Graphics

Hi!

We have a graphics design that it created in Photoshop. Now we preferably want to import this PSD-file into Xpression Designer. But as far as I can see, that's not an option(?).

What are the preferred methods for getting design created in an external editor into Xpression?

Thanks for any comments :)

Hi Kenneth,

PSD files are supported by XPression. They can be used as the file on a texture shader of a material. Just note that they are flattened and will not have layers.

Supported formats:

Image File Formats

*.tga | *.tif | *.psd | *.bmp | *.jpg | *.gif | *.png

.tif: sRGB

.psd: no layers

Video File Formats

QuickTime must be installed on the XPression to use the MOV wrapper or files. (Requires restart)

AVI | MPEG | QuickTime (MOV) | Sequential Images (TGA)

3D Model Formats

*.3ds | *.obj

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Thanks, Garner

That's not quite the answer I was hoping for. In order to be able to animate the elements, there would be nice to get each different layer.

My solution for now is to make slices in Photoshop and save each graphical element as an image (png). Then import these images as materials and create a lot of "quads" where I apply the selective materials. With "Auto Size on material assign only". That way I can "restore" the layers from photoshop, but without the level of control I could have had with a pure import function.

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Will these layers be changing for any reason? I don't see why you would need to keep everything contained in one .psd file when XPression is designed for multiple objects and handles it just fine.

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Hi Dan :)

It doesn't have to do with items changing. It's about maintaining the quality artwork when implementing graphics designed in Photoshop. Now, I have to re-generate the items in Xpression in order to make animations and, yes, change the content of text-elements.

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Hi Kenneth,

Our solution is similar to what you've outlined. We output each photoshop layer as a png and then re-assemble them in Xpression to be animated seperately.

But each png we export is 1920x1080 (even the individual pieces of our lower thirds) This way we ensure the positioning is always correct and consistent with the original design.

Depending on how many layers you require, you may consider cropping down from 1920x1080, but as long as each element is in its correct place relative to the rest of your design, your quads should stack perfectly

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I read about this feature called "Adobe Generator" in photoshop that lets you name each layer with a PNG file name and it will automatically export and write each layer to a separate file on disk. I haven't tried it myself though..

Adobe Generator

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In addition to what Brian said, you can also use in File > Scripts > Export Layers to Files. You can choose your different flavors of files, like TGA and PNG, and whether or not to include transparency or not.

I've used it many times, and it has worked beautifully. You DO have to make sure that each layer that you want to push out is flattened to it's own layer, but other than that it works really well.

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Good answers guys, thanks a lot! :)

Batch export of layers sounds like a good start.

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