โœฆ Maxon Troubleshooting Guide โ€‹

Please pay attention while reading this guide and its descriptions. This guide goes over a couple of different issues, find the one that applies to you.

You installed the plugins but it wont show in After Effects โ€‹

If you are using After Effects 2023 or a version prior (2022,2021,2020..), Red Giant and Universe will not install correctly. This has been a fact since their 2024 releases. While they are compatible and fully functional once installed, you'll have to force them to install with a few extra steps.

Windows - Automatic Method โ€‹

  1. Open PowerShell and copy & paste this:

Get-ChildItem -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Adobe\After Effects"

  1. Under Name, you will see your version. Change "XX.X" in the next step to this number.
  2. Open PowerShell as Administrator and paste this in:

Copy-Item -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Adobe\After Effects\XX.X" -Destination "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Adobe\After Effects\28.0" -RecurseRemember to change XX.X to your own After Effects version, or else this will not work. 4. Now run the plugin installers (Red Giant & Universe).

  1. Close After Effects & run the patch (service unlocker).

  2. Once done, check if all installed in After Effects, then run:

Remove-Item -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Adobe\After Effects\28.0" -Recurse

Windows - Manual Method โ€‹

  1. Download and install After Effects 2024 or above (2025, 2026..).
  2. Run the Red Giant installer and Universe installers.
  3. Patch the plugins through the Service Unlocker.
  4. Open your main After Effects version and verify that it works.
  5. You can now delete After Effects 2024+ if you wish.

MacOS - Manual Method โ€‹

  1. Download and install After Effects 2024 or above (2025, 2026..).
  2. Run the Red Giant installer and Universe installers.
  3. Patch the plugins via license.pkg.
  4. Open your main After Effects version and verify that it works.
  5. You can now delete After Effects 2024+ if you wish.

Your plugins are unlicensed โ€‹

Your plugins will be unlicensed if it shows a grey box on screen when effect is applied. Open Maxon App and look in the top right corner โ€” are you logged in (do you see your email?)?

If you are logged in, log out and stay in RLM mode, then run patcher again.

RLM mode = logged out.

If it still shows as unlicensed despite being patched correctly (It would shows a green circle in the Maxon app, with the words License Found) next to the product, try clearing your cache in After Effects.

If you're on MacOS, ensure Terminal has full disk access and re-run the license via System Settings > Privacy & Security > Full Disk Access > add Terminal.

If you're on Windows and use a third party anti-virus besides Windows Security, ensure it isn't blocking the patch. Instructions will vary per anti-virus.

Only some effects are unlicensed โ€‹

This typically happens with Trapcode plugins, such as Particular. If After Effects is installed on a secondary drive or in a custom folder path, the automated patcher cannot locate the files to patch them.

  1. Ensure your Adobe After Effects folder is located in the default directory (C:\Program Files\Adobe\). If it's not, temporarily move or install it there.
  2. Completely close After Effects and end any background Adobe/Maxon tasks in Task Manager ( Ctrl + Shift + Esc ).
  3. Run the patcher as Administrator.
  4. Once patched and verified working, you can move your After Effects folder back if desired.

Service Unavailable / Security Alert โ€‹

If you get a black screen showing Maxon's service as unavailable, follow these steps. Completely uninstall maxon using the cleaner according to your OS. ( Windows / Mac )

Run the Maxon App installer and patch again.

You can check manually if you have Red Giant Service here:

Windows: C:\Program Files\Red Giant\Services

MacOS: /Library/Application Support/Red Giant/Services/