Import a layered photoshop file – Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 User Manual
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USING ADOBE PREMIERE PRO CS4
Capturing, digitizing, transferring, and importing
Last updated 11/6/2011
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Working with Photoshop and Premiere Pro
Create and edit Photoshop files
Import a layered Photoshop file
When you import a layered file saved in Photoshop file formats, you can choose how to import the layers in the Import
Layered File dialog box.
Note: Some Photoshop layer attributes aren’t supported, such as special blending modes and the Knockout option. For
best results, use basic transparency and opacity in Photoshop. Premiere Pro does support most Photoshop blending modes.
Premiere Pro imports attributes that were applied in the original file, including position, opacity, visibility,
transparency (alpha channel), layer masks, adjustment layers, common layer effects, layer clipping paths, vector
masks, and clipping groups. Photoshop exports a white background as opaque white, whereas it exports a
checkerboard background as a transparent alpha channel when exporting to a format that supports alpha channels.
Importing layered Photoshop files makes it easy to use graphics created in Photoshop. When Premiere Pro imports
Photoshop files as unmerged layers, each layer in the file becomes an individual clip in a bin. Each clip’s name consists
of the layer name followed by the name of the file that contained it. Each layer is imported with the default duration
you select for still images in Preferences.
You can import Photoshop files containing video or animations like any other Photoshop file. Since each layer is
imported at the default still-image duration, the imported video or animation may play back at a speed different from
that of its source in the Photoshop file. To make the speed match, change the still image default duration before
importing the Photoshop file. For example, if the Photoshop animation was created at 30 fps and the Premiere Pro
sequence frame rate is 30 fps, set the still image default duration in Premiere Pro to 30 frames in Preferences.
The options you select in the Import Layered File dialog box determine how the layers in the video or animation are
interpreted on import into Premiere Pro.
From the Import dialog box, when you select a Photoshop file containing layers for import, the Import Photoshop
Document dialog box opens. The Import As menu gives you these options for ways to import the file:
Merge All Layers
Merges all layers, importing the file into Premiere Pro as a single flattened PSD clip.
Merged Layers
Merges only the layers you select into Premiere Pro as a single, flattened, PSD clip.
Individual Layers
Imports only the layers you select from the list into a bin containing one clip for each source layer.
Sequence
Imports only the layers you select, each as a single clip. Premiere Pro also creates a sequence containing each
clip on a separate track, and deposits all these into their own bin in the Project panel. Choosing Sequence allows you
to select one of the following options from the Footage Dimensions menu:
•
Document Size
Changes the frame size of the clips to match the frame size specified in the Sequence Settings dialog box.
•
Layer Size
Matches the frame size of the clips to the frame size of their source layers in the Photoshop file.
Note: When you import one layer as a single clip, its name in the Project panel consists of the layer name followed by the
original filename.
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