compitem

CompItem object

app.project.item(index)

app.project.items[index]

Description

The CompItem object represents a composition, and allows you to manipulate and get information about it. Access the objects by position index number in a project’s item collection.

CompItem is a subclass of AVItem object, which is a subclass of Item object. All methods and attributes of AVItem and Item, in addition to those listed below, are available when working with CompItem.

Example

Given that the first item in the project is a CompItem, the following code displays two alerts. The first shows the number of layers in the CompItem, and the second shows the name of the last layer in the CompItem.

var firstComp = app.project.item(1);
alert("number of layers is " + firstComp.numLayers);
alert("name of last layer is " + firstComp.layer(firstComp.numLayers).name);

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Attributes

CompItem.activeCamera

app.project.item(index).activeCamera

Description

The active camera, which is the front-most camera layer that is enabled. The value is null if the composition contains no enabled camera layers.

Type

CameraLayer object; read-only.

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CompItem.bgColor

app.project.item(index).bgColor

Description

The background color of the composition. The three array values specify the red, green, and blue components of the color.

Type

An array containing three floating-point values, [R, G, B], in the range [0.0..1.0]; read/write.

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CompItem.counters

app.project.item(index).counters

Note

This functionality was added in After Effects 13.2 (CC2014).

This method/property is officially undocumented and was found via research. The information here may be inaccurate, and this whole method/property may disappear or stop working some point. Please contribute if you have more information on it!

Description

This attribute works app-wide: if changed on one CompItem, it will change it for every CompItem in the project. The value stays until restarting AE. Once restarted, it will revert to false.

This parameter doesn’t do anything.

Type

Boolean; read/write.

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CompItem.displayStartFrame

app.project.item(index).displayStartFrame

Description

The frame value of the beginning of the composition.

This value is an alternative to calculating the start frame using CompItem.displayStartTime and CompItem.frameDuration to compensate for floating-point problems.

Note

This functionality was added in After Effects 17.1.

Type

Integer; read/write.

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CompItem.displayStartTime

app.project.item(index).displayStartTime

Description

The time set as the beginning of the composition, in seconds. This is the equivalent of the Start Timecode or Start Frame setting in the Composition Settings dialog box.

Note

As of After Effects 17.1, the minimum value is -10800.0. Before 17.1, the minimum value was 0.0

Type

Floating-point valuem in the range [-10800.0..86339.0] (-3:00:00:00 to 23:59:00:00); read/write.

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CompItem.draft3d

app.project.item(index).draft3d

Description

When true, Draft 3D mode is enabled for the Composition panel. This corresponds to the value of the Draft 3D button in the Composition panel.

Type

Boolean; read/write.

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CompItem.dropFrame

app.project.item(index).dropFrame

Description

When true, indicates that the composition uses drop-frame timecode. When false, indicates non-drop-frame timecode. This corresponds to the setting in the Composition Settings dialog box.

Type

Boolean; read/write.

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CompItem.frameBlending

app.project.item(index).frameBlending

Description

When true, frame blending is enabled for this Composition. Corresponds to the value of the Frame Blending button in the Composition panel.

Type

Boolean; if true, frame blending is enabled; read/write.

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CompItem.frameDuration

app.project.item(index).frameDuration

Description

The duration of a frame, in seconds. This is the inverse of the frameRate value (frames-per-second).

Type

Floating-point value; read/write.

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CompItem.hideShyLayers

app.project.item(index).hideShyLayers

Description

When true, only layers with shy set to false are shown in the Timeline panel. When false, all layers are visible, including those whose shy value is true. Corresponds to the value of the Hide All Shy Layers button in the Composition panel.

Type

Boolean; read/write.

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CompItem.layers

app.project.item(index).layers

Description

A LayerCollection object that contains all the Layer objects for layers in this composition.

Type

LayerCollection object; read-only.

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CompItem.markerProperty

app.project.item(index).markerProperty

Note

This functionality was added in After Effects 14.0 (CC 2017)

Description

A PropertyGroup object that contains all a composition’s markers. Composition marker scripting has the same functionality as Layer markers.

See MarkerValue object.

Type

PropertyGroup object or null; read-only.

Example

The following sample code creates a project and composition, then creates two composition markers with different properties

// comp.markerProperty allows you to add markers to a comp.
// It has the same functionality as layer.property("Marker")
var currentProj = app.newProject();
var comp = currentProj.items.addComp("mycomp", 1920, 1080, 1.0, 5, 29.97);
var solidLayer = comp.layers.addSolid([1, 1, 1], "mylayer", 1920, 1080, 1.0);

var compMarker = new MarkerValue("This is a comp marker!");
compMarker.duration = 1;

var compMarker2 = new MarkerValue("Another comp marker!");
compMarker2.duration = 1;

comp.markerProperty.setValueAtTime(1, compMarker);
comp.markerProperty.setValueAtTime(3, compMarker2);

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CompItem.motionBlur

app.project.item(index).motionBlur

Description

When true, motion blur is enabled for the composition. Corresponds to the value of the Motion Blur button in the Composition panel.

Type

Boolean; read/write.

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CompItem.motionBlurAdaptiveSampleLimit

app.project.item(index).motionBlurAdaptiveSampleLimit

Description

The maximum number of motion blur samples of 2D layer motion. This corresponds to the Adaptive Sample Limit setting in the Advanced tab of the Composition Settings dialog box.

Type

Integer (between 16 and 256); read/write.

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CompItem.motionBlurSamplesPerFrame

app.project.item(index).motionBlurSamplesPerFrame

Description

The minimum number of motion blur samples per frame for Classic 3D layers, shape layers, and certain effects. This corresponds to the Samples Per Frame setting in the Advanced tab of the Composition Settings dialog box.

Type

Integer (between 2 and 64); read/write.

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CompItem.motionGraphicsTemplateControllerCount

app.project.item(index).motionGraphicsTemplateControllerCount

Note

This functionality was added in After Effects 16.1 (CC 2019)

Description

The number of properties in the Essential Graphics panel for the composition.

Type

Integer; read-only.

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CompItem.motionGraphicsTemplateName

app.project.item(index).motionGraphicsTemplateName

Note

This functionality was added in After Effects 15.0 (CC 2018)

Description

Read or write the name property in the Essential Graphics panel for the composition.

The name in the Essential Graphics panel is used for the file name of an exported Motion Graphics template (ex., “My Template.mogrt”).

The following example will set the name for the active composition and then return it as an alert

app.project.activeItem.motionGraphicsTemplateName = "My Template";
alert(app.project.activeItem.motionGraphicsTemplateName);

Type

String; read/write.

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CompItem.numLayers

app.project.item(index).numLayers

Description

The number of layers in the composition.

Type

Integer; read-only.

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CompItem.preserveNestedFrameRate

app.project.item(index).preserveNestedFrameRate

Description

When true, the frame rate of nested compositions is preserved in the current composition. Corresponds to the value of the “Preserve frame rate when nested or in render queue” option in the Advanced tab of the Composition Settings dialog box.

Type

Boolean; read/write.

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CompItem.preserveNestedResolution

app.project.item(index).preserveNestedResolution

Description

When true, the resolution of nested compositions is preserved in the current composition. Corresponds to the value of the “Preserve Resolution When Nested” option in the Advanced tab of the Composition Settings dialog box.

Type

Boolean; read/write.

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CompItem.renderer

app.project.item(index).renderer

Description

The current rendering plug-in module to be used to render this composition, as set in the Advanced tab of the Composition Settings dialog box. Allowed values are the members of CompItem.renderers.

Type

String; read/write.

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CompItem.renderers

app.project.item(index).renderers

Description

The available rendering plug-in modules. Member strings reflect installed modules, as seen in the Advanced tab of the Composition Settings dialog box.

Type

Array of strings; read-only.

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CompItem.resolutionFactor

app.project.item(index).resolutionFactor

Description

The x and y downsample resolution factors for rendering the composition. The two values in the array specify how many pixels to skip when sampling; the first number controls horizontal sampling, the second controls vertical sampling. Full resolution is [1, 1], half resolution is [2, 2], and quarter resolution is [4, 4]. The default is [1, 1].

Type

Array of two integers in the range [1..99]; read/write.

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CompItem.selectedLayers

app.project.item(index).selectedLayers

Description

All of the selected layers in this composition. This is a 0-based array (the first object is at index 0).

Type

Array of Layer objects; read-only.

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CompItem.selectedProperties

app.project.item(index).selectedProperties

Description

All of the selected properties (Property and PropertyGroup objects) in this composition. The first property is at index position 0.

Type

Array of Property and PropertyGroup objects; read-only.

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CompItem.shutterAngle

app.project.item(index).shutterAngle

Description

The shutter angle setting for the composition. This corresponds to the Shutter Angle setting in the Advanced tab of the Composition Settings dialog box.

Type

Integer, in the range [0..720]; read/write.

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CompItem.shutterPhase

app.project.item(index).shutterPhase

Description

The shutter phase setting for the composition. This corresponds to the Shutter Phase setting in the Advanced tab of the Composition Settings dialog box.

Type

Integer, in the range [-360..360]; read/write.

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CompItem.workAreaDuration

app.project.item(index).workAreaDuration

Description

The duration of the work area in seconds. This is the difference of the start-point and end-point times of the Composition work area.

Type

Floating-point value; read/write.

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CompItem.workAreaStart

app.project.item(index).workAreaStart

Description

The time when the Composition work area begins, in seconds.

Type

Floating-point value; read/write.

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Methods

CompItem.duplicate()

app.project.item(index).duplicate()

Description

Creates and returns a duplicate of this composition, which contains the same layers as the original.

Parameters

None.

Returns

CompItem object.

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CompItem.exportAsMotionGraphicsTemplate()

app.project.item(index).exportAsMotionGraphicsTemplate(doOverWriteFileIfExisting[, file_path])

Note

This functionality was added in After Effects 15.0 (CC 2018)

Description

Exports the composition as a Motion Graphics template. Returns true if the Motion Graphics template is successfully exported, otherwise false.

The name in the Essential Graphics panel is used for the file name of the Motion Graphics template (ex., “My Template.mogrt”). Use the motionGraphicsTemplateName attribute to set the name.

Optionally specify the path to the folder where the Motion Graphics template file is saved. If not specified, the file will be saved in the current user’s Motion Graphics Templates folder:

OS	Path
macOS	/Users/<name>/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Common/Motion Graphics Templates/
Windows	C:\Users\<name>\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Common\Motion Graphics Templates\

If the project has been changed since the last time it was saved, After Effects will prompt the user to save the project. To avoid this, use the project save() method before exporting the Motion Graphics template.

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
doOverWriteFileIfExisting	Boolean	Whether to overwrite an existing file of the same name.
file_path	String	Optional. Path to the folder where the file will be saved.

Returns

Boolean.

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CompItem.getMotionGraphicsTemplateControllerName()

app.project.item(index).getMotionGraphicsTemplateControllerName(index)

Note

This functionality was added in After Effects 16.1 (CC 2019)

Description

Gets the name of a single property in the Essential Graphics panel.

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
index	Integer	The index of the EGP property whose name will be returned.

Returns

String; read-only.

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CompItem.setMotionGraphicsControllerName()

app.project.item(index).setMotionGraphicsControllerName(index, newName)

Note

This functionality was added in After Effects 16.1 (CC 2019)

Description

Sets the name of a single property in the Essential Graphics panel.

Tip

To rename a property as it is added to the EGP, see Property.addToMotionGraphicsTemplateAs().

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
index	Integer	The index of the EGP property to be renamed.
newName	String	The new name for the EGP property.

Returns

String; read-only.

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CompItem.layer()

app.project.item(index).layer(index)

app.project.item(index).layer(otherLayer, relIndex)

app.project.item(index).layer(name)

Description

Returns a Layer object, which can be specified by name, an index position in this layer, or an index position relative to another layer.

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
index	Integer, in the range [1..numLayers], where numLayers is the number of layers in the composition	The index number of the desired layer in this composition.

or:

Parameter	Type	Description
otherLayer	Layer object in this composition.	The relIndex value is added to the index value of this layer to find the position of the desired layer.
relIndex	Integer, in the range [1 - otherLayer.index .. numLayers - otherLayer.index], where numLayers is the number of layers in the composition.	The position of the desired layer, relative to otherLayer. This value is added to the otherLayer value to derive the absolute index of the layer to return.

or:

Parameter	Type	Description
name	String	The name of the desired layer.

Returns

Layer object.

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CompItem.openInEssentialGraphics()

app.project.item(index).openInEssentialGraphics()

Note

This functionality was added in After Effects 15.0 (CC 2018)

Description

Opens the composition in the Essential Graphics panel.

Parameters

None.

Returns

Nothing.

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CompItem.openInViewer()

app.project.item(index).openInViewer()

Description

Opens the composition in a Composition panel, and moves the Composition panel to front and gives it focus.

Parameters

None.

Returns

Viewer object object for the Composition panel, or null if the composition could not be opened.