719b9170dd
* 3D: Orientation and X/Y/Z Rotation turn Z first, keyed Orientation slerps, as After Effects After Effects composes a 3D layer's (and a camera's) Orientation and its X/Y/Z Rotation as Rx * Ry * Rz each, Orientation before the axis rotations; EffectCraft used Rz * Ry * Rx. Measured on synthetic AE 2026 cases: Orientation [10,20,30] (488) was 5.2 % of the frame off and now matches to the anti-aliased edge (0.03 %); X/Y/Z Rotation 10/20/30 (800), Orientation + X Rotation (801) and one-node cameras (804, 805) likewise. Keyed Orientation moves along the shortest arc between the keys (quaternion slerp, eased in time, angles written in [0, 360)): keys [0,0,0] -> [10,20,30] read back [6.2643, 9.3531, 15.2190] half-way where EffectCraft gave [5,10,15]; [0,0,0] -> [60,80,40] linear and eased match AE's read-backs within 0.002 deg. lookAt() returns AE's angles (z axis on the target, x axis level; two AE read-backs within 1e-3 deg). The camera tracker, VR editor, Look At and orbit commands use the new decomposition. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com> * Keyframes: a linear side next to an eased side has 16.67 % influence, as After Effects In a segment that is Bezier on one side and linear on the other, the linear side keeps the segment's average speed, but with the 16.67 % influence After Effects shows for linear keys in the Keyframe Velocity dialog (and reports to scripts), not 33.3 %. Measured on an After Effects 2026 time-remap render (a square at x = 50 + 455 * remap): out of a key at 2 s (3.5, speed 0, influence 50 %) into a linear key at 4 s (0.5), AE plays 3.290 at 2.5 s and 2.657 at 3 s; EffectCraft played 3.308 and 2.629 (8 and 13 px off), now the same square positions to the pixel. LINEAR_SIDE_INFLUENCE is used by evaluation (scalar, per-dimension, paths and spatial), side_ease (Graph Editor, velocity dialog, keyIn/OutTemporalEase) and the Lottie export, so exported easing plays as EffectCraft does. Segments linear on both sides stay straight lines. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com> * Timewarp: retime the layer's source without the effects above it, as After Effects After Effects' Timewarp reads the layer's source (with its masks) at the retimed times and ignores the effects applied before it: a red solid with a Gradient Ramp and then Timewarp (Speed 25) renders as the red solid in AE 2026 (EXPORTER e2 read-back). EffectCraft retimed the layer with its effects (mean difference 127.5/255 over the comp), now identical (0, CPU and GPU). Echo, Posterize Time and the other time effects keep reading the effects before them, as measured before. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com> * Image sequences: a gap in the numbering holds the previous frame, as After Effects After Effects 2026 shows the last existing file across a gap in a sequence's numbering (case 860: files 1, 2, 4, 5 show frame 2 at frame 3; VERIFY read-back). EffectCraft drew colour bars there. The media pool now holds the previous file (Footage::sequence_file_held); colour bars remain only where no file precedes the frame. Missing-frame reports on import are unchanged. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com> * Review: keyed Orientation uses LINEAR_SIDE_INFLUENCE for linear sides; real NaN assert evaluate_orientation still gave a linear side (and the unreachable missing-key fallback) 1/3 influence while segment_value, side_ease and the Lottie export use LINEAR_SIDE_INFLUENCE (1/6), so a keyed Orientation next to an eased key moved on a different curve than every other property (CodeRabbit on #1876). New test: orientation_linear_side_next_to_an_eased_side_matches_a_scalar (both directions). The always-true NaN assert in keyed_orientation_slerps_as_after_effects now checks that a non-finite key comes back as given; Property::value_at says why the match_id "orientation" routing is safe. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com> * Format keyframe orientation test (cargo fmt) Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com> * Move the image-sequence gap change out of this branch The gap change (hold the previous file instead of colour bars) reverses #297's documented behaviour and goes to its own PR, as requested in review. pool.rs, sequence.rs, the footage test and docs/footage.md / docs/agents.md are back to main. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com> --------- Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com> Co-authored-by: Codex <noreply@openai.com> Co-authored-by: FredApps <153173854+FredApps@users.noreply.github.com>
Measured keyframe fidelity
The AE 2026 replacement acceptance gates define the broader target across workflows, rendered output, work-project compatibility, performance and platforms.
Object Matte has a comparison plan (clips, prompt, per-frame IoU and the other metrics) but no measurement yet.
The first G1 comparison measures eight original scalar Rotation cases against a live After Effects 2026 session through AEsync 2.0.4: Easy Ease, overlapping influences, asymmetric ease, overshoot, descending values, equal endpoints, 100%/100% influence and 0.1%/100% influence. Each case has 21 samples over a one-second segment. This is a scalar temporal-interpolation measurement, not an overall animation, rendering, spatial-path or application-parity score.
Reproduce
With Node.js, Rust and an installed AEsync CLI, open a scratch After Effects project and run from the EffectCraft checkout:
node examples/check-ae-ease.mjs /path/to/aesync/server/dist/cli.js
The external bridge must be answering. Signing into AEsync's embedded chat is not required. The script creates a temporary comp with an original text layer, samples its Rotation property and removes the comp on success or failure. It does not save, close or replace the current project. Run in a scratch project: creating/removing the comp still changes the dirty flag and undo history.
crates/keyframe/examples/ae_ease_samples.rs evaluates the corresponding EffectCraft keys.
examples/ae-ease-oracle.jsx records live property samples and actual ease settings after the setters.
examples/check-ae-ease.mjs checks case metadata, applied AE settings, finite values and sample times,
then compares every value with an absolute tolerance of 1e-7 degrees. A failing score exits nonzero.
Raw host observations and EffectCraft samples stay in gitignored plan/aftereffects/ref/ease/.
Only the original harness and aggregate scores in keyframe-ease.json are tracked. No Adobe artwork,
presets, screenshots, frames or implementation code are included.
Finding and validation
Measured on 5 October 2026 with After Effects 26.3x87 and AEsync 2.0.4. Before the fix,
EffectCraft normalized outgoing/incoming influence when their sum exceeded 100%. AE retains each
influence. That normalization caused maximum errors of 12.4581 degrees for 80%/80%, 8.8909 degrees
for the asymmetric case and 5.5636 degrees for the descending case. Removing normalization in both
scalar evaluation and the shared progress helper makes all eight cases pass; the largest difference
in the 168 samples is below 3e-11 degrees.
The numeric regression test checks AE-derived behavioral facts, including the formerly failing sample at 0.1 seconds (0.59243939036327 degrees; previously 1.4621885963370382). Existing linear, hold, spatial, roving and eased-range tests remain green.
Astra review also found premature Newton convergence near the flat midpoint of the 100%/100%
time curve. Its closed-form inverse and a parameter-based convergence check now have a separate
mathematical regression test at times within 1e-12 of the midpoint; that test is additional to
the 168 live AE samples.
Auto-Bezier spatial tangents
Measured on 10 October 2026 with After Effects 2026 (26.3) by running the original
examples/ae-spatial-tangents.jsx in both hosts (AfterFX.exe -r and effectcraft-cli script):
three original Position paths, ten keys, with even and uneven key timing. The script pins spatial
interpolation to auto-Bezier, since an AE preference can default new keys to linear.
AE gives each auto-Bezier key an out tangent of (next key − previous key) / 6 and the mirrored in tangent, whatever the key times; an end key uses its one neighbour, (neighbour − key) / 6. That is a Catmull-Rom spline. EffectCraft gave end keys no tangent and scaled middle keys' tangents by the lengths of their segments, so all ten tangents differed. Sampled Position along an auto-Bezier path with Easy Ease was up to 25.1 px off, and a roving path up to 27.7 px.
After the fix, all ten tangents equal AE's to the printed 0.001 px, and the two path cases are within
0.05 px over 61 samples each; what remains is the arc-length table's sub-pixel speed. The regression
test spatial_auto_bezier_tangents_follow_after_effects checks the rule on other original keys,
including a timing change. AE's output stays local; only the script and these scores are tracked.
Linear side next to an eased side
Measured on 19 October 2026 with After Effects 2026 (26.2) through a time-remapped precomposition
(a square moving at 455 px per second of source time, read off rendered frames to the pixel): a
segment from a Bezier out side (speed 0, influence 50 %) at 2 s, value 3.5, into a linear key at
4 s, value 0.5, plays 3.290 at 2.5 s and 2.657 at 3 s. EffectCraft gave the linear side the
segment's average speed at 33.3 % influence (3.308 and 2.629, 8 and 13 px off); AE uses the average
speed at 16.67 %, the influence its Keyframe Velocity dialog shows for linear keys. Now the same
square positions to the pixel. LINEAR_SIDE_INFLUENCE holds the value for evaluation, the Graph
Editor / velocity dialog sides and the Lottie export; segments that are linear on both sides stay
straight. Regression test: a_linear_side_next_to_an_eased_side_matches_after_effects.
Justify All with the every-line composer
Measured on 19 October 2026 with After Effects 2026 (26.2) on box text (EXPORTER read-back t6):
with Justify All, AE stretches the paragraph's last line too and breaks the lines so that it is not
a lone word (4 / 4 / 4 words where the other justifications break 6 / 6 / 1). EffectCraft's
every-line composer ignored the last line's slack and left "twelve" alone on a stretched line; it now
counts that slack for Justify All, and every word starts within 1 px of AE's. Regression test:
justify_all_balances_the_lines_with_the_every_line_composer.
Right-to-left point text with a justified paragraph
Measured on 19 October 2026 with After Effects 2026 (26.2) (EXPORTER read-back t7): right-to-left
point text whose paragraph has a justified code (justify last left / centre / right, justify all)
sits flush right at its anchor, like right-aligned text. EffectCraft placed it by the last-line
side (left / centre / left). Now flush right; left-to-right point text is unchanged (not measured).
Regression test: rtl_point_text_with_a_justified_paragraph_is_flush_at_its_start. Still open:
AE wraps right-to-left box text slightly wider (its word gaps are 1–2 px narrower than in
left-to-right text with the same font), so a 300 px box fits a word more per line.
Text animator tracking
Measured on 19 October 2026 with After Effects 2026 (26.2): a text animator's Tracking Amount is in
pixels, not 1/1000 em like the Character panel's tracking (Amount 30 adds 30 px between neighbouring
characters at 80 px and at 40 px, half before and half after each), and a Subtract range selector
over characters the first selector leaves out keeps them at 0 instead of tracking them negatively.
With both, the EXPORTER's t8 layer D (Tracking 30 on characters 2–4 by index, a Subtract selector
over the last 20 %) puts every glyph where AE does (it ended 88 px short). The "Tracking In" text
preset now animates 40 → 0 px (was 400 → 0 thousandths of an em). Lottie export is unchanged (not
checked against a player). Regression tests: animator_tracking_is_in_pixels_as_in_after_effects,
modes_combine.
Per-character 3D rotation order
Measured on 19 October 2026 with After Effects 2026 (26.2) (case 931: "H" at 400 px, per-character
3D, animator X / Y / Z Rotation 40 / 30 / 20): a character turns as a 3D layer does, Rx · Ry · Rz
(Z first). EffectCraft composed Rz · Ry · Rx, so the glyph faced another way (23 of 5184 grid points
off, max 255); now 3 at the anti-aliased edge (mean 0.015). Regression test:
per_character_rotation_turns_z_first_as_a_3d_layer.
Rectangle path start point
Measured on 19 October 2026 with After Effects 2026 (26.2) on 400 × 300 shape rectangles with Trim
Paths: a plain rectangle starts at its top-right corner and runs clockwise (0–25 % covers the right
edge and 50 px of the bottom); with Roundness 40 it starts where the top-right arc meets the right
edge. Start 70 / End 30 draws 30–70 %. EffectCraft started at the top-left corner (and the rounded
rectangle elsewhere), so trimmed rectangles drew the wrong segment (86 of 5184 grid points off,
now 5 at stroke edges). effectcraft_path::rect now draws AE's order, which also gives Convert to
Bezier AE's vertex order. Regression test: rectangles_start_where_after_effects_starts_them.
Still unmeasured
Rendered frame comparisons now have a deterministic effectcraft_effects::fidelity::compare_frames
helper. Corpus runners can use it with locally generated host/reference frames and fail on either a
mean or maximum channel error without committing proprietary renders.
Mixed interpolation sides, non-unit durations, temporal automatic/continuous Bezier, spatial speeds, time remapping, expressions, actual rendered motion and other effects need separate corpus cases. The initial probe makes no claim about those features.