Tl;DR: AutoCut lives inside Adobe Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve, so editors can nuke busywork in the same timeline where deadlines go to scream.

AI that cleans up after the creative decisions

There is a familiar moment in every edit: the story finally works, the pacing clicks, and then the timeline reveals the bill. Breaths to trim. Dead air to delete. Captions to build. Takes to compare. Chapters to mark. Shorts to slice. It is not glamorous, but it is where hours disappear.

AutoCut targets that stretch of the process with a set of automation tools that run directly in the host editor. The plugin bundles 10 distinct tools into a single subscription and runs in Premiere Pro versions from 2023 through 2026. It also supports DaVinci Resolve 18.6 and 19 or later, including the free version of Resolve.

The goal is simple: keep editors on the same Timeline and offload repetitive cleanup that does not need creative judgment, while leaving the actual choices in human hands. New tools and innovations should always be tested before use in production, especially when they touch timing, dialogue, and deliverables.

Silence cutting with knobs editors actually recognize

Silence removal sits at the centre of the toolset, and it is the feature on which the plugin originally built its name. The workflow starts with something editors already do every day: define an in point and an out point on the timeline. From there, the editor sets a noise floor value in dB and tunes the minimum silence duration and the minimum speech duration, then lets the analysis do the trimming.

For fast iteration, it also provides preset profiles ranging from Calm to Jumpy that adjust how aggressively gaps are removed. In practice, that means the editor can decide whether the cut should feel conversational or more like a caffeinated highlight reel, without manually razor-blading every pause.

This is the kind of automation that tends to fit high-volume talking-head work: solo presenters, interview-heavy pieces, video journalism, and anyone cutting long-form dialogue where micro-pauses add up to macro time loss. It is also relevant to podcast workflows, especially when the job includes preparing multiple versions of the same content for different platforms and runtimes.

About one third into a real-world edtiing day, silence trimming is usually where optimism goes to die. This is where automation earns its keep.

Captions, chapters, profanity, resizing, and the rest of the boring buffet

The plugin’s ten-tool bundle extends beyond silence cutting into other mechanical steps that commonly stack up after an edit locks. It includes animated captions and translation, along with tools aimed at podcast and short-form production.

The feature set also covers take selection via repetition detection, profanity bleeping (a f**** usefull feature depending on the topic… though we haven‘t tested it with the creative swearing that comes from an 8+ hour editing session…) , and chapter creation for long videos. There is also an aspect ratio conversion tool for resizing deliverables for different formats, which matters when a single cut needs to ship in multiple aspect ratios under the same deadline.

One module focuses on turning long videos into short-form clips by identifying key segments. Another uses AI to add B-rolls, with the B-roll feature listing Storyblocks as the stock footage source powering that portion of the workflow. These features sit squarely in the current reality of editorial: one master timeline often needs to feed a whole ecosystem of cutdowns, captions, and platform-specific versions.

The plugin includes a podcast module and a multicam podcast editing workflow, which targets a common pain point for creators and small teams: syncing the cameras is the easy part, but cleaning up the dead air, surfacing the best takes, and generating captions can turn a quick turnaround into a multi-hour grind.

Licenses, trials, and what it costs when the honeymoon ends

The plugin ships with a 14-day free trial that requires no credit card. After that, pricing splits into three plans, with monthly and annual billing options.

The Basic Plan unlocks only the silence-removal tool. It costs $6.60 per month when billed annually, listed as $79 per year, or $9.90 per month when billed monthly.

The AI Plan includes the full set of ten tools. It costs $14.90 per month when billed annually, listed as $178.80 per year, or $19.80 per month when billed monthly.

The Enterprise Plan starts at three seats and is priced at $19.90 per seat per month when billed annually, listed as $238.80 per seat per year, totaling $716.40 for the minimum three-seat configuration. It includes priority support, on-demand demo calls, team licensing, and centralized billing.

On the payment side, the pricing page notes secure checkout by Stripe. The plugin is also listed as working on both macOS and Windows.

A single license activates on one computer at a time, with the option to transfer between machines via an account dashboard. That is a practical detail for editors who bounce between a studio workstation and a travel laptop, or who split their time across different facilities.

Where it fits in a modern post pipeline

The plugin’s appeal is not about replacing editorial decisions. It is about compressing the cleanup stage that follows those decisions. When you are cutting dialogue-driven content at volume, the work is not only creative but also procedural. The procedural part tends to be the same every time, making it a strong candidate for automation.

The best way to judge tools like this is to throw real timelines at them. Use a project with messy audio, uneven pacing, multiple cameras, and actual delivery requirements, then validate the output against your standards. If the tool saves time without introducing new cleanup, it earns a spot. If it creates edge-case errors, it stays in the sandbox until it behaves.

https://www.autocut.com

The post AutoCut brings AI cleanup inside Premiere Pro first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

When I opened the TD Meetup 21, I asked a simple question: “Why talk about virtual reality again?”

A few years ago VR was everywhere – headsets, conferences, demos, hype – but it quietly faded into the background when projects stalled and the novelty wore off. At the same time, I’ve seen steady progress: VR now serves as a practical, cost-saving tool for architecture, design, visualisation and increasingly for our industry of VFX and animation.

I recall first meeting Dan Franke (Instagram) at the FMX 2025, where his VR artworks reignited my interest. His work in Quill VR showed that virtual reality can be more than a viewing device; it can be a creative environment. For previsualisation, VR allows directors and supervisors to plan set extensions and camera movement directly inside a 3D world. For artists, it allows sculpting and painting in a space that feels natural, intuitive, and immediate and for audiences, it redefines immersion, especially in documentary or experiential content such as the Fukushima 360° recordings. My goal for the evening was to let Dan demonstrate that potential in action and to remind our technical community that VR is not gone – it has simply grown up.

Who Is Dan Franke – From Student to VR Pioneer

Dan traced his path from his days as a CG generalist sculpting aliens in ZBrush, to discovering his passion for direction and storytelling. During his studies at the Animationsinstitut, he created a 2D short film that confirmed his interest in animation. Later, as a co-director on the children’s series Petzi at Studio Soi, he learned the realities of production management and communication. Dan described that time with a laugh: “I was a student with imposter syndrome, surrounded by world-class animators, suddenly telling them what to do.”

That experience taught him not only humility but also efficiency. Big projects require coordination, teams, and budgets – luxuries students rarely have. So he began searching for tools that could give him independence, something that let a small team or even a single artist, produce complex animation on their own terms.

The Moment Dan Discovered Quill

Dan’s turning point came when he discovered Quill, then being developed at Oculus Story Studio by Goro Fujita and Inigo Quilez. The tool allowed painting and animating directly in 3D space inside VR. When he saw early demos of artists sketching in volumetric space, he realised he needed to try it.

By coincidence, only a week later Goro came to Dan’s university for the first public Quill workshop. Within two days Dan had learned the basics. One day later he produced his first 3D painting entirely in Quill. He described the revelation: Quill is essentially Photoshop in three dimensions, where you can paint brush strokes that exist in space and then animate them in real time.

Because the Quill community was small at the time, Dan’s early experiments quickly gained attention on Facebook groups and later on Discord. That visibility led to collaborations on major VR projects, connecting him to studios and other artists pushing the same frontier.

Early Projects: Namoo, Tales from Soda Island and Studio Syro

One of Dan’s first significant productions was Namoo, directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Eric O. The piece, both a VR experience and a 2D short, was built by a small team that included former Pixar and Disney artists. Dan’s contribution was painting and animating the environments entirely in Quill. Every tree, branch, and memory sequence in Namoo was handcrafted in volumetric brush strokes rather than traditional geometry.

After Namoo, Dan and a collective of Quill artists pitched an experimental concept to Meta: a world built of music, colour, and tiny creatures, inspired by the label Soda Island. Meta funded the idea, and Tales from Soda Island became the first full VR series created entirely in VR. The group formed Studio Syro (Instagram), a distributed studio that operated remotely during the pandemic and didn’t meet physically until years later.

Dan directed the first three of seven episodes, each more technically ambitious than the last. In the beginning, he still thought in 2D, using storyboards and fixed “cameras.” By the second episode, moving through full 360° space, he realised that traditional storyboarding didn’t fit VR storytelling. He had to adapt.

He recalled following Einstein’s quote: “Everyone knew it was impossible until a fool who didn’t know came along and just did it.” Dan chose to ignore established VR conventions and invented his own film language by borrowing timing and rhythm from 2D cinema but applying them in a 3D world.

As production evolved, Studio Syro discovered that Quill could replace much of the previsualisation pipeline. They began creating layouts, camera moves, and storyboards directly in VR. The approach combined storyboarding, animatic, and previs in a single tool, accelerating iteration and improving communication across the team.

Quill Techniques in Practice

When Dan switched to live demonstration mode during the meetup, the chat went silent. We all watched a butterfly appear in front of him – a cloud of brush strokes grouped into parts. He grabbed one wing by its pivot, moved it in real time and Quill recorded the motion. There was no rig, no keyframes, no constraints. Just his hand and the headset tracking every nuance.

He explained that the technique relies on simple grouping and pivot placement: Once you define the hinge point, you can record your hand motions as animation data. The result looks organic because it is organic. Human motion captured directly as a brush movement.

“I animate the wing by grabbing it and rotating it in real time. No rig involved – just grouping and recording my hand motion.”

In another scene, he built a stylised water effect: Creating an empty layer, looping frames, painting fluid motion stroke by stroke and using the grab tool to distort the surface. He described how easy it was to “make it rain” in Quill by simply painting downward strokes and looping them.

Later, he opened visuals from a project for music artist Bad Bunny, showing psychedelic stage graphics created entirely with painted animations in Quill. Clouds, waves, and surreal textures moved fluidly, achieved by layering and distorting rotating spheres and painted strokes. Watching him deform shapes live felt closer to sculpting clay than editing polygons.

Dan emphasised that Quill rewards improvisation. You paint one small detail, duplicate it, rearrange it and soon the space fills into a world. It’s procedural, but handmade. An artist’s version of Houdini logic.

Quill as Previsualisation Tool

To show how Quill functions as a previs system, Dan built a miniature tunnel scene from scratch. He painted simple grey strokes to form walls and ceiling, duplicated them for depth, then added colour and placed a camera. A rough character shape followed; a black silhouette with a stick weapon.

He then activated record mode, grabbed the character, and moved it through the space while looking through the camera view. The animation was recorded instantly. Within seconds, he had a readable scene: The character walks forward, pauses, then reacts to falling rocks that he painted in next. The result looked crude yet expressive enough to read the motion, staging and timing.

Dan pointed out that such iterations would normally require drawing, editing, compositing, and re-timing across several programs. In Quill, it happens in one continuous creative act. That immediacy, he argued, shortens iteration loops and encourages experimentation.

Integrating Quill into the Pipeline

After the demos, Dan addressed a question many TDs were waiting for: How does this fit into existing pipelines? Quill, he explained, can export geometry and animation as FBX, OBJ, or Alembic files. Those can be imported into Maya, Blender or Houdini. Because Quill’s geometry is built from individual brush strokes, the surfaces are not watertight meshes; lighting them directly reveals visible edges. For that reason, Quill output is best used for stylised effects, abstract backgrounds, or reference geometry rather than production models.

Nevertheless, it can serve as an excellent art-direction tool. Effects departments can import Quill volumes as timing and motion references or even as collision shapes for simulations. Dan also mentioned upcoming work on integrating Quill-like tools into Blender via the new Grease Pencil VR prototype. Such integration could make these workflows accessible to more artists and, importantly, open to scripting and extensions.

I added that this is precisely where technical directors come in. New tools often lack the surrounding infrastructure: exporters, optimisers, render bridges. A TD’s role is to evaluate these technologies, write the missing connectors, and make them usable for the rest of the team.

Audience Q&A Highlights

When the Q&A opened, the questions came quickly. One attendee asked how long he can work in VR before fatigue sets in. Dan said it varies widely between people. During his workshops, newcomers sometimes need a day to adjust, but he personally can work ten to twelve hours in Quill without issue. Early in his career he trained himself by playing VR flight games, performing barrel rolls to eliminate motion sickness. Then he laughed and admitted he once fell asleep wearing the headset and woke up still inside the virtual space – a surreal experience he does not recommend.

Another participant asked whether Quill supports painting over live video. Dan explained that you can import footage as layers, remove alpha channels, and paint directly over them. His Arcane reel used this method: He filmed his hands on green screen, composited the footage inside Quill and drew the environment around it.

A third question concerned hardware. Dan recommended Meta Quest headsets, specifically the Quest 2, 3, or lightweight 3S, as ideal for Quill. Even older Oculus Rifts still function, though with poorer optics. He added that Quill runs smoothly on mid-range PCs or even laptops; high-end GPUs are not mandatory.

Finally, someone asked how technical Quill is to operate. Dan described it as “the least technical software I’ve ever used.” With only a few controller buttons to memorise, the barrier to entry is low. Within two days of workshops, most students forget the buttons entirely and focus on creation. But integrating Quill into a production pipeline is another story: Depending on project complexity, a studio may need an import/export script, shaders or performance tools. He recommended that TDs interested in supporting Quill learn basic Python scripting to build these bridges.

Quill in Production Contexts

At that point I asked Dan to imagine returning to Petzi and directing a new season. Would he use Quill purely for previs or even for final output? He replied that for Petsy, Quill would excel in the early stages like storyboarding, layout, animatic, and camera blocking. The advantage lies in speed: Directors can test ideas directly without waiting for new drawings.

For final production, Quill could contribute stylised effects like smoke, rain, splashes, painterly transitions but likely not main characters. The stroke-based meshes show seams under realistic lighting. However, he added that exporting animated Quill volumes as Alembic can serve as perfect guides for effects artists, giving them a timed and shaped reference for further simulation.

I agreed. Productions often struggle to communicate tone and feeling from 2D concept to 3D execution. VR sketching bridges that gap by letting everyone see and feel scale, movement and atmosphere directly. A line drawing leaves room for interpretation; a spatial sketch shows intent.

Reflections and Takeaways

After nearly two hours of live painting, animation, and discussion, I took a step back. Watching Dan work made it clear that Quill sits at a fascinating intersection of art and technology. It reintroduces immediacy to digital production: The artist’s gesture becomes motion, not data entry.

The implications for production are tangible. In early design and previs, VR tools can compress the time between idea and validation. A director or TD can sketch in space, test pacing, iterate on blocking and hand off to layout or animation without traditional bottlenecks.

Equally important, these tools demand new types of collaboration. Technical artists need to connect them to render pipelines, while creatives need to understand what they can ask from them. Quill proves that the two roles of artist and technologist are no longer separate worlds but overlapping disciplines.

What’s Next and How to Join

TD Meetup continues monthly. The next session will tackle Python Challenges, focusing on automation and problem-solving for real production pipelines. If you would like to join future events, visit td-meetup and register. Recordings of previous sessions, including Dan’s full Quill demo, are available on the TD Meetup YouTube playlist.

Dan’s VR Painting Foundations Course is available at vrpaintingcourse.com, where he teaches Quill basics and advanced VR animation techniques. For those wanting to experiment, Quill itself can be found at quill.art, and Meta Quest (Facebook-Login Required?) hardware details are listed at meta.com.

Final Thoughts

The TD Meetup 21 reminded us that VR is far from dead. Tools like Quill demonstrate that immersive creation is not a gimmick but a workflow accelerator. Dan Franke’s live session showed how real-time painting and animation can merge art, direction, and technical design into one fluid process.

As we move into an era dominated by AI tools, his closing comment resonated: VR remains the most human form of digital creation. It captures not the machine’s interpretation, but the artist’s hand. Watching him animate by literally waving his hand in the air, I thought: This is where technology feels alive again.

See you at the next Meetup,
Alex

The post TD Meetup 21: VR, Quill & the Renaissance of Real-Time Storytelling first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Alexander Richter.

“One of the hardest things in life is accepting that we’ve a problem.”

At TD Meetup 19, I dove into one of the most important skills for any Technical Director or artist: true problem-solving. It’s not about quick fixes or duct tape solutions—it’s about understanding the root of an issue and aligning your fix with the bigger production goals. In the talk, I break down the four levels of problem-solving, share the mindset and skills that separate problem solvers from problem fixers, and explain why scripting, curiosity, and collaboration are key to thriving in VFX and games. And how to become a key figure as a Technical Director.

If you’ve ever felt like you’re just firefighting instead of moving projects forward, this session is for you. Think of it as a practical guide to turning daily chaos into opportunities—and maybe sharpening your Python blade along the way.

Watch the FULL event

The post Problem Solver for VFX | TD Meetup 19 first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Alexander Richter.

This makes it difficult to achieve stability and prosperity. Many of these problems are self-inflicted, such as not having a financial plan, miscalculating our hourly rates, and failing to prepare for the future, including retirement.

In this event, we’ll explore how VFX freelancers can

• create a stable financial environment

• calculate an emergency fund

• save for retirement

• relieve much of the stress of being a freelancer

The post TD Meetup 18: Financially Smart Freelancer first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Alexander Richter.

In this episode of Let’s fix it in Pod Christoph & Bela browse the FMX Programme and talk about their favorite picks. They are then joined by FMX project manager Mario Müller for a deep dive into what goes into planning an fmx and bringing it to life.

00:00:00 Intro
00:03:52 Mufasa: The Lion King (Link to FMX Programme)
00:04:53 Nuke: From it’s beginnings to today (Link to FMX Programme)
00:06:14 Watch your language! (Link to FMX Programme)
00:07:17 Fear and loathing in the age of A.I. (Link to FMX Programme)
00:08:29 Next-gen procedural city design (Link to FMX Programme)
00:09:00 Anamorphic Lenses in Witcher 4 (Link to FMX Programme)
00:10:15 Acting for Animators (Link to FMX Programme)/ Part Two on Wednesday)
00:11:22 Paul Debevec (Link to FMX Programme)
00:12:30 Building a state-of-the-art VR stage (Link to FMX Programme)
00:13:17 General recommendations
00:20:31 Introduction Mario Müller
00:22:39 The tasks of a project manager
00:24:41 How FMX changed over the years
00:29:59 Building a programme
00:33:38 How to deal with the hype train
00:42:24 The pros and cons of a hybrid FMX
00:46:56 Mario’s recommendations
00:47:48 The role of Paul Debevec
00:50:50 The metrics of FMX
00:52:26 The connection to the Filmakademie
00:56:09 The Rhythm of change
01:00:09 The only constant is change

Links

FMX Programme: https://fmx.de/en/program/program-202…
Schlesinger: http://www.schlesinger-int.de/

The post Let’s fix it in Pod 07 FMX with Mario Müller first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Christoph Zapletal.