py-aep 0.7.1

A package for working with After Effects AEP files.

py_aep

py_aep is a Python package for working with After Effects AEP files.

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About

After Effects files (.aep) are mostly binary files, encoded in RIFX format. This package uses Kaitai Struct to parse .aep files and return an Application object containing a project, items, layers, effects and properties. The API is as close as possible to the ExtendScript API, with a few nice additions like iterators.

Features

Supported

• Reading .aep files
• project items, compositions, layers, effects, properties and keyframes
• shapes, masks, text documents, markers
• render queue items, output modules, render settings and output module settings
• interpolation between keyframe values
• Modifying most properties and saving to a new .aep file

Limited support

• Essential graphics: controllers and overrides can be accessed but are not linked together
• Output Module settings: switching to another format (e.g. mov -> OpenEXR) is not possible yet
• Footage source: the file path cannot be changed yet
• Properties that are synthesized by After Effects at runtime and not stored in the binary are supported but some might be missing or inaccurate
• Many Text layers attributes are missing

Not supported

• Adding or removing items such as compositions, folders, items, keyframes, output modules, render queue items, etc.
• Gradients
• Proxy sources
• Expression evaluation
• Runtime things such as System information, preferences, available color spaces, render templates, UI state, etc.

Installation

uv (recommended)

uv add py-aep

pip

pip install py-aep

Getting started

import py_aep

app = py_aep.parse("myproject.aep")
project = app.project
comp = project.compositions[0]

# Modify composition settings
comp.frame_rate = 24

# Modify a layer property
comp.layers[0].transform.opacity.value = 50

# Save to a new file
project.save("modified.aep")

For more examples, see the Quick Start guide.

Roadmap

See the open issues for a list of proposed features and known issues.

If you encounter a bug, please submit an issue and attach a basic scene to reproduce your issue.

Contributing

See the full Contributing Guide on GitHub.

Contact

Aurore Delaunay - [e-mail]

Acknowledgments

• aftereffects-py-aep in Go
• Kaitai Struct
• The invaluable Lottie Docs
• After Effects Scripting Guide
• AE version parsing