By Eric McGilloway • Smiths & Tailors
The Full 2026 Breakdown
I put together a deep dive on what's shaping up for LA motion designers this year. Production slates, active job openings at Netflix, Amazon, Apple, Framestore, and Scanline, salary ranges, the skills that matter now, and updates on what's coming to Smiths & Tailors.
Toolbox
Match Position: AE Script
Match Position: One Click Replaces Hours of Expression Work
Love this script! You're building a product spot. Camera's moving. I need call-out labels tracking 3D objects through the shot. With Match Position I click twice and move on.
Lens Flare needs to follow a 3D light source through a camera move. Radio Waves origin locked to a 3D element. Focus distance tracking your hero object.
Sometime I just lose the 3D layer in my comp. Where did it friggin’ go? Match position it and boom, it’s right there.
It was a “name-your-own-price” but now its $19.99. Not bad for what I’m getting. I’ve burned more than that in billable hours finding a way to coordinate these layers. It’s worth it!
File Sequence Exporter for Cinema 4D
If you’re less concerned with 3D renderers like Redshift and Octane, for example, than File Sequence Exporter for Cinema 4D is very helpful. Exports each frame of a C4D animation as a separate c4d or obj file. The sequence imports into Element 3D, Stardust, Plexus, Particular, and Form as animated geometry with all the 3D camera power you’d get in c4d.
Animate what you want in cinema. Export those frames. Import them into Element 3D. Use AE’s cameras and lights to find the right angle lighting style.
It's been around since at least 2020 and handles edge cases that break other solutions, scaled cloners, XPresso instances, material IDs.
Fair warning: file sizes get big fast. A 300-frame sequence can eat up some space. Other than
Coming Next Week: Designer Spotlight with Angus Lyne
Angus has been building title sequences and motion graphics for LA entertainment since 2007. Picturemill artist, worked on The Naked Gun, Final Destination: Bloodlines, Happy Face, and Conan among many other projects. His work is visually exciting and technically sharp, and he moves between 2D, 3D, and compositing without missing a beat. Next week, we chat with Angus to talk craft, career, and what keeps him sharp as a talented and experienced motion designer.
That's it for 2025. Thanks for being part of Smiths & Tailors. Whether you joined early or just signed up, you're helping build something that didn't exist a few months ago.
2026 is going to be a big year. Let's make it count.
Happy New Year.
Eric