Why is there a watermark on my perpetual/serial license?

This FAQ is for users who have a perpetual license/serial number.

If you own a subscription license (e.g. Red Giant Complete, Maxon One, Universe) consult this FAQ.

The majority of perpetual/serial watermarks are resolved by following either of these sets of steps below:

1. Download and install the latest version of the Maxon App.
2. Sign into the Maxon App with the same email you'd used to purchase your perpetual license.
   • Even your license was purchased through redgiant.com, sign in (or create an account) using the same email you'd used before.
   • You can check if the email you're using has a Maxon or Red Giant perpetual license associated with its Maxon account after you're signed in on the Licenses tab of my.maxon.net, with Legacy Licenses toward the bottom.
     • Only purchases through redgiant.com or maxon.net directly will be reflected here; not perpetuals from resellers (e.g. ToolFarm, B&H, etc.)
3. Uninstall whatever versions of plugins you have installed.
   • Since the majority of watermarks on perpetual licenses occur because the wrong version of the product is installed, and because installing some versions does not overwrite others, make sure you've uninstalled whatever you currently have installed.
   • To uninstall through the Maxon App, select the Uninstall option in the menu alongside your product(s)
     
4. From here, there are two activation options:
   • Option 1: If you purchased your perpetual license through Maxon.net (after 2020), check that the perpetual license now says it's activated within the Maxon App.
     • If the perpetual license hasn't activated already after you signed in, use the menu to the right of the product to select the Assign License option.
     • If Assign License is greyed out, it means the license is already assigned to another machine. Head to the Licenses tab of my.maxon.net and release the license from whatever machine you're not using it on.
   • Option 2: If you purchased your perpetual license through redgiant.com, consult this FAQ.
     
     • If you purchased your serial through redgiant.com, you can retrieve your serial from the Manage button under the Licenses tab of my.maxon.net
       
     • If you purchased your serial from elsewhere, Red Giant and Maxon do not track purchases through resellers; you will need consult with whatever vendor you'd acquired your serial from to retrieve it.
5. Once all of the above steps are complete, check for a watermark in a BRAND NEW PROJECT/SEQUENCE/TIMELINE — NOT A PROJECT YOU'D BEEN WORKING ON WHEN YOU'D DISCOVERED THE WATERMARK.
   As a troubleshooting test, try out your product on a brand new sequence/project with a new clip, and apply the effect.
   • If there is no watermark on a brand new project, clean out the render cache of your host and you're good to go. The steps for cleaning out the render cache is dependent on whatever editing program you are using:
     • For After Effects: Edit > Purge > Image Cache Memory
     • For Premiere: Sequence > Delete Render Files
     • For Final Cut Pro X: File > Delete Generated Event Files
       • If you clean out the render cache and there is still a watermark but there was no watermark on a brand new project, try adjusting any of the parameters on the effect by a wide margin to force the output to re-render.
   • If there is still a watermark on a brand new project, and the Maxon App shows you are in a licensed state, use the top right menu of the Maxon App to send us an Error Log via a troubleshooting ticket and we'll go from there.