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wtf is framedeck?

d-mad/framedeck — explained in plain English

Analysis updated 2026-05-18

13PythonAudience · developerComplexity · 3/5Setup · easy

TL;DR

A portable Windows and Ubuntu review player for VFX artists to play, compare, annotate, and color-manage shot footage before final delivery.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((framedeck))
    What it does
      VFX shot review player
      A B comparison modes
      Frame annotations
    Tech stack
      Python
      PySide6
      FFmpeg
      OCIO ACES
    Use cases
      Editorial playlists
      Shot comparison
      Review reports
    Audience
      VFX artists
      Production reviewers
    Setup
      Portable Windows build
      Ubuntu AppImage

Code map

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Why would anyone build with this?

REASON 1

Review and compare two versions of a VFX shot side by side with wipe or difference modes.

REASON 2

Play back an editorial playlist of shots as one continuous timeline for client review.

REASON 3

Draw annotations and leave timestamped comments on individual frames for a production team.

REASON 4

Export annotated frames, CSV comment logs, or a PDF review report to share with collaborators.

What's in the stack?

PythonPySide6FFmpegPyAVOCIOACES

How it stacks up

d-mad/framedeck1lystore/awaek47cid/wp2shell-lab
Stars131313
LanguagePythonPythonPython
Setup difficultyeasymoderatemoderate
Complexity3/52/54/5
Audiencedevelopervibe coderresearcher

Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.

How do you spin it up?

Difficulty · easy Time to first run · 5min

Portable download for Windows or Ubuntu, building from source needs extra setup per platform.

Wtf does this do

FrameDeck is a portable review player built for visual effects artists to check shots before they are finalized. It runs on Windows and Ubuntu as a standalone download, no installation required beyond extracting a zip file or running an AppImage. The project builds on an earlier tool called Viewline and adds an editorial review workflow, color management, and annotation tools aimed at professional VFX pipelines. A user can import many video and image formats at once, including MP4, MOV, AVI, and EXR image sequences, then arrange them into a playlist that plays back as one continuous timeline. Two sources can be compared side by side using modes like a wipe, overlay, difference, or flicker view, which helps when checking a new version of a shot against an older one. The player also reads EXR image layers, which are the separate technical passes that make up a rendered VFX shot. FrameDeck includes OCIO color management, a system used in film and VFX to keep colors consistent across different cameras and displays, along with built in ACES color configurations, which is an industry standard color pipeline. Reviewers can draw pencil or text notes directly on a frame, leave frame-by-frame comments with a resolved or open status, and export those comments to CSV or a searchable PDF report. Annotated frames can also be exported as images, and full sequences can be converted into an MP4 video file. Playback is built to handle heavy files, with background caching, buffering for 2K and 4K footage, and support for many video codecs through FFmpeg. The interface includes keyboard shortcuts for zoom, pan, gamma and exposure checks, and full screen review. Portable builds for both Windows and Ubuntu are produced automatically through GitHub Actions. The README references that FrameDeck keeps the history and license of the Viewline project it was built on, without stating what that license is.

Yoink these prompts

Prompt 1
Help me download and run FrameDeck on Windows or Ubuntu without building it from source.
Prompt 2
Explain how OCIO and ACES color management work inside FrameDeck for a VFX review session.
Prompt 3
Show me how to build a shot playlist and compare two sources using FrameDeck's A/B modes.
Prompt 4
Walk me through exporting annotated frames and a PDF review report from FrameDeck.
Prompt 5
Help me build FrameDeck from source for Windows using the provided build scripts.

Frequently asked questions

wtf is framedeck?

A portable Windows and Ubuntu review player for VFX artists to play, compare, annotate, and color-manage shot footage before final delivery.

What language is framedeck written in?

Mainly Python. The stack also includes Python, PySide6, FFmpeg.

How hard is framedeck to set up?

Setup difficulty is rated easy, with roughly 5min to a first successful run.

Who is framedeck for?

Mainly developer.

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