The BeastWorks emblem materializing from particles and blueprint wireframe into a finished studio prop.

Build, inspect, paint, and present

Studio Tools

Portable creative applications shaped from one extensible C++ framework.

Executive summary

Portable studio tools, one shared foundation

Studio Tools is an evolving collection of prototype creative applications approaching professional quality. Portable C++ owns the shared document, rendering, content, animation, input, undo, logging, and automation systems; React Native provides the interface and platform host. The result is one extensible foundation across browsers, desktop, mobile, and spatial devices.

I'm Guthrie Adams, a hands-on generalist working across games and simulations, tools and workflows, rendering, visual effects, animation, architecture, profiling, and optimization. This project began as a deeper investigation into AI, modern web technologies, and portable application hosts, with the goal of sharing lessons, experiments, videos, and tutorials while bringing BeastWorks, CAGE, and nearly 35 years of personal software projects to the web.

The applications below are works in progress and current examples, not a complete or fixed catalog. Launch one to explore scene authoring, effects painting, model and animation inspection, WebXR presentation, mounted content, and AI-assisted workflows. Restored interactive projects are available in Arcade.

Current prototype applications

Tools built on the framework

Choose a tool to explore its current browser build.

Every Flavor FX Painter Paint expressive effects with configurable brushes, materials, and post processing. Launch in browser

An effects-painting tool with a playful spirit and professional creative ambitions. Combine expressive strokes, configurable brushes, shapes, colors, and materials into your own visual language. Stroke behavior responds to movement and dwell, while the brush preview reveals the current combination. Edit paintings with undo/redo and explore bloom, god rays, and other post effects through the same renderer used by Editor and Viewer. Paintings remain editable documents you can save, reopen, import, or export. MCP-connected assistants can also select tools and script strokes. The creative playground is in the combinations, not a limit on what the tool is meant to become.

Editor Build scenes and node graphs with shared rendering, inspection, and editing tools. Launch in browser

An authoring workspace for scenes and node graphs, with an object hierarchy, property inspection, selection and transform tools, and undo/redo. Assemble models, adjust materials, explore lighting and shadows, and experiment with post effects through the shared rendering pipeline. Switch camera modes and viewpoints, arrange the workspace to suit the task, and load or save documents through the content system. On compatible browsers and headsets, VR Preview takes the active scene into a head-tracked stereoscopic view with an in-view tool panel. This is the main workshop for exploring the framework and building content with it.

Viewer Inspect, animate, and preview models, materials, and textures. Launch in browser

Inspect models, textures, and materials without building a scene around them first. Explore mesh hierarchies and material slots, inspect geometry statistics and texture bindings, and select animations for playback. Orbit, pan, zoom, and frame the object with the shared camera controls. Edit material properties to preview different appearances, with supported mesh and material operations in the edit tools. Lighting, shadows, and post effects use the same rendering pipeline as Editor. On compatible browsers and headsets, VR Preview lets you inspect the active asset stereoscopically. Use Viewer to review converted assets, compare materials, and explore your own mounted content libraries.

Framework at a glance

The applications share the same core capabilities, so improvements to the framework carry across the tool set instead of being rebuilt for each product.

Architecture	Portable C++ owns authoritative systems and behavior. React Native remains the cross-platform interface and host layer.
Data-driven configuration	JSON configuration defines application composition, registries, themes, layouts, toolbars, menus, settings, materials, content, and other shared behavior so new tools and features can be assembled without duplicating host-specific code.
Documents and workflow	A multi-document, multi-view architecture supports specialized document types, views, and focused controllers, with configurable workspaces, docking, drag and drop, undo/redo, and structured logging.
Rendering and materials	The shared material system drives forward rendering, deferred lighting, composable post-processing effects, and Painter brush effects. Materials can consume textures produced by prior passes, while compatible effects and brushes are discovered and registered from data at startup.
Content	Mount local folders and ZIP archives, import files, or connect writable providers. WebDAV provides the common cross-platform route; native builds also support FTP, FTPS, and SFTP where available.
Diagnostics and verification	Structured logs, state inspection, repeatable tests, profiling, viewport capture, and visual verification support self-debugging, diagnosis, and automated validation.
Messaging and automation	Standardized JSON-RPC 2.0 messages cover common framework systems, with application-, document-, and view-specific messages extending the same model. Data-driven registration exposes eligible operations for testing, AI control, feature extension, scene assembly, asset inspection, property editing, effects painting, and other repeatable workflows.
Built-in MCP server	The native applications expose registered operations through a built-in MCP server on every supported native platform, enabling authorized assistants and clients to control applications on local or remote connected devices. Web builds cannot host that listener because browser sandboxes do not permit applications to accept arbitrary inbound TCP or HTTP connections; a separately hosted bridge will be required for remote MCP control of browser sessions.
Platforms and uses	Current targets include browsers, macOS, iPhone, iPad, and Vision Pro. Windows, Linux, and Android are also framework targets but have not yet been extensively tested. WebXR adds stereoscopic presentation and head tracking. The same systems can support games, simulations, training, world building, visualization, asset review, and custom production tools.