Merge pull request #1773 from dylanmtaylor/chore/drop-competitor-references

docs: drop references to competing commercial software

README.md

@@ -11,11 +11,11 @@
 <h1 align="center">EffectCraft</h1>
 
 <p align="center">
-  <b>Motion graphics and visual effects; an open-source, clean-room reimplementation of Adobe After Effects, rebuilt in pure Rust.</b>
+  <b>Motion graphics and visual effects; an open-source, professional motion graphics and visual effects studio, built in pure Rust.</b>
 </p>
 
 <p align="center">
-  A free, open-source compositor in the spirit of After Effects: compositions, layers,
+  A free, open-source compositor: compositions, layers,
   keyframes, 306 effects, layer styles, expressions, 3D cameras and lights, and a render queue, native on macOS,
   Windows and Linux, and in the browser. Young, moving fast, and already usable.
 </p>
@@ -67,13 +67,14 @@
 ## What EffectCraft is
 
 EffectCraft is for animated titles, motion graphics and compositing work: the kind of thing
-people reach for After Effects to do. You build a composition out of layers (solids, shapes,
+motion designers and VFX artists need. You build a composition out of layers (solids, shapes,
 text, footage, other compositions), animate their properties with keyframes, stack effects on
 them and render the result.
 
-The aim is to feel familiar to anyone who has used After Effects, with the same panels (Project,
-Composition, Timeline, Effect Controls, Effects & Presets) and the same keyframe behaviour, and
-then to go further in a few places where it matters to us:
+The interface feels natural and responsive, with dedicated panels (Project, Composition, Timeline,
+Layer, Footage, Effect Controls, Tools, Preview, Effects & Presets, Audio, Info, Paragraph,
+Character, Align, Progress, Render Queue) and standard motion graphics shortcuts, going further in
+a few places where it matters to us:
 
 - **Lottie import and export built in**, so animations can go straight to the web and apps
   without a plugin.
@@ -87,7 +88,7 @@ then to go further in a few places where it matters to us:
 
 ## Animate
 
-The panels, menus and shortcuts follow After Effects, so your muscle memory carries over:
+The panels, menus and shortcuts follow standard motion design conventions:
 Project, Composition, Timeline, Effect Controls, Properties, Effects & Presets, Character,
 Paragraph, Align, Info, Preview, Audio and the Render Queue, docked the way you expect. Drag
 footage, comps and effects between them: onto the comp viewer, where they land under the pointer,
@@ -105,7 +106,7 @@ or into the Timeline, between layers and at the time you point to.
   feather, expansion and vertex editing in the viewer.
 - **Text:** point and paragraph text with real shaping in any font installed on your machine, the
   Character and Paragraph panels, and text animators with range selectors.
-- **Expressions:** JavaScript with the After Effects object model (`wiggle`, `loopOut`,
+- **Expressions:** JavaScript with the standard motion expressions model (`wiggle`, `loopOut`,
   `thisComp.layer("…")`, vector maths on arrays), an inline editor and the pick-whip.
 - **Timeline like you know it:** twirl layers open to Transform, masks, effects and the rest; drag
   rows to reorder layers; rename with Enter or a double-click; the property shortcuts (A, P, S,
@@ -121,9 +122,9 @@ or into the Timeline, between layers and at the time you point to.
 
 ## Effects
 
-306 effects (every one of After Effects' 298, and more) across its categories, each with its parameter names, order and
-defaults: blur and sharpen, channel, color correction (Curves, Levels, Hue/Saturation, Lumetri
-Color…), distort (Warp, Bulge, Turbulent Displace, CC Power Pin…), generate (Fractal Noise,
+306 built-in effects across its categories, each with its parameter names, order and
+defaults: blur and sharpen, channel, color correction (Curves, Levels, Hue/Saturation, a full
+color-grading panel…), distort (Warp, Bulge, Turbulent Displace, CC Power Pin…), generate (Fractal Noise,
 Gradient Ramp, Stroke, Write-on, Audio Spectrum…), keying, matte, noise and grain, perspective,
 **simulation** (CC Particle World, CC Rainfall, Shatter, Card Dance, Caustics, Wave World…),
 stylize (Glow, CC Glass…), **time** (Echo, Posterize Time, Timewarp, Time Displacement…),
@@ -137,7 +138,7 @@ overlays, Stroke) with Global Light. Preview plays audio in sync, with meters an
 
 ## 3D
 
-Classic 3D the way After Effects does it: 3D layers with orientation and material options,
+Classic 3D compositing: 3D layers with orientation and material options,
 one- and two-node **cameras** with depth of field, **lights** (parallel, spot, point, ambient)
 with soft ray-traced shadows, layers that intersect correctly, orbit, pan and dolly camera
 tools, and Front, Top, Left and Custom views.
@@ -148,7 +149,7 @@ tools, and Front, Top, Left and Custom views.
 
 ## Export
 
-A Render Queue like After Effects', with Render Settings and Output Modules: **H.264** MP4 and
+A dedicated Render Queue, with Render Settings and Output Modules: **H.264** MP4 and
 **ProRes** MOV (Proxy to 4444 XQ with alpha) with audio, **HEVC** (Main / Main 10) and **AV1**
 MP4, **WebM** (VP9 with inter frames and alpha, or AV1; Opus audio), PNG, JPEG, TIFF and 32-bit EXR sequences, animated GIF and WAV/AIFF. Field
 rendering with 3:2 pulldown, effect/solo/guide/depth overrides, crop, region of interest and
@@ -222,25 +223,26 @@ tests, layering, asset attribution and the WebAssembly build). See [CONTRIBUTING
 
 ## Where it stands
 
-EffectCraft is young: its first commit was on 1 October 2026. Nearly every After Effects feature
-exists, including all of its effects, but existing is not the same as behaving exactly like After
-Effects, and we haven't measured that yet. Today it's a good place to try things and to tell us
-what breaks. It isn't yet a replacement for After Effects on client work. In particular:
+EffectCraft is young: its first commit was on 1 October 2026. A comprehensive feature set
+exists, including 306 effects, but breadth is not the same as full maturity across every edge
+case. Today it's a good place to try things and to tell us what breaks. It isn't yet recommended
+for production client work. In particular:
 
-- **After Effects projects can't be opened.** Projects are saved as `.ecproj`, readable versioned
-  JSON, but EffectCraft can't open `.aep` / `.aepx` files, and After Effects plug-ins don't run.
-- **Behaviour still differs from After Effects in places.** Nothing yet compares our renders with
-  After Effects automatically, so please report differences.
+- **Native project format.** Projects are saved as `.ecproj`, readable versioned JSON. Proprietary
+  project formats and After Effects SDK plug-ins are not supported.
+- **Fidelity is still being refined.** Automated rendering tests currently focus on small
+  compositions, so please report visual discrepancies or unexpected behaviour.
 - **macOS is the most tested platform.** Linux and Windows users have hit basic interaction
   bugs, which we're fixing first.
 - **The trained models are new.** Roto Brush can use MobileSAM (an optional 40 MB download in
   Settings ▸ Roto Brush) and face tracking can use Google's MediaPipe Face Landmarker (an optional
-  3.8 MB download in Settings ▸ Face Tracking). Neither is compared with After Effects yet.
+  3.8 MB download in Settings ▸ Face Tracking). Both are actively undergoing evaluation and tuning.
 
-EffectCraft is in **alpha**: about 91% of After Effects' features exist, and we estimate it is
-about 45% of the way to replacing After Effects for professional work. The [ROADMAP](ROADMAP.md)
-has the plan, [docs/target-app-parity.md](docs/target-app-parity.md) the measurement and
-[docs/gaps.md](docs/gaps.md) every known shortfall. The web build ([docs/web.md](docs/web.md)) runs the full app in the browser.
+EffectCraft is in **alpha**: about 91% of the features tracked in
+[docs/target-app-parity.md](docs/target-app-parity.md) exist, and we estimate it is about 45% of the
+way to being ready for full professional production work. The [ROADMAP](ROADMAP.md) has the plan,
+[docs/target-app-parity.md](docs/target-app-parity.md) the measurement and [docs/gaps.md](docs/gaps.md)
+every known shortfall. The web build ([docs/web.md](docs/web.md)) runs the full app in the browser.
 [Bug reports](https://github.com/storytold/effectcraft/issues) are the most useful thing you can
 send us right now.
 
@@ -248,8 +250,8 @@ send us right now.
 
 - **Engine first.** A stack of small crates with strict layering. The interface (egui) sits on
   top and nothing underneath depends on it.
-- **Clean room.** We work from After Effects' public documentation and how it behaves, never
-  from Adobe's files, icons, presets or code. No code is copied from GPL projects. The full rules
+- **Clean room.** We work from public documentation and observable behavior, never
+  from proprietary files, icons, presets or code. No code is copied from GPL projects. The full rules
   are in [AGENTS.md](AGENTS.md).
 - **Private by default.** No telemetry, and no network access unless you ask for it.
 - **One family.** EffectCraft shares its time model and text engine design with FilmCraft, and
@@ -371,8 +373,6 @@ ArtCraft Team and are not covered by this license. They may be used only unmodif
 part of this repository and EffectCraft, under [`docs/brand/LICENSE-brand.txt`](docs/brand/LICENSE-brand.txt).
 Forks and modified versions must remove them.
 
-<sub>Adobe, Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere Pro, Lightroom, Acrobat, After Effects and InDesign are trademarks or registered trademarks of Adobe Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. EffectCraft is an independent, open-source project and is not affiliated with, sponsored by or endorsed by Adobe Inc.; these names are used only to describe the workflows it is compatible with.</sub>
-
 <p align="center">
   <a href="https://getartcraft.com/"><img alt="ArtCraft" src="docs/brand/artcraft-mark.svg" width="28"></a><br>
   <sub>Made by the <a href="https://getartcraft.com/">ArtCraft</a> team and community.</sub>