EffectCraft

storytold/effectcraftReviewed by Radar

What it does

EffectCraft is a desktop studio for motion graphics and visual effects. You build a scene from layers (text, shapes, video, images), animate them over time, add effects, 3D cameras and lights, and export video, image sequences, GIFs or Lottie web animations. Its panels and shortcuts copy the style of well-known motion design tools. It is for motion designers and video creators. Windows, macOS and Linux installers are ready to download. The project is about a month old and says it is in alpha and not yet recommended for client work.

How easy it is to install

A · download and open · Windows

Code-signed Windows MSI installers and portable zips (x64, x86, ARM64) are attached to every release; the README says video encoding is built in, with no FFmpeg inside.

Numbers on GitHub

Stars: 8,276on Oct 31, 2026
Downloads: 1,532,338237,677 this week
Growth: +308stars in 5 days

Stars over time

Facts

Runs on: Windows, macOS, Linux
You need to install: Nothing extra
To build from source: Rust, FFmpeg
Disk space: 49 MB–147 MB · from the installer
Accounts or keys: None
Cost: Free · Free and open source (MIT or Apache-2.0).
License: Apache-2.0 (Permissive)
Can replace: After Effects
Last update: Nov 1, 2026

Risk signals (6)

AttentionVery new repository with many stars
7968 stars in 25 days
automatic check
Attentionearly alpha windows bugs
README "Where it stands": "its first commit was on 1 October 2026", "It isn't yet recommended for production client work" and "macOS is the most tested platform. Linux and Windows users have hit basic interaction bugs".
AI review
Attentionunusual fork and issue volume
GitHub facts: 4262 forks and 1018 open issues for 7968 stars on a repository created 2026-10-01 (25 days before the check).
AI review
Infooptional model downloads
README: "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)".
AI review
Infolocal control port
README: "effectcraft --control 9877 accepts JSON lines to run commands, inspect and click any widget by its automation id, and take screenshots" (only when started with that option).
AI review
Infothird party effect names
README effect list uses names of commercial plug-in effects bundled with another product, such as "CC Particle World", "CC Power Pin" and "CC Rainfall", while saying the work is clean room.
AI review

Evidence is shown in its original language.

What Radar could not check

Whether the Windows version is stable enough for everyday work, given the reported interaction bugs.
How closely effects and renders match the professional tools it imitates.
Speed and memory use on long or complex projects, and which graphics cards it needs.
Whether the app really makes no network connections unless asked, as the README states.