EffectCraft is not Adobe After Effects. It is an independent open-source Crafting App from the ArtCraft / storytold team. This page is a third-party guide — not getartcraft.com, not effectcraft.run or effectcraft.app, and not an Adobe site. EffectCraft cannot open .aep files, and this site does not host installers or a WebAssembly build.

EffectCraft: Open-Source Motion Graphics & VFX Compositor

TL;DR: EffectCraft is ArtCraft’s free, open-source compositor for motion graphics and visual effects, written in Rust. It has compositions, layers, keyframes, expressions, 3D cameras and lights, a large effects library, Lottie import/export and a render queue. It is alpha, it is not Adobe After Effects, and it cannot open .aep or .aepx files or run After Effects plug-ins. Prefer getartcraft.com/apps/effectcraft or GitHub storytold/effectcraft. This guide does not host the app.

Short answers

• EffectCraft is not Adobe After Effects, and it is not an Adobe product.
• It cannot open .aep/.aepx projects or load After Effects SDK plug-ins.
• It is free and open source under MIT or Apache-2.0.
• It is alpha: broad features, but not recommended for client production work yet.
• It is the ArtCraft suite’s motion-graphics seat. FilmCraft is the separate timeline editor; PhotoCraft is the layered image editor.

Official EffectCraft pageGitHub storytold/effectcraftThird-party host effectcraft.runFull download safety guide

Page revised: 3 November 2026 · Site stamp: 3 November 2026 · Checked EffectCraft v0.21.0 on GitHub, the official standalone list (0.20.0 files) and Launcher v0.13.0.

What EffectCraft is

EffectCraft is one Crafting App in the ArtCraft suite: a compositor for animated titles, motion graphics and visual effects, not a timeline editor and not a photo editor. You build a composition from solids, shapes, text, footage, nested compositions, nulls, adjustment layers, cameras and lights; animate properties with keyframes; stack effects; and render the result. The panel layout and shortcuts follow the motion-design conventions most artists already know, so the first hour is mostly about where things live rather than a new mental model.

The unusual parts are worth naming. Projects are versioned JSON (.ecproj), so they diff cleanly in git. Lottie import and export are built in rather than bolted on. Every menu action, timeline edit and property change is exposed as a command, which is how the CLI, the JSON control channel and the MCP server drive the app. And the video and audio encoders are pure Rust — there is no FFmpeg inside. None of that makes it After Effects. It makes it a serious open-source compositor with an inspectable project format.

Treat the maturity labels as the authors’ own scorecard. The README says EffectCraft is alpha, about 91% of its tracked features exist, and it is roughly 45% of the way to full professional production readiness. Automated render tests focus on small compositions. The team says macOS is the most tested platform and that Linux and Windows users have hit basic interaction bugs. That is a useful app to learn and test, not a drop-in replacement for a studio that already ships After Effects work.

Primary sources: getartcraft.com/apps/effectcraft, github.com/storytold/effectcraft README, and the GitHub releases. The browser host effectcraft.run is a separate third-party site.

EffectCraft vs After Effects

Use this table when the question is “can I move an After Effects workflow,” not when you only need the product name. The short version: EffectCraft is closer in spirit than most open-source motion tools, but the project file and plug-in ecosystem are the hard boundary. If your work depends on .aep handoff or third-party AE plug-ins, EffectCraft does not remove that dependency today.

For the dedicated file-format and plug-in verdict, see EffectCraft vs After Effects. For the broader suite comparison, see ArtCraft vs Adobe. For editing rather than compositing, see FilmCraft and FilmCraft vs Premiere Pro.

Export Lottie in 5 steps

The Lottie exporter lives under File ▸ Export ▸ Lottie JSON…, not in the video Render Queue. It writes a composition to .json or a packaged .lottie file and reports what it could not express. The README’s supported list is precomps, shape, solid, image, text and null layers, eased and spatial keyframes, masks, track mattes, blend modes, time remapping and optionally expressions. Treat anything outside that list as a check, not a promise.

1. Freeze the composition. Finish the comp and its precomps, then remove or bake anything you already know Lottie cannot carry. Keep the .ecproj as the editable source; the Lottie file is a delivery copy.
2. Export from the File menu. Choose File ▸ Export ▸ Lottie JSON…, select .json for a readable file or .lottie for the packaged format, and save it beside the project. Do not route this through the H.264/ProRes Render Queue.
3. Read the warning list before you close the dialog. The exporter names the features it could not express. Write those down per layer, and fix or flatten them in a copy rather than assuming the preview is the export.
4. Inspect the package, not just the canvas. Confirm whether images and fonts are embedded or referenced, check the first and last frame, and look for missing layers or empty groups. If a font will not travel, rebuild those text layers as shapes in the copy before exporting.
5. Accept in the real target player. Play the file at final size in the web or app player you will ship to, including its current version. Check alpha, loop seam, blend modes, mattes and performance on a low-end phone before handoff.

Target-player acceptance checklist

• Open the exported file in the actual player build, not only a desktop preview.
• Check the first frame, the last frame and the loop seam; a clean still can hide a pop.
• Confirm fonts and images resolve from the package, and that alpha edges are clean.
• Test on a low-end phone and with reduced-motion settings; Lottie files can still be heavy.
• Keep the .ecproj source. Lottie is a delivery format, not an .aep round-trip.

For scripted or agent-driven exports, the README gives effectcraft-cli exec file.exportLottie '{"comp":"Main","path":"main.json"}' main.ecproj. It writes the same warning list, so inspect the result. The three-CLI MCP setup covers the server side. For the file-format verdict, see EffectCraft vs After Effects; the official detail is in the EffectCraft MCP doc and the repository README.

MCP and CLI control

EffectCraft exposes the same command registry to the UI, a CLI, a JSON control channel and an MCP server. Engine commands work headless; UI-only commands need the running app or an attached MCP bridge. That is local automation, not a cloud render service.

• Start the server with effectcraft-cli mcp and point your MCP client at it.
• Use the repository README for current command names and permissions; the ArtCraft MCP overview explains the family pattern.
• Re-check the version before mixing a CLI from one release with a desktop app from another.

Version note: GitHub published v0.21.0 on 3 November 2026 while the official standalone list still showed 0.20.0 files. Confirm both before installing.

Safe download

This site does not host installers or a WebAssembly build. These are the paths to use, and the third-party label matters: only getartcraft.com and github.com/storytold are official. Check the version and SHA-256 on the day you install.

1. Official app page (preferred). Open getartcraft.com/apps/effectcraft. When checked it offered the ArtCraft Launcher (v0.13.0) and standalone installers for macOS, Windows, Linux and the web, with the standalone file list still on 0.20.0 while GitHub had 0.21.0. Come back to the same URL for updates.
2. GitHub source and every build. Repository: github.com/storytold/effectcraft. Releases: github.com/storytold/effectcraft/releases. The latest release we saw was v0.21.0 (3 November 2026): macOS universal DMG, Windows x64/x86/ARM64 MSI and portable zips, Linux AppImage/Flatpak/deb/rpm/tar for x86_64, aarch64 and riscv64, FreeBSD tarballs, a CLI zip, a web zip and SHA256SUMS.txt. Match the file to the checksum before you run it.
3. Third-party browser host, if you want no install. effectcraft.run is an independent site that hosts a browser build and says it is not affiliated with or endorsed by ArtCraft. It is not the official installer. We do not control it, it may lag the current release, and work you do there may stay in that browser. A separate site, effectcraft.app, is a third-party guide, not an official product page.
4. Launcher and this site’s checklists. The suite installer is documented on the ArtCraft Launcher guide. Published GitHub tags: storytold/craft-launcher releases. If the official EffectCraft page prints a newer Launcher version, prefer that. Mirror and “cracked” build notes: How to download Crafting Apps safely.

Skip third-party “cracked After Effects” packs and repacks. EffectCraft is already free, so there is nothing to unlock. If an installer asks you to disable OS protections without showing an official URL and checksum, stop.

EffectCraft, FilmCraft and the ArtCraft suite

People mix the names because they share “Craft” and a team. They are different jobs:

• EffectCraft — motion graphics and VFX compositing (After Effects-oriented). Titles, shape animation, particles, keying, 3D cameras and lights, Lottie export.
• FilmCraft — timeline video editing, colour and sound (Premiere/CapCut territory). Cut a sequence; do not expect it to open an .aep composition.
• PhotoCraft — layered pixel editor (Photoshop-oriented): layers, masks, type and PSD/PSB.
• ArtCraft — the separate AI image and video studio. It is not the compositor, and EffectCraft’s “no account” rule does not describe ArtCraft’s generation credits.

Install the desktop apps separately or together through the ArtCraft Launcher. They do not become one Adobe-style project file. Agent control is per app: EffectCraft exposes effectcraft-cli mcp; FilmCraft and PhotoCraft have their own automation surfaces. Start from the ArtCraft overview, the Crafting Apps hub and the MCP guide if you want an agent in the loop. Keep the README as the source of command names — this page does not replace it.

Who EffectCraft is for

• Motion designers who want an inspectable, scriptable compositor and can accept alpha gaps.
• Linux, FreeBSD or agent/MCP workflows where an After Effects install is a poor fit.
• Teams that need Lottie output and a local render queue without a subscription.
• People comparing a free compositor with After Effects before changing a pipeline.

Wait, and keep After Effects, if you must open existing .aep projects, rely on AE plug-ins, need a fully tested Windows/Linux experience today, or have a client deadline that cannot absorb render-fidelity differences. Test a copy of a real comp first.

Related Crafting Apps

• EffectCraft vs After Effects — .aep, plug-ins and Lottie verdict
• FilmCraft — timeline video editor sibling
• LightCraft — local RAW library and developer
• PhotoCraft — layered pixel editor
• VectorCraft — vector illustration
• ArtCraft — AI image and video studio
• ArtCraft Launcher
• Crafting Apps hub
• ArtCraft vs Adobe
• Safe download guide

Independent disclaimer

Open Creative Apps is an independent guide. It is not Adobe, not the ArtCraft / storytold team, not getartcraft.com, and not effectcraft.run or effectcraft.app. We do not host installers, cracked builds or a WebAssembly build of EffectCraft, and we do not provide product support. Adobe, After Effects and Creative Cloud are trademarks of Adobe. EffectCraft and the ArtCraft marks belong to the ArtCraft Team. Product names appear for identification and comparison only. If a fact on this page is wrong, send the URL and the correction through the contact page.