So having had to wait an age for 2024 version...is this going to be the same situtation for 2025 version as once again it hasn't carried across ?? and I cant get it to work in 2025
It works in both 2024 and 2025. To install into either version use the aescripts + aeplugins manager app (https://aescripts.com/learn/aescripts-aeplugins-manager-app/) and right-click and select 'Custom Installation' and you will be able to install into any version of After Effects that you are using. Please restart after installing.
For anyone considering spending the considerable money this costs, be aware of a few important things, that while this is technically still usable and very good for what it is:
The developer has been essentially MIA for years now. While there have been some very minor updates, it has all been for: support for Apple Silicon (2022), and ability to be manually installed and support for the Aescripts installer (2024). The last actual feature update with any kind of features or bug fixes happened in 2020 as far as I can gather.
If you have an issue, chances are that you are not going to get any kind of support from the developer themselves, multiple comments below note how some users have been waiting with no response to their tickets for years.
Lloyd gracefully has offered some support in these comments, but he is not the developer, so as far as I understand, can only give limited support
It does run on 2024 and 2025
Crashes are unfortunately not an uncommon occurrence
The developer apparently has another project, but they have been utterly silent about this one, so assuming it is just abandoned
I write this as I feel charging full price ($249) for a product that is prone to crashes and not making it clear that there is VERY limited support, if any, is not exactly a very ethical thing to do in my opinion. There should be a warning that while it is available and it works, don't expect any kind of real assistance with issues outside of installation ones.
It is truly a shame, this was one of my favorite plugins, and yes, I still use it, but if I was buying it now, I would prefer to be aware of the current situation. Stardust was at the time it came out an wonderful alternative to some of the Red Giant offerings, and honestly, I STILL much prefer the interface and just whole way of working over those, but it is clearly falling behind, and its likely just one AE update away from not working again.
For anyone considering spending the considerable money this costs, be aware of a few important things, that while this is technically still usable and very good for what it is:
The developer has been essentially MIA for years now. While there have been some very minor updates, it has all been for: support for Apple Silicon (2022), and ability to be manually installed and support for the Aescripts installer (2024). The last actual feature update with any kind of features or bug fixes happened in 2020 as far as I can gather.
If you have an issue, chances are that you are not going to get any kind of support from the developer themselves, multiple comments below note how some users have been waiting with no response to their tickets for years.
Lloyd gracefully has offered some support in these comments, but he is not the developer, so as far as I understand, can only give limited support
It does run on 2024 and 2025
Crashes are unfortunately not an uncommon occurrence
The developer apparently has another project, but they have been utterly silent about this one, so assuming it is just abandoned
I write this as I feel charging full price ($249) for a product that is prone to crashes and not making it clear that there is VERY limited support, if any, is not exactly a very ethical thing to do in my opinion. There should be a warning that while it is available and it works, don't expect any kind of real assistance with issues outside of installation ones.
It is truly a shame, this was one of my favorite plugins, and yes, I still use it, but if I was buying it now, I would prefer to be aware of the current situation. Stardust was at the time it came out an wonderful alternative to some of the Red Giant offerings, and honestly, I STILL much prefer the interface and just whole way of working over those, but it is clearly falling behind, and its likely just one AE update away from not working again.
I absolutely agree with this comment. I love aescripts but it's irresponsible to charge people full price for a product that has been end-of-line for so many years. The product is dead. Yes the installers get band-aid workarounds for new versions of After Effects but this is one of the most expensive plugins in this store and that really should be reflected in the quality of service by both aescripts and the developer. I've stopped using it because I just don't trust it anymore. Knowing the current status (lack of development and support from the developer) this should get a heavy discount and a warning. At this point the loyalty seems to be with the developer and not the customer which is a real shame.
For anyone considering spending the considerable money this costs, be aware of a few important things, that while this is technically still usable and very good for what it is:
The developer has been essentially MIA for years now. While there have been some very minor updates, it has all been for: support for Apple Silicon (2022), and ability to be manually installed and support for the Aescripts installer (2024). The last actual feature update with any kind of features or bug fixes happened in 2020 as far as I can gather.
If you have an issue, chances are that you are not going to get any kind of support from the developer themselves, multiple comments below note how some users have been waiting with no response to their tickets for years.
Lloyd gracefully has offered some support in these comments, but he is not the developer, so as far as I understand, can only give limited support
It does run on 2024 and 2025
Crashes are unfortunately not an uncommon occurrence
The developer apparently has another project, but they have been utterly silent about this one, so assuming it is just abandoned
I write this as I feel charging full price ($249) for a product that is prone to crashes and not making it clear that there is VERY limited support, if any, is not exactly a very ethical thing to do in my opinion. There should be a warning that while it is available and it works, don't expect any kind of real assistance with issues outside of installation ones.
It is truly a shame, this was one of my favorite plugins, and yes, I still use it, but if I was buying it now, I would prefer to be aware of the current situation. Stardust was at the time it came out an wonderful alternative to some of the Red Giant offerings, and honestly, I STILL much prefer the interface and just whole way of working over those, but it is clearly falling behind, and its likely just one AE update away from not working again.
I absolutely agree with this comment. I love aescripts but it's irresponsible to charge people full price for a product that has been end-of-line for so many years. The product is dead. Yes the installers get band-aid workarounds for new versions of After Effects but this is one of the most expensive plugins in this store and that really should be reflected in the quality of service by both aescripts and the developer. I've stopped using it because I just don't trust it anymore. Knowing the current status (lack of development and support from the developer) this should get a heavy discount and a warning. At this point the loyalty seems to be with the developer and not the customer which is a real shame.
Thanks for your honest feedback but Stardust is not dead. The plugin works for most users and we are addressing the issues that are being reported. Please know there is a lot of work happening behind the scenes. We will have some more news soon.
Guys, I understand the way some of you feel, but allow me these comments:
Despite the latest upgrades being mostly maintenance ones, Stardust is still to this day an outstanding plugin, allowing stuff which would be completely impossible in AE without it (if only for physics simulations, volume rendering and VDB compatibility, the price tag remains justified to me).
As far as stability goes, I've never experienced a single crash (I'm on Mac), so I'm honestly wondering what can cause such issues on other users' set-up... I still use Stardust on 90% of my jobs, a recent one being for Atomic Golf Vegas requiring render resolutions up to 21K, and Stardust remained rock solid all along.
Finally regarding the product expected life span, what better guarantee do you need than the full support from aescripts? I've reported several zombie plugins still being sold here in the past, with severe stability issues and MIA developers... and each time, aescripts removed them from their platform on the spot, even though they were in the low 2 digits price range.
If Lloyd says Stardust is not dead, with "more news soon", it's all I need to know.
The bottom line is that yes, and I'll be honest about it, a silent dev is not the best selling point... but despite that, Stardust remains a 100% usable plugin, featuring unmatched features in the AE environment still to this day, and with "a lot of work happening behind the scenes".
As long as Lloyd supports it as he does, I'll remain on board.
Guys, I understand the way some of you feel, but allow me these comments:
Despite the latest upgrades being mostly maintenance ones, Stardust is still to this day an outstanding plugin, allowing stuff which would be completely impossible in AE without it (if only for physics simulations, volume rendering and VDB compatibility, the price tag remains justified to me).
As far as stability goes, I've never experienced a single crash (I'm on Mac), so I'm honestly wondering what can cause such issues on other users' set-up... I still use Stardust on 90% of my jobs, a recent one being for Atomic Golf Vegas requiring render resolutions up to 21K, and Stardust remained rock solid all along.
Finally regarding the product expected life span, what better guarantee do you need than the full support from aescripts? I've reported several zombie plugins still being sold here in the past, with severe stability issues and MIA developers... and each time, aescripts removed them from their platform on the spot, even though they were in the low 2 digits price range.
If Lloyd says Stardust is not dead, with "more news soon", it's all I need to know.
The bottom line is that yes, and I'll be honest about it, a silent dev is not the best selling point... but despite that, Stardust remains a 100% usable plugin, featuring unmatched features in the AE environment still to this day, and with "a lot of work happening behind the scenes".
As long as Lloyd supports it as he does, I'll remain on board.
We apologize for the recent challenges with our support, but we should now be back on track. Thank you for your understanding. Please feel free to reach out if you experience any further issues To download a version compatible with the latest AE,
Like others here, I'm wondering if we are likely to see an update to Stardust - it is painfully slow, even on my fairly powerful system. I'm currently waiting for a fairly basic particle animation (under 15,000 particles, no textures, no motion blur, 1920x1080 single-layer comp) to preview, and I see it's using around 7% of my available CPU power, and 3% of my GPU. I've tried switching everything between CPU and GPU to see if I can get a speed boost without any success. I can do more complex particle animations in Blender (which is not $249) in real time.
I need some info on the Physical particles cache folder. Where is it stored exactly? Considering how my boot drive available space gets reduced when I work on a physics simulation, it's apparently somewhere in the library folder, but I can't find it.
Also, how can I archive it with my project? I wanted to update a project from last year featuring a complex sim, and with no cache left (I updated my OS since), a simple render update gets very tedious...
About the Volume cache folder, the user manual states this: Stardust will choose a folder on the same location as the project file. Hence, the project must be saved before a simulation can be generated. you can expose that folder by clicking ‘show’.
This is great, but why isn't it the same with the Physics cache folder? In a future update, would it be possible to also have it stored alongside the ae project file?
It is truly a shame, this was one of my favorite plugins, and yes, I still use it, but if I was buying it now, I would prefer to be aware of the current situation.
Stardust was at the time it came out an wonderful alternative to some of the Red Giant offerings, and honestly, I STILL much prefer the interface and just whole way of working over those, but it is clearly falling behind, and its likely just one AE update away from not working again.
Thanks JM! and lol, i'll need to put that last sentence on my epitaph!
Please feel free to reach out if you experience any further issues
To download a version compatible with the latest AE,