Importing a layered Photoshop file?

[Bryce Whiteside]

KenStone.net
https://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/fcp_homepage_index.html
>Graphics – Photoshop
NEWER REVISED: The Basics – Preparing Photoshop files for FCP – Ken Stone
https://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/basic_ps.html

OLDER: Photoshop Titles – Tom Wolsky
https://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/basic_photoshop_files.html

LarryJordan.biz
Technique: Prepping Still Images for Video – Larry Jordan
https://larryjordan.biz/articles/lj_image_prep.html

Getting PhotoShop Images to Look Good in Final Cut – Carl Jacobs
https://larryjordan.biz/articles/lj_pixels.html

My trick to bring in Photoshop layers in registration is as follows:

1. In Photoshop create a new layer at the top of your layers and name it Ref or Reference and make sure it is selected.

2. Create a one pixel selection in the upper left hand corner. Hint-zoom all the way in and try and make the small Marquee Tool selection.

3. Go to the Navigator and move your view window all the way to the lower right and hold the Shift key while making the Marquee Tool in the lower right hand corner-you are adding to your first selection that is still in the upper left hand corner.

4. Fill the selection, the two points in the upper left and lower right hand with Black. Hint-Opt+Delete to fill with the foreground color or Cmd+Delete to fill with the background color.

5. Type 0, 1 to make the layer 99% transperant or 01% opaque.

6. In the layer menu hold the Opt key down and select Merge Down from the upper right hand pull down menu (the little arrowhead pointing to right you see at the very top of the Layers Window) over your layer of rasterize text. Then for each layer of rasterized text place your Ref layer just above it and repeat holding the Opt key down and selecting Merge Down from the upper right hand pull down menu making sure you Ref layer is the one selected. What this does is make each layer of rasterized text have the same canvas size and registering the position of your text or any layer element in the Photoshop document. Holding the Opt key while selecting Merge Down prevents the Ref frame from destroying itself when Merging Down. It in essences merges a copy of itself down.

7. As a rule of thumb I then place the Ref layer at the top of the document, select it and type 100 to make my two pixel dots in the upper left hand corner and lower right hand corner visible so I can see them if I zoom in to make sure they are there.

If you work in SD ITU-601 you could alway have a template .PSD file with a canvas size of 720 x 540 with your Ref or Reference frame already in there along with a SafeTitle layer. If you work in DV you want a canvas size of 720 x 534. If you use these numbers, FCP will automatically recognize number and resize to 720 x 486 or 720 x 480 respectively. If you use a larger canvas size make sure it is in the TV 4 x 3 square pixel aspect ratio. Let’s say your .PSD canvas is 1440 x 1080 and FCP doesn’t recognize that aspect ratio, go to Motion>Distort>Aspect Ratio and type in -12.5 to achieve the video pixel aspect ratio of .9. Don’t ask me why the Aspect Ratio of -12.5 works in FCP, but I do know that is the number FCP automatically calculates when you import a 720 x 540 .PSD canvas into FCP.

You may want to use Apple’s recommended canvas sizes in the last paragraph from the article links in the beginning of the post and here:
Final Cut Pro: Using square or non-square pixels when creating graphics
https://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=36836

HTH,
Bryce

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

[Randy Rohde]

my problem not in creating the photoshop document it is in importing it. the psd file dosen’t import as a sequence so I cannot open it with its layers.

[Bryce Whiteside]

Is this the first time you have try importing a layered Photoshop .PSD file as a Sequence or you have done this before and think something is broke?

Which version of Photoshop and FCP are you using?

Does the imported file have a Sequence icon or Footage icon in your bin?

Did you make sure your photoshop file was RGB and not CMYK?

You post was open ended and begged for more qualifying questions and explanations. Since that was the situation, I used the shotgun approach that might invoke an epiphany.

Cheers,
Bryce

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

[Randy Rohde]

Thanks for your time… 1st time. Photoshop.CS (ver 8.0). FCP4. Not a sequence not footage looks just like a JPG RGB all i do is videono print.

[Bryce Whiteside]

Is the Photoshop .PSD image truely a layered .PSD file–i.e. mulitple layers of images stacked one on top of the other?

It sounds like you have a flatten image image file with a .PSD extention and/or creator type. That is why you have a still image icon and FCP doesn’t allow you to import it as a Sequence. FCP thinks it is just like a .PCT, .PNG, .TGA, .JPG with are flatten image file formats.

You need the original (multiple images on different layers on one file) layered Photoshop file. Did you make the file or did someone else give it to you?

HTH,
Bryce

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

[Randy Rohde]

I made the file. 7 layers different colors I cut wholes in each layer so you could see through the layers. I saved as a psd with the layer box checked? When I open the file in photoshop it is not flattened but when I import into FCP I agree, its as if it was flat… Is there a special way to import? I just select file>import…

[Bryce Whiteside]

Not sitting in front of a Mac right now.

I believe it would be:
Import>Photoshop file as a sequence.

I’ll have to look later,
Bryce

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

[Jason Coleman]

I ran into something similar and the most important thing I found was that the image has to be in RGB mode.

Jason R. Coleman
Owner/President
Extreme Measures Creative