After Effects doesn't know that Cinema4D is installed

[AE3_Veteran]

I see this issue popping up going back years but none of the suggested fixes works. 

This many tears on, it's astonishing that the same issue continues to happen but here we are.

Mac Studio M3 Ultra

AE 25.6

C4D 2026.1

Error:

After Effects error: Error during event PF_Cmd_SEQUENCE_SETUP
Code (A_Err_GENERIC): Cinema 4D 2025 must be installed in order to use "Cineware by Maxon". To install from the Creative Cloud app, go to After Effects, choose the "…" button next to "Open" and select 'Add-ons'.
(1) (25 :: 16)

The add on is slected, I reinstalled both After effects and C4D. When reinstalling AE, I checked the box to ADD C4D

The import plugin IS in the Plugins folder.

Please help!

[nishu_kush]

I'm sorry to hear about the problem.

Can you check the Applications folder on your Mac to see if the Maxon folder is there to confirm that Cinema 4D is installed? Also, can you try opening Cinema 4D separately and see if that works?

Tell me how it turns out.

Thanks,
Nishu

[AE3_Veteran]

Hi Nishu,

Thanks for the reply. Yes...C4D is installed and is running fine.

[Barry_Nolan]

Hi AE_Veteran, and Nishu_Kush- 

I have the same/similar problem. I'm an experienced visual designer (AE motion designer mostly) but relatively new to Cinema 4D. I have the full licensed Adobe Cloud subscription and the full licensed suite of Maxon / Cinema 4D 2026—all completely up to date. I can't get AE to recognise that Cinema 4D is installed—(I tried re-installing). The "Add-on Cinema 4D by Maxon" is in place. The error suggests Cinema 4D 2025 needs to be installed but I need to move forward with the latest versions for 2026. I tried manually placing the contents of "C4DImporter.zip" from Maxon into AE's plug-in folder, but that didn't work. If you, Nishu, could look into the problem with Adobe, that would be great. 
Thanks, Barry.

[AidanEdits]

In an After Effects composition, select a C4D layer. In the Effect Controls Panel, on the Cineware effect click Options.. next to the Reset button in the effect header. In the popup, click Browse and find the Cinema 4D.exe file inside of your Maxon Cinema 4D 2026 Program Files folder (this is set to look in the C4D 2025 folder by default). Hit OK, then restart AE. Upon reopening AE, right click the C4D layer, go to Open > Edit Original... and the C4D project should now open C4D 2026. 

[Mshafaq]

Im having the same issue with AE and C4D. Have you recently updated your MacOS? Im running Sonoma had a recent upgrade to my OS. 
I dont know the exact issues but every time I set a path to Maxon folder via Cineware plugin, the form resets and reverts back to "No install found" even though I just set a path. 
Looking it this more and Ill share if I find anything. 

[Mshafaq]

I would try this and Cineware would prompt me to donwload a trial for C4D lite. 

[AidanEdits]

Open the Maxon app and make sure you are signed in to the Maxon account that is connected to your C4D 2026 liscense. In the past I've had to completely uninstall c4d and go into my Program Files, Program Data, and App Data folders and manually delete every C4D related folder before reinstalling finally worked. I don't necessarily recommend doing this unless you're confident you know what you're deleting, but this has worked for me in the past when all else failed.