Why are my imported .psd files not showing up as layered or with the negative space??

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Level 1

8 points

Why are my imported .psd files not showing up as layered or with the negative space??

I am trying to animate layered photoshop images.

Old versions of FCPX, I could drag and drop the .psd file onto the timeline and FCPX would automatically separate the layers for me, and maintain the negative space for images without a background, just the character.

In 10.2.3 it has no idea how to do this... and is really making me frustrated.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

MacBook Pro (13-inch Mid 2012), iOS 10.0.3

Posted on Oct 18, 2016 5:09 PM

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Answer 1

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

152,816 points

Oct 19, 2016 7:13 AM in response to lino11

WWhen you drag and drop a layered PSD into a project it appears as a clip not as a stack of layers. If you double click the PSD it opens in the timeline as a stack of layers.

DO you have background rendering turned on? The default render codec is ProRes 422, which has no transparency.

Maybe you you could post one of the problem PSDs somewhere? Or screenshots of what you're seeing in the timeline and the viewer.

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Answer 2

lino11 Author

Level 1

8 points

Oct 19, 2016 7:25 AM in response to Tom Wolsky

Thanks, Tom. That was it! Double-clicking the clip opens it up in the timeline where all the layers are stacked onto each other... now I can copy/paste a single layer back onto the timeline.

Opens up one other question:

Is there an easier method to my work?

Instead of having this small clip, containing my desired individual layers, pasted somewhere on my timeline so that I can get to it quickly.... can't I have those layers available to me in the top-left "list view" area??

I am making a rough animatic sequence of sketched out storyboards here... so all of my material is coming from hand-drawn photoshop layers.

In a perfect scenario, and in earlier versions of FCPX, those layered photoshop files didn't have to be stored inside the .psd clip, and were considered more like regular video elements. Up in the top-left section. Or at least that's what I'm telling myself how I remember them.

Thanks for your help!

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