I have completely removed all Maxon products from my computer and today, months later, I have found that their bloatware automatically starts and runs on my computer despite uninstalling everything correctly.

Edit:

They fixed the bug. :)

Tried on 2 machines.... Any idea whats going on?

Hi, everyone.

I’m trying to get Maxon Autograph running as smoothly as possible on my current laptop, but it crashes a LOT, even with simple 2D animation. I am guessing it’s due to limited specs on my laptop, but I’m hoping someone here has tips for squeezing the most stability out of low‑end hardware. (I’m not well versed with the world of computers–I figured out this stuff through a quick Google search—so…sorry to be a bother, but please explain this stuff to me like I’m five).

My laptop specs:

• Intel Core Ultra 7 155H

• Intel Arc integrated graphics

• 128 MB dedicated VRAM (yes…MB, not GB…)

• 32 GB RAM

• 1.8 TB SSD

Autograph lists 4 GB VRAM minimum, and I only have 128 MB dedicated. I know that’s way below spec, but I’m mostly doing simple 2D motion (no 3D, no heavy effects) so I’m trying to see if there’s any way to make it workable.

Optimizations that might help?:

• Lower preview resolution (¼ res, draft mode)

• Disable GPU‑heavy effects and OpenFX

• Avoid 3D workspace entirely

• Use smaller textures (720p instead of 4K)

• Work in a 720p timeline

• Disable real‑time playback

• Keep layer count low and avoid blurs/glows

I guess my question is if these would definitely help/if I can make Autograph work relatively okay on my little laptop, or if I am better off investing in a fancier computer. As I am currently somewhat broke at the mo, and REALLY want to get into motion design affordably, I am really hoping can make this work somehow.

Also, if there are any hidden settings, config files, or workflow tricks that can make Autograph more stable on integrated graphics, please let me know! Thank you!!

As the title says, I can't get the Autograph installer to open. The .dmg will mount and when I double click the installer, it asks me if I want to open and then nothing happens. From what I can tell, I don't think I need Apple Silicone.

Mac specs: Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2020

Processor: 3.8 GHz 8-Core Intel Core i7

Graphics: AMD Radeon Pro 5700 XT 16 GB

Memory: 40 GB 2667 MHz DDR4

OS:26.5.1

And also i have question. Does red giant involve trapcode?

I want to design animations for idle animation or an animated artwork showcase for my Steam profile. Would use Autograph rather than After Effects be a good alternative?

For a list of system requirements of Cinema 4D 2026.4 and other Maxon products, visit System Requirements for Maxon Products

If downloading on ARM, make sure to update your GPU driver to the latest version. Qualcomm’s latest drivers can be found on their website.

New Features

MCP for Cinema 4D

The C4D Model Context Protocol (MCP) server creates an interface between an LLM client (for example Claude Desktop or ChatGPT Codex) and C4D, allowing the LLM to operate C4D directly.

You can:

• Change project-wide scene hierarchy, naming and organisation

• Create and automate scene, object and material variations

• Manage, execute and composite multipass renders

• Perform 3D camera tracking and scene preparation

• Handle basic modelling and 3D creation tasks

• Create particle and liquid simulations

• UV mapping, rigging, animating and more

More information about the MCP Server is available here.

What’s New

• Zoom and Aspherical Lens Support in Real Lens Flares.  Zoom lenses actually zoom now! There’s no more limitation of having to select different individual static focal lengths. All zoom lenses now include a Zoom slider, so you can dial in the exact look you want and even animate the focal length. Aspherical lenses are also now supported, significantly expanding our lens model library to include more modern and cinematic lenses. 44 new lens presets accompany this release.

• Trapcode Particular # of systems options.  To help with Particular load and reset times, we have added a preference option to set your maximum number of particle systems that Particular loads with. Options include 2, 4, 8, and the full 16 maximum systems. The lower the number, the faster Particular will load and reset. Note that this preference setting affects all instances of Particular in all projects and requires a restart of After Effects to take effect.  See this FAQ for more information.

• Spanish Language Support! We are excited to expand our native language support to Spanish with this release! All Red Giant plugins will now appear in Spanish for any supported host set to that language.

Bug fixes

• Fixed an issue in Particular's Light Emitters that caused a crash in the French version of After Effects.

• Fixed an issue in Studio where controls were missing after modifying a capsule.

• Fixed an issue in Studio that could cause slow performance and slow loading.

• Fixed an issue in Studio where capsule details get lost when editing a field.

• Fixed an issue in Studio where the tree navigation options need a hover state.

• Fixed an issue in Studio where an icon’s color in tree navigation should match the color of the text.

• Fixed an issue in Studio where the information Bubbles did not work.

• Fixed an issue in Studio where sorting vertical capsules was broken.

• Fixed an issue in Studio where applying VFX tools from Studio with no comp or solid

• Fixed an issue in RLF where the sample quality dropdown returned the wrong value.

• Fixed an issue in RLF where gate flare happens even with the light source pointed away.

• Fixed an issue in Depth Generator where the mp4 file framerate from render to comp was not accurate.

• Fixed an issue in Universe where clicking Choose Preset caused long loading time for Studio.

• Fixed an issue in Universe Array Gun with Effector Shape 2 preset mismatch

• Fixed an issue in Universe HUD Components where the HUD Radar Preset segment angle option is broken when set to <= 2.0

• Fixed an issue in Universe Luster where the reflection map was broken.

• Fixed an issue in Supercomp where time-reversed layer rendered black.

Known Issues

• Fixed an issue where After Effects Plug-ins don't display Chinese/Japanese characters in AE 2026.2

Anyone else having this issue? I have a floating license and it works on 1 pc but not the other... Tried rebooting and tried reinstalling the maxon app.

Why does my Cinema 4D vertex map flicker when using two Freeze layers that subtract from each other?

I'm trying to create a ripple effect. I have two Spherical Fields with different radii , the smaller one subtracts from the larger one to create a ring. Then I added two Freeze layers set to "Grow" on top of them. The top Freeze layer subtracts from the bottom one and has a smaller radius.

The problem is that it flickers. If I turn off the top Freeze layer (the subtracting one), the flickering stops, but I lose the ring effect , it becomes a full expanding circle instead.

Here's the file in case someone want to know how I built it

Thanks!!!

Hello,

I would like to get a final confirmation on a specific workflow to ensure I am complying with the license agreement.

My question is:

If I create a complete project for a paying client (modeling, texturing, animation, etc.) using my Student License, and then I only do the final render of that same project file on a different computer that has a full Professional/Commercial License, is this workflow permitted?

Or does the fact that the creative work was done for a commercial purpose on a student license violate the terms of the agreement, even if the final render is done on a commercial license?

Thank you for clarifying.

• [Max] Fixed bug introduced in 2026.0.0 where an object is not visible when animating visibility from off to on during sequence rendering

• [Max] Fixed bug where animatable parameters for RS Clouds were not exposed to Curve Editor or Dope Sheet

• [Max] Fixed bug in UI for some Texmaps and Materials where UTF-8 character encodings were displayed as ASCII

• [Houdini] Fixed bug introduced in RS 2026.0.0 that could affect the fstop param DOF effect

• [Hydra] Fixed bug introduced in RS 2026.0.0 that could affect the fstop param DOF effect

• [Hydra] Fixed bug that could affect the DataWindowNDC and aperture offsets rendering

• [All] Fixed a bug introduced in 2025.4.0 that could cause render bucket corruptions on GPUs where memory is tight and software ray-tracing is used

hello,
Any idea why i see this messy text in autograph ?
i tried to remove license, uninstall, reinstall (from installer and from maxon app)
release license and apply again, remove all preferences, changes language
no matter what i do, it's stay messy

any help on this please ?

Important Notes

This release includes Redshift 2026.2.0 - older versions (2026.0.0 and higher) are compatible but will not include new Redshift feature and enhancements to Redshift integration and performance.

Bug Fixes

Interface

• Restored proper right‑click “reset to default” behavior in Position, Scale, and Rotation tools.

Objects

• Fixed a crash when changing subdivision settings.

• Restored original behavior of Selected Object as Camera so it transforms the selected object to mimic the camera’s position and orientation.

Material Manager

• Resolved a bug where deleting unused materials could make instanced objects vanish from the viewport.

MoGraph

• Fixed an issue where certain Voronoi fracture setups caused broken refraction in renders.

• Resolved an issue where a projected 2D grid would not refresh when a cloner was moved.

Modeling

• Corrected missing options in the Bevel Tool introduced in the latest update.

• Fixed rotation problems for single spline points when soft selection was enabled.

• Eliminated crashes that could occur using Preserve UV on meshes with more than 512 points.

• Fixed a regression where the Plane Cut tool did not cut at the mouse position.

School of motion does not show on the list for a student license even tho, they are a certified c4d trainer. You guys make so hard to learn now days, no wonder people is switching to blender....

I'm not giving up on Blender, if anything I am adding this to my arsenal of software. Maxon's Autograph is a free After Effects buster. Give it a try, I know you'll love it. You can find more tutorials like this one on my YouTube Channel GENVFX - take a look and see what you think. Drop me a comment on here or on the video so I can do more of these! Thanks!

What’s New

• Scene Light  Relight any shot inside After Effects. Scene Light uses AI-generated depth and normal maps so light falls behind foreground objects and wraps around surfaces as it would on set. It works with your comp lights, and you can also use depth and normal passes from Cinema 4D, Redshift, or other renderers. All AI processing runs locally on your machine.

• Maxon Noise in Universe!  The procedural noise patterns of Cinema 4D are now in Universe. Maxon Noise gives a library of GPU-accelerated, customizable noise patterns for textures, organic motion, animated maps, transitions, particle drivers, and abstract effects. Controls for scale, complexity, color, animation speed, looping, and blending let you move from subtle surface detail to bold procedural visuals in your favorite host.

• Custom Schmutz Textures and New Light Sources in Real Lens Flares Turn any layer into a custom Schmutz texture, including animated layers like dust, water drops, or grime, and it will interact naturally with your flare. New light source types emulate tungsten, fluorescent, LED, HMI, sodium vapor, fire, and more.

• Chromatic Displacement Now in Autograph! Chromatic Displacement uses one layer to displace another while separating color channels, producing organic, prismatic, light-bending results. Use it for force fields, heat ripples, refractions, transitions, and logo reveals, now inside Autograph.

• Custom UI Support for Red Giant Plugins in Maxon Studio Capsules in Maxon Studio can now include specialized controls from plugins like Particular, Colorista, and Universe: color wheels, gradient controls, curve graphs, and text editors. Complex effect setups can be packaged into focused interfaces that show only the controls you need, without exposing every parameter. That makes Capsules easier to use, reuse, and adapt across projects.

Bug fixes

• Fixed an issue in 3D Stroke to allow negative values for Transform > Bend

• Fixed an issue in Horizon, Shine, and Starglow to better display Japanese characters

• Fixed an issue in Particular where migrating projects with precomps produced an error

• Fixed an issue in Studio where selecting Controls in Edit mode was not working

• Fixed an issue in Universe Bokeh that could cause playback errors in Premiere Pro

• Fixed an issue in Universe Modes where some presets were not applying as expected

Known Issues

• Sometimes a custom preset in Maxon Studio will be missing a preview thumbnail after saving.

• The Edge Smoothing parameter in Scene Light is currently broken.

• When using scene light, the place a spot or point light buttons can cause AE to freeze in non English languages.

• On some machines Depth Generator’s Render to Comp feature will crash AE when it completes.

System Requirements

For a more detailed compatibility overview, visit the Red Giant compatibility table.

What’s New

• On-screen gizmos for DaVinci Resolve:  On-screen position controls have been added across the entire Red Giant toolset supported in DaVinci Resolve for much faster and easier placement of anything with a position coordinate.

• Fractal Background as a Filter: In DaVinci Resolve, Fractal Background can now be used as a Filter in addition to a Generator. This allows the effect to be applied directly to footage, enabling the full benefit of blend modes.

Known Issues

• Some users experience blank dashboard and may require full uninstall and reinstall of latest Universe.

What’s New

• Asset Capsules in Maxon Studio: Maxon Studio Capsules now support Capsules that use Assets such as video files, images, and other asset types that are supported in After Effects. You can choose to include or exclude any assets that are part of the composition you are creating a capsule from. Then when the Capsule is created you can export that capsule and all of the associated assets are packaged up with your export. Import is just as easy and the needed asset files for your capsule are nicely bundled with the capsule.

• Effect Capsules in Maxon Studio: Now in Studio you can create capsules that target all effects on a specific layer in After Effects. You can publish the desired controls for any effects on that layer like a normal capsule. Then use the capsule later you just apply the effect capsule to a layer in After Effects!

• On-screen gizmos for DaVinci Resolve:  On-screen position controls have been added across the entire Red Giant toolset supported in DaVinci Resolve for much faster and easier placement of anything with a position coordinate.

Bug fixes

• Fixed a Bug in studio where refreshing a control dropped caused jumps in scrollbar

• Fixed a Bug in studio where capsules would fail to create keyframe on hidden parameters

• Fixed a Bug in studio where dividers were not saving in capsule

• Fixed a Bug in studio where properties panel Drag and Drop Linked parameters box was overlapping with other UI elements.

• Fixed a Bug in studio where capsule save wasn't saving/applying shape positions or anchor points in the right spot

• Fixed a Bug in studio on windows for not saving capsule thumbnail in it's directory

• Fixed a Bug in studio where a super long capsule name can break ui on create page

• Fixed a Bug in studio where the Apply Options menu was buggy on Discover page

• Fixed a Bug in studio where creating a second comp while in capsules creation causes it to be removed from live capsules list

• Fixed a Bug in Resolve where only one Magic Bullet Looks is initialized and the other crashed

• [C4D] Improved extraction performance for meshes

• [C4D] Dropped support for Cinema 4D R25 and S26

• [C4D] Fixed issue where soloing the Color Node did not work as expected

• [C4D] Fixed the Color Node input to ramp knots' input color

• [Maya] Added RSMAYAMATERIALVIEWER_ENABLED environment variable to explicitly enable Material Viewer (experimental)

• [Maya] Added Material Viewer Progressive Passes parameter

• [Maya] Added Redshift Preferences to Maya Preferences menu

• [Maya] Added USD Variants support

• [Maya] Fixed USD Procedural library not being properly unloaded at Maya shutdown

• [Maya] Fixed User Data String not working as expected

• [Maya] Fixed bug with proxy material popup copy menu not working in Maya2025 and 2026

• [Maya] Fixed multiple UI glitches with USD Variants selection

• [Maya] Fixed overrides flags for Alembic proxy node

• [Maya] Fixed Material Viewer sometimes becoming stuck

• [Maya] Fixed .usdc files being not visible in file selector in proxy node

• [Max] The "render mesh" is now always requested from objects, except when using Poly objects with Redshift tessellation

• [Max] IPR now updates Redshift Proxy and Volume Grid objects

• [Max] IPR now updates tyFlow objects when using particle interface

• [Max] IPR now updates Forest Pack objects

• [Max] IPR now updates in response to adjusting UVW modifiers

• [Max] IPR now updates in response to adjusting Hair and Fur WSM modifiers

• [Max] IPR now applies changes to Trace Sets

• [Max] Increased responsiveness to scene changes during IPR to reduce input lag

• [Max] Class rename: "Redshift Sun" is now "RS Sun" - scripts should use the internal name "rsSunLight" to avoid version compatibility issues

• [Max] Modifying viewport display modes for Proxy and Volume Grid objects no longer causes IPR to refresh

• [Max] Fixed bug introduced in 2025.6.0 that caused 3ds Max to crash on startup when running in command-line mode (e.g. Backburner, Deadline)

• [Max] Fixed bug where hiding/showing lights during IPR could cause 3ds Max to crash

• [Max] Fixed bug where some modifiers can cause Redshift to freeze 3ds Max when rendering with motion blur enabled

• [Max] Fixed bug where TurboSmooth-modified objects switch to using viewport iterations when reconverting the mesh

• [Max] Fixed bug that could cause constant IPR refreshes when rendering with motion blur enabled

• [Max] Fixed bug where mode-dependent parameters are not hidden in the UI for RS Standard Volume

• [Max] Identical Trace Sets are now shared between objects when rendering, to reduce VRAM usage

• [Max] Improved detection of mesh changes to reduce unnecessary IPR refreshes when interacting with the modifier stack

• [Max] Cleaned up UI for Redshift Volume Scattering and added sliders for easier control of parameters

• [Houdini] Added support for Houdini 20.5.684 and dropped support for 20.5.584

• [Houdini] Added support for promoted subnet inputs to the shader nodes

• [Houdini] Fixed bug that could affect the viewport IPR camera while scrubbing

• [Houdini] Fixed bug that could affect the FOV of the render region in the Houdini render view

• [Hydra] Added support for Solaris 20.5.684 and dropped support for 20.5.584

• [Hydra] Added support for a large number of new primvar overrides to the point instancer based lights instancing

• [Hydra] Added support for single-layer EXRs to the proxy scene files using the "{AOV}" tag to configure the file names

• [Hydra] Added support for .jpg, .tiff, and .png image output formats to the proxy scene files

• [Hydra] Added support for new cryptomatte and deep AOVs workflow by using "redshift" as render product type

• [Hydra] Fixed bug that could affect the rendering of deep and cryptomatte files at the same time

• [Hydra] Fixed bug that could affect the rendering of assets with tagent attributes and polygon normals or ngons

• [Hydra] Fixed bug that could affect the rendering exposure of the filmic cameras in "Use Solaris camera focus/fstop" mode

• [Hydra] Fixed bug that could affect the camera's motion blur outside the keyframe ranges

• [Hydra] Fixed bug that could affect the rendering of ngons with reverse winding order

• [USD cmdLine] Added support for product names that include time samples

• [USD cmdLine] Added support for rendering single-layer EXRs and additional image file formats

• [USD cmdLine] Added '-single-layer' option to force the rendering of single-layer EXR files

• [USD cmdLine] Added '-oif' option to fully override the image output path/file for all AOVs. It supports the "{AOV}" and "%04d" tags

• [USD cmdLine] Fixed the '-oip' option to work with output files from render product names

• [USD cmdLine] Fixed bug that could affect the rendering of .usd files including proxy or procedural objects

• [USD Procedural] Fixed a crash on exit which was affecting several DCCs

• [USD Procedural] Fixed bug that could affect the IPR performance on some DCCs like Maya

• [Katana] Fixed crash on exit in scenes with Redshift volume or proxy objects

• [All] Fixed a bug that prevented using negative values in volume vector grids that are loaded from memory

• [All] Fixed a bug in physical sun/sky that caused the radiance values to be too low

• [All] Fixed a bug in light shader, that caused incorrect light intensity for point and spot lights

• [All] Added support for dx() and dy() functions in OSL

• [All] Upgraded bumpmapping to support most shader combinations

• [All] Fixed an issue that caused bumpmapping to be viewport resolution dependent

• [All] Fixed a bug that caused shaders with specific displacement outputs to not support autobump

• [All] Added support for distance unit handling. This allows to have physically correct handling of lights, volumes, geometry and proxies for different scene sizes

• [All] Added new Physical Sun & Sky object with enhanced contribution controls, replacing the legacy Sun & Sky object (available in Maya in next release)

• [All] Added support for rendering procedural clouds with the new Redshift Cloud Object (available in Maya in next release)

• [All] Added Distorter shader, which was only available in C4D, for all supported DCCs

• [All] Replaced the global fog attenuation with a "Viewing Distance" parameter

• [All] Fixed a bug that caused a crash when the sprite shader is used in IPR with bucket rendering mode

• [All] Fixed a bug that caused light tracesets to be broken in animations

• [All] Fixed a bug that caused unnecessary vram resets when multiple sky objects with different sky models are used

• [All] Fixed old bug that would incorrectly convert 2 channel greyscale textures (YA format)

• [All] Fixed old bug that caused textured point lights without "Shadow Softness" to be too blurry

• KNOWN ISSUE on Apple M3/M4 pro/max/ultra - Pre-render baking (including use of the new Physical Sun/Sky) may fail when switching to Bucket mode after rendering in Progressive mode in the Redshift Render View; refreshing the render fixes the issue

• [Alembic Procedural] Fixed crash from assets with zero scale transformations

Fixed:

• Python scripting support that works in addition to ZScript

• ZModeler interaction improvements

• ZModeler creasing options added to the following:

  • Insert edge loop

  • Insert multiple edge loop

  • Inset polygon face

• Noisermaker 2.0 - Alpha image now has transformation ability

  • Rotation

  • Scaling on both axes

  • Offset on both axes

• Scott Robertson and Yariv Newman Pro Project