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SarabInator

SarabInator is a Lottie animation player with text-layer control, color grading, transform gizmos, and loop optimization.

Overview

To document

Describe what SarabInator does, when to reach for it, and the visual result. Add a hero image/GIF here (see Media below).

Adding it to your shot

Apply SarabInator from the SarabFX category in the Effects/OFX library of DaVinci Resolve, Nuke, Natron, or any other OFX-compatible host, then drag it onto your clip/node. (Restart the host after installing new plugins.)

Key parameters

Parameter What it controls Default
example to document —

To document

Fill this table with the plugin's real UI parameters (group by the panels shown in the host).

Viewport gizmos

To document

SarabInator exposes a transform gizmo in the viewport for position, scale, and rotation (2D and pseudo-3D with skew), synced to the same transformPosition parameters used at render time. Document how to drag/rotate/scale and any modifier keys. Note: overlays render in canonical coordinates scaled by renderScale — see the coordinate-system notes in the internal engineering docs if you're debugging gizmo drift across preview resolutions.

Lua scripting

SarabInator can override parameters at render time via Lua:

function lottie_progress(time)
    return (time % 100) / 100.0
end

function lottie_speed(time)
    return 1.0 + wiggle(time, 0.2, 0.5)
end
  • lottie_progress(time) — override normalized playback progress
  • lottie_speed(time) — override playback speed multiplier

To document

List every scriptable hook and the helpers available (wiggle, time, etc.), plus any additional parameters not yet covered by a Lua override.

Examples & media

Adding screenshots & videos

Drop assets in docs/assets/plugins/sarabinator/ and embed them:

  • Image: ![What it shows](../assets/plugins/sarabinator/example.png)
  • Video: a raw HTML5 block — 
    <video controls width="100%"><source src="../assets/plugins/sarabinator/demo.mp4" type="video/mp4"></video>

Tips & troubleshooting

To document

Common pitfalls, performance notes (GPU/frame cache), host-specific quirks. - Use Skip First/Last Frame to eliminate the common "blink on loop" artifact in Lottie files with a blank/duplicate boundary frame. - SarabInation (the embedded/standalone Lottie editor) can be launched from the plugin — Natron and Nuke (Qt5 hosts) fall back to the standalone app; DaVinci Resolve can use the embedded editor.

See also: Installation · Activation · All plugins