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Stupid Plug-in question
Hey guys, this is probably a dumb question, but I’m going to ask it anyway:
I have AE6 on my PC, but I just bought a new iMac and installed AE. My question is can I use the plug-ins I have installed on my PC for AE on my iMac? In other words, are the plug-in files compatible for either operating system? Thanks in advance.
– Kyle
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5 Replies
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Nope, exactly like you cannot run AE Windows on the Mac and for the same reason
Pierre
http://www.revisionfx.com -
Ugh, I guess now I have to dish out the extra cash 🙁
– Kyle
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Hi Pierre Jasmin, i don’t know why someone would by a Mac and install Windows, but that’s possible. Take a look at http://www.apple.com to check it out, there is a TV add explaining that.
Big hug.
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It depends on the plug-in package – some install CDs have both Mac and Win installers. When I tossed my old PC for a new Mac I was able to get several of my plug-in packages running again on the new machine because the install discs were dual platform (Boris FX, Digieffects, and Tinderbox off the top of my head). And for the ones that I needed to re-buy, most plug-in manufactureres offer a cross-platform upgrade. That’s what we did with our digital anarachy plug-ins for a much lower cost than it would have been to rebuy them. I think Red Giant offers that too, but I’m not sure. Good luck!
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I am under the impression that he is asking if you can drag and drop a plugin from an OS to another, regardless of a particular vendor licensing policy.
I am just saying the actual plugin is not binary compatible (like your betamax tape does not load in your vhs player in your video device museum). It’s the nature of compiled language like C++ (speed, efficiency) to produce instructions for a particular binary format that produces assembly instructions for particular chipset vs declarative/scripting language like java (portable but slower to interpret). In fact when AE one day supports MacIntel (like Combustion and FCP do), the old plugin for PPC won’t be compatible, it can be not obvious for you as companies like us on the Mac use the mechanism that allows to store different plugin binaries in the same file and depending on the context one or the other is loaded.
It is not impossible though. For example Fusion has announced that Fusion 5.1 on Linux will run Windows DLLs (plugin libraries) from Linux. Such scheme though are outside of the capacity of a plugin and something that only an host app could support.
Pierre
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