Left Angle launches Autograph Creator
Left Angle has launched Autograph Creator, a new lower-cost edition of its next-gen content creation and compositing tool for motion design and visual effects.
The new Creator edition, which has a MSRP of $945, has all of the functionality of the standard Studio edition, aside from command-line rendering and the upcoming Python API.
An alternative to After Effects for motion graphics and VFX work
Released earlier this year, Autograph is pitched as a next-gen tool for motion design and visual effects.
Its online documentation includes information for artists migrating from both Nuke and After Effects, though its interface and workflow are more similar to the latter.
Like After Effects, it uses a layer-based compositing model, with its timeline featuring a standard layer stack and dope sheet, but it combines it with a 3D mode for viewing and manipulating 3D assets.
3D workflow is based around Universal Scene Description, to the point that Autograph doesn’t currently import OBJ, FBX or glTF files: the FAQs recommend using Blender to convert them to USD format.
The software has its own real-time physically based renderer, Filament, which can be used to render 3D assets for integration into compositions.
The world’s ‘first responsive design video software’?
Autograph sells itself on ease of use, with its system of Generators pitched as a simpler alternative to a node graph for creating procedural content, and its Modifiers described as a simpler alternative to expressions.
However, its major claim is to be the “first responsive design video software”, with a workflow geared towards artists who need to deliver a project at multiple resolutions and aspect ratios from a single file.
It can also be used to generate multiple design or language variants of a project by connecting database data in CSV format to the software’s Instancer.
Autograph Creator: new lower-cost edition for freelancers and smaller studios
Although Autograph attracted a fair bit of interest within the CG community on its release, many users commented on its price, particularly as a new, as-yet-unproven application.
With MSRPs of $59/month or $599/year, subscriptions to the full edition – now renamed Autograph Studio – cost more than After Effects, although unlike After Effects, Autograph is also available as a perpetual licence.
Autograph Creator goes some way to addressing those concerns, bringing subscription prices below those of After Effects, at least with the current launch discount – the MSRPs themselves are still slightly higher.
The Creator edition has all of the toolsets of the full edition, now renamed Autograph Studio, but lacks command-line rendering or access to Artisan, Left Angle’s cloud-based shot review platform.
The Creator edition will also not include Left Angle’s upcoming Python API.
Price and system requirements
Autograph is compatible with Windows 10+, CentOS 7/Ubuntu 20.04+ Linux, and macOS 10.15+. The software supports Apple Silicon processors natively on macOS 11.0+.
Perpetual licences of Autograph Creator have a MSRP of $945; rental costs $35/month or $315/year.
Perpetual licences of Autograph Studio have a MSRP of $1,795; rental costs $59/month or $599/year. By default, licences are node-locked, but floating licences of Autograph Studio are available on request.
You can find full pricing details on Left Angle’s website, including prices for command-line Autograph Render licences and for additional Artisan subscriptions.
Read an overview of Autograph’s feature set on Left Angle’s website