EffectCraft 0.7.0

EffectCraft is a free, open-source motion graphics and compositing app built as an alternative to Adobe After Effects.

It makes animated titles, lower thirds, logo reveals and visual effects, with no subscription, no account and no telemetry.

It is also very new and labelled alpha by its developers, so expect rough edges and keep it away from deadline work for now.

What EffectCraft Actually Does - in Plain Terms

A video editor cuts clips together on a timeline. A compositor like EffectCraft builds what is inside a single shot: text, shapes, footage and effects stacked in layers, each one animated with keyframes.

It follows the After Effects way of working, from compositions and layers to the Graph Editor, so tutorials for After Effects mostly translate.

• Layers. Solids, shapes, text, footage, nested compositions, nulls, adjustment layers, cameras and lights, with parenting, track mattes and 38 blend modes.
• Animation. Bezier, hold and Easy Ease keyframes with a Graph Editor, time remapping and motion blur.
• Effects. Around 300 built-in effects, layer styles, masks with feathering, and shape layers with trim paths and repeaters.
• Advanced. JavaScript expressions, puppet pins, 3D layers with cameras and soft shadows, and an optional AI Roto Brush.

Formats It Renders

The render queue exports H.264 MP4, HEVC, AV1, WebM and ProRes MOV, plus PNG, TIFF and 32-bit EXR image sequences and animated GIF. It also imports and exports Lottie animations for websites and apps.

Projects are saved in EffectCraft's own format. It cannot open After Effects AEP project files, so existing After Effects projects have to be rebuilt.

Which File to Download

The EffectCraft download page has an installer and a portable zip for 64-bit and 32-bit Windows, plus macOS and Linux builds. Most PCs want the 64-bit MSI; note that the developers test on macOS most, so Windows builds may be rougher.

Who Should Look Elsewhere

The tell is whether you need to cut a video or animate inside one. For trimming clips, adding music and exporting, a timeline editor is simpler and faster.

• DaVinci Resolve includes Fusion, a mature free compositor, alongside editing and colour.
• Blender is the free choice for real 3D animation and its own compositor.
• Shotcut and Kdenlive handle everyday editing with titles and transitions built in.
• CapCut is quickest for social clips with ready-made animated text.

Part of the Craft Family

EffectCraft comes from the ArtCraft team, which also builds FilmCraft for video editing and SoundCraft for audio. Some of its video codecs are shared with FilmCraft.

For artwork to animate, VectorCraft draws the logos and shapes, and LightCraft prepares the photos.

Tools That Pair Well With It

HandBrake shrinks a ProRes or high-bitrate render for upload, and LosslessCut trims the ends without re-encoding.

The Video Editors category has more editing and effects tools.

Quick questions

Download EffectCraft 0.7.0 and try it on your next title animation, or be the first to tell us how you got on.