Importing tga problem

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Level 1

0 points

Importing tga problem

I have several targa image sequences from a client. FCP (6.0.5) will import some but not others. The only difference I can find is that under "kind" in the get info window some are "tga image" and the others are "adobe photoshop targa file". The latter imports no problem, while the former give an error: "File Error 1 file(s) recognized, 0 access denied, 1 unknown."

Anyone know what I'm doing wrong or have run into this issue?

FWIW, I checked the fils in photoshop and they all have the same modes. They also all have the same file sequence naming structure.

Thanks in advance for any help.

macbook Pro, Macbook, Mac OS X (10.5.6)

Posted on Jan 27, 2009 1:48 PM

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Answer 1

Darren S

Level 3

854 points

Jan 27, 2009 7:59 PM in response to cinestir2

Check that you do not have a different file type mixed in the Targa images. Sounds like FCP is complaining only about 1 file. Usually, it doesn't matter and you can just move on ignoring the message.

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Answer 2

Ken Evans

Level 2

294 points

Jan 28, 2009 3:13 AM in response to Darren S

Yeah you often get this if you have say a zip file, system info file or something else that FCP won't import in the same folder as the images.

If your sequence looks OK then it was just a rogue file not associated with your images as the chap above says.

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Answer 3

cinestir2 Author

Level 1

0 points

Jan 31, 2009 2:40 PM in response to Ken Evans

Actually forgot to explain that the error I mentioned above occurs when I try to import just 1 of the targa files individually. If I try to import a sequence the number of errors changes to match the number of targas in the sequence. Sorry about the miscommunication. For the record, there are no other files inside the sequence folder(s) - just the targas.

Still haven't figured this out yet. Shake, Nuke, After Effects, Photoshop all open/import the files, but FCP will not.

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Answer 4

Studio X

Level 7

27,229 points

Jan 31, 2009 2:56 PM in response to cinestir2

Is there a specific reason you MUST have the TGA file sequence as individual files in FCP? If not, open the TGA files in Quicktime Pro and export a video file to match sequence codec. Import that into FCP.

x

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Answer 5

Jan 31, 2009 2:51 PM in response to Studio X

just to bang this into the wall. It's a much better workflow to use quicktime pro to open the image sequence and then do a save as a movie. You should then bring the resulting movie into compressor and convert to the same format as your fcp sequence before importing into fcp. There are many ways to skin this cat, but in my extensive experience this is the most efficient.

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Answer 6

cinestir2 Author

Level 1

0 points

Jan 31, 2009 2:59 PM in response to Michael Grenadier

Thanks for the QTP suggestion. That is now my new workflow. I guess importing the image sequences themselves directly into FCP was old-school. Still curious why QTP imports the targas while FCP doesn't - hmmm.
Cheers and thanks.

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Answer 7

Jan 31, 2009 3:01 PM in response to Studio X

Just read your post a little more closely and see that you suggest doing the conversion in quicktime pro. The only reason to avoid that is that if you just do a save in quicktime pro, there's no room for error (and with me that's an important feature). You can then use a custom preset (or even better a compressor droplet) to do the conversion in compressor.

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Answer 8

Studio X

Level 7

27,229 points

Jan 31, 2009 3:05 PM in response to cinestir2

I've given up on TGA files and generally work with TIFFs when ever possible. They seem to be the most trouble free. Just make sure you are working in an RGB colorspace (not CMYK).

Cheers,

x

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