Av item

AVItem ¶

Bases: Item

The AVItem object provides access to attributes and methods of audio/visual files imported into After Effects.

Info

AVItem is a subclass of Item. All methods and attributes of Item are available when working with AVItem.

Info

AVItem is the base class for both CompItem and FootageItem, so AVItem attributes and methods are also available when working with CompItem and FootageItem objects. See CompItem object and FootageItem object.

See: https://ae-scripting.docsforadobe.dev/item/avitem/

Attributes¶

comment ¶

comment: str

The item comment. Read / Write.

duration ¶

duration: float

The duration of the item in seconds. Still footages have a duration of 0. Read-only.

frame_duration ¶

frame_duration: int

The duration of the item in frames. Still footages have a duration of 0. Read-only.

frame_rate ¶

frame_rate: float

The frame rate of the item in frames-per-second. Read-only.

frame_time ¶

frame_time: int

The current time of the item when it is being previewed directly from the Project panel. This value is a number of frames.

guides ¶

guides: list[Guide]

The item's ruler guides. Each guide has an orientation and a pixel position. Read-only.

has_audio ¶

has_audio: bool

When True, the AVItem has an audio component.

In a CompItem, the value is linked to the composition. In a FootageItem, the value is linked to the main_source or proxy_source object.

has_video ¶

has_video: bool

True if the item has a video component.

An AVItem has video when it has non-zero dimensions (width > 0 and height > 0). In a CompItem, the value is always True. In a FootageItem, the value depends on the footage source (e.g. audio-only files return False).

height ¶

height: int

The height of the item in pixels. Read-only.

id ¶

id = ChunkField[int](
    "_idta", "item_id", read_only=True, default=0
)

The item unique identifier. Read-only.

label ¶

label = enum(Label, '_idta', 'label', default=NONE)

The label color. Colors are represented by their number (0 for None, or 1 to 16 for one of the preset colors in the Labels preferences). Read / Write.

name ¶

name = ChunkField[str](
    "_name_utf8", "value", validate=validate_name
)

The name of the item, as shown in the Project panel. Read / Write.

parent_folder ¶

parent_folder: FolderItem | None

The parent folder of this item. None for the root folder. Read / Write.

Setting this moves the item into another folder. The item's binary chunk block is relocated from the old folder's container to the end of the new folder's container, and both folders' items lists are updated.

Raises:

ValueError –

If this is the root folder, or if moving a folder into itself or one of its own descendants.
TypeError –

If the value is not a FolderItem.

pixel_aspect ¶

pixel_aspect: float

The pixel aspect ratio of the item (1.0 is square). Read-only.

proxy_source ¶

proxy_source: (
    FileSource | SolidSource | PlaceholderSource | None
)

The FootageSource being used as a proxy. Read-only.

To change it, call any of the AVItem methods that change the proxy source: set_proxy(), set_proxy_with_sequence(), set_proxy_with_solid(), or set_proxy_with_placeholder().

selected ¶

selected: bool

When True, this item is selected. Read-only.

Note

Item selection is not stored in the .aep binary format; it is a runtime-only state. Parsed projects always report False.

time ¶

time: float

The current time of the item when it is being previewed directly from the Project panel. This value is a number of seconds. It is an error to set this value for a FootageItem whose main_source or proxy_source is still.

type_name ¶

type_name: str

A user-readable name for the item type ("Folder", "Footage" or "Composition"). These names are application locale-dependent, meaning that they are different depending on the application's UI language. Read-only.

use_proxy ¶

use_proxy = ChunkField[bool](
    "_idta",
    "use_proxy",
    validate=_validate_use_proxy,
    post_set=_sync_proxy_active,
)

When True, a proxy is used for the item. Read / Write.

It is set to True by all the set_proxy methods, and to False by the set_proxy_to_none() method.

used_in ¶

used_in: list[CompItem]

All the compositions that use this AVItem.

width ¶

width: int

The width of the item in pixels. Read-only.

Functions¶

add_guide ¶

add_guide(orientation_type: int, position: int) -> int

Adds a new guide to the item.

Any orientation_type value other than 0 (horizontal) or 1 (vertical) defaults to horizontal.

Parameters:

orientation_type (int) –

0 for horizontal, 1 for vertical.
position (int) –

The pixel position of the guide.

Returns:

int –

The index of the new guide.

remove ¶

remove() -> None

Remove this AV item, its referencing layers, and viewer.

remove_guide ¶

remove_guide(guide_index: int) -> None

Removes an existing guide by index.

Parameters:

guide_index (int) –

The 0-based index of the guide to remove.

Raises:

IndexError –

If guide_index is out of range.

set_proxy ¶

set_proxy(file: str | PathLike[str]) -> None

Sets a file as the proxy of this AVItem.

Loads the specified file into a new FileSource object, sets this as the value of the proxy_source attribute, and sets use_proxy to true.

It does not preserve the interpretation parameters, instead using the user preferences.

This differs from setting a FootageItem's main_source, but both actions are performed as in the user interface.

Note

Unlike ExtendScript, if the specified file has an unlabeled alpha channel, this method does not estimate the alpha interpretation.

Parameters:

file (str | PathLike[str]) –

Path to the proxy source file.

Raises:

ValueError –

If the extension is not a supported footage format.
NotImplementedError –

If After Effects requires a format-specific opti header not implemented for this format.

set_proxy_to_none ¶

set_proxy_to_none() -> None

Remove the proxy source from this item.

set_proxy_with_placeholder ¶

set_proxy_with_placeholder(
    name: str | None,
    width: int,
    height: int,
    frame_rate: float,
    duration: float,
) -> None

Set a placeholder as the proxy source.

Parameters:

name (str | None) –

The placeholder name. None becomes Missing Name. An empty string becomes Placeholder.
width (int) –

Width in pixels (4-30000).
height (int) –

Height in pixels (4-30000).
frame_rate (float) –

Frame rate in fps (1.0-99.0).
duration (float) –

Duration in seconds (> 0, <= 10800).

set_proxy_with_sequence ¶

set_proxy_with_sequence(
    file: str | PathLike[str],
    force_alphabetical: bool = False,
) -> None

Sets a sequence of files as the proxy of this AVItem, with the option of forcing alphabetical order. Loads the specified file sequence into a new FileSource object, sets this as the value of the proxy_source attribute, and sets use_proxy to true.

It does not preserve the interpretation parameters, instead using the user preferences.

Note

Unlike ExtendScript, if the specified file has an unlabeled alpha channel, this method does not estimate the alpha interpretation.

Parameters:

file (str | PathLike[str]) –

Path to a representative frame; sibling frames in the same folder are gathered into the sequence.
force_alphabetical (bool, default: False ) –

Order frames alphabetically rather than numerically.

Raises:

ValueError –

If the extension is not a supported footage format.
NotImplementedError –

If After Effects requires a format-specific opti header not implemented for this format.

set_proxy_with_solid ¶

set_proxy_with_solid(
    color: list[float],
    name: str | None,
    width: int,
    height: int,
    pixel_aspect: float = 1.0,
) -> None

Set a solid as the proxy source.

Parameters:

color (list[float]) –

Solid color as [R, G, B] in 0.0-1.0 range.
name (str | None) –

The solid name. Pass None to auto-generate a name from the color (e.g. Red Solid 1). An empty string becomes ????.
width (int) –

Width in pixels (1-30000).
height (int) –

Height in pixels (1-30000).
pixel_aspect (float, default: 1.0 ) –

Pixel aspect ratio (0.01-100.0).