MotionBridge Logo MotionBridge

An alternative to Adobe's Dynamic Link connecting DaVinci Resolve and After Effects

Adobe After Effects 2025+ | DaVinci Resolve (Studio required for V19.1+)

Key Features

Composition Linking

Bidirectional links between AE comps and DaVinci timeline nests

Marker Synchronisation

Share editorial notes, animation timing marks, and comments between apps

Smart Render Management

Render in one click from After Effects with templates, then refresh renders in DaVinci in one click

Project Organisation

Each project maintains its own motionbridge folder with auto-organised bins/folders in apps and on disk

User Interface

After Effects Panel

Dockable ScriptUI panel with all essential controls for linking, markers, and rendering.

After Effects UI

DaVinci Resolve Panel

Matching interface design with mirrored functionality for seamless cross-application workflow.

DaVinci UI

Installation

After Effects Script

  1. Download MotionBridge.jsx from the GitHub repository
  2. Navigate to your After Effects ScriptUI Panels folder:
    • macOS: /Applications/Adobe After Effects [version]/Scripts/ScriptUI Panels/
    • Windows: C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe After Effects [version]\Support Files\Scripts\ScriptUI Panels\
  3. Copy MotionBridge.jsx to the ScriptUI Panels folder
  4. Restart After Effects
  5. Access via: Window > MotionBridge.jsx

DaVinci Resolve Script

  1. Download MotionBridge.lua from the GitHub repository
  2. Navigate to your DaVinci Resolve Scripts folder:
    • macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Blackmagic Design/DaVinci Resolve/Fusion/Scripts/Utility/
    • Windows: %APPDATA%\Blackmagic Design\DaVinci Resolve\Support\Fusion\Scripts\Utility\
  3. Copy MotionBridge.lua to the Utility folder
  4. Restart DaVinci Resolve
  5. Access via: Workspace > Scripts > MotionBridge

How to Use

Getting Started

  • Open MotionBridge in Resolve first to initialise project
  • Click 📁 Browse and navigate to the current project's MEDIA folder
  • Each project creates its own motionbridge folder with subfolders:
    • Renders: All renders from After Effects
    • Support: JSON file (motionbridge.json) containing link data

Linking Compositions ↑ | ↓

From DaVinci to After Effects:
  1. In DaVinci, click ⤓ Insert Placeholder where you want the composition to start
  2. Link video, audio, and/or image media clips from timeline to the placeholder clip
    • (Select Clips > R-click > Link Clips)
    • Please note:
      • Best used for layer timing; carry out all design and animation in AE
      • Layer transforms may not always transfer predictably
      • Keyframes will not be transferred
      • Incompatible with Resolve-native generators
  3. Click ↑ Replace Linked Layers With Nested AE Comp
  4. Switch to After Effects
  5. Click ↓ Import Linked Comps to finalise
From After Effects to DaVinci:
  1. In After Effects, open your composition to make it active
  2. Click ↑ Link Active Comp to establish the link
  3. Switch to DaVinci Resolve
  4. Click ↓ Import Linked Comps to finalise the link

Marker Synchronisation ▲ | ▼

From DaVinci to After Effects:
  1. Add markers:
    • Inside your DaVinci nested timeline,
    • Or on the nested timeline clip in your working timeline
  2. Click ▲ Export Markers in DaVinci, with playhead over clip
  3. Switch to After Effects, open the linked comp
  4. Click ▼ Import Markers to update the MotionBridgeMarkers layer
From After Effects to DaVinci:
  1. Add markers to the MotionBridgeMarkers layer in your composition
  2. Click ▲ Export Markers in After Effects
  3. Switch to DaVinci Resolve
  4. Click ▼ Import Markers to update your timeline or timeline nest clip

Render Management ✚ | ▶ | ↻

In After Effects:
  1. Select your desired render template from the dropdown (create custom templates in the Render Queue window)
  2. Click ✚ Queue to add the active composition to the render queue
  3. Or Click ▶ Render to queue and immediately render
    • (NB: this will also render any other queued comps)
  4. Renders automatically save to the Renders folder in your motionbridge project folder
In DaVinci Resolve:
  1. After rendering in After Effects, return to DaVinci
  2. Click ↻ Refresh Render to update the timeline nest with the latest render
    • Works inside the timeline nest,
    • Or with the playhead over nested timeline clip

Known Limitations

  • DaVinci Resolve Studio Requirement: Fusion UI was removed from free tier after V19.1, so to use without Studio download DaVinci Resolve V19.0.3
  • Frame Rate Consistency: Always maintain the same frame rate throughout a project (DaVinci Resolve is not flexible with frame rate changes)
  • Image transforms: After Effects and DaVinci transform images differently; best used for layer timing - position, scale, and rotate in After Effects
  • No Keyframe Transfer: Carry out all animation work in After Effects

Ongoing Development

Roadmap

July - December 2025
  • Months of brainstorming and experimentation
January 2026 - Beta Release V0.9
  • Initial release for beta testing
Early 2026 - Stable Release V1.0
  • Debugged and refined based on beta feedback
Near Future - Collaboration Features
  • H.265 with Alpha proxy generation for BlackMagic Cloud users
  • Requires Davinci Resolve Scripting API update
Later Down The Line - Blender Integration in V2
  • Bidirectional linking between Blender scenes and After Effects compositions
  • 1-click render refresh from Blender to both After Effects and DaVinci
  • Shared markers across programs

Ready to Streamline Your Workflow?

MotionBridge is free and open source. Download it today and start bridging your creative tools.

Download on GitHub

Licensed under GNU GPL v3.0 • Free for personal and commercial use