Universe 4.0 gets three new stylize tools Electrify, Texturize Motion, and Analog, support for Metal and new presets, but Redshift was not forgotten, and features related to color are part of the new update.

Developers of professional software solutions for motion designers, visual effects artists and editors Maxon announced that Universe 4.0, is now available. This latest subscription-only release features Electrify for creating electrical effects on images, footage, and logos, Texturize Motion for blending animated textures with footage for sketchy, stop motion looks, and Analog for simulating dynamic analog retro-TV-styles, noise, interference, and CRT effects.

These new effects include 100+ exciting presets, says Maxon. Universe 4.0 also takes advantage of Apple‘s latest Metal technology for optimal GPU performance on Mac. With improved Premiere Pro and After Effects integration, users will notice significant performance improvements. Additionally, in an effort to provide continuous content-driven value to the community, 140 exciting new presets have been added for Array Gun and Typographic contributed by talented Motion Designer, Laura Porat.

“Universe 4.0 gives artists the ability to quickly and easily create their favorite effects and add visual excitement to their projects. It’s a pleasure to provide tools we know are going to inspire the creative community,” said Dave McGavran, Maxon CEO. “I am also very pleased with the under-the-hood improvements that offer notable enhancements, and set the groundwork for greater performance and efficiency in future releases.”

Universe 4.0 overview

Electrify: Add sizzling lightning effects to images and footage by using source image contours to generate electrical effects, Fractal Noise sources to create custom patterns without image contours or select both options at the same time for maximum shock value. Shimmer effects can be added with an animated matte texture.

Texturize Motion: Choose from a library of 14 high resolution animated textures to blend into existing footage for sketchy, stop motion looks. Rotation, scale, and position jitter controls are integrated to add additional custom shakiness. Artists can even add custom textures for unlimited possibilities.

Analog: Simulate a multitude of color, noise, interference, and CRT effects to recreate classic television video effects. Simple settings like Phase, Filter, Temperature offer complete control to create a wide variety of looks. Basic scan lines, CRT dots, and squares can be added for a realistic CRT projection as well as screen curvature, reflections and more.

New Presets: Includes 100+ presets for the new effects as well as 140 fresh new presets for Array Gun and Typographic created by Motion Designer, Laura Porat. The presets are themed around three categories: Sci-fi, Minimalistic and Trendy/Retro. All the presets are very versatile and can be used with a wide variety of assets and designs.

Universe 4.0 runs on Windows and macOS, and includes over 92 tools for:

• Adobe After Effects CC 2019 or later
• Adobe Premiere Pro CC 2019 or later
• Apple Final Cut Pro X 10.5 or later
• Apple Motion 5.5 or later
• Avid Media Composer 8.2 or later
• Magix VEGAS Pro 14 or later
• DaVinci Resolve 14 or later

Redshift 3.0.46 is also available

On the heels of Redshift’s April release that included support for MacOS Metal, the M1 and OSL, Maxon also announced the immediate availability of Redshift 3.0.46 which includes robust support for OpenColorIO v2, enabling users to achieve more accurate and filmic color through the use of ACES and other custom color profiles.

For users this offers significant enhancements to workflow with lots of new options and additional parameters including when employing ACEScg rendering space Redshift will automatically use the correct color space for blackbody temperature on lights, melanin on hair, dispersion in the rsMaterial and the physical sun/sky. This latest version of Redshift also supports the ability to choose colors within a color space in those host applications that already support OCIO.

OpenColorIO v2 offers comprehensive color management for studio pipelines and makes it easy for everyone to achieve film-like results via ACES color space. An OCIO config is provided with Redshift, or users can reference a config for a specific pipeline. Users can choose from the available color spaces when adding textures and define the color space for rendering and viewing renders within the RenderView. Redshift for 3ds max also includes an all-new Color Picker that allows users to choose colors within a color space.

This latest release of Redshift for macOS, Windows and Linux is immediately available, with ongoing regular updates for stability and optimization.