ShotNotes adds a dedicated notes-and-tasks panel to Adobe Premiere. It targets the everyday problem that never makes it into a spec sheet: remembering what to fix, what to check, and what to deliver while the timeline keeps changing.

The core idea is sequence-based notes: You add an entry, and it belongs to the sequence you are working on. Notes can be colour-coded, and the panel can filter what you see by colour, so you can separate client feedback from internal reminders or mark items by priority.

A note can include an optional timecode pulled from the current playhead position. When an entry includes timecode, ShotNotes automatically places a marker on the timeline so the entry stays linked to that frame. The panel treats timecode as more than a label: it turns timecode into a navigation control.

Clickable timecode that behaves like a jump button

ShotNotes can insert clickable timecode into a note so you can jump straight to the referenced point in the timeline. The note becomes a shortcut, not just a comment.

The panel supports copying timecode from one sequence and pasting it into a note for another sequence. That makes it possible to reference a moment in a different sequence and still navigate there quickly from the note.

Notes can also reference other sequences directly. The result is a lightweight way to connect the dots across a project: a note in one sequence can point to a specific moment in another sequence and take you there with a click.

If your usual approach is to build a marker forest, ShotNotes can still feed that workflow by creating markers for each note so the timeline can carry the breadcrumbs the panel shows, without forcing you to rely on markers alone as the only place your thinking lives.

Links and reference material that stay one click away

Notes support hyperlinks. If you type a URL into a note, ShotNotes turns it into a clickable link and opens it in a web browser. That is handy for reference docs, client frames, internal shot tracking pages, relevant memes, or just the one weird spec sheet everyone forgets until export day. The point is not that links are rare, but that links usually end up in a separate app, which becomes another place to lose context.

Search and filters for the whole project brain

ShotNotes can search notes across the entire project. When you need to find that one line about audio cleanup, the one producer note that actually made sense, a missing lower third, or the exact frame that needs stabilization, the panel can locate it without you hunting sequence by sequence.

The interface also includes filtering, including options to filter based on whether entries have timecode. Combined with sequence-based organisation, this lets you narrow the panel down to the entry you need right now. Notes and tasks can expand and collapse in the panel, so you can keep long entries around without turning the panel into a wall of text.

Marker sync, because timelines move

ShotNotes links entries to timeline markers when you include timecode. When edits move markers later in the project, ShotNotes provides Sync and Sync All buttons to sync entries to the marker’s new position, because a note is only useful if it still points at the right moment after the cut changes. (*looks emberassed at the heap of PostIts building a ramp below the screen*)

There is an important limitation: depending on how you edit, Premiere Pro may not move the markers. If that happens, you may need to manually update the timecode in the affected notes when frame accuracy matters.

A built in time tracker for tasks and receipts

ShotNotes includes tasks with timers. You can start and stop a timer for a task, log multiple timer entries, and then review those entries in the task log. If you forget to stop a timer, the panel includes an edit option that lets you adjust the end time so the entry reflects when you actually finished. If a timer entry is junk, you can delete it so it does not appear in exports.

The time tracker also logs certain events to provide more detail about what happened while a timer ran, including switching sequences or selecting a clip in the timeline. That makes the report more descriptive than a single number on an invoice.

This is also where reality bites a little. Premiere Pro limits what events can be captured, so the activity log does not represent every editing action. Some actions can appear as delete and add events because Premiere Pro treats certain edits that way internally.

Export and backup that fits the handoff phase

ShotNotes can export notes and other data in a variety of formats for printing out or viewing.

For backup and transfer, ShotNotes includes exporting to JSON as its native format. That JSON export can be imported on another computer, copied to another sequence, or used as a backup. For time tracking, ShotNotes can generate a report that saves timer entries for a sequence to a CSV file that can be viewed in a spreadsheet.

Exportable notes and exportable time data matter for finishing and delivery, because that is where you often need to share information outside the NLE. Like, what to bill the client for his latest “Just one more change”. ShotNotes gives you a structured way to pull that information out without rewriting it.

Licensing, trial, and getting it into the workspace

ShotNotes includes a free seven-day trial, which is fully functional. Licensing can be done with a serial number or by logging in to a Digital Anarchy Cloud account. The cloud account method is described as the easiest way to license if you want to install on a different machine without juggling serials. If you cannot license online, support provides an offline activation file option.

Compatibility notes, including one awkward bug

ShotNotes only supports Premiere Pro 2023 and newer versions. A known issue exists in Premiere Pro 2025 and 2026 that can occasionally cause the recorded timecode of newly created entries to be slightly inaccurate. The amount of offset can depend on how zoomed out the timeline is when the entry is created; zooming in typically reduces the offset. If needed, you can manually adjust the timecode for the entry.

Price, promo window, and the practical take

ShotNotes is available immediately at $129 USD, with a $99 price offered until May 15. As with any new workflow tool, test it before you rely on it for a deadline-sensitive job.

https://digitalanarchy.com/shot-notes/

The post Digital Anarchy releases ShotNotes panel for Premiere. first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

KeyPro replaces the idea that a timeline has to be a thin row of ticks and regret. It adds a compact strip beneath Maya‘s native timeline and renders four separate data layers in the same horizontal space. The core promise is density without clutter. The strip keeps the same broad job as a classic time slider, but it packs in readouts that normally live in separate editors, separate overlays, or separate moments where you sigh and zoom in again.

KeyPro – An advanced timeline for animators. https://t.co/tM44wbldud

Somebody said "Better than AnimBot". I don't know if that's true but it's certainly cheaper and has a killer timeline UI.

Excited to share this one. #characteranimation #maya pic.twitter.com/Mo5MKtvGG1

— Long Winter (@Long_Winter) April 8, 2026

Four layers, one strip, zero panel flipping

KeyPro renders four independently updated layers in the strip, and they update in real time as you work.

One layer draws an audio waveform. It uses cached RMS waveform rendering and draws per pixel at any zoom level. It also automatically reads Maya’s audio node when a scene loads, so the waveform appears without manual hunting.

Another layer shows key density. Every keyframe on every selected node renders as a tick. The ticks change colour based on density across a three-stop ramp that goes from blue to orange to hot pink. The point is fast visual triage for where animation gets heavy.

A third layer is a heat bar. It is a 2-pixel chromatic bar at the top of the strip that encodes how deep your current view span sits relative to the master range. Red indicates you are zoomed deep in, and blue indicates you are at full master scale.

The fourth layer is a master range that persists with the scene as a JSON file. Cyan markers show the start and end, and handles can extend the range for ease and out frames.

If you have ever lost track of whether you are looking at the full shot, the trimmed shot, the shot plus handles, or the shot you swore you would retime later, this combination aims to make that state visible at all times.

Rig-aware tools on top, not hidden in a drawer

Above the strip, KeyPro includes an animator toolbox. It includes tween presets and stepped keys. It also includes eight tools designed around constraint chains, space switching, and rig conventions.

Those rig-focused targets matter because a timeline feature only helps if it respects the reality of production rigs. Key changes often ripple through constraint setups, and space switching workflows can create keys that look simple until you touch them.

The toolset positions itself as production-grade key management, and that phrasing is a marketing claim. Still, the specific focus on constraint chains and space switching describes the kind of problems it intends to solve inside the timeline instead of pushing you out to separate editors.

Interaction that tries to feel native

KeyPro also leans on direct manipulation. Left drag scrubs. Scrolling zooms. Middle drag moves keys. The stated goal is muscle memory. The idea is that the tiemline should feel like it always belonged there, even while it shows you more than the stock UI does.

Who built it and why that matters

KeyPro was made by developer Andrew Conroy. His credits include work as an animator on Ice Age, Life of Pi, and Love Death &Robots. That background does not guarantee anything about your specific rig, your studio pipeline, or your scene scale. But it does set expectations about intent: the tool targets animator pain points inside the daily grind of key management and timing.

Pricing and licensing in plain English

KeyPro sells for 49 US dollars as a one time purchase. The price is a single purchase that you keep. No subscription.

Why this is interesting right now

Timeline UX is one of those corners of animation software that everyone touches and almost nobody talks about until it hurts. KeyPro targets that pressure point directly by compressing multiple kinds of feedback into a single strip and pairing it with a toolbox aimed at everyday rig behaviors. If it lands in your workflow, the win is not a flashy new solver. It is fewer context switches, fewer blind scrubs, and faster decisions about where to spend your cleanup time.

And if it does not land, at least it is a reminder that the most valuable tool upgrades sometimes live in the least glamorous UI row in the room, right under the playhead.

Spec	Detail
Maya Compatibility	Maya 2020 – 2025+ (PySide2 & PySide6 auto-detected)
Integration Method	workspaceControl, docks natively below Maya’s timeline
API Layer	Maya OpenMaya / OpenMayaAnim (MFnAnimCurve for live key drag)
Audio Analysis	Fully cached RMS waveform per-pixel resolution at any zoom
Undo Safety	All key operations wrapped in named undo chunks
Master Range	JSON persisted alongside .ma / .mb scene file
Auto Frame	Graph Editor zoom tracks strip view on SelectionChanged + view pan
Jump to Key	Timeline follows Graph Editor selection (aTools-style behaviour)
Installation	Drag-and-drop installer · token license tied to your purchase
Design System	Consistent with full AXE Suite (Bebas Neue · DM Mono · orange/cyan/green)

The post KeyPro revamps Maya first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

dy Install Libs is built to make installing libraries smooth and simple, with the stated goal of avoiding manual edits and broken installs. It ships as a shelf toolset for Houdini, aimed at the everyday stuff artists actually do: bring in a library, make sure it loads, and move on with their lives. The headline feature in v1.3 is Library Manager, a custom UI tool to download, install, enable, and disable local libraries. Version v1.3 is dated March 24, 2026, with a follow up v1.3.1 dated March 26, 2026.

The part you came for: Library Manager

Library Manager adds a single interface for discovering, installing, and managing open-source and commercial Houdini libraries. That matters because library installs rarely fail in exciting ways. They fail in slow, petty ways, like a missing file, a wrong path, or a package file that loads everywhere except the one machine that counts.

This release frames Library Manager as an evolution and combination of the earlier toolkit tools. The idea is simple: fewer trips into the filesystem, fewer chances to fat finger a package entry, and more time spent actually using the tools you installed.

There is also an explicit caveat: it may not work for installing render engines, since they typically require a custom JSON package file to set up environment variables and paths. In other words, the tool targets the library side of life, while heavyweight integrations can still demand a hand-tuned setup.

What dy Install Libs does around the manager

The toolkit includes several functions that cover the library lifecycle, from bringing in data to keeping package files aligned with where the library lives. Library from JSON imports a downloaded library using its JSON file and automatically copies and updates the package file in your library folder. This is the one for when a library arrives with its own packaging info and you want it to just land cleanly.

Install Library generates a new JSON package from scratch tied to your library folder. That means you can start from nothing and still end up with a package file that points where it should. Library from GitHub clones and installs libraries straight from a GitHub URL, which is handy when the library lives as a repo instead of a zip. It also supports downloading repository releases. That support is listed in v1.1 dated August 5, 2025.

Create Library builds a library scaffold with templates and auto-generates the package file, which aims at standardizing how a library starts its life on disk. Restart Houdini to reload everything with one click, when you want the tool to do the classic on-and-off ritual for you.

GitHub reality: releases, missing packages, and relative paths

Git based libraries come with their own quirks. The release notes for v1.1 include a fix for cases where a repo does not have a package file, replacing an older path JSON variable with hpath. It also adds support for relative paths using the $HOUDINI_PACKAGE_PATH variable in installed package files.

That combo matters because repos vary wildly in structure. Some ship a tidy package file. Some ship nothing but hope. Tooling that acknowledges those differences tends to be more usable in real production setups, where you do not control every library you need to install.

Small fix, big impact

v1.3.1 lists support for the enable key from package files when it appears as a string, while it should be a boolean. It also lists a URL key fix for when a library from a database is installed manually as a standalone library, along with small fixes and improvements.

Pricing and the practical bit

The tool is free to download, with a Gumroad listing shown as $0+. Pricing beyond that is pay what you tink it is worth.

Pipeline advice that still counts

Even if Library Manager makes installs feel effortless, new tools and innovations should be tested before use in porudction. Try it in a clean preferences setup first, confirm your package behavior matches expectations, and then let it anywhere near a show.

https://cdordelly.gumroad.com/l/dy_install_libs

The post dy Install Libs adds Library Manager to Houdini first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

If your modeling flow depends on lining up a mesh to photos, you already know the usual pain points inside Autodesk Maya. You set up a camera, attach a reference image, tweak focal length and framing, then bounce across panels and settings while your brain tries not to forget what the likeness looked like two clicks ago. Handy RefTool aims straight at that friction by collecting the controls for reference matching into a single interface. The practical target is portrait modelling, but the same camera to image alignment problem shows up everywhere you match a 3D model to reference images. That includes creature design and hard surface work when you want the model to sit cleanly against a specific plate or photo set.

Classic mode, fewer context switches

RefTool includes a Classic mode that sets up reference cameras by automatically creating a camera in a scene and assigning a reference image to it. From there, the workflow focuses on fast iteration. You can adjust camera settings via slider controls, rotate around the model, zoom in for alignment checks, and scrub the opacity of the reference image to see how closely the sculpt lines up.

That opacity scrubbing matters more than it sounds. It turns the usual on-off flipping of an image plane into a continuous check, so you can keep your eye on silhouette, landmarks, and proportions without turning the viewport into a strobe light.

Once you have a camera setup you like, RefTool can export it as a JSON file, allowing you to reuse it in future projects. That reuse angle fits neatly with production reality, where you do not want to rebuild the same camera matching scaffolding every time a new head variant or costume pass drops into the scene.

RefBoard mode turns cameras into a wall of thumbnails

When you have multiple reference views, the real time sink is not creating them. It is switching between them in a way that keeps you oriented. RefTool includes a RefBoard mode that lets you arrange camera views like an image board and switch between them by clicking on thumbnails. That thumbnail switching also plays nicely with the way artists actually work on likeness. You rarely stay married to one image. You bounce between angles, you cross-check, you sanity test, and you keep moving. A board of camera views makes that bounce less disruptive than hunting through the outliner or viewport menus for the right camrea at the wrong moment.

Install notes, plus a very specific graphics requirement

There are two tracks here, and the install experience differs. For the free RefTool v2.1, installation runs through the Script Editor inside Autodesk Maya. You open the Script Editor, load the RefTool_v2.0.py script, then either execute it immediately or save it to a shelf for a one-click launch later. The same listing also includes free scripts labeled RefTool v2.1.1, including RefTool v2.1.1.py and RefTool_V2.1.py.

For the full RefTool v3.0, the install path starts with unpacking an archive. You then open Autodesk Maya, switch the Script Editor to the Python tab, drag and drop a maya_installer.py file into the editor, and click Save. A file dialog prompts you to select the RefToolV_X.X folder that contains the source files. After that, the tool icon appears on the currently active shelf.

One operational detail comes with a big warning label. Each time the tool launches, it runs directly from the folder selected during installation. If you move, rename, or delete that RefToolV_X.X folder after installation, the tool stops working. Both the free and full installs include the same requirement: Viewport 2.0 inside Autodesk Maya needs to be set to DirectX 11.

Versions and pricing

The version split is straightforward on paper. RefTool v2.1 is free and is described as having the core functionality. RefTool v3.0 redesigns the interface and adds extra functionality. The published price for version 3.0 is USD $14.48.

Where this fits in real work

The strongest signal here is not a single feature, it is the focus on keeping the artist in the flow. Reference matching is foundational for portrait work, but it is also a repeated micro-task across creature blockouts, prop modeling, and any job where a specific camera-to-image relationship matters. RefTool targets those repeated touches by putting the camera adjustments and reference image controls in one place.

The JSON export for camera setups adds a pipeline-friendly hook. Reusable setups can reduce churn when a project revisits the same asset type across multiple shots or deliverables, or when a team wants consistent camera matching conventions for a specific modeling task. As always, new tools and workflow tweaks should be tested before you let them anywhere near a production deadline, especially when the tool depends on specific viewport and graphics settings.

https://www.artstation.com/marketplace/p/PBWgY/maya-reftool-the-ultimate-camera-reference-manager-new-version

The post Handy RefTool 3.0 speeds Maya ref matching first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.