Maxon releases Universe 4.0; Cinema 4D gets a new plugin, Ricochet

Maxon has announced the availability of Universe 4.0. This latest subscription-only release features three new stylized tools: Electrify, Texturize Motion, and Analog. Universe 4.0 also has the support of Apple’s latest Metal technology and offers over 100 new presets for Array Gun and Typographic.

Maxon has also announced incremental updates to Cinema 4D and VFX Suite this week. Cinema 4D S24 SP1 includes improvements to the Scatter Pen and GPU support on Windows for Magic Bullet Looks in the Viewport and Viewport Renderer. VFX Suite version 1.5.3 now has support for Apple’s Metal technology for optimal GPU performance on Mac and multi-frame rendering for Supercomp, Optical Glow, Chromatic Displacement, and Spotclone Tracker.

Talking about plugins for Cinema 4D, Rocket Lasso has announced a new spline tool, Ricochet, for Cinema 4D. The plugin behaves like a particle system for splines by automatically animating splines to “ricochet” around a Cinema 4D scene or even within models. Legendary Cinema 4D artist, Chris Schmidt founded Rocket Lasso and has been providing workflow enhancing plugins, tutorials, and live streamed knowledge to the Maxon community for two decades.

A workflow tool, Recall was Rocket Lasso’s first plugin for Cinema 4D. Ricochet is second plugin for Cinema 4D. Ricochet opens up whole new design possibilities for creating complex webbing with ease, to generate animated sweeps, hair, create Mesh Volumes, exciting FUI effects, plant growth, etc. Ricochet supports all Cinema 4D rendering engines, including Sketch and Toon as well as 3rd party renderers. Ricochet is compatible with Cinema R20 and works on Windows and macOS.

Maxon Universe 4.0 press release follows:

Maxon Announces the Immediate Availability of Universe 4.0

Upgrade includes three new stylize tools Electrify, Texturize Motion, and Analog, Support for Metal and 100+ new presets for Array Gun and Typographic.

Maxon, the developers of professional software solutions for motion designers, visual effects artists and editors, today announced the immediate availability of Universe 4.0. 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. 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.