras and AI Material Generator, or Collaboration? If yes, use case 2.
- Do students only need lab access, without AI or cloud features? If yes, use case 1.
Case 1: Lab-only access without Chaos Credits
What students can use
Chaos software is licensed when a student opens their application in the lab. Students do not need to sign in. AI features, Collaboration, the Cosmos asset library and cloud rendering are unavailable because they require individual user accounts. Students cannot use lab licences on personal computers outside the lab network.
How it works
A licence server runs on the lab network. This small utility connects to Chaos licensing and holds your institution's pool of concurrent seats. Lab computers request a seat when a student opens the software and release it when the software closes. The computer receives the seat, so students do not need to sign in.
What you need
- A computer on the lab network to run the licence server. It needs outbound internet access to Chaos licensing services and must stay running so lab computers can connect.
- A Chaos account with licence seats assigned to it. The server activates against that account and provides only its licences. To split licences between labs, create a separate account for each lab.
- Lab computers must be able to reach the licence server on TCP port 30304. The installer can usually add the firewall exception.
Setup articles
Task | Article |
|---|
Task | Article |
|---|---|
Plan the deployment. | |
Install and activate the licence server. | |
Connect lab computers to the licence server. | |
Apply the same client configuration across a lab. | |
Keep licences available if the server stops working. | |
Deploy the licence server without operator input. | |
Adjust an installed licence server from the command line. |
Planning notes
- Size the seat pool for the largest number of students working at the same time. This is typically the largest timetabled class in the busiest lab, plus spare capacity for students working outside class hours.
- Every lab computer can read the same client configuration file from a network share. This saves you entering the server address on each computer. The file can also list fallback servers so the lab keeps working if the primary server is unavailable.
Case 2: Lab-only access with Chaos Credits and Collaboration
This setup includes everything in case 1, plus Collaboration and the features that use Chaos Credits. These are Veras, Cloud Rendering, AI Material Generator, AI Enhancer and AI Upscaler.
Why students need accounts
Students use Chaos Credits through their accounts. Collaboration does not use Credits, but each student must sign in with a Chaos account. Every student using these features needs an account, even though the lab server still provides their licence.
How it works
The licence server provides seats to lab computers without requiring students to sign in. Student accounts are only for Chaos Credits, Collaboration and the Cosmos asset library. The software is licensed when it opens. Students sign in when they use a feature that requires their account.
What you need
You need everything from case 1, plus:
- A Chaos account added to your My Chaos Organization for every student who needs these features.
- A Chaos Credits balance for students to use.
Setup articles
Set up the licence server as described in case 1, then follow these guides.
Task | Article |
|---|
Task | Article |
|---|---|
Invite students individually. | |
Add a student intake by CSV upload. | |
Create student accounts automatically from a directory. | |
Understand Chaos Credits and ask Procadsys about buying them. | |
Check what each feature costs. |
Manage Chaos Credits for a student intake
New users have unlimited access to the shared Chaos Credits pool by default. Set a per-student credit limit to cap how much each student can use each month. You can apply the same limit to everyone in the Organization in a single action, to a selected group or to individual students.
What students see on a lab computer
The software opens licensed, without a prompt. Students must sign in the first time they use a feature that requires their account. That sign-in stays active for the computer and operating system user.
Case 3: Off-campus student access
Students can use Chaos software on their own laptops wherever they are.
How it works
Students sign in with their educational accounts to take a seat from the shared pool. Closing the software returns the seat. They do not need a campus network or VPN connection. You control access through Organization membership in the My Chaos admin portal.
What you need
- A Chaos account for every student in the Organization.
- All concurrent seats assigned to the administrator account. Only that account's seats form the shared pool.
- Floating License Sharing enabled for the Organization. Only an administrator can enable it.
- Product versions that support Cloud Licensing. Recent releases include it. Older installations access licences through a licence server.
Each Organization supports only one shared pool. You cannot split seats into separate pools within the same Organization.
Setup articles
Task | Article |
|---|
Task | Article |
|---|---|
Enable sharing and assign seats. | |
Understand sign-in licensing. | |
Move an existing licence server setup to Cloud Licensing. | |
Add students in bulk. | |
Check how students access their licences. |
Institutional sign-in
Manual invitations and CSV uploads need ongoing maintenance. Corporate Sign In connects to your existing identity provider. Students sign in with their university credentials, and the integration creates and retires their accounts automatically.
- OIDC handles authentication. Students enter their email address and are redirected to your institution's login page. They authenticate there and return signed in. No separate Chaos password is created.
- SCIM handles account provisioning and de-provisioning. Your institution's directory controls the account records. It adds new students and updates name changes in Chaos. Deactivating a student in the directory also deactivates their Chaos account.
The domain in a student's email address determines their login route. Each Organization maps to one domain. If students use students.example.edu and staff use example.edu, only one group can use institutional sign-in. You can add the other group by invitation or CSV upload so they can use ordinary Chaos accounts.
To request SCIM and OIDC integration, raise a support ticket with Chaos or contact your Chaos account manager. Credentials must be exchanged before you can configure the identity provider.
Follow the configuration guide for your identity provider.
You can integrate other identity providers that support SCIM and OIDC. Configuration guides are not published for those providers.
Common questions
Do lab computers need student accounts?
Only for AI features, Collaboration and the Cosmos asset library. Students do not need an account to use V-Ray, Enscape, Corona or other Chaos products licensed through a licence server.
Can departments have separate seat pools?
Yes, with a licence server. You assign licences to an account in the Organization, then sign the licence server in with that account. The account does not need to belong to a person. You can use accounts such as architecture_dept@uni.edu or lab1@uni.edu. Each account can hold some of the licences, with a separate licence server for each account. Cloud Licensing supports only one shared pool per Organization. You can limit Chaos Credits per student with either setup.
What happens to a graduating student's Collaboration projects?
Their account stays deactivated rather than being deleted, and you can reactivate it. Raise a ticket with Chaos support about transferring or retaining content.
Can students use their institutional licence for freelance or commercial work?
No. Academic licences are for educational use only.
Does my University License include access to the Cosmos Library?
Yes. All Enscape, V-Ray and Corona University Collection Licenses include full access to the Chaos Cosmos Library.
How can students access the Chaos Cosmos Library?
Students need individual accounts to download assets. Invite them to your Organization to give them access to the full asset collection. See Case 2 and Case 3.