ExtendScript: Is it possible to insert a MultiCam Source -- nested -- into active sequence

[Premiopolis]

I've got a MultiCam item, and I'd like to insert it into an edited sequence with nesting on.

Currently using the following approach:

trackObject=app.project.activeSequence.videoTracks[0];
projectItem=SomeMultiCamFromProject;
someTime=15;
trackObject.insertClip(projectItem, someTime);

The button 'insert and overwrite sequences as nests or individual clips' is set to 'nests'

but the projectItem nonetheless arrives as if it were set to "individual clips"

Is there a way to achieve nested .insertClip()?

[Bruce Bullis · Accepted solution]

Today, no; as you've found, you can insert the multi-cam sequence, but only as individual clips. 

I've added your vote to the already-popular, DVAPR-4207094, "allow import, query, and manipulation of multi-cam sequences"

[Premiopolis]

I pretty much danced the entire Singin' in the Rain scene after generating a series hour-long paper cuts in a few minutes from a 5000-item log, only to have the slosh-home-in-a-drenched-suit experience after discovering the multicams weren't nested.  Thrilled to be a member of DVAPR-4207094 -- thanks for adding my vote!

Questions:

RE "Allow import" -- Meaning?  Is that the equivalent of track.insertClip(projectItem, time, [PleaseAddNestedVsIndividualClipsFlag]) or something else?

RE "Query" -- Intriguing.  What would that be?

RE "Manipulation" -- Hoping that means programmatic ability to add edits, and change the source of targeted multicam clip items in a sequence?

Bigger picture question: is there an equivalent of After Effects' app.executeCommand() somewhere in the world of Premiere?  This 2018 posting from Naoki-Hada seems to be looking for the same.  The fictional workaround command I'd look for: app.executeCommand("clickTheInsertButton").

[Bruce Bullis]

Broadly, the feature request is to treat multi-cam sequences as first class citizens throughout the API.

Query = "Is this a multi-cam sequence? If so...which camera is active?"

Manipulation = "Set source N to [some other projectItem]. Make source X active."

No, there's no app.executeCommand() equivalent in PPro. 

[Premiopolis]

RE Query - Brilliant.  Currently using the key word "Multi" as a workaround.

RE Manipulation - If this is at all helpful: when it comes to manipulating multicams, "Set source N to [some other projectItem]" suggests something that might change the projectItem in the sequence or a projectItem in the multiCam. Perhaps a more accurate algorithm would be something along these lines:

thisMultiCamClip=someSequence.videoTracks[X].clips[Y];
if(thisMultiCamClip.mediaType=="Multi"){
 theseAnglesAvail=thisMultiCamClip.angles;
 thisMultCamClip.changeAngle(theseAnglesAvail[Z]);
}

Not intended to be critical, just clear.  The fact that Adobe develops these APIs for PPro, AE and the rest is truly transformative for post production.  I've been editing Avid, since it first came out, but what you're doing at Adobe -- game changer.

[timhughes]

coming back to this one - has this request been implemented?  I have a lot of mutlicam editing and automation via extendscript would be great.

[Bruce Bullis]

Not implemented.

Any API expansion/improvement will need to wait until after we get UXP extensibility to approach 1:1 parity, with what was possible via ExtendScript.

[timhughes]

Thank you for the update, Bruce. Is UXP being worked on, and is there a timeline for that? If it's not imminent, do you have any tips for using Python to edit the project file directly to achieve the same result?

[Bruce Bullis]

UXP extensibility is in beta; no official release dates available.

https://github.com/AdobeDocs/uxp-premiere-pro-samples/tree/main

Editing project files, with Python or anything else, will never be the right approach.