From c7d8824e09d110a7f8e0e84ffb1849ee635c7f7e Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: "Dylan M. Taylor" Date: Sun, 18 Oct 2026 01:21:57 -0400 Subject: [PATCH 1/3] docs: drop references to competing commercial software --- README.md | 51 +++++++++++++++++++++++++-------------------------- 1 file changed, 25 insertions(+), 26 deletions(-) diff --git a/README.md b/README.md index 914a4090..5d93cce4 100644 --- a/README.md +++ b/README.md @@ -11,11 +11,11 @@

EffectCraft

- Motion graphics and visual effects; an open-source, clean-room reimplementation of Adobe After Effects, rebuilt in pure Rust. + Motion graphics and visual effects; an open-source, professional motion graphics and visual effects studio, built in pure Rust.

- 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.

@@ -64,13 +64,14 @@ ## 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. @@ -84,7 +85,7 @@ 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, @@ -102,7 +103,7 @@ 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, @@ -118,7 +119,7 @@ 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 +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, Lumetri Color…), distort (Warp, Bulge, Turbulent Displace, CC Power Pin…), generate (Fractal Noise, Gradient Ramp, Stroke, Write-on, Audio Spectrum…), keying, matte, noise and grain, perspective, @@ -134,7 +135,7 @@ 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. @@ -145,7 +146,7 @@ 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 @@ -219,23 +220,23 @@ 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 third-party commercial plug-ins are not supported. +- **Fidelity is still being refined.** Automated testing across complex rendering pipelines is + ongoing, 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) +EffectCraft is in **alpha**: about 91% of planned core features 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 @@ -245,8 +246,8 @@ 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 @@ -368,8 +369,6 @@ 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. -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. -

ArtCraft
Made by the ArtCraft team and community. From cb70a0cdbe4af41fe0653d17c80820fac9661775 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: "Dylan M. Taylor" Date: Sun, 18 Oct 2026 10:42:59 -0400 Subject: [PATCH 2/3] docs: replace Lumetri effect reference with generic color grading --- README.md | 4 ++-- 1 file changed, 2 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-) diff --git a/README.md b/README.md index 5d93cce4..e1e7f87f 100644 --- a/README.md +++ b/README.md @@ -120,8 +120,8 @@ or into the Timeline, between layers and at the time you point to. ## Effects 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, Lumetri -Color…), distort (Warp, Bulge, Turbulent Displace, CC Power Pin…), generate (Fractal Noise, +defaults: blur and sharpen, channel, color correction (Curves, Levels, Hue/Saturation, Color +Grading…), 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…), From 20c03451c0d752c3860f805885f833565788d204 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: "Dylan M. Taylor" Date: Sun, 18 Oct 2026 12:51:59 -0400 Subject: [PATCH 3/3] docs: describe color grading panel, scope SDK plug-in warning, qualify rendering tests, and link parity checklist --- README.md | 19 ++++++++++--------- 1 file changed, 10 insertions(+), 9 deletions(-) diff --git a/README.md b/README.md index e1e7f87f..d403ac64 100644 --- a/README.md +++ b/README.md @@ -120,8 +120,8 @@ or into the Timeline, between layers and at the time you point to. ## Effects 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, Color -Grading…), distort (Warp, Bulge, Turbulent Displace, CC Power Pin…), generate (Fractal Noise, +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…), @@ -226,19 +226,20 @@ case. Today it's a good place to try things and to tell us what breaks. It isn't for production client work. In particular: - **Native project format.** Projects are saved as `.ecproj`, readable versioned JSON. Proprietary - project formats and third-party commercial plug-ins are not supported. -- **Fidelity is still being refined.** Automated testing across complex rendering pipelines is - ongoing, so please report visual discrepancies or unexpected behaviour. + 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). Both are actively undergoing evaluation and tuning. -EffectCraft is in **alpha**: about 91% of planned core features 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. +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.