Linear

Linear is an open-source native C++ effect for Adobe After Effects and Premiere Pro on Windows. It detects color- or motion-derived regions and turns them into configurable technical overlays: tracked boxes, markers, labels, networks, measurement grids, paths, and region-confined fills.

Project status: v0.1.0 is an unsigned development release. The plug-in has been compiled with the official After Effects 25.6 SDK and recognized by Premiere Pro 2026. Full timeline validation in Premiere Pro and in-host validation in After Effects are still pending.

Highlights

• RGB, HSV, and Lab color detection with alpha handling, blur, and morphology.
• Color, Motion, Color + Motion, and Color AND Motion detection sources.
• Deterministic tracking with Basic, Adaptive, Cinematic, and Predictive smoothing modes.
• Rectangle, corner-bracket, and ellipse regions with nine marker shapes.
• Six network topologies and five line-routing styles, including curved, stepped, and PCB-style connections.
• Simple and Cartesian measurement grids with node projections.
• Collision-aware labels with direct text editing, UTF-8 text, installed Windows fonts, rounded panels, borders, shadows, and leader lines.
• Shape-confined Solid, Hatch, Crosshatch, Invert, X-Ray, and Duotone fills.
• Full, half, and quarter-resolution analysis with full-resolution output.
• After Effects Multi-Frame Rendering-aware, render-order-independent core.
• 43 dependency-free core tests plus a CPU benchmark executable.

Install the Windows release

1. Download Linear-0.1.0-windows-x64.zip from GitHub Releases.

2. Verify it against the accompanying .sha256 file.

3. Close After Effects, Premiere Pro, and Adobe Media Encoder.

4. Extract Linear.aex to:

   C:\Program Files\Adobe\Common\Plug-ins\7.0\MediaCore\Linear\
   

5. Restart the Adobe host and search the effects list for Linear.

The binary is currently unsigned, so Windows or managed workstations may show an additional trust warning. Source builds can use scripts/install-dev.ps1.

Build the shared core

Requirements: CMake 3.24+ and a C++17 compiler.

cmake --preset windows-debug
cmake --build --preset windows-debug --parallel
ctest --preset windows-debug --output-on-failure

The shared core does not require the Adobe SDK. GitHub Actions builds and tests this SDK-free target on Windows and Linux.

Build the Adobe plug-in

Download the official After Effects C++ SDK from Adobe, then point ADOBE_AE_SDK_ROOT to the directory containing Examples/Headers/AE_Effect.h:

$env:ADOBE_AE_SDK_ROOT = 'D:\SDKs\AfterEffectsSDK'
cmake --preset windows-adobe
cmake --build --preset windows-adobe-release --parallel

Adobe SDK files are proprietary, user-supplied, excluded from source control, and never included in Linear release archives. See Building and Third-party notices.

Documentation

• User guide
• Building
• Architecture
• Performance
• Parameter compatibility
• Implementation status
• Troubleshooting
• Changelog

Contributing and security

Bug reports and focused pull requests are welcome. Read CONTRIBUTING.md before submitting changes. Please report security issues privately as described in SECURITY.md.

License

Linear is released under the MIT License. Adobe products and the Adobe After Effects SDK are governed by Adobe's own terms and are not part of this repository.