We constantly use PSD files as the base for building predominantly graphic only retail TVCs. Client supplies layered PSD files ex Indesign or Illustrator from their studio and we then massage a commercial from them. All PSDs have smart objects flattened and fx layers rasterised and then saved into a folder separate from the original to make browsing faster.
Each product frame will be a separate timeline layer gap bfx where we import the PSD into an Action node and build from there.
For us, having the frame layout organised in PSD first makes it a faster build & sign off process in Flame with the client.
@johnag Anytime I have PSD lag, it’s generally caused by smart objects and linked files (as mentioned previously in this thread) but I’m assuming this is not the case in your problem?. I’ve just tested a folder with 120 multilayer PSD files that had been prepped and the usual file scan time happened here (PC generated PSDs, stored on a network location, imported into Linux Flame 2023.2)
I have always struggled with the masks from PSD. A single layer PSD with no background, vector or raster masks will import and be read from Media Hub but not via Action import and a multiple layer PSD won’t import the masks anywhere.
If I had 40+ single layer PSDs with masks, I’d batch process them in Photoshop to save the mask to the alpha channel & then save as a flattened tiff.
i always go into Photoshop and select the layers i want then save out as png’s. Allows me to save a bunch of layers as a single file, or combinations of several layers if i need the flexibility. Plus i can name each layer with something meaningful rather than hundreds of files all with the same name.
I can’t believe that this problem has been around for a while. Now that Flame has improved the use of multi channel on the timeline one would expect that PSD files would work properly.
This job where I had a bunch of psd’s on the timeline cost me a bit of wasted time so in future, I’ll convert them. A shame though.
i think a big part of the problem is how so many photoshop artists just keep adding a new layer for every little amend they do. I often find hundreds of layers with virtually nothing in them.
Some of the files we get are auto exported from InDesign & Illustrator and they can contain hundreds of little elements to make one portion of the logo or graphic, especially if they’re using shadows or plugins… ugh!.
If you have to deal with these a lot, make yourself Photoshop Actions to handle the majority of the processes you deal with. In my workflow I have an PShop Action that will duplicate the PSD layers selection to a new image, rasterize all the layers, convert the colourspace and save - assigned to a hotkey so I can quickly process the files out and get started.
I always rasterize the smart objects.
They might be smart, but are slow as hell.
Especially when using Action/Import to import the PSD you notice importing a PSD
with lots of layers takes minutes sometimes, but with smart objects flattened it takes seconds.
My 40 files in a directory that took over 1 minute to display in media hub was in fact that each file has smart objects. Once I converted each file to layers the directory took 5 seconds to read.
Thanks all for the great information! John provided us some files and we are looking at the issue. But at least we will be able to document the issue and provide the rasterize workaround prior importing the files in our products.