GafferHQ/gaffer

Health v2 · maintenance only

Adoption not part of the score

1089 stars · 225 forks observed · 2026-09-03

What it is AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, 2026-08-30, confidence not recorded

Gaffer is a free, open-source, node-based VFX application for look development, lighting, and compositing, with Python and OSL scripting for building shaders and automating production workflows. It also serves as an extensible application framework that studios can use to build their own VFX pipeline tools.

Use cases

• build and tweak 3D scenes for look development and lighting
• write custom shaders with Open Shading Language for Arnold, Cycles, or 3Delight
• automate VFX production processes with node graphs and Python scripting
• build a studio-specific VFX pipeline tool on an extensible framework
• perform non-destructive scene assembly, pruning, and inspection
• run automated QC and image processing on 2D renders

When to choose

• you need a free node-based lookdev and lighting tool for film VFX
• your studio wants an extensible Python/C++ framework for pipeline tools
• you work with Arnold, Cycles, or 3Delight and need shader authoring
• you need to automate rendering and scene processing on Linux or Windows

When to avoid

• you need a general-purpose 3D modeling or animation package like Blender
• you only need a lightweight scene viewer rather than a full node-based application
• you work primarily on macOS, which is not officially supported
• you need real-time game engine rendering rather than offline VFX rendering

Facets

application · maturity stable

gui graphics simulation plugin-system workflow-automation developer-tools graphics developer-tools media windows python cpp vfx lookdev lighting node-graph rendering arnold cycles osl compositing pipeline-tools game-development automation linux

Member repositories

For agents

markdown · JSON · MCP: product_card(name="GafferHQ/gaffer")