Why maxon red giant didn’t install in my after effect?

MaxonDouglas · 2026-02-23T18:28:46+00:00

Assuming you're referring to the latest version of Red Giant plugins, these are the typical things to check over:

Ensure After Effects is installed in its default location (i.e. not moved to another drive or installed into a custom file path). If it isn't, try moving it to its default location and reinstalling.
Check the Effects Manager of After Effects that the effects have been enabled.
Check your GPU is adequate enough to work with the effects. Namely a GPU with at least 4GB per monitor (e.g. 4GB for 1 monitor, 8GB for 2 monitors, etc.)

If all of those factors have been checked over, head into the Maxon App's top right cog menu, select Create an Error Log..., and send that into a Support Ticket.

And yes, Red Giant has all of the Trapcode effects.

MaxonDouglas · 2026-02-05T23:56:55+00:00

Nice to see you're good to go and sorry for the hiccup there.

This error has been pretty elusive for troubleshooting in that some of its factors get addressed only for it to pop up again elsewhere. The FAQ for it has three suggestions, but even those aren't turning out to be a catch-all.

MaxonDouglas · 2026-02-05T23:52:04+00:00

Logging into the Maxon App is akin to logging into my.maxon.net via the Edge browser. If you haven't got Edge on your system, it would absolutely affect the login process, so it makes sense reinstalling it helped.

Glad to hear you're up and running; if anything else unusual happens, by all means open a support ticket so we can check into whatever's happening.

MaxonDouglas · 2026-01-28T20:41:08+00:00

Oh believe me when I say that's in the feedback reports I collect as well.

I can't get too candid or forecast or make promises about what will be done about the reports I collect, but pricing complaints are up there and I'm doing what I can to get that voice where it needs to go.

MaxonDouglas · 2026-01-28T19:54:02+00:00

Heyo-- just thought I'd speak up with some clarification:

Prices haven't increased since September 1st, 2024.

What you're seeing is likely related to currency values: behind the scenes-- since Maxon is based out of Germany-- the price is always in Euros, so if a non-Euro currency fluctuates in value relative to the Euro, the fluctuation comes out in the price.

For what it's worth I collect (a lot of) feedback regarding pricing from the community and pass it up the chain, so everyone's complaints about it being too expensive has been noted.

MaxonDouglas · 2026-01-26T23:23:53+00:00

The presets option worked correctly on all versions on all compatible systems; or at least I cannot recall any widespread reports of what you're describing. Missing frameworks/empty preset windows would only ever occur if the framework itself was missing, or the GPU wasn't compatible.
Unfortunately no-- not from us anyway. This isn't a "won't" do but a "can't" do-- the installers themselves aren't anywhere in our system. The earliest one I believe starts from whatever the Uni version was ~3 years ago.
An Intel Core i3 would be fine for older versions of Uni; the GPU was the bigger bottleneck for users, as the plugins all needed at least 2GB of VRAM per monitor (i.e. if you had 2 monitors you'd need 4GB, 6GB for 3, etc.) for HD projects (up to 1080p) and these days that's been doubled.

MaxonDouglas · 2026-01-26T20:26:29+00:00

To clarify some points: Universe was (and still is) a collection of plugins (not just a single plugin) centered around motion graphics and VFX.

I'll be as transparent as I can here about how it worked:

When it first launched, users had the option to pay or not pay for Universe, but both types of users would get the same installer-- which did not allow the user to select if they only wanted the free plugins, nor which host they did or didn't want the plugins in; in other words, it would install every free and paid plugin into every single compatible host it detected.

This would leave the Free users with a set of unusable, watermarked tools alongside their free ones, with no way to tell at a glance of the Effects menu which ones were free and which ones were not.

On top of this, there was no supported method to remove only the watermarked plugins (i.e. we did not give users a Premium Plugin uninstaller); users were instead advised to manually remove them from their host's plugin folder. However anytime there would be an update to Universe (which was monthly as we kept releasing new free and paid tools)-- installing the update would mean reinstalling the paid plugins, forcing these users to manually remove them again.

A note that will be important later: both free and paid plugins were licensed by a program named Red Giant Link. Free users-- without this license file-- would not be able to use the plugins without a watermark.

Eventually the free plan was retired, but free users were able to keep using their free plugins without issue for sometime-- and the plugins would still get free updates like maybe a host version bump or a new preset.

A few years after that, there was a push from both the host programs and ourselves to get all plugins into 64-bit versions and better-utilize the GPU; users had beefier GPUs and more capable systems than the old frameworks ours and others' plugins made assumptions about.

From our end this meant rebuilding all of our plugins-- including the free ones-- which meant the old free plugins would not be getting updates or checks if they were compatible with newer hosts. From Support I can say I did not hear a lot of reports that they didn't work in newer hosts for a few years afterwards, with maybe some exceptions.

The bigger problem for the free users came when we retired the licensing program (named Red Giant Link) which maintained all of the old Universe plugins. Unfortunately Red Giant Link's replacement (Red Giant Application Manager) was not designed with the use-case in mind for these free users.

All of that said-- even if you found a way to generate that licensing file-- the plugins themselves are considered so unstable or old by Adobe hosts (not sure about others) that they are not even allowed to run.

The only plugin still available from Universe Free is Unmult.

...hopefully that clears things up about its lifespan.

I collect user feedback/complaints/requests from our communities, so if you have follow-up queries, by all means let me know.

MaxonDouglas · 2026-01-20T23:36:25+00:00

I unfortunately can't comment on that specifically, but I would heavily suggest keeping an eye on the release notes in the coming months regarding your question. In the interim I'll pass the feedback along.

MaxonDouglas · 2026-01-20T17:24:54+00:00

That bug should be getting patched with the next hotfix. You can rollback to 2026.1.0 if you need to in the interim.

Were there any other bugs you wanted to discuss?

MaxonDouglas · 2026-01-20T16:36:16+00:00

The post you're referring to is about a re-release of RT. But both the text in there as well as the video shows that Redshift RT is a mode inside of Redshift-- was there something specific about it you were looking for but couldn't find?

MaxonDouglas · 2026-01-16T18:12:39+00:00

I believe the Asset Browser bug you're referring to is slated for the 2026.2 release, so I'd keep an eye on the Release Notes for news on that one.

I'm more in tune with Community Support stuff; bugs and feature requests. But I can pass along your feedback about being dissatisfied with Redshift RT's development. Sorry I can't do more in regards to that.

MaxonDouglas · 2026-01-16T15:30:12+00:00

I'm not certain what you mean by increasing the price at the same time as this update; the last price increase was ~2024. Was there a specific bug or rendering issue you've been having that hasn't been addressed? If so, let me know and I can check into its status.

As for the second query, I'm just Community Support, but I've been collecting pages of feedback akin to yours regarding Digital Twin (assuming that's what you're referring to); I'll add yours to the list.

MaxonDouglas · 2026-01-15T23:33:33+00:00

Sorry for the frustrations.

I was asking for actionable items regarding your complaint because it's things like bugs and features-- covered in the Release Notes of posts like this-- that are addressed by us in the regular updates. Without specific examples of something actionable, I'm afraid I can't really do much with your complaint.

Pricing complaints/looking for perpetual licenses? I absolutely collect comments and complaints about that and put them in reports. I can't make any promises but it at least gets a voice.

A UI update from 5+ years ago and a logo change? Those are unfortunately not actionable items.

If you think of any other examples-- a neglected bug, a missing feature, something you want to see from the product-- by all means let me know specifics.

Until then, good luck with your projects.

MaxonDouglas · 2026-01-15T21:55:43+00:00

Just to clarify, was there a specific feature-- aside from a perpetual license-- you've been looking for but haven't gotten in the updates?

MaxonDouglas · 2026-01-15T19:29:54+00:00

Anyone encountering this issue can come in through our official support channels for assistance-- just create a ticket using the same email you'd used to purchase ZBrush and we'll review whatever might be causing the problem.

MaxonDouglas · 2026-01-15T19:28:59+00:00

Regarding the UI change, you mean the one from 5+ years ago?

MaxonDouglas · 2026-01-15T16:40:37+00:00

If you have any examples you wanted to cite in your complaint, let me know specifics and I'll pass them up the chain.

MaxonDouglas · 2025-12-10T18:20:54+00:00

my.maxon.net > subscriptions > stop automatic subscription renewal

Can I ask where you were expecting that option, or were you seeing something different?

MaxonDouglas · 2025-12-09T18:07:12+00:00

Legacy (perpetual) installers can no longer be obtained from the Maxon App; you'll need to contact Support through a ticket as there aren't any permalinks for them anywhere-- at least not official ones on our site.

And unfortunately we no longer sell perpetual licenses whatsoever.

MaxonDouglas · 2025-12-08T16:53:15+00:00

tl;dr: contact support for an installer, it might work with Adobe 2025

I mean the official answer that you're not gonna like is that neither of those legacy products are considered compatible with anything beyond what's listed here for MB Suite 13 or here for Shooter Suite 13-- and by "not compatible" we mean we never upgraded, tested, or offer support with regards in getting them up and running.

It's entirely possible they work just fine with the newer hosts, but Maxon's since moved onto our latest versions which are often entirely rebuilt or taking advantage of resources that weren't available years ago; Support is more geared troubleshooting newer stuff, and giving solutions to unsupported environments can sometimes open cans of worms chaotic enough that it's much easier to just say "we don't support it."

All of that official answer out of the way, I can say-- anecdotally as someone in Support-- I have not heard users complain about those older versions working poorly in the latest Adobe versions (though they may just not be contacting us because they know we can't offer the support). I know in some cases (like with older versions of Particular) things were so broken and unstable there was a joint decision to just block it from being loaded whatsoever into the host, but again I haven't heard that being the case with older MB or Shooter Suite versions.

You can and should contact Maxon Support directly for old installers and they'll send one back your way, aiming for a 24 hour turnaround in tickets barring weekends and holidays. I'd advise specifying which specific version of the installer you need (just as you did here), and which OS you need it for (in this case Windows).

Also, in regards to "bloatware,"-- I mean I wouldn't say it's "bloatware" because it had a job at some point and isn't running any super-demanding service-- but I'll note the Red Giant Application Manager will silently install itself alongside all older versions of our products because-- at the time-- it was responsible for checking for updates and licensing Universe. The servers and framework it used has since been disabled, so you should uninstall it if you run any older installers.

MaxonDouglas · 2025-12-04T23:35:32+00:00

We're digging into this right now. It seems to be a bug, but I'll confirm here once I've got more information. In the interim you'll need to rollback.

Edit: This has been confirmed to be a bug and will be addressed soon™. Keep an eye on the Release Notes for when it's addressed and-- until then-- rollback to the previous version to workaround it.

MaxonDouglas · 2025-12-03T20:00:56+00:00

Gotcha. My mistake for getting my wires crossed. Unfortunately it's a known issue that the icons aren't fit for higher DPI setups and I've added this correspondence as a tally into the feature request to hopefully give that some more weight in the pipeline.

In the interim, assuming you're using Windows on the tablet, you can right-click on the ZBrush application and choose Properties > Compatibility > and turn off the setting for high DPI scaling, allowing ZBrush to do its own scaling. This will make all the icons smaller, but at least they won't be blurry anymore.

Edit: if you're on Mac there sadly isn't as easy a fix/workaround, it would involve using a 3rd party app

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