For those who don’t know the tool: Autograph is a motion graphics, VFX, and compositing app that mixes 2D and 3D, supports OpenFX, and fits alongside Maxon Cinema 4D, Red Giant, and Universe workflows.

The free license that actually means free

Maxon now offers Autograph team licenses completely free for commercial use, starting May 7, 2026. Teams of any size can use it at no cost, and the same free commercial stance also applies to individual use. Studios, agencies, brands, educators, and in-house teams can use the team licenses. The terms describe no output limitations, no time restrictions, and no conditions for using Autograph in commercial work.

The free team setup also keeps the command-line functionality and Python support included. Team usage also does not get limited to, or counted as, the seat count in the team license agreement, because users can run Autograph beyond the seat limit under individual accounts. So, one VFX-Artist can EASILY fill the pipeline for dozens or hundreds of compers. As it always has been ;)

Standards, plugins, and the “please do not break our colour pipeline” list

Autograph supports USD, OpenEXR, ACES, OpenColorIO, and OpenFX. If your pipeline already speaks those dialects, you can keep your existing expectations about interchange, image containers, and colour management, then see how Autograph behaves under real shots. On the effects side, Autograph integrates with Universe and select Red Giant tools. The Red Giant tools include Magic Bullet Looks, Cosmo II, Mojo II, Optical Flow, Real Lens Flare, Renoiser, Shine, and Starglow.

Autograph also launches with support for third-party OpenFX plugins from RE:Vision Effects, BorisFX, and Digital Anarchy, with those plugins available through their own marketplaces. If your facility already lives on OFX, that matters a lot more then anyone likes to admit.

Training and onboarding, with fewer excuses

Autograph users get full access to the excellent Cineversity Training library, including an Introduction to Maxon Autograph multi-part series led by Chad Perkins. That should help teams onboard faster, or at least fail faster, which also counts as progress. On the distribution side, Autograph team licensing became available beginning May 7 at the Autograph page on maxon.net.

Small print energy, big pipeline implications

Maxon Autograph 2026 is here

Autograph is a unified environment combining 2D animation, compositing, and 3D capabilities, aimed at motion designers, 2D and 3D artists, compositors, and content creators. The whole thing leans on speed, an intuitive workflow, and a quick learning curve, unlike your current wokrflow of hoarding After Effects presets and hoping nobody opens the comp.

As always, test new tools and new licensing models before you bet a delivery date on them, even when the price tag reads zero.

Where this lands in the DP universe

If you have been following the Autograph saga , free commercial team use removes the usual tax where you spend weeks proving a tool works, then spend months arguing about who pays for it.

The new kid on the block!

It also makes Autograph a much easier sidecar in a compositing pipeline, because adoption friction drops. You can pilot it on a real project, with real plates, and real colour management, without waiting for a purchasing window.

If your artists already lean on Red Giant style effects, the built-in integration path matters, but the licensing for those tools still remains separate. And if the rollout goes through the Maxon App, expect the usual studio questions about installs, updates, and permissions.

Pricing

Autograph team licenses are free for commercial use.

https://www.maxon.net/de/article/maxon-makes-autograph-free-for-teams?srsltid=AfmBOoonp5vfGFNA–bYMgL5ol-M1Jx5GN4ljh323-5jIVkxiGayKhpJ
https://www.maxon.net/autograph

The post Autograph, now free for teams first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

For those who don’t know the tool: Autograph is a 2D plus 3D compositor with a USD core, can hook into Maxon Studio and Red Giant, and imports SVG from Adobe Illustrator and Figma plus PSD from Affinity and Adobe Photoshop.

Free now, with a catch that is not scary

Maxon has released Autograph 2026.0.0 and made it free for anyone with a (free) MyMaxon account. The same release adds native integration with Maxon Studio for searching, navigating, and applying Red Giant effects, and it adds full OpenFX support for third-party plugins. Pricing beyond that free individual access is not specified yet.

The Autograph pitch in plain production terms

Autograph is a motion graphics and compositing application that mixes a layer-based timeline with a 3D mode for manipulating 3D assets. Think Nuke met After Effects at the Flame Birthday party, and they got drunk.

From the left..

The new kid on the block!

The timeline includes a standard layer stack and a dope sheet, then it switches into a 3D workspace when you need to push assets around in depth.

Autograph also promotes a responsive design workflow aimed at delivering multiple resolutions and aspect ratios from a single project file. Autograph calls these “responsive-design compositions”. Elements can be positioned relative to frame dimensions so one project can render multiple aspect ratios without duplicating layouts.

On the feature list side, Autograph describes itself as a tool for motion graphics, VFX and compositing, plus 2D and 3D projects. So, eveything Comp. It also sports a GPU-powered engine and extensible capabilities as part of how the tool approaches performance and expansion.

OpenUSD 3D inside a compositor timeline

Autograph includes an integrated 3D workspace powered by OpenUSD. The 3D space blends with the 2D workflow and supports extruded vector shapes and text, using compositions as textures, and compositing with multi-pass renders inside the same application.

That same 3D space is useful for motion designers who want depth, lighting, and dimensional design without moving to another application, and for 3D artists who want to streamline texture creation and final composite across the broader toolchain.

Plug-ins, Studio integration, and the new OFX door

Autograph 2026.0.0 introduces full OpenFX support. That matters if your shop already lives and dies by OFX (because, why wouldnt it…), or if you want a compositor that does not treat third-party effects as an afterthought.

The release also adds native integration with Maxon Studio. The stated goal is quick search, navigation, and application of Red Giant effects from inside Autograph. Capsules are explicitly not available in Autograph yet.

One naming change also comes with the re-release: Instancer has been renamed to Cloner, aligning naming with Cinema 4D terminology. The Sources do not list additional feature renames beyond that one.

System requirements and supported platforms

Autograph 2026.0.0 supports Windows and macOS. On macOS, the supported versions listed are macOS 15 Sequoia and macOS 26 Tahoe, and the supported hardware requirement listed is Apple Silicon M1 or better, with 16 GB of memory.

On Windows x64, the supported operating systems listed are Windows 10 version 22H2 and Windows 11. The minimum CPU requirement listed is a 64-bit Intel or AMD CPU with AVX2 support. The minimum GPU requirement is either an NVIDIA GPU from the Maxwell generation or newer with at least 4 GB of VRAM, or an AMD RX 570 or RX 580 with 4 GB or 8 GB, or a discrete GPU with at least 4 GB VRAM and support for OpenCL. The memory requirement is 16 GB.

Test new tools and updates before you put them into a production-critical pipeline!

https://support.maxon.net/hc/en-us/articles/26689114527388-Autograph-2026-0-0-April-15-2026

The post Maxon Autograph 2026 is here first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

In a significant move for the compositing- community, Maxon has announced the acquisition of the Autograph team from Left Angle. As Left Angle winds down its operations, its staff, known for their expertise in modern compositing workflows, will join Maxon’s expanding family. Autograph, developed by Left Angle, was created with the vision to rethink compositing from the ground up, offering a modern toolset for motion designers and visual effects artists. The integration of Autograph’s technology and team into Maxon’s ecosystem is expected to foster innovation and development of new tools that cater to the evolving needs of artists and creators worldwide.(left-angle.com) For more information, visit Maxon’s official announcement: Maxon Welcomes Autograph Team Following Left Angle Transition.

And since we probably won’t be using the cool company name “Left Angle” anymore, here are some post which had that tag:

Autograph Starter: Free Motion Graphics Tool with a Twist

Autograph 2025: Sign Here for New Features

From the left..

The post Maxon Acquires Autograph: A New Chapter in Compositing Tools first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

In the bustling world of motion graphics and VFX compositing, Left Angle has introduced Autograph Starter, a free version of their flagship software, Autograph. Autograph Starter provides unrestricted access to all features without watermarks—until you hit the two-project limit, that is. After that, watermarks become your new collaborators.

No Strings Attached—Almost

Autograph Starter is available for commercial use, allowing users to sell their creations to clients. There’s no trial period or expiration date, so you can take your time crafting masterpieces. However, you’re limited to a maximum of two projects. To start a new one, you’ll need to overwrite an existing project. Projects created by others can be opened but not saved, ensuring you don’t get too attached to borrowed brilliance.

Feature Highlights

• Text Animation: Animate various text properties and transform text into 3D extruded meshes with a single click.
• Design Import: Import and animate SVG files from Illustrator and Figma, as well as PSD files from Affinity and Photoshop.
• Shape Animation: Create complex shape animations and convert them into 3D extruded objects effortlessly.
• Versatile Animation Toolkit: Utilize traditional keyframes, retiming curves, procedural animations, or motion paths without the need for expressions.
• Multi-Editing: Animate multiple elements simultaneously with the powerful multi-editing tool, reducing repetitive tasks.

Limitations to Keep in Mind

While Autograph Starter is generous, it has a few constraints:

• Compositions: Limited to Full HD resolution, a maximum of 30 frames per second, and a duration of 30 seconds.
• Advanced Effects: Certain modifiers, such as Vector Blur, Film Grain, UV Map Generator, Shadertoy, and Defocus, are watermarked.
• OpenFX Plug-ins: Not supported in Autograph Starter.

Seamless Integration with DaVinci Resolve

For those working with DaVinci Resolve, Autograph Starter offers integration through the Autograph Live Link (currently in beta for Windows and macOS). This feature allows users to drag and drop motion graphics animations directly into Resolve’s timeline, streamlining the editing process.

Upgrade Path

When you’re ready to break free from the two-project shackles, upgrading to Autograph Creator or Studio unlocks unlimited projects and additional features for a more professional experience.

Final Thoughts

Autograph Starter is a robust, free tool for motion graphics and VFX professionals, offering a rich feature set with manageable limitations. It’s a great way to explore Autograph’s capabilities before committing to a paid version. However, always verify any new features in your workflow to ensure they meet your project’s requirements.

The post Autograph Starter: Free Motion Graphics Tool with a Twist first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

Left Angle has released Autograph 2025.1v0, the latest iteration of its content creation and compositing software tailored for motion design and visual effects professionals. This update brings a host of new features designed to enhance usability and integration within existing production pipelines.

Revamped User Interface and Workflow Enhancements

Autograph 2025 introduces a redesigned user interface, featuring a new Inspector panel that replaces the previous Properties panel. This change aims to streamline the process of inspecting and editing parameters. Additionally, each viewer now possesses its own individual timeline, enabling simultaneous playback of separate compositions—a handy feature for comparing different segments, such as intro and outro sequences.

Advanced 3D Features: Text and Shape Extrusion

The latest version expands Autograph’s 3D capabilities by allowing extrusion of Text and Shape layers. This functionality enables users to import vector logos and convert them into 3D objects directly within the software. Moreover, new Material and Mesh layer types facilitate the creation of 3D primitives and the editing of animated materials directly on the timeline. Users can also select 3D layers in the viewport through clicking or marquee selection, enhancing the overall 3D manipulation experience.

Enhanced Interoperability: Live Link with DaVinci Resolve

Autograph 2025 includes Autograph Live Link, an experimental plugin that allows Autograph projects and templates to be used within OpenFX-compatible applications like DaVinci Resolve. Edits made in Autograph are transferred to DaVinci Resolve in real time, and composition parameters are exposed upon import, permitting direct animation within Resolve. Currently in beta, the plugin is supported on Windows and macOS platforms.

After Effects Project Importer

To facilitate smoother transitions for users migrating from Adobe After Effects, Autograph 2025 introduces an Importer capable of converting .aep projects automatically. This feature supports the import of layer animations, layer styles, text animations, shapes, and several effects. It’s important to note that conversion requires a local installation of After Effects with an active license.

New Free Edition and Adjusted Pricing

Left Angle has launched Autograph Starter, a free edition of the software that can be used on up to two projects concurrently, including for commercial work. However, compositions are limited to 1080p resolution, and certain Modifiers, such as Vector Blur and Film Grain, are watermarked. Additionally, projects created using other versions of the software are watermarked upon import and cannot be saved. The Starter edition also lacks support for OpenFX plugins.

In conjunction with the new edition, Left Angle has reduced the prices of commercial licenses. For detailed pricing information, please refer to the Left Angle website.

Considerations for Production Use

While Autograph 2025 offers a range of new features aimed at enhancing motion design and VFX workflows, it’s advisable for production artists to evaluate the software’s stability and compatibility within their specific pipelines before full-scale adoption. Testing the new functionalities on smaller projects can help determine their suitability for broader use.

For comprehensive details on Autograph 2025’s features and updates, visit the official release notes.

The post Autograph 2025: Sign Here for New Features first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

Autograph has been on the market since the beginning of 2023 and is distributed by the plug-in manufacturer Re:Vision Effects, but is produced by the French company Left Angle. The software is available on Windows, Mac and Linux and can be purchased either as a subscription model (monthly and annually) or as a perpetual licence. In addition, there are three versions of Autograph: Creator, Studio and Render. While Render is really intended as a pure command line rendering tool, Creator is a licence for freelancers and smaller companies with less than 1 million US dollars in capital or income. For those who land above that (congratulations!) there is the Studio licence, which also includes the Python API. A monthly subscription for Autograph Creator starts at 35 US dollars, for Studio it is then 60 US dollars. Those who prefer to buy their licence will then pay a price of 945 US dollars for Creator and 1,795 US dollars for Studio. Before that, however, you can easily get a first impression in a ninety-day trial – to be found at left-angle.com.

The first impression

When you first look at the interface, you quickly think that you are simply sitting in front of a darker After Effects. And indeed, anyone who is familiar with Adobe’s motion design software will quickly find their way around Autograph. The viewer in the centre, properties on the right, the project window on the left and the timeline at the bottom. Similar to Nuke, you can create your own workspaces for different tasks so that you can customise the layout to suit your needs. However, there are only very few types of panels, which is why the design options are quite limited. Footage can be imported into our project via the project panel and compositions can be created. However, as with After Effects, the real centre of attention is the timeline. Individual layers can be dragged in here and the parameters can be expanded and edited accordingly. The filter function, which not only helps to isolate individual layers but also specific operations, is very convenient. These filters are also assigned to hotkeys and can be combined with text input. As an artist, you can then isolate the position value of a specific layer quite quickly, for example, in order to animate it. All parameters that are displayed in the timeline are also available in the Properties panel. This may seem redundant, but users who don’t want to scroll through thirty layers will find an alternative workflow here. And if you only want to work in the timeline, you can modify your workspace accordingly. Speaking of parameters: Those who prefer to enter values gesturally rather than numerically will be pleased with the hotkeys that adjust the intensity of the value input. For example, Shift lets you “drag” larger values, while Ctrl ensures finer input. Autograph does one thing fundamentally differently to After Effects: the Curve Editor is not integrated into the already fully loaded timeline, but is available as a separate panel. However, the viewer will undoubtedly remind many experienced artists of Nuke. No wonder, under the bonnet Autograph processes all files in 32-bit float – and so the viewer has silders to not only apply gamma and gain, but also saturation as a post process to the viewer, so that you can visualise even the last highlight in the EXR file. The viewer has two inputs, where a HUD and the blend modes known from Nuke are also available, for example to compare a reference with the current comp.

On to something new…

Up to this point, the interface looks familiar. But let’s take a look at the things that Autograph does differently from the two software packages between which it is positioned. The first thing that stands out is the use of the HUD. While Nuke’s on-screen controls are often very small, Autograph’s are not hidden at all. They are clearly visible and an important part of Autograph’s fast and fluid operation. The fact that right-clicking and the associated context menus are largely dispensed with also contributes to this fast interface. Pen and tablet users in particular will really appreciate this. But it is also the absence of clicks that makes the interface incredibly fast. For example, there is an option (which can of course be switched off) to briefly highlight layers that can be clicked on in the viewer so that you can see whether you have made the right selection. And how nicely the alpha channel is respected here – others can take a leaf out of this book. Hovering over drop-down menus works in a similar way. The selected parameter is displayed as a preview, so to speak, before you have even clicked on it. Not as a thumbnail, but actually applied to the current comp in the viewer. This works for the layer blend modes, for example, but also for the more than fifty interpolation presets. So you can run your animation in a loop and simply scroll through the presets and see what these different interpolations would look like.

Let’s stay on the subject of animation for a moment: Autograph is also trying to rethink things here. All image content always has its pivot in the centre of the image and the zero point of the coordinate system is also in the centre of the image. This may sound banal, but it is enormously helpful when it comes to adapting an animation for different output formats. It also helps tremendously when creating symmetrical animations. Autograph has a sophisticated system for dynamically linking values to each other without the artist needing a maths degree to write the corresponding expressions. Autograph uses so-called modifiers, which can simply be dragged onto the corresponding layer like an effect in After Effects. Somewhat confusingly, Autograph also refers to classic effects such as keyers or colour correctors as modifiers, but this shows how important they are for the workflow in Autograph. In addition to the modifiers, there are generators that can produce everything from images, i.e. classic colour areas or gradients, to text and numerical data and even 3D primitives. This now brings us to the 3D environment. This is based entirely on USD and as the USD files are only linked and not imported into the Autograph project, common formats such as Alembic or the rather old FBX are not supported. Autograph uses the filament developed by Google as its render engine. As a result, the 3D environment is quite fast and is likely to bring tears to the eyes of some Nuke artists. Camera and lights can simply be dragged into the timeline and if 3D layers are stacked directly under each other, they are treated and rendered as a single 3D scene. This makes it possible to mix 2D and 3D elements in the same timeline without having to create precomps. And by using filament, post effects such as ambient occlusion, fog and depth of field are also available.

What is missing?

The developers of Left Angle do not seem to lack enthusiasm, as can be seen in the interview with Francois Grassard on page 30. For a first version, Autograph makes a well-rounded impression. OpenFX plug-ins are supported, even if at the moment only those from its own distributor, Re:Vision FX, are available. The extent to which plug-in manufacturers support the newcomer will be seen in the coming months. However, both Nuke and After Effects, the two programmes that Autograph is competing with, both have an ecosystem of plugins and gizmos that has been growing for several years, not to mention a very large user base, which naturally does not exist right from the start. Nuke artists will miss their Node Graph the most. Even if the toolset is impressive, the speed of the interface and software is blazingly fast and the rendering is super-precise, the logic in a timeline is of course different from that in a node graph. Motion designers coming from After Effects will certainly find it easier to familiarise themselves with Autograph.

Conclusion

First impressions can often be deceiving. Autograph is far more than the After Effects clone that some people thought it was at launch. The user interface in particular has some innovative surprises and concepts in store that the developers of the long-established software either didn’t dare to tackle due to their user base or simply didn’t think of. This breath of fresh air is something that has definitely been missing in recent years. It’s reminiscent of the days of 5D Cyborg and Socratto, where innovative software forced established developers to rethink things and push their software forward. Competition stimulates business. That alone is a reason to be happy. Autograph is already interesting for a certain group of artists. Anyone who moves between motion design and compositing or wants to make the leap from motion design to compositing will find Autograph a possibility without having to learn a completely new paradigm such as working in Node Graph. Finishing artists can find a complement to Flame or Resolve without having to commit to a monthly cloud subscription. And if the developers of Left Angle continue with the same verve, this circle will certainly grow even larger.

The post From the left.. first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Christoph Zapletal.

January saw France-based Left Angle (left-angle.com) introducing Autograph and while at first glance it looks like a “Darker Version” of After Effects, there is actually a lot more to it (See our test).

We were able to sit down with Francois Grassard, lead developer at Left Angle during IBC and talk about where Autograph is right now and what to expect in the future.
With over 25 years of expe­rience in 2D & 3D motion design and visual effects, François knows a thing or two when it comes to industry standards. Over the years, François has worked in va­rious development, graphic design, and managerial roles across the broadcasting, film, and advertising industries. His client roster includes Walt Disney, Universal, Fox, Warner, Renault, Dior, CBS, BBC, NBC, Yves-Saint-Laurent, and Unilever. François is also an author and has taught university students, sharing his insights and expertise.

DP: Autograph is a new contender in a market dominated by After Effects and Nuke. What sets it apart from the competition?
Francois Grassard: Autograph, created by Left Angle, is a software intended to be between After Effects and Nuke. After Effects, because we are a layer based compositing system. So obviously it looks like After Effects, but we are closer to nuke in the technical aspect because we are working on 32 bit per channel and we manage all the colour spaces. So we try to be more precise. So we try to have a very fast workflow for motion designers, but also VFX artists. We are working on a new way to switch from layer based approach to a nodal approach. So this will be a bi-directional way without committing to one workflow or the other. But we decided to create Autograph for different things. We think that the progression of software such as Nuke or After Effects was pretty slow because there has been no real evolution in this software since maybe 20 or 25 years.

I actually started to use After Effects in 1995. So it was version one or version two, I don‘t remember exactly. And since this day the process is almost the same and a lot of things have changed in the media industry. Regarding 3D and the way we composite together different elements. So we decided to create a new product with a focus on specific topics such as the possibility to work on different formats at the same time. For example, you can work in a responsive design composition, it can be turned into 16 by 9 or 1 by 1 or square or 9 by 16, or any kind of format in parallel, just by defining rules of creative positioning in the composition. So if you want to place a layer on the left of your composition, if you change the size of your compositions, usually it would be replaced, according to this new format. So for this kind of specific issue, there‘s actually not really a solution in After Effects for you, except you can script your own solution.

And the scripting is obviously a good answer to this, but it‘s also a really technical one. So we are really aware that all these really common tasks can be not really easily achieved in other applications. We also want to break the bridge between 2D and 3D because when you work with a 3D scene and want to work with the image produced by this scene, you have to render these images onto disk and you have to integrate these images in your compositing package. That way you have a huge footprint on your drive. You need to have a lot of storage to keep this render on the hard drive. Also it shouldn’t be such a linear process between the two tasks. So with Autograph, we try to be able to render a 3D scene on the fly and grab images from this 3D rendering and do the compositing of the side within the same application.

So that was another part of the project initially to break the bridge, to make a bridge between 3D and Compositing. I think it‘s nonsense to separate these two things. And we can see this nowadays with virtual production. And most of the time when you see some virtual production based on a game engine or any or any other system, you can see that the missing part in this process is compositing. Of course, Game Engines offer things such as Glows or ambient occlusions, but real compositing has always been missing. So the goal was to propose a proper solution. At the same time, in the same software. We are not saying Autograph is a real-time engine because we know that every real-time engine is real-time until it is not. So we prefer to define Autograph as interactive rendering.

DP: So, speed is not only important to rendering, but also in using the software. What is Autographs philosophy in regards to speed and user interface design?
Francois Grassard: I am personally very frustrated with the interfaces in other applications. The way you can interact with for instance dropdown menus: You have to click on any kind of style, any entry to test it, but in Autograph you just have to hover your mouse over the style you want to test. The interactivity of the feedback, that‘s one of the things we want to focus on, because so much time is lost just by navigating the interface. In the current release, we changed a few things about the way you interact with shapes.

Another way we achieve speed is by utilizing all the cores available with the CPU and the GPU as much as possible. But, there‘s always a bottleneck. The question is what is the bottleneck? Is it the GPU, is it the CPU Cores, is it RAM or is it that may be the bandwidth of your hard drive. So the question is to find the right balance between both to achieve almost 100 percent for each kind of device. So we try to find a good relationship between the interface and the reactivity of the software because when you have to wait for the software to have a response, you are losing time.

DP: VFX applications typically use a node based approach. Autograph, however, uses a timeline. Could you elaborate on the choice to take the timeline as a starting point?
Francois Grassard: Yeah. Autograph has been designed for motion design artists and VFX artists and when you work on VFX you mainly work on one shot. So the concept of timing is not the most important aspect of your creative process. But when you work on motion design, you have to put a lot of different sequences together, one after the other, and it‘s really important to have the concept of timing in mind.

In Autograph, a lot of things are related to timing. If you work with sound, for instance. In the next release, we are going to have the full audio pipeline and you can source this audio and extract frequencies for this audio drive any parameters also display curves based on this audio and all of this thing is related to a ribbon. So timing is pretty important.

So there‘s a reason we try initially to focus on the timeline approach. On the other hand, if you are a VFX artist working on a single shot, you want to have a really precise control over the process.

DP: And Autograph handles this how?
Francois Grassard: In Autograph, even if we have a layer-based approach, we actually have underneath a node-graph created, but with thousands of nodes. So if we show the graph created by maybe stacking ten or 20 layers, we have a bunch of modifiers – that‘s the name of your effects – you are going to have thousands of nodes. So if we have in a few months or in a few years a node-based approach, when you can convert your layer-based approach to a node-based approach, we have to think about maybe a bigger node with more parameters.

In Nuke, for instance, you have to create a read node and then a transform – two separate nodes. In most cases you want to use a transform just after the read node. So why not just merge a transform into the read node? It‘s something that you have to think about to have a ma­nageable node graph. So the first question was to have good control over the rhythm, the music and so on. So that‘s the reason we decided to introduce the layer-based approach first.

DP: USD is quickly rolling out everywhere and is already a de facto industry standard. How does autograph handle USD files?
Francois Grassard: Yeah, we decided to integrate USD three years ago when we started the development of the 3D part of autograph. We started to work on Autograph about seven years ago, but the main development started about three years ago. So we decided to use USD as a basis. Each time you add a new primitive or you inject a new geometry, everything is based on USD. We create the USD scene under the hood. At the time we took a risk, because it was just emerging and Pixar was saying: ”This is the future.” But at that time USD was like an empty box. You know, you open the box, you can see a few things about the geometry, but nothing about the materials. And it‘s still the case today.

There‘s some evolution there, a lot of things that are on MaterialX. That’s a good way to interchange material between applications and something you appear about two months ago with the creation of aerials for Open USD with Adobe and also Apple and a lot ofactors around USD to work on something called Open PBR as a physical based rendering, and it‘s a way to standardize the ma­terial between applications. So in a perfect world you should be able to exchange material between the render engine and the compositing application and physically get the same result. So it was risky at the time, but actually it was a good choice because three years later you see it was the way to go. So basically we have a head start in integrating USD, which is not an easy task.

DP: Autograph was released in January 2023, so it has got a very fresh user-base. Who are the users?
Francois Grassard: We have two kinds of clients. Freelancers, because the software has been designed for small computers, initially. Actually here at IBC, I am at the Dell booth has I have a huge computer to make my demos, but every day I use Autograph on my eight year old laptop. That allows me to optimize the code and detect bottlenecks. And we need to detect those bottlenecks.

If you have a big computer, it‘s going to be difficult to see if there is a problem in this part. And it is also used by big studios to do heavy compositing, even if we don‘t have nodes yet. But for some studios, it‘s not really a problem because we have a 32 bit channel processing linear workflow. So they love the precision of the software and also the speed of the software. That‘s something we hear pretty quickly when someone tests the software “Oh,it‘s fast!”

DP: And what has been the feedback so far?
Francois Grassard: So obviously it needs time to get adopted because it‘s a new concept, even if you come from after Effects because while the interface is pretty close, we have some very different concepts like generators and modifiers and the way you can link parameters together is pretty complex. So yes, we have two different kind of user profiles: motion designers and big studios. Obviously some people also work in VFX and these are freelancers as well, so we are really talking about three user profiles.

But right now it is mostly motion designers because we have a lot of functionality for animating elements, we have a lot of interpolation types built in. In After Effects, If you want to have a bounce movement or an elastic movement, you have to write an expression for this. In Auto­graph we have 49 interpolation types built in, so you just have to create two keyframes and select your interpolation type. So motion designers love this.

There‘s so many small things that actually make a huge difference, such as the fact we have the origins of zero. The origin of the coordinate system is at the centre of the composition. It‘s a good way to quickly create symmetrical ani­mation. We also have really technical users who are really happy to see that they can go really high into controlling the precision of the picture.

DP: Is there a trial version available?
Francois Grassard: Of course! Our free trial comes with the latest version of Autograph Creator and access to free templates and demo projects, so you can jump right in. Sign up for it at is.gd/autograph_trial.

DP: And what are the upcoming features?
Francois Grassard: Yeah, we are working on the new audio system that will be available as a next release at the end of September. We are also working on a new text engine that allows you to have a lot of more control over the animation. And we are working also on the new shape layer feature. So previously in Autograph you had to create a generator to generate, for instance, a stroke or fill. And in the generator you have a path group, a group containing a bunch of paths. And we are actually reversing this process to have the path group first. So you will be able to define your path and then you can apply a style to this path. Right now we have really classic styles such as stroke, solid and fill.

But in the future, because we have two people in the company who were previously in the field of non-photo-realistic-rendering, just like pencil and watercolour. And we are also working on converting a 3D scene to paths. So the goal is to create a non-photorealistic drawing from 3D, but not by drawing directly the pixel, but by defining paths and using these paths, you are going to add style. So it‘s a good feature for people who work in 2D animation, for example the Japanese animation industry. We worked a lot with 2D and 3D at the same time. And for this kind of industry it‘s going to be really useful.

The post The new kid on the block! first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Christoph Zapletal.