• Apple Final Cut Pro Legacy

  Photoshop CS2 alpha channel in FCP5

  Posted by Turbow on November 16, 2005 at 5:27 am

  I have scanned multiple pictures and edited in Photoshop CS2 to remove unused areas. The erased areas show up as a transparency in Photoshop CS2 (checkered boxes). However when I open the PSD file into FCP5 the alpha channel shows as white. When I change the alpha channel settings in FCP5, nothing changings. It appears that FCP5 is not recongnizing the alpha channel from Photoshop CS2.

  I am a recent convert to FCP5 from Premiere Pro 1.5. This has been a frustrating transition when it comes to this. Obviously I am missing something.

  Bryce Whiteside replied 20 years, 6 months ago 6 Members · 5 Replies
• 5 Replies

• 

  Chris Poisson

  November 16, 2005 at 1:43 pm

  I have seen this behavior with CS2 on my own and another system, my workaround is to bring the PSD file in as a sequence, then copy and paste the layer(s) into your main sequence. The transparency will hold up when you do this. It’s a pain but it works.

  Have a wonderful day.
• 

  Tom Matthies

  November 16, 2005 at 2:14 pm

  Also, when you create a new graphic in Photoshop, make sure that you change the “Background Contents” pulldown menu to “transparent” and not “white”.
  Otherwise, your graphics will display over a white background when you bring them into FCP.
  Tom
• 

  Jp Driscoll

  November 16, 2005 at 4:09 pm

  If you don’t need to use the seperate layers in FCP, try saving as a png file. It’ll flatten the image, but it will leave the alpha info intact.

  JP Driscoll

  WDAY TV
  Fargo, ND

  “Television! Teacher, mother, secret lover.” ~Homer Simpson
• 

  Arnie Schlissel

  November 16, 2005 at 5:08 pm

  [JP Driscoll] “try saving as a png file. It’ll flatten the image, but it will leave the alpha info intact.”

  You may need to set up the alpha, first. BTW, You can do the same thing with a pict or tiff file.

  Arnie
  https://www.arniepix.com
• 

  Bryce Whiteside

  November 16, 2005 at 9:37 pm

  Having worked for a graphic design/advertising agency/video post firm I alway got in the habit of saving out my files with a predetermined final delivery file type.

  FileWithSameName.PSD = RGBA working graphics file with all the layer for Mac & PC

  FileWithSameName.PCT = RGBA for Final Cut Pro & After Effects video production

  FileWithSameName.PNG = RGBA (RLE) for MS PowerPoint and some web applications

  FileWithSameName.JPG = RGB lossy graphic format for web applications

  FileWithSameName.TIF = CMYK for print

  FileWithSameName.TGA = RGBA (RLE) for PC 3DSMax, Digital Fusion After Effects video special effects production

  etc.

  My production pipeline thoughts,
  Bryce Whiteside

  Don’t worry Mr. B. I have a cunning plan…

  PowerBook 1.67 Ghz ATI 9700 128 MB 2 GB
  Final Cut Pro HD
  DVD Studio Pro 3
  Motion

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