Show HN: I created an After Effects alternative

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Overall reception and AE positioning

  • Many commenters are impressed by the depth and polish, especially for a solo dev.
  • It’s widely seen as filling a gap: a simpler, accessible motion-graphics/compositing tool without Adobe’s bloat and subscription.
  • Several stress that “alternative” doesn’t require full feature parity with After Effects; covering the most-used 10–20% of features is considered valuable.

Browser and platform support

  • Current support is Chromium-only due to reliance on WebCodecs (AudioData, VideoEncoder) and the File System Access API.
  • Firefox users are disappointed, but a Firefox media developer reports WebCodecs is almost ready there and has a partial workaround running already.
  • Safari is broadly viewed as the worst for modern APIs; no support is planned for now.

Web-only vs desktop, offline, and longevity

  • Strong split: some see web-only as a positive (easy distribution, updates, cross‑platform, PWA/offline potential).
  • Others worry about tool disappearance, network dependence, and long‑term access to project files; they advocate a downloadable/electron/native version.

Privacy, analytics, and “No AI”

  • “Privacy respected” messaging is criticized because the site uses Google Ads/Analytics.
  • The author clarifies that project data stays local; analytics are used for feature usage insight. Commenters suggest privacy‑friendlier analytics or just asking users.
  • “No AI” is seen by many as a selling point, partly in reaction to AI‑heavy UIs and recent Adobe data/AI controversies. Others argue users do value AI if it’s genuinely helpful.

Technical implementation details

  • Stack includes Ember, WebGL, modern web APIs, WebCodecs, SharedArrayBuffer, and mp4box/ffmpeg.wasm‑style tooling.
  • Discussion covers worker threads, memory limits (WASM 4 GB vs tab memory), streaming from disk, and OPFS as a safer file API than full FS access.

Features, UX, and limitations

  • Early testers praise UX but note missing pro features: higher and NTSC frame rates, custom easing/graph editor, color‑space controls, better keyframe behavior, and more AE‑like interaction patterns.
  • Some urge copying AE’s UX conventions closely to ease adoption; GIMP is cited as a cautionary tale of nonstandard UI.
  • 30 fps limit is described as temporary; app is not intended for multi‑hour feature films in a single project.