Look around the whole studio before you pay.
The demo is the real Asset Lab studio, not a cut-down build: same app, same model catalog, same interface, with sixteen real sample renders already in the gallery. The one thing it will not do is generate, and it will not do that until a licence key is entered. No account, no email, no card, no timer.
What the demo does, and what it doesn't.
- Opens every tab. Image, Video, Edit, Audio and Gallery all work. Nothing is hidden behind a "pro" wall.
- Sixteen real sample renders. Bundled with the app and made with the app: six cinematic stills, three clips, and a complete six-angle Shot Set. Each one names the model that made it and what that render cost.
- Every model and its real price. Open the picker, change resolution, duration, aspect and audio, and watch the exact cost update on the Generate button. It's the same estimator a paying user sees.
- The Director panel. Genre, palette, lighting, camera move and lens, composed into your prompt in front of you and saved as named looks.
- Every voice, free to audition. The 272 voice previews are bundled, so the Audio tab plays them with no key at all.
- Works offline. The samples ship inside the app, so you need no network and no Fal key to look around.
- Keeps working. There is no trial clock. Leave it installed as long as you like.
- It cannot generate. That is the whole limitation. Every Generate button stays locked until a licence key is entered. Nothing is sent to a model, so nothing can cost you money by accident.
- It cannot edit or animate the samples. "Edit this image", "Animate this image", "New shot" and "Build shot set" all lead to a generation, so they are locked too. You can still see exactly where each one would take you.
- The samples are not yours to keep. They are part of the app, not your library. They disappear the moment you unlock and your own renders take their place.
What you need to actually use it.
Two things, bought in two different places. This is the part that trips people up, so plainly:
An Asset Lab licence key
$49 once, from Gumroad. It buys the app for every Mac and Linux machine you own, with free updates and upgrades for life, and it's yours forever.
Your own Fal.ai API key
Free to create (the app walks you through it in about five minutes), plus credits on that account, billed per render at Fal's published rates.
Then paste and go
Paste the licence key once, connect Fal, and every Generate button unlocks with its price attached. The samples make way for your own renders.
The $49 does not include render credits. It buys the app. Renders bill directly from Fal at their published rates. Most images land at 3–7¢, short clips at roughly $0.30–$5 depending on model, length and resolution. Asset Lab takes no cut and adds no markup, which is exactly why the price sits on the button before you click it. The full per-model breakdown is on the rate card.
Accounts
Asset Lab has no account system, so there is nothing to sign into and no server of ours between you and the model. Your Fal key is stored on your Mac and used to call Fal directly.
Notarized by Apple
Signed with an Apple Developer ID and checked by Apple's malware scan on every release. Drag it to Applications and it opens with a normal double-click, no warnings.
Filmed every click
Not sure where to start once it's open? The free training course covers setup, the interface and your first render in lessons under two minutes each.
About the demo
What computer do I need?
Mac: any Apple Silicon Mac (M1 or newer), macOS 13 or later. Linux: any 64-bit x86 machine, with
a .deb for Debian, Ubuntu, Mint and Pop!_OS (it also sets up the app's sandbox,
including the AppArmor profile Ubuntu 23.10+ needs), or an AppImage for Fedora, Arch, openSUSE
and the rest. Both builds are the same app with the same catalog, and one license covers both.
Will macOS show security warnings when I install it?
No. Asset Lab is signed with an Apple Developer ID and notarized by Apple, so Apple's malware scan has checked every release. Drag it to Applications and it opens with a normal double-click, no warnings, no extra steps.
Is there a demo of the DaVinci Resolve edition?
Not yet, deliberately. That edition's value is the timeline integration, which needs DaVinci Resolve installed to mean anything. A look-around demo of it would misrepresent what you are getting. The standalone demo shows the generation studio, which is the same in both. Here's everything the Resolve edition does.
Does the demo expire?
No. There is no trial clock and no nag. Leave it installed as long as you like; when you buy, the same app unlocks in place.
Linux: which file do I want?
The .deb if you're on Debian, Ubuntu, Mint or Pop!_OS; it also installs the sandbox
profile Ubuntu needs. The AppImage for everything else. The
Linux Setup Guide covers both, and the
Asset Lab for Linux page has the install commands.
Download it. Poke around. Decide later.
No account, no email, no card, no timer. The real app, waiting for a key.