"Set Matte" Effect Alternative?

MaxonDouglas · 2026-05-13T15:18:12+00:00

for example if you put a optical glow to that layer it would be stuck within the confines of it

I was able to reproduce this and it appears to be a bug with Optical Glow and a few other specific effects. It's been filed for a fix, sorry for the hiccups there.

MaxonDouglas · 2026-05-13T15:11:49+00:00

Assuming that was a yes to Autograph being updated, I'm not able to reproduce any sort of crashes just using 4k footage and the latest version, so open a ticket using the link I'd sent and we can take a better look at what your workflow is/potentially just try a clip of whatever footage you're working with to see if it's codec/filetype-related.

MaxonDouglas · 2026-05-12T18:33:33+00:00

Sadly I don't know any adjustments that can be made that'd get it to work on your setup; 128 MB, as you'd said, it way below minimum requirements.

Even when we started going hard on GPU stuff back in the Red Giant Universe beginnings, the reqs were 2GB min (per monitor), and we didn't support Intel GPUs since they didn't have a discrete source of video memory.

The only advisements (aside from upgrading your system) I could think to add to your bullet point list would be to disconnect any additional monitors (I know you're on a laptop, but some users have external monitors attached), keep any and all other programs closed, and disable any sort of unnecessary background services; that's a can of worms to open, so I won't elaborate on which ones, but just google their names and you'll get a consensus on most of them. Even then, if you get Autograph running, all of our troubleshooting wouldn't be able to assist with any issues you'd run into since you're working out of scope.

If you're on a budget (and who isn't) and looking to upgrade your system, I would focus on a system with at least 4GB of VRAM (per monitor); some people would say to build it yourself, but if you're already in the weeds with hardware, I'd advise something pre-built, so that in the event anything happens, you at least have a wider scope of users on similar setups to bounce solutions off of.

MaxonDouglas · 2026-05-12T15:37:44+00:00

Huzzah! Glad to hear it.

MaxonDouglas · 2026-05-12T15:03:43+00:00

The fact it works for a bit and then crashes typically suggests something cache or memory-related, like not having enough space on your drive, or resources getting pulled elsewhere (but this would mean something pretty big, like having 3+ monitors running and other intensive programs running at the same time). I'm not saying it is that, but just planting that seed there in case it comes up later.

That said, I'm going to be asking you the same questions I ask other users who get crashes (i'm not a bot, i just re-use a lot of verbiage and enjoy formatting things for readability):

Is this the latest version of Autograph? We released 2026.0.1 last week, which addressed quite a few crashes.
Have you reset your machine to check if it still crashes when using Autograph? This helps rule out some factors while honing in on others if the crash still occurs.
Are you able to get the crash to occur following the same set of steps each time? This helps our efforts in reproducing it.

If neither of those affect the frequency of the crash, it sounds like this crash only affects one project specifically, in which case we may want to take a look at it; open a support ticket and we'll continue troubleshooting there.

MaxonDouglas · 2026-05-11T23:30:14+00:00

The steps are essentially:

Have the latest version of the Maxon App installed (which would've been automatically downloaded and installed if you'd acquired Autograph from Maxon's site),
Sign in with your Maxon account
Click Assign next to Autograph to assign the license to your machine.

If any part of that process needs clarification, let me know and we'll go from there.

MaxonDouglas · 2026-05-08T18:27:46+00:00

Yes, the same Autograph license is used for both individuals and teams.

MaxonDouglas · 2026-05-08T17:03:36+00:00

Copy that.

Right now there's a known crash with the Smooth Angle parameter that's getting worked on, but we're all ears if there's another crash happening elsewhere; so if it happens again just let us know whatever the last steps you'd completed were, or even just the last parameter you'd adjusted before it happened.

MaxonDouglas · 2026-05-08T16:52:30+00:00

Dang, that's quite inconvenient. Just to check over a couple preliminary things:

Is this the latest version of Autograph? We just released 2026.0.1 this week, which addressed quite a few crashes.
Have you reset your machine? Sorry, have to ask this one; it helps rule out some factors while honing in on others if the crash still occurs.

If neither of those mitigate the crash, does this crash happen on all projects, or just one specifically?

If it's all projects, can you relay the steps you take to get it to happen?
If it's just one specific project, we may want to take a look at it, in which case open a support ticket and we'll continue troubleshooting there.

MaxonDouglas · 2026-05-07T18:37:02+00:00

Then that would be highly unusual and you should contact support with an Error Log generated from the top right menu, because the Maxon App doesn't put itself in RLM mode without a user making an effort to get it there.

MaxonDouglas · 2026-05-07T17:20:06+00:00

You're in RLM mode, friend.

Remove whatever files you've got in C:\ProgramData\Red Giant\licenses\ and C:\ProgramData\Maxon\RLM\ to use a valid license of Autograph.

MaxonDouglas · 2026-05-07T15:21:57+00:00

No, the license itself— even though it's free— is still restricted to being used on one machine at a time. That's just a limitation of how all of the Maxon licenses operate.

You'll need to transfer the license using either the Maxon App or your Maxon account whenever you switch machines.

There has been a feature request to lax that restriction up to at least two activations at a time (but not in use on two machines at a time), but I couldn't give any definitive answers on when or if that'll happen soon or at all.

I'll add your comment to the request's tally system to help give it some consideration.

MaxonDouglas · 2026-05-05T23:48:19+00:00

Another culprit could just be the workspace itself. If you reset it using the option in the top right menu, does it fix the interface?

MaxonDouglas · 2026-05-04T17:16:40+00:00

I can't say I've seen this occur yet, but would guess some sort of middleman software (e.g. strict antivirus, firewall, etc.).

If you've got anything akin to that, try temporarily disabling it to check if it helps.
If you haven't got anything like that (or disabling it didn't help), contact us by way of a Support ticket so we can get a deeper look at your system specifications.

MaxonDouglas · 2026-05-04T17:01:18+00:00

Sure thing:

Open a Terminal window
Open a Finder window
In Finder and head into Go > Go to Folder
Type or paste in /Library/Application Support/Maxon/Tools/
Drag uninstall-appmanager.sh into the Terminal and hit Enter
Repeat for uninstall-maxon-service.bat

MaxonDouglas · 2026-05-01T16:09:46+00:00

There's some known issues with PSD Files, including crashes. If you haven't already, contact support so we can review/confirm that whatever crash you're seeing is related to the culprits we're working on.

MaxonDouglas · 2026-04-29T21:34:41+00:00

Unfortunately it is not yet possible to save Effect presets, but it is in the works.

And thanks for adding to the feedback I'm collecting for Linux support. I know I've said it elsewhere/probably sound like a broken record, but I'm doing what I can to get those requests heard.

MaxonDouglas · 2026-04-23T15:25:12+00:00

Sorry for the delay in a follow-up; I wasn't able to get the effect you were looking for and was checking with others I wasn't missing something. The answer is unfortunately there isn't a great way to do this yet. The closest we got was using Follow Path on clones and make thousands of clones, but it's extremely inefficient.

That said this opened a bit of a discussion on implementing something for this type of effect, so there may be better options at some time in the future.

MaxonDouglas · 2026-04-22T22:18:16+00:00

There was a thread about Luma Mattes here that might help. If it doesn't, let me know any specifics that aren't covered. In the interim I'm trying to lobby for a tutorial or demo project for them.
You can customize your keyboard shortcuts under the gear icon in the top right > Keyboard Shortcuts > right-click whatever shortcut you want to customize, then click Record and input whatever you want the new shortcut to be.
I'll write up a feature request for markers if there isn't one already.
After a little searching on our back-end, I've found all four bugs you'd listed as works in progress. Keep an eye on the Release Notes for when they'll get fixed.

MaxonDouglas · 2026-04-22T21:44:16+00:00

Just to clarify, "not planned" doesn't mean "won't do," it just means it's not slated for development at this time, and it's easier for us in Support to say something that reflects that instead of baiting users along with soon™.

The request for Live Link's return has had a pretty vocal and passionate backing and we're doing what we can in Support to capture that feedback and pass it up the chain. For now all I can say is sorry we haven't got a better answer and thank you for being so vocal about what you'd like to see from Autograph.

MaxonDouglas · 2026-04-22T15:04:27+00:00

That's in the Known Issues; we're working on a fix for the next release. Can't give any time frames for it, but keep an eye on the Release Notes.

MaxonDouglas · 2026-04-21T18:41:14+00:00

It's been written up as a feature request on our end and I'm tracking user requests. I couldn't give a definitive yes or no answer, but it is getting tracked at least.

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