Caddis: AI composition and animation built by a designer, not a programmer

Published on May 22, 2026 | Translated from Spanish

Mike Gaynor, a designer with 15 years of experience, has launched Caddis, a compositing and animation tool that challenges the status quo. Interestingly, Gaynor is not a software developer: his hands-on approach and design background shaped an application that integrates artificial intelligence for tasks such as depth estimation and matte generation, processed in the cloud through a credit system.

designer hands adjusting layer-based animation timeline on a large monitor, AI depth estimation overlay showing grayscale depth map on a 3D scene, cloud processing indicator with credit counter in corner, workspace with stylus and drawing tablet, floating UI panels for matte generation and compositing tools, cinematic technical illustration style, warm studio lighting, photorealistic render, clean modern interface, motion blur on cursor moving between layers

Cloud AI and Professional Export Formats 🚀

Caddis processes AI tasks on remote servers, which avoids overloading the local machine but introduces a pay-per-credit model. Exports include standard formats like H.264, ProRes, PNG sequences, and EXR, covering basic workflow needs. Although there is no official documentation yet, Gaynor assures it will arrive with the stable version. A relevant detail: the tool does not import After Effects projects, but according to its creator, rebuilding compositions from scratch is faster than expected.

No Documentation, but Blind Faith in Vibe-Coding 🤖

Gaynor admits he does not know how to code formally, but rather practices vibe-coding, meaning programming by intuition and trial and error. The community eagerly awaits the promised documentation, which will arrive when the software is stable. Meanwhile, users move forward blindly, trusting that the designer knows what he is doing. At least, if something fails, they can always blame the vibe.