Download Zerno
For Mac and for Windows — one program and one licence. You can try it without a code: in the licence window there is a "Try it for 5 days" button, and for five days the whole program works. After that you need a licence: the activation code comes by email and is pasted in once.
One disk image for Macs with Apple Silicon and Intel.
First launch on a Mac
The build is signed with its own key rather than an Apple Developer ID certificate, so macOS will stop it on the first opening: "Apple could not verify Zerno is free of malware". This is neither an error nor a virus — the system simply does not know the developer. Three steps, once per version.
- Move Zerno to the Applications folder and open it. In the window press Done — not "Move to Bin".
- Open System Settings → Privacy & Security and scroll down to the Security section: there will be a line about Zerno and an Open Anyway button.
- Open Zerno again and press Open. From then on the program opens like any other.
In more detail — with a shorter route for macOS 14 and a command for those at home in Terminal — in First steps.
An installer for Windows 11 with a graphics card that supports DirectX 12. The requirements in detail are on the Support page.
Download and first launch on Windows
The installer does not carry a developer certificate yet, so the browser and Windows may ask whether you trust the file. This is neither an error nor a virus — the system simply does not know the developer.
- Edge may warn while downloading that this file is not commonly downloaded. In the downloads list hover over the file, press “…” and choose Keep; in the next window open the hidden options and press Keep anyway.
- Run the installer. If Windows says “Windows protected your PC”, press “More info” — not “Don't run” — and then “Run anyway”.
- The rest is an ordinary installer: Next, folder, Install.
At the first launch — the same on a Mac and on Windows — the licence window opens, and it has two doors. Try it for 5 days — no code needed: for five days the whole program works, with nothing held back; you need the internet at every launch, and the trial is given once per computer.
The second — I have a code: paste the code that looks like ZRN-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX from the email. If the licence was issued as a .zernolic file, drop the file onto this window: no internet is needed for that. One licence — two activations on any two computers, Mac or Windows.
No code yet — how to get a licence.
The program checks for a new version once a day by itself, downloads it and verifies the checksum. On a Mac you move the disk image's app to Applications by hand, and you will have to allow it to run again — every build has its own signature. On Windows run the downloaded installer over the old one: projects and the licence stay. What is new in the latest version — What's new.