Any help bringing a PSD into Motion?
 

Hey all,
I am trying to improt a photoshop file into motion and having some difficulty, I have some text that I have applied some bevel and gradient overlay to but when I bring the file into motion all that gets tossed out. Is there a way to keep all that info and all the separate layers in Motion? Thanks in advance!

I don't have any experience with Motion but the same thing happens in Avid. If it is the only layer in the file, it will keep the effects but as soon as you have multiple layers, the effects are gone. I would like to hear if anyone has a work around for more reasons than just Motion.

After much trial and error I think I have found a solution. Just rightclick on the little "f" icon which represents your layer effects and choose convert to layers then turn off all other layers and then do a merge visible which will merge everything into one layer this seemed to move into Motion fine so hopefully it works with other stuff. Probably a good idea to do a save as because after this you can't edit your effects anymore.

I know this question came up awhile back with regards to bringing multi-layer PSD files into FCP's timeline. The answer there was that the PSD file had to be a version 3 PSD file in order for FCP to correctly place each layer on its own track. MIght be the same for Motion as well.

-gb-

I think Nate was wanting to keep the file layers seperate so he could animate each layer. It seems the other app(Motion, Avid, etc.) does not know how to import the effect on the layer properly.

You're right Michael I wanted each layer separate and that wasn't the problem it was the layer style or effects or whatever they're called :-) but I did find a way to do it see my post above.

Nate, it sounds like you merged all layers into one layer which would prohibit you from animating the layers independently.

I usually build my logos,etc in photoshop in import each layer seperately to animate. The only way I can do it successfully while keeping specifically text effects on is creating a new doc for each layer and saving as individual images.

I didn't merge all the layers just the effects on the layers like drop shadow and bevel/emboss on each element so I could still animate different layers.

Okay, I see, I will have to try. I did not know you could do that. Thanks.

I've had success with rasterizing layers in Photoshop, then saving it as a new file before importing to Motion. Rasterizing them removes the "text" feature from the layer, and turns it into a normal layer with the effects and everything. This lets you keep the layers seperate for animation, but still have the effects applied. WHen you need to change the effects, go back to your original PSD file, edit them, rasterize, then save as again.

The only problem is going to be when you resize it, the text layer is a "rendered" layer and not a vector layer anymore, so resizing it bigger will make it pixellated and you'll lose detail. You can get around this my making the original file massive, then just scaling it down in motion, as opposed to making it small, then upscaling it.

You can rasterize layers by right clicking the layer in Photoshop and choose "rasterize layer"

Hope it helps... I've had luck with this using Photoshop 7 and whatever version of Motion comes with final cut studio 5.

I just realized you had said you used the "convert to layers" which is basically the same principle as mine... oh well, 6 one way 1/2 dozen another