ani_file

.ani file (animated cursor) reader and writer written in python 3.

Was trying to batch extract the frames of some .ani file I got but noticed that there were no library to do so in python so I created one.

Reader can read metadata and extract frames (into either .cur or .ico as encoded in the .ani).

Writer can create .ani from .cur, .ico, or other file types like .png as supported by Iconolatry. .cur files may be created as needed and will be stored in the same folder as the .ani file.

Starting point

Clone this repo or download package from Pypi with pip install ani_file:

Open ANI file in similar manner to builtin.open():

    from ani_file import ani_file
    f = ani_file.open(file,mode)

file can be string or file-like object.

mode can be: "r" or "rb" to read an existing .ani file. "w" or "wb" to create a new .ani file. Will overwrite existing file if there is one

Read .ani

Available getter:

getframesinfo(): return metadata in the anih header chunk

getnframes(): return number of frames

getseq(): return list of sequence in which the frames appear

getrate(): return list of display rate for each frame

getframesdata(): return list of binary data of each frame

getauthor(): Get name of artist/corporation if present

getname(): Get ani file name (Not the name of the .ani file) if present

Extract and save frames into .ico files:

saveframestofile(outputpath,filenameprefix): Save to specified path. Name of each file will be filenameprefix + index from 0

Write .ani

Available setter:

setframespath(framespath,xy): set list of .ico/.cur files that make the frames of the final .ani file. xy is a list of the cursor's hotspot defined as offset from the top-left corner and is a property of .cur file. If framespath are not .cur files (or .ico with xy specified) then .cur file will be generated. If framespath are .cur files then xy will be ignored.

setseq(seq): set seq

setrate(rate): set rate

setauthor(iart): set name of artist

setname(inam): set name of the ani file

Example

    from ani_file import ani_file
    #Creating .ani file from .png
    f = ani_file.open(".\\out\\ani.ani","w")
    lists = [".\\res\\cursor0.png",
        ".\\res\\cursor1.png",
        ".\\res\\cursor2.png",]
    f.setframespath(lists,xy=(0,0))
    f.close

    #extracting frames from existing .ani file
    f = ani_file.open(".\\out\\ani.ani","r")
    f.saveframestofile(".\\out","cursor")

.ani file structure explain

https://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1189080&seqNum=3

https://www.daubnet.com/en/file-format-ani

Code based on wave.py at https://github.com/python/cpython/blob/3.10/Lib/wave.py. Cursor converter is Iconolatry from https://github.com/SystemRage/Iconolatry/tree/master.