Hi folks – today we are announcing Red Giant Universe 2.0, a major update to Red Giant Universe, our GPU accelerated plugins for editors and motion graphics artists.

Universe 2.0 includes over 60 tools that run in:

• Adobe Premiere Pro
  
• Adobe After Effects
  
• Apple Final Cut Pro X
  
• Apple Motion
  
• Sony Vegas
  
• Hitfilm
  
• Davinci Resolve
  

Worth noting is that, with this update, Universe is now Adobe CC2015.3 compatible. 

WHAT’S NEW?

The Universe 2.0 update includes 4 new tools and 29 updated effects and transitions. More than 20 of the tools include  a brand new user experience that makes it easy to preview and apply effects, while many effects have received new features.

MOTION GRAPHICS

With a focus on Motion Graphics, some of the new tools and updates include:

• HUD Components: Instantly create Heads-Up Display elements for use in motion graphics; this tool is packed with tons of presets, element shapes and behaviors for creating a variety of HUD effects.
  

• Line: Easily generate a line between two points to simulate flight paths, travel indicators on a map, and a variety of additional motion graphics; draw it as a curving bezier path or a straight line, change the color and style of the line, as well as the start and end points and how they animate over time.
  
• Logo Motion: Instantly make logos and text more interesting and dynamic by animating imagery on and off the screen with a hinge style swing, slide on, or a slightly eased in and out “pop.”
  
• Color Stripe: Create a transition that uses layered blocks of color wiping across the screen to reveal a second layer.
  

PRESET BROWSER

We have also updated the user experience on 22 of our tools, with a new visual preset browser. Now, in Universe 2.0, you can see an animated preview of the effect and apply it by clicking on the image of the preset you want to use.

OTHER UPDATES

Along with the new user experience, 18 Red Giant Universe tools have been updated with additional new features, including:

• Holomatrix II, which now includes new distortion effects based on holographic imagery from films like “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” and “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay.”
  
• Camera Shake, which has been redesigned and enhanced to make it simple to quickly achieve a variety of realistic camera shakes with little to no effort – great for enhancing action sequences, and for simulating various camera setups and scenarios – such as filming with a car mount, on a boat, and even in an earthquake.
  
• Unmult, which now offers additional controls to help users precisely remove black backgrounds from footage and create an alpha channel, a useful tool for compositing footage of fire, smoke, water and more.
  

This FAQ has more info about all of the updates and new features.

HOW TO UPDATE

As an existing Universe customer, you can download the latest version of Red Giant Link and update to Universe 2.0 in Link’s Universe panel. Link can also be updated directly within the app, by using the “Check For Updates Now” menu item. 

NEW TO UNIVERSE?

If you aren’t already a Universe customer, you can purchase a subscription or download a free trial at http://redgiant.com/universe.

IMPORTANT: OTHER CHANGES FOR EXISTING USERS

With this update, there have been some other changes to Universe with regard to legacy tools and projects. Based on feedback, we have removed the least popular plugins from Universe 2.0 and will no longer offer free tools. Rest assured, if you were already using Universe before today, you will still have access to those older tools, and older project files using these tools will still open properly. Read THIS FAQ to learn more.

As always, if you have any questions or problems, our support team is here for you.