Apple Final Cut Express HD - Manual (Page 795)

Chapter 54 Compositing and Layering 795
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When you import a layered Photoshop file into Final Cut Express HD, the file becomes a
sequence in your project. All the layers of the source Photoshop file are composited
together with a sequence frame size identical to the imported Photoshop file’s frame size.
If you want to import a layered Photoshop file as a single clip, you must flatten the
image in Photoshop, and then import the file into Final Cut Express HD.
The sequence Final Cut Express HD creates has the same number of layers as there are
in the imported file. The background layer appears in track V1 and each consecutive
layer is in the same order as the original Photoshop file. If you change the order of the
video tracks, the layering order changes. If the background in the Photoshop file is
transparent, then the background of the new sequence is transparent as well and
defaults to black.
Layer opacity settings, layer modes, and visibility are preserved, but layer masks are not.
If a Photoshop layer mode has no corresponding compositing mode in
Final Cut Express HD, that layer mode is ignored.
An imported Photoshop
file becomes a sequence
in the Browser.
The background layer
becomes a clip in track V1,
with other layers on the
tracks above.
A Photoshop file is a
sequence with its own
tab in the Timeline.