PS to FCP

[Robert Ritchie]

I've just started to use FCP and am trying to import a PSD file from photoshop for titles and placing multiple images on the screen at the same time. Whenever I import the PSD file and play it it seems really digitized and looks horrible. I really do not know what it could be! Also is there a way to add effects to the texts and pictures that I am importing from PS? Any help in these matters would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
RR

[Nate Benson]

Robert,
what type of image file are you creating it in? I tend to use the NTSC preset and my images tend to come out fine. You may also want to bump up your dpi, perhaps to around 300.
Also it may just look bad in the window, have you exported it at all to see how it looks?

[Chris Harris]

I would export to PNG from Photoshop. FCP doesn't seem to play nice with PSD, in my experience.

[Robert Ritchie]

I've exported it and it still looks pretty bad, should all of the text be sharp looking? I tried to export to PNG and it seemed to be slightly better but still looked rough even in quicktime and it seems as though i loose all control of the layers (am i doing something wrong, should I still have control of them). It must be something that i am doing since Im not that familiar with FCP.

[Nate Benson]

if you import into FCP you wont be able to edit the layers like you can in photoshop. Unfortunately if you want to edit multiple layers you'll have to import each layer separately and edit from there

[Victor Kellar]

In Photoshop, create a PSD using the NTSC presets. So you want an image at least 720 by 480; anything smaller and FC will try to make it conform to the video frame. If you want to do any movement on the image in FC I would double that size

Import that into FC. If you put the PSD in the timeline and double click it, it will open as a new sequence with all its layers

You can't judge the quality of a still image on your computer monitor due to the interlacing. You need a TV to properly judge this

[Ronald Wilk]

Hi:

I routinely introduce photoshop images into FCP 5.1.4 sequences without issue. I have found that FCP seems to work seemlessly with high res. (300dpi or better)flattened jpg images. I have not found any evidence for pixelation or aliasing (jaggies) on these images once they have been rendered from within FCP. Just make certain that the image size corresponds to the destined sequence's frame dimensions.
Ron

[Jonathan Jones]

Victor and Ronald are correct.

I have dropped PSD files into my FCP timelines many times in the past. I have dropped some of my own PS projects right into the timelines, and several instances where I have used Digital Juice Juicedrops PSD files. However, with those, I have had to open them up first in Photoshop and convert them into RGB profiles first. (this may be a limitation of my version of FCP or my settings somewhere. But it works for me.

I have an older version of FCP, and a really old version of Photoshop (that has to run in classic).

When they are dropped into the timeline, I can double-click the PSD file and it opens into its own dedicated sequence with separate layers intact. (I think the one I dropped onto the main timeline becomes a reference to the changes you make to the layered sequence, but its been a while and I can't remember right now.)

But in any case, this gives you control over each individual layer, whether you want to turn any layers on or off, change colors, or filter any of the layers, or even key-frame movement into any of the layers. This functionality gives you alot of options as to what you can manage on a layered file.

-Jon