For those who do not know the tool: There is not much legacy history to unpack here, because Open Light is new. The more relevant context is the developer: Borja Rama is a lighting artist with feature and episodic credits including Spellbound, The Mandalorian, Game of Thrones and Carnival Row. That background suggests the tool was built from actual production irritation, which is usually a better starting point than “we disrupted light.”

Open Light is a small release with suspiciously practical ambitions. Instead of digging through old folders full of “final_light_v7_realfinal_02”, the standalone app generates HDR light textures procedurally, including softboxes, beauty dishes, gobos, Kino Flos and similar source patterns for lighting setups. According to Borja Rama, the tool came out of a very familiar problem: needing custom light textures and getting tired of hunting for them.

The useful part is that Open Light is not just a freebie texture pack with good intentions. It exposes controls for shape, falloff, surface imperfections, gels and grids, then exports the result as production-ready maps. Supported output formats include 32-bit EXR and HDR, with exports up to 4096 by 4096 pixels. Color space options include sRGB Linear and ACEScg.

Rama also lists 87 simulated Lee and Rosco gels, along with controls designed to mimic various real-world source characteristics. That makes Open Light potentially useful beyond straight lookdev. It could fit into compositing, product viz, motion design, virtual production tests, or any scene where a generic white rectangle is technically correct but spiritually depressing.

Open Light is currently available as a free standalone beta for Windows 10 and 11. The download is listed on Gumroad, and Rama’s tools page notes EXR and HDR export for use in “any DCC application”. A macOS build is in progress, but no release date is given.

Open Light on Gumroad: https://2583407267451.gumroad.com/l/openlight
Borja Rama tools: https://www.borjarama.com/tools

The post Open Light: Procedural HDR Lighting Without the Texture Archaeology first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

ASCII, but with more controls than the name first suggests

ASCII Resolve is one of those tools whose name sounds like a novelty filter until you look at what it actually exposes. Installed as a DRFX package, it drops into DaVinci Resolve as a ready-to-use effect and ships with seven presets built around different symbol sets and workflows.

The useful part is not the retro terminal joke. It is the amount of control. In the setup, users can adjust pixel frequency to define how large the generated symbols appear, then shape the source image first with contrast and gain controls before the symbol remapping happens. There is also an invert option, which is exactly the sort of small checkbox that turns an effect from “cute for ten seconds” into “actually usable for design work.” The result is a less fixed look, more luminance-driven abstraction.

Gradients, palettes, and letters instead of just symbols

The colour section appears to be more than a token palette dropdown. The effect includes multiple colour presets, but it also allows custom gradients, with individual points corresponding to separate symbols. That matters because it means the mapping is not only based on brightness, but can also be art-directed at the symbol-band level. If a preset gets close but not quite there, individual hues can be nudged without rebuilding the look from scratch.

There is also a letter-based variant that pushes the effect from ASCII cliché into proper retro motion-design territory. In that version, users can choose preset character groups such as alphabet, capital letters, numbers, patterns, round, orthogonal, diagonal, and more detailed sets. A custom mode accepts a user-defined nine-character string, and the font itself can be changed as well. Based on the walkthrough, monospaced or code-like fonts appear to be the most convincing choice, which will surprise nobody who has ever willingly opened a terminal window.

More than one workflow inside Resolve

The package is so split into several variants depending on where and how users want to work. Beyond the standard effect presets, there are custom Edit page and Fusion page versions for users who want to replace characters with their own shapes or icons. In the Edit page workflow, users can load external image files through loaders and map them across brightness levels. The recommendation in the demo is to arrange those assets from brightest to darkest, so the luminance translation stays predictable.

The Fusion-oriented version goes a step further. There, the source image is connected to the main input, while additional square graphics or text elements can be fed into the other inputs as replacement shapes. The creator recommends square assets, ideally around 100 by 100 pixels, to keep the setup responsive and avoid unnecessary lag.

The broader product line also includes an ASCII PRO Pack on Gumroad, listed from €9.90, while the free ASCII Resolve effect remains available as a separate download.

Free ASCII Effect for DaVinci Resolve: https://skapecreates.gumroad.com/l/qouon
ASCII PRO Pack for DaVinci Resolve: https://skapecreates.gumroad.com/l/xwtwmx

The post ASCII Resolve: Free Resolve effect turns footage into configurable text art first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

AlgoMesh has published Differential Line Growth, a free add-on for Cinema 4D aimed at generating organic-looking spline shapes for motion graphics, visual effects and illustration applications. The plugin uses a differential growth method to repeatedly modify a spline, allowing it to evolve into more complex forms without direct modelling.

Organic growth effect through iterative point insertion

The core mechanism adds extra points in curved or high-bending areas of a spline and applies iterative attraction and repulsion between those points. This prevents self-intersection and lets the spline deform progressively into shapes that resemble natural growth patterns such as lichens or river meanders. The effect can yield fluid, organic lineforms useful for motion graphics and abstract visuals.

Works with standard C4D splines

Differential Line Growth supports ordinary Cinema 4D spline controls and works with multi-segment spline objects, including text splines. This means after applying the plugin, artists can use existing Cinema 4D spline toolchains and animation controls in the usual way.

From the maker of Parametrics

AlgoMesh also develops a paid set of procedural tools called Parametrics, which focuses on generating mathematically defined shapes such as Moebius strips and torus knots. Differential Line Growth extends this procedural suite into a free growth-based spline technique, giving artists a new way to generate organic motion effects without manual keyframing. Testing new tools and techniques like Differential Line Growth before using them in production is recommended. Seriously.

The post Cinema 4D plugin for organic line growth hits the web first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

ActionVFX produces high-quality stock VFX footage, used in compositing software such as After Effects, Nuke, and Fusion. The assets are shot practically, designed for professional use in feature, TV, and game pipelines.

ActionVFX has made its Flamethrowers effects pack available as a free download until 13 January 2026. The collection includes 30 practical flamethrower clips shot for visual effects and motion graphics use. The footage is available under a commercial-use licence.

Real fire, real footage

The clips were filmed with a RED Gemini 35K camera at 96 fps, ensuring clean motion and strong exposure detail. The pack includes 5K RED R3D masters and pre-keyed 12-bit ProRes 4444 versions in 2K and 4K resolutions. These can be imported directly into any compositor that supports ProRes with alpha channels, such as After Effects, Nuke, Fusion, or Premiere Pro.

Shot variety and usability

The set features multiple camera angles, including side views and first-person perspectives. Each shot has been keyed and delivered with transparency, reducing setup time for artists who need instant, production-ready fire elements. The keyed clips are intended for drag-and-drop compositing without the need for manual rotoscoping or colour separation.

Short-lived offer

The flamethrower pack is free to download until 13 January 2026 via the ActionVFX website (Registration required). After that date, standard pricing will apply. The company also maintains a growing library of other free practical VFX elements, including fire, smoke, dust, snow, and sparks.

In production context

As with all VFX assets, users are advised to test the footage before deployment in active production environments. Proper grading and compositing are essential to match lighting and motion in live-action plates.

// https://www.actionvfx.com/collections/flamethrowers-stock-footage/

The post ActionVFX Ignites: 30 Flamethrower Clips Free first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

Text2Spreadsheet, developed by mamoworld and distributed via aescripts, is a utility for Adobe After Effects that exports every text layer in a project into an editable spreadsheet. Users can modify the text in Excel, Google Sheets, Apple Numbers, or any compatible application, and then re-import the changes back into After Effects with a single click. The tool targets common production pain points such as bulk text updates, translation management, and client review cycles.

Feature Overview

The plugin focuses on clarity and minimalism: It generates clean spreadsheets that contain only the text content of a project, without exposing any technical metadata. The export and import functions are operated through simple one-click actions, allowing users to extract all text layers and later apply edited versions without manual relinking.

A core strength of the tool lies in its ability to keep track of text layers even when they are renamed or moved inside the After Effects project. New layers created after export are automatically detected, and existing ones are matched back to their correct positions. This internal mapping enables users to work on the After Effects project in parallel with external text edits.

The spreadsheet itself can contain multiple columns for alternative versions or language variants. This makes it possible to maintain multilingual projects or several client versions within a single document. When re-importing, the user can choose which version to bring back into After Effects.

The plugin is compatible with both CSV and Excel XML formats, supporting UTF-8 encoding and multi-line text without formatting issues. It provides detailed status feedback during import, including colour-coded information to indicate which layers have changed. The interface allows filtering by folder structure and layer names, and duplicate text entries can be excluded automatically to avoid redundant exports.

The developer also highlights compatibility with AI-assisted text editing workflows. Because the exported spreadsheet is clean and free of metadata, users can process it through proofreading or translation tools such as ChatGPT or other machine-translation systems before re-importing the results.

Text2Spreadsheet is listed as compatible with After Effects from version CS4 through the current CC releases, including the 2026 version. Pricing is stated as 29.99 US dollars for a single user licence.

Why it matters …

Motion graphics and post-production projects often include large numbers of text layers like titles, captions, lower thirds, or end cards, that need to be updated repeatedly during production (Insert your own “Groan” here – we all have been there) . Editing them directly in After Effects can be tedious and error-prone, particularly when client feedback or translation is involved. By externalising all text into a spreadsheet, Text2Spreadsheet allows artists and producers to offload text editing to translators, clients, or copywriters who can work in a familiar environment without touching the AE project.

This approach simplifies revision cycles and reduces the risk of transcription errors. When changes are complete, the artist re-imports the spreadsheet and all updates are applied automatically to the correct text layers. Because layer tracking persists through renames and folder movements, the process is more reliable than manual text replacement.

Usability and workflow notes

For projects involving localisation, users can create extra spreadsheet columns for each language. Text2Spreadsheet then imports whichever column is designated as active. Mamoworld suggests combining this tool with its Pins & Boxes plugin, which dynamically adjusts background graphics or layout elements when text lengths changes, useful for multilingual motion-graphics templates.

Production takeaway

For teams handling frequent copy updates, translation rounds, or client text revisions, Text2Spreadsheet is an efficient and inexpensive solution that removes much of the manual overhead of text management in After Effects. It is not a full automation or templating system, but a focused utility designed to make repetitive text work more reliable and less error-prone. As always, any new plugin should be tested in a controlled project before it becomes part of a mission-critical workflow.

The post Text2Spreadsheet bridges AE and spreadsheets with one click first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.