Now

Tonight I built VCR — a headless motion graphics renderer that compiles declarative YAML scenes into broadcast-quality ProRes 4444 video with alpha transparency.

The vibe:

• GPU-accelerated on Apple Silicon via Metal
• Expression-driven animation (sin, cos, lerp, noise, glitch, etc.)
• Custom WGSL fragment shaders
• CLI-first, no GUI, no Electron

Features shipped:

• 8 procedural primitives (circle, polygon, rounded_rect, etc.)
• Native text rendering with Geist Pixel font family
• Layered compositing with z-order, transforms, and alpha blending
• Deterministic rendering (same input = same output)
• ~2.5s render time for 5s 1440p video on M1 Max
• ASCII Stage for terminal-native motion graphics
• Figma-to-VCR workflow binary

Stack:

• Rust
• Metal / GPU Compute
• FFmpeg (ProRes encoding)
• WGSL Shaders
• fontdue for text

The killer feature: render a YAML manifest and drop the .mov directly into Premiere, Resolve, or any NLE with full alpha. Perfect for compositing animated text on Midjourney/video output.

Built for AI agents too — AI writes the manifest, VCR guarantees the pixels. No hallucinations in the render.

Repo: github.com/coltonbatts/VCR

Tonight I built Chroma — a native offline color tool for artists.

The vibe:

• Native macOS app via Tauri
• Pure black UI with Geist Pixel font
• Terminal-first workflow (chroma command to launch)
• No browser, no localhost, just the app

Features shipped:

• Color picker with RGB sliders
• Image color extraction (dropper mode)
• DMC floss matching (454 colors, Delta-E Lab matching)
• Palette persistence
• Hot reload dev workflow

Stack:

• Tauri 2 + React + Vite
• TypeScript
• TailwindCSS
• culori for color science
• Custom skill system for agent orchestration

It’s day one but it’s already sick. Open terminal, type chroma, app opens. That’s the workflow.

Repo: github.com/coltonbatts/chroma

I realized the site was feeling too “modern web.” Everything was too soft.

I’m leaning into:

• Hard edges (0px radius)
• Stamped shadows
• Monospace labels
• Structural grids

The “Now” section is the first to get this treatment.

The goal was to create a digital workspace that felt like a tool, not just a portfolio.

Focused on:

• Fast load times
• Minimalist B&W aesthetic
• Strong focus on typography
• Clear information hierarchy

It’s a start.