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10 of the Biggest Motion Design Stories of 2026 (So Far) | Motion Mondays
Ten of the biggest motion design stories of 2026 so far trace a year of artists building their own software, free apps challenging After Effects, and AI promises meeting production demands.
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Jake Bartlett’s Railcut and Motion State, Marco van der Vlag’s Plate, and ArtCraft’s Adobe lookalikes show how much the tool-building landscape has changed. Cavalry and Autograph went free, while Figma added animation. AI assistants began working inside creative applications, but tests from Jake and Andrew Price exposed the gap between a polished demo and a result that holds up to revisions. CorridorKey, Object Matte, and LTX Alpha Gen offer more specific progress on keying and rotoscoping.
Rive’s scripting and GPU Canvas opened new possibilities for interactive motion, Duolingo acquired Animade, and KitBash brought ArtStation and Sketchfab into its growing ecosystem. We also look at the junior artist pipeline, FrameRate’s community, and Christalle Chow’s Animation Bootcamp work. School of Motion news includes a Figma Weave livestream on November 12, portfolio reviews on November 19, and Figma Design for Motion arriving November 23, with Black Friday details still to come.
🎓 SCHOOL OF MOTION COURSES MENTIONED
🗒️ SHOW NOTES
🎨 ARTIST SPOTLIGHT
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Plugins for ALL + Maxon Doubles Down on Autograph | Motion Mondays
Maxon made Autograph free for entire studios this week, and there are more plugins dropping than we know what to do with.
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After Effects' AI Agent is HERE & Rive Can't Stop Won't Stop | Motion Mondays
After Effects can now take spoken instructions and build an editable rig, Rive shipped another pile of serious animation tools, and Dash Bash is bringing five hundred motion designers back to Raleigh.
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New AE Particle Plugin + Blender 5.3 Teases New NPR Shading | Motion Mondays
There's a fast new GPU-based particle plugin for After Effects in beta, an AI agent lives inside After Effects and actually impressed Jake Bartlett, and Blender is getting real per-light cel shading in 5.3.