nexrender

You can dynamically replace existing footage in an After Effects project by defining footage items in the assets array. You specify which asset to use via src and identify the target layer using either layerName or layerIndex. Nexrender downloads/copies the asset to the working directory and replaces the footage in the project just before rendering.

Key Fields:

• src: URI pointer to the resource.
• type: Must be one of image, audio, or video.
• layerName: The name of the target layer (must include the extension if used for a footage file).
• layerIndex: Integer index of the layer (starting from 1).
• composition: The composition containing the layer. Use the -> delimiter for nested compositions (e.g., "FULL_HD->intro->logo comp"). Defaults to * (wildcard).
• name: Optional filename for the asset.
• extension: Optional extension to append to the filename (useful if the source lacks one, as AE expects extensions to match content type).
• sequence: Boolean; if true, the asset is treated as an image sequence.
• removeOld: Boolean; if true, the original asset is removed from the project (note: this removes all instances of that asset from the project).
• useOriginal: Boolean (for file:// protocol only); prevents copying to a local temp folder and uses the original file directly.

{
    "assets": [
        {
            "src": "https://example.com/assets/image.jpg",
            "type": "image",
            "layerName": "MyNicePicture.jpg"
        },
        {
            "src": "https://example.com/assets/jpeg-without-extension",
            "type": "image",
            "layerName": "MyOtherNicePicture.jpg",
            "extension": "jpg"
        },
        {
            "src": "file:///home/assets/audio.mp3",
            "type": "audio",
            "name": "music.mp3",
            "layerIndex": 15
        }
    ]
}

Use assets with type: "data" to dynamically change properties (like text, position, or color) in After Effects. This allows for data-driven video generation.

Key Fields:

• type: Always "data".
• layerName / layerIndex: Identifies the target layer.
• property: The name of the property to change (e.g., "Position", "Source Text", or deep properties like "Effects.Skin_Color.Color").
• value: The value to set. Can be a primitive or an array (e.g., [500, 100] for Position).
• expression: An After Effects expression string to be evaluated every frame.
• composition: The composition where the layer resides (supports -> for nested paths).
• continueOnMissing: Boolean; if true, bypasses errors if the layer is not found.

Deep Properties: To access nested properties, use a dot . separator (e.g., "Source Text.font"). If your property name contains a dot and causes parsing collisions, use an arrow -> instead.

Warning: Errors in your expression will prevent the project from rendering. Check the After Effects binary error messages for details.

{
    "assets": [
        {
            "type": "data",
            "layerName": "MyNicePicture.jpg",
            "property": "Position",
            "value": [500, 100]
        },
        {
            "type": "data",
            "layerName": "my text field",
            "property": "Source Text",
            "expression": "time > 100 ? 'Bye bye' : 'Hello world'"
        },
        {
            "type": "data",
            "layerName": "my text field",
            "property": "Source Text.font",
            "value": "Arial-BoldItalicMT"
        },
        {
            "type": "data",
            "layerName": "background",
            "property": "Effects.Skin_Color.Color",
            "value": [1, 0, 0]
        },
        {
            "type": "data",
            "layerIndex": 15,
            "property": "Scale",
            "expression": "[time * 0.1, time * 0.1]"
        }
    ]
}

Actions allow you to execute tasks at specific stages of the job lifecycle. Actions are order-sensitive within their respective lifecycle stage.

Available lifecycle stages for actions:

• predownload: Before assets are downloaded.
• postdownload: After assets are downloaded.
• prerender: Just before the actual render starts.
• postrender: After the render is finished.

Each action is an object containing a module (the package name or path to a Node.js module) and any specific parameters required by that module.

{
    "template": {
        "src": "http://example.com/assets/myproject.aep",
        "composition": "main"
    },
    "actions": {
        "postrender": [
            {
                "module": "@nexrender/action-encode",
                "preset": "mp4",
                "output": "encoded.mp4"
            },
            {
                "module": "@nexrender/action-copy",
                "input": "encoded.mp4",
                "output": "d:/mydocuments/results/myresult.mp4"
            }
        ]
    }
}