Blender's Photoshop Compositing + a New After Effects Cloner Tool | Motion Mondays

This week we're diving into Blender 5.0's official beta release with all those mograph-style geometry node presets everyone's been waiting for, plus a free compositing toolset called Easy Photorealism that brings Photoshop-like controls right into Blender's compositor.

After Effects users are getting some love too with XCloner's new update that lets you clone along paths and objects just like Cinema 4D's mograph tools.

We've also got two killer Unreal Engine tools to make your life easier including Atlux 2's virtual photo studio, William Faucher's EasyToolbag for one-click render setups. Plus Octane adds Gaussian Splat support, Runway launches five new AI apps that actually seem useful, and we're showcasing some beautiful work from Buda.tv's Beats campaign, Nexus Studios' Playgrounds title sequence, and a SpongeBob short made in Blender.

🎓 SCHOOL OF MOTION COURSES MENTIONED

• School of Motion All-Access

• School of Motion Team Training

• Rive Academy Volume 1

• NEW: Rive Academy Volume 2

• Courses & Workshops Coming Soon

🗒️ SHOW NOTES

• Atlux λ 2 for UE

• Easy Toolbag for UE

• Tron De-rezzing Tutorial

• xCloner for AE

• Storm HydroFX

• Blender 5.0 Release Notes

• Thomas Marcos on Blender's New Features

• Easy Photorealism for Blender

• Octane 2026.1 Alpha Adds Gaussian Splats

• Runway Announces Apps

🎨 ARTIST SPOTLIGHT

• Buda.tv - Beats by Dre - Hungry

• Erwin van den IJssel - In Motion Festival 2025

• Nick - Go Fetch!

• SOM Student of the Week - Aleksandr Haponenka

• Aleksandr Haponenka's Portfolio