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Maxon (Red Giant) Fixes

Troubleshoot Red Giant, Universe, and Trapcode plugins — missing effects, license errors, and service issues in After Effects.

What This Covers

Red Giant and Universe plugins (Trapcode, Magic Bullet, VFX Suite, PluralEyes) install through Maxon's app and service layer. When things break, the symptom is usually missing effects, grey license boxes, or a "service unavailable" error — not a typical AE crash. Most fixes involve installing on a compatible AE version, running the patcher correctly, and keeping Maxon's background service clean.

If standard patching still fails, try the Serial Filler method as an alternative licensing path.

Plugins Won't Show in After Effects

Red Giant and Universe 2024+ installers expect a recent After Effects build. If you're on AE 2023 or older, the installer may finish without registering plugins in your AE version.

Windows — Registry Workaround

Open PowerShell and list installed AE versions: Get-ChildItem -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Adobe\After Effects". Note your version number (e.g. 25.0). Then run as Administrator: Copy-Item -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Adobe\After Effects\XX.X" -Destination "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Adobe\After Effects\28.0" -Recurse. Run the Red Giant installers, close AE, run the patch (service unlocker), verify plugins appear, then remove the temp entry: Remove-Item -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Adobe\After Effects\28.0" -Recurse.

Manual Method (Win & Mac)

Install a temporary copy of After Effects 2024+, run the Red Giant installers against it, patch, verify effects load, then uninstall the temporary AE build.

Plugins Show as Unlicensed

A grey license box usually means the patch didn't stick or Maxon App is interfering. Log out of Maxon App and stay in RLM mode (logged out), then re-run the patcher. If the patcher reports a green "license found" but AE still shows unlicensed, clear AE's cache and restart.

  • Mac: Terminal may need Full Disk Access in System Settings for the patcher to reach plugin files.
  • Windows: Check that third-party antivirus isn't blocking the patch process.

Only Some Effects Are Unlicensed

This often happens with Trapcode Particular when AE is installed on a non-default drive. The patcher can't find the plugin files at the expected path. Move AE to the default install location or seek a manually patched copy.

Service Unavailable / Security Alert

A corrupted Maxon install is the usual cause. Uninstall Maxon completely, then use the Maxon cleaner tool and reinstall.

  1. Windows cleaner: Download and run the Maxon cleanup script
  2. Mac cleaner: Run uninstallmaxon.sh in Terminal
  3. After cleaning, reinstall Maxon App, run the patch again, and verify the Red Giant Service is present at C:\Program Files\Red Giant\Services (Windows) or /Library/Application Support/Red Giant/Services (Mac)