effectcraft/docs/roadmap.md

Roadmap detail

Last reviewed: 2026-10-10 · Last updated: 2026-10-10 · Change: major (new file: milestones moved from ROADMAP.md, current focus and next steps with Opus 5.5 estimates) · Target: Adobe After Effects 2026

Forward-looking detail behind the ROADMAP. The work list itself, one gap at a time, is gaps.md; the numbers are in target-app-parity.md. There is no cargo xtask scorecard or cargo xtask parity in this repository yet.

Current focus

In this order (gap numbers from gaps.md):

1. Crashes and the CI gate (gaps 3–4, G3): fix the eight open crash reports; run cargo xtask ci on every pull request. 15–30 h.
2. Fidelity harness (gap 2, G1): extend the AEsync ease oracle to rendered frames; a corpus case for every P0 feature, then P1. 60–100 h; needs After Effects running on the owner's Mac.
3. Real-user reliability (gaps 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, G2): the open Linux and Windows interaction, mask, effect and text bugs, each with a scripted test. 60–120 h, parallel.
4. Owner decision on .aep (gap 1, G4): then the importer. 80–160 h after the decision.
5. Performance (gap 5, G5): benchmarks at 1080p and 4K; real-time cached playback. 40–70 h.

Alpha gate

The core workflows of a motion designer in After Effects, checked on EffectCraft's main platform (macOS) from the scripted UI tests, the live After Effects ease oracle and the open issues (standard: craftrules standards/progress-docs.md, "Stages"). All six pass, so EffectCraft is alpha: each works end to end and the work saves and reopens; what's rough in them is listed, but none blocks the workflow.

Workflow	Works end to end?	Evidence	Hours to clear the rough edges
1. Set up: new comp, import footage, stills, PSD/AI and audio, arrange and trim layers	yes	file.import and image-sequence tests, ui_drag_drop, ui_project_*; rough: a still imports as a sequence (#431), an MP3 layer can go silent (#324), multi-file drops (#552)	2–4
2. Animate: keyframes, easing in the Graph Editor, motion paths, parenting	yes	168 live samples match After Effects 26.3 (fidelity/); ui_keyframes; rough: Graph Editor jitter and clipped buttons (#456, #457), negative rotation drag (#569)	3–6
3. Motion graphics: text layers with animators, shape layers with operators	yes	ui_text_edit, ui_timeline_shapes, text and shape engine tests; rough: paragraph alignment inverted (#316), CJK text in comps (#453)	3–6
4. Composite: masks, track mattes, blend modes, keying and effects	yes	Compositor and mask tests, 306 effects with CPU/GPU agreement; rough: mask bugs (#510, #513, #527), 32-bpc blend differences (#494), effect bugs (#580 crash, #514)	6–12
5. Preview with audio (RAM preview, cache)	yes	ui_ram_preview, ui_live_preview; rough: stutter on cached frames (#595, #304), late audio (#554, #504)	10–20
6. Save, reopen and deliver: .ecproj, auto-save, Render Queue to H.264 / ProRes / sequences	yes	Versioned-schema reopen tests, crash recovery, render-queue and encoder tests; rough: the macOS default output folder is /, so a render fails until an output path is chosen (#446), ProRes 4444 colour tag (#340), projects don't relink when moved	1–3

The gate is not beta: beta also needs After Effects' own .aep projects to open (gap 1) and ≈ 75% ready for real work.

Milestones

The original build plan; all but M7 and M12 are done. What is left after them is measured against After Effects in gaps.md, not as milestones.

	Milestone	State
M0	Skeleton: crates, compositor, the After Effects style shell, control channel, cargo xtask	Done (web build: web.md)
M1	Keyframes: temporal and spatial interpolation, Easy Ease, roving, velocity	Done
M2	Compositing: 38 blend modes, track mattes, parenting, adjustment layers	Done
M3	Project operations: settings dialogs, layer commands, .ecproj, undo, After Effects menu bar	Done
M4	Preview: precomps, motion blur, cached playback	Done
M5	Timeline depth: graph editor, keyframe clipboard and dialogs, time remapping, pick-whips, expression editor	Done
M6	Shapes, masks and footage: shape operators, masks and the pen tool, video and image import	Done
M7	3D: 3D layers, cameras, lights, shadows, depth of field, 3D views and camera tools	In review (3D gizmos, FBX/USD, Substance still missing: gaps 12–13)
M8	Expressions with the After Effects object model	Done
M9	Text and effects: text animators, layer styles, 306 effects incl. time and audio effects	Done
M10	Export: render queue, H.264, ProRes, image sequences, GIF, audio	Done
M11	Animation tools: audio, Lottie, presets, Motion Sketch, Wiggler, Smoother	Done (preset library: gap 7)
M12	Performance: layer cache, parallel and GPU compositing, disk cache, motion tracking; GPU versions of the remaining CPU-only effects	Mostly done (benchmarks and hardware video: gaps 5, 15)
M13	Puppet, paint, Roto Brush, tracking, plug-in API, timeline depth, trained models	Done
M14	Built for agents: MCP server, CLI, control channel, Settings, shortcut editor, auto-save, crash recovery	Done
M15	The web app (WebAssembly, WebGPU)	Done

What's next, with estimates

Next	Gaps	Opus 5.5 hours	Parallel?	Needs a human
Crash fixes and a PR CI gate	3, 4	15–30	yes	GPUs for #591 / #613
G1 fidelity harness and P0/P1 corpus	2	60–100	after the harness	After Effects runs on the owner's Mac
Open bug backlog (Linux, Windows, masks, effects, text, 3D)	5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, 24	100–190	yes	Linux / Windows testers
.aep / .aepx import	1	80–160	partly	Owner decision on clean-room scope
Performance benchmarks and real-time preview	5, 15	50–100	partly	—
Localization depth	16	60–110	yes	Native-speaker review
Preset library, 26.x features, Object Matte	7, 14, 21	50–95	yes	—
Formats: VFX stills, MXF, 3D models, templates	13, 17, 18, 22, 23	80–160	yes	—
Plug-in ecosystem, multi-monitor, accessibility	19, 20, 25	65–130	yes	Owner decision on SDK hosting

To beta (≈ 75% ready and .aep opening): ≈ 350–620 h. To full parity: ≈ 850–1,500 h.

Revision history

Date	Change	Summary
2026-10-10	minor	Alpha gate: six core workflows checked; all pass, stage stays alpha
2026-10-10	major	New file: milestones from ROADMAP.md, current focus, next steps with estimates