Maxon releases Red Giant 2024
Maxon’s trailer for its Fall 2023 releases. The section on Red Giant 2024 starts at 04:40.
Maxon has released Red Giant 2024, the latest version of its collection of effects plugins.
The update includes new versions of four of Red Giant’s individual products: Magic Bullet 2024.0, Trapcode 2024.0, Universe 2024.0 and VFX 2024.0.
VFX gets new features in the Real Lens Flares plugin, including the option to have After Effects lights drive the flares, and to position flares in Z-space.
Trapcode gets new features in the Particular plugin, including a new Stroke from Parent emitter type, and new Combustion properties in the fluid dynamics toolset.
Magic Bullet and Universe just get new presets.
The release forms part of Maxon’s Fall 2023 product update, alongside Cinema 4D 2024 and Redshift 3.5.19.
Magic Bullet 2024.0
Magic Bullet, Maxon’s colour correction tools for compositing and editing software, gets 38 new presets for Looks, and Chinese and Japanese language support.
Read a full list of changes in Magic Bullet 2024.0 in the online release notes
Trapcode 2024.0
Trapcode, Maxon’s motion graphics and VFX plugins for After Effects, gets two new features in Particular, its 3D particle system.
Stroke from Parent is a new emitter type that generates particle trails that behave more like 3D strokes, removing the need to raise particle counts to achieve a seamless trail.
Combustion is a new subset of parameters within the Particular Fluid Dynamics group that adds realistic thermodynamic properties to a simulation.
Read a full list of changes in Trapcode 2024.0 in the online release notes
Universe 2024.0
Universe, Maxon’s online library of effects and transitions for editing and compositing software, gets over 50 new presets, and Chinese and Japanese language support.
Read a full list of changes in Universe 2024.0 in the online release notes
VFX 2024.0
VFX, Maxon’s After Effects plugins for common visual effects tasks like chroma keying, camera tracking, blemish removal and precomposing gets updates to Real Lens Flares.
Key changes include the option to change the distance of the light source generating the lens flare in Z-space, to add depth to the effect; and to have After Effects lights drive the position and properties of a lens flare in 3D tracked scenes.
Schmutz, which mimics the effect of dirt on a camera lens, now responds to light sources, and to the brightness of the background plate.
There is also a new Ring projection type for retro “1970s and 1980s flare styles”.
Finally, a new Draft mode down-reses flare effects in previews, making it possible to iterate on looks faster, without affecting the final render resolution.
Read a full list of changes in VFX 2024.0 in the online release notes
Price and system requirements
The Red Giant 2024 plugins are available for Windows 10+ and macOS 11.0+, and are compatible with After Effects 2023+.
Some products are compatible with other host applications, including DaVinci Resolve.
All of the products are rental-only, and are available via Red Giant subscriptions, which cost $79/month or $599/year, or Maxon One subscriptions, which cost $149/month or $1,199/year. Individual Universe subscriptions cost $30/month or $199/year.