ArtCraft Guide

EffectCraft Quickstart — Motion Graphics & Lottie in Ten Minutes

EffectCraft is a free, open-source motion graphics and compositing tool — a clean-room After Effects reimplementation in pure Rust, with no FFmpeg dependency and built-in Lottie import/export. Ten minutes gets from download to a Lottie that ships to the web.

Quick answer: Download from getartcraft.com, create a composition, keyframe transforms or any of the 306 effects, add expressions or 3D cameras/lights, and export Lottie (.json) for the web or video through the pure-Rust pipeline. Free, no subscription, no FFmpeg install.

Part of the paid catalog — 1 credit to unlock (one-time, never expires). The PhotoCraft install tutorial is free.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is EffectCraft a full After Effects replacement?
Not yet — the README estimates ~91% of AE features exist and ~45% toward replacing AE for professional work. Ordinary compositions, effects and expressions work; deep production pipelines and plugins remain gaps.
Does it really not need FFmpeg?
Correct — video codecs are implemented in pure Rust. There is no external codec dependency.
Can my animation ship to the web?
Yes — Lottie import/export is built in, so animations export directly to the web/mobile Lottie format.

More tools used in this tutorial

EffectCraft

Open-source After Effects alternative in pure Rust: compositions, keyframes, 306 effects, expressions, 3D cameras, Lottie import/export — no FFmpeg dependency.

FilmCraft

Open-source nonlinear video editor in pure Rust — a free, clean-room take on the Premiere Pro workflow, scriptable and agent-native.

More more tutorials

PhotoCraft install & first launch

Download, install and first-launch PhotoCraft on Windows, macOS or in the browser — with the exact official sources.

VectorCraft quickstart

VectorCraft in ten minutes: Pen, Pathfinder, smart guides, and SVG/PDF/.ai import-export — the Illustrator workflow free.