EffectCraft v0.4.0

Highlights

A release built around the issues people filed since v0.3.1: more than 40 of them are fixed.

• Timeline: Alt+wheel zooms out to the whole comp; the Time Navigator's ends drag to zoom and ; toggles frame level / the whole comp; reveal shortcuts (U, E, P…) only touch the selected layers; enabling Time Remapping reveals it; Project items land where you drop them.
• Viewer: drop Project items, files and effects straight onto the comp; Pan Behind snaps the anchor to its own layer, with Alt-drag, Shift-drag and Ctrl+double-click to center; a locked viewer keeps its comp.
• Panels and editing: clicking a value or name field selects it, so typing replaces it (Enter commits, Escape cancels); the gaps between the right column's stacked panels drag to resize them; Delete removes selected animators, masks and shape groups; the font menus list your installed fonts.
• Export: VP9 WebM frames always decode (no false superframe markers); long audio keeps its sound past 12:36; --format hevc / av1 and .mp4 outputs keep the codec you chose; AV1 WebM refuses alpha instead of silently dropping it.
• Reliability: running out of video memory falls back to the CPU instead of crashing; GPU start-up failures are contained; the CLI no longer panics when its output is piped into head.
• Agents and automation: MCP add_effect is one undo step and all-or-nothing; expression syntax errors reach set_property replies; unknown CLI options are errors; docs/agents.md lists every MCP tool, checked by a test.
• Platforms: Windows on ARM64 installers, tested on ARM64 hardware.

Thanks to everyone who filed issues and sent pull requests. Come say hi on Discord.

What's Changed

• Windows on ARM64: release builds, PE header check, install test on ARM64 hardware by @echelon in #101
• Persist Japanese menu language in General settings by @midasdf in #71
• Improve AE-style editing, easing fidelity and Windows GPU rendering by @dexterlabs1 in #95
• G2: font menus list the installed fonts by @bflatastic in #118
• Docs: Windows ARM64 builds in the README (#94) by @bflatastic in #119
• Render Queue: Render Settings templates apply from the menu (#117) by @bflatastic in #122
• Angles: the revolutions ("0x") scrub and take typing (#93) by @bflatastic in #123
• Preview: Audio, Lock and Shy keep the cache; playback with audio waits for frames (#103) by @bflatastic in #127
• GPU: running out of video memory falls back to the CPU instead of crashing (#106) by @bflatastic in #129
• Timeline: Project items land where they are dropped (#89) by @bflatastic in #131
• Viewer: drop Project items, files and effects onto the comp (#85, #88) by @bflatastic in #133
• Docs: user issues #85–#117 in gaps, parity, ROADMAP and README by @bflatastic in #134
• Untrack crates/hevcenc/target (36 MB of build output) and ignore nested target/ by @EthanSuquet in #128
• Settings: handle invalid Unicode label colours gracefully by @storybored379 in #135
• UI: cancel numeric edits on Escape and reject non-finite values by @jonassneu in #141
• Prevent parenting hangs on malformed loaded ancestor chains by @dexterlabs1 in #142
• GPU: land #139 (contain GPU initialization errors) with a readback latency fix by @bflatastic in #144
• Contain GPU initialization errors and retire failed compositor work by @dexterlabs1 in #139
• Docs: gaps.md records the community fixes of 7 October by @bflatastic in #145
• Control: close the connection on input that isn't a request by @Luskish in #150
• docs: add star history chart to README by @coygeek in #148
• Docs and tests: releasing guide, MCP tools table, font-list test (#136, #137, #149) by @bflatastic in #173
• CLI: --format hevc / av1 write HEVC / AV1; an unknown comp is named (#154, #155) by @bflatastic in #178
• Timeline: per-layer reveals, Time Remap reveal, full zoom-out, navigator handles (#157–#160) by @bflatastic in #181
• Project and text: row clicks, item labels, tracking alignment, Delete on groups (#146, #151–#153) by @bflatastic in #182
• Viewer: Pan Behind snapping and modifiers, locked viewers keep their comp (#147, #156, #162) by @bflatastic in #183
• Docs and packaging: web hosting guide matches the build; Linux packages describe a compositor (#164, #165, #169, #174, #180) by @bflatastic in #184
• VP9: frames never end in a byte that reads as a superframe marker (#161) by @bflatastic in #185
• Media: conformed audio keeps its sound past 12:36 (#172) by @bflatastic in #186
• UI: inline fields select their value on click (#170); stacked panels resize (#171) by @bflatastic in #187
• CLI, MCP and engine fixes (#163, #166, #167, #168, #175, #176, #177, #179) by @bflatastic in #188
• Release: EffectCraft v0.4.0 by @bflatastic in #189

New Contributors

• @midasdf made their first contribution in #71
• @dexterlabs1 made their first contribution in #95
• @EthanSuquet made their first contribution in #128
• @Luskish made their first contribution in #150
• @coygeek made their first contribution in #148

Full Changelog: v0.3.1...v0.4.0