general
Layer General
thisLayer
On this page, we’re going to use thisLayer as a sample on how to call these items, however note that any method that returns a Layer will work.
Attributes
Layer.active
thisLayer.active
Description
Returns true if the Video switch is on for the layer and the current time is in the range from the In point of the layer to the Out point of the layer; false otherwise.
Type
Boolean
Layer.audioActive
thisLayer.audioActive
Description
Returns true if the Audio switch is on for the layer and the current time is in the range from the In point of the layer to the Out point of the layer; false otherwise.
Type
Boolean
Layer.enabled
thisLayer.enabled
Description
Whether the layer is enabled.
Type
Boolean. true if the Video switch is on for the layer; false otherwise.
Layer.hasAudio
thisLayer.hasAudio
Description
Whether the layer has audio.
Type
Boolean. true if the layer has audio or false if it doesn’t.
Layer.hasParent
thisLayer.hasParent
Description
Use the hasParent attribute to determine if a layer has a parent layer. You can use this attribute even if the layer has no parent layer at present.
Type
Boolean. true if the layer has a parent, false if it doesn’t.
Example
The following expression indicates that the layer to which you apply it wiggles based on the position of the parent. If the layer has no parent, then it wiggles based on its own position.
If the layer is given a parent later, then the behavior of the layer changes accordingly:
idx = index;if (hasParent) { idx = parent.index;}thisComp.layer(idx).position.wiggle(5,20)Layer.hasVideo
thisLayer.hasVideo
Description
Whether the layer has video.
Type
Boolean. true if the layer has audio or false if it doesn’t.
Layer.height
thisLayer.height
Description
Returns the height of the layer, in pixels.
If the layer has a source, this is the same as either the source comp height or the source footage height (as applicable).
Type
Number
Layer.index
thisLayer.index
Description
Returns the index number of the layer in the composition.
Type
Number
Layer.inPoint
thisLayer.inPoint
Description
Returns the In point of the layer, in seconds.
Type
Number
Layer.outPoint
thisLayer.outPoint
Description
Returns the Out point of the layer, in seconds.
Type
Number
Layer.parent
thisLayer.parent
Description
Returns the parent Layer object of the layer, if it has one.
You can check whether a layer has a parent with the Layer.hasParent attribute.
Type
Layer, Light, or Camera object
Example
position[0] + parent.widthLayer.startTime
thisLayer.startTime
Description
Returns the start time of the layer, in seconds.
Type
Number
Layer.width
thisLayer.width
Description
Returns the width of the layer, in pixels.
If the layer has a source, this is the same as either the source comp width or the source footage width (as applicable).
Type
Number
Methods
Layer.sampleImage()
thisLayer.sampleImage(point[, radius=[0.5, 0.5]][, postEffect=true][, t=time])
Description
Samples the color and alpha channel values of a layer and returns the average alpha-weighted value of the pixels within the specified distance of the point as an array: [red, green, blue, alpha].
Parameters
| Parameter | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
point | 2-dimensional Number array | Required. The point at which to sample, im layer space. The point [0, 0] is the center of the upper-left pixel in the layer. |
radius | 2-dimensional Number array | Optional. Specifies the horizontal and vertical distance from the sample center to the edges of the sampled rectangle. The default value samples one pixel. Defaults to [0.5, 0.5]. |
postEffect | Boolean | Optional. If true, to sample the values after layer masks and effects directly applied to the layer have been rendered. If false, sample values before layer masks and effects. Defaults to true. |
t | Number | Optional. Defaults to time. |
Type
Array (4-dimensional)
Examples
This samples a rectangle 4 pixels wide and 3 pixels high, centered around a point 100 pixels down and to the right of the upper-left corner of the layer:
thisComp.layer(1).sampleImage([100, 100], [2, 1.5])