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Moving to Combustion 2 from After Effects, Part 2
Working with Photoshop files
In the first installment of our series on migrating from After Effects to Combustion, we looked at converting Illustrator artwork into Combustion Paint objects, a process which, for some of our readers, may very well have fallen somewhere between paper cut and root canal on the pain scale. This time we're going to go a little easier on you, as we explore how well Combustion works with native Photoshop files.
For those of you used to the After Effects workflow (which I hope you are; after all, you are the target audience for this series), you're probably quite aware of the incredible flexibility that using native Photoshop files gives you when building motion graphics projects in AE, a process which one might think Combustion can't even begin to match (what with it not being an Adobe product and all). However, there's a lot of good news to report here. Fundamentally, Combustion works almost identically to After Effects with respect to how it handles PSD files, so let's dive right in and see what's what.
Combustion+PSD=Almost as good as After Effects
If you're like me, almost every motion graphics or compositing project starts with at least a little Photoshop work. Whether you're trying out some composition ideas to see how they work as a still frame or just preparing some raster images for the trip over to AE, chances are Photoshop is an early stop along the line. I've also gotten quite used to bringing entire native Photoshop documents directly into AE, having plenty of options for how to import them, and also having some flexibility with what to do with them once they're in there. Suffice it to say that I was expecting something akin to the process of bringing Illustrator artwork when dealing with PSD files in Combustion, but I was pleasantly surprised. What I'm about to demonstrate isn't a true tutorial per se, so you'll probably get the gist of things just fine without explicitly repeating what I'm doing in Combustion. However, I'm going to be using the Watermark.psd file that comes in the Tutorials folder on the Combustion 2 install CD in case you feel like following along anyway.
Let's take the Watermark file and go through bringing the image into both After Effects and Combustion. In AE, I have to select Import, choose whether I wanted the image brought in as Footage or as a Composition (fig. 1), and then decide if I want the a single layer from the image image imported or the entire thing brought in with all of its layers merged together (fig. 2).
Figure 1: AE's Import dialog box, with which I'm sure you're already familiar.
Figure 2: Single layer or all of 'em merged? The timeless question.
Now to Combustion's version of the same process. Again, I have to select Import, choose the PSD file in Combustion's wack-wack-wacky file picker, at which point I'll be confronted with an Import Options box (fig. 3). I'm presented with three choices: Merged Image, Grouped, and Nested. In spite of the obvious interface differences, these three options can fairly approximate the After Effects import process. What Merged Image does should be fairly apparent. Grouped imports each individual layer into the selected comp, aligns the layers exactly as they were in the original image, and assigns a null object layer to control the entire group (fig. 4). Nested takes the Grouped option one step further by enclosing all the layers into a parent composition (fig. 5).
Figure 3: Here's what you're presented with when you import a PSD file into Combustion.
Figure 4: Choosing the Grouped option brings the layers into the selected Composite and parents them all to a null object with the same name as the original file.
Figure 5: Choosing Nested does the same thing as Grouped, but also slams everything into a brand new composite.
Drilling a little deeper, let's see if Combustion got things right in terms of putting everything back together again. For the purposes of this discussion, I'm forgoing the process of checking to see if After Effects got the various transfer modes and such correct, since integration with other Adobe products is a major AE selling point (and besides, I know it works). In Combustion, I've imported the Watermark.psd file into an existing comp using the Grouped option on import. But what Combustion doesn't know is that we've secretly replaced the standard layers it normally uses with new and improved Photoshop Brand layers with transfer modes applied (fig. 6). Let's see if it notices a difference!
Figure 6: Sneaky, sneaky! A couple of layers in the Watermark file have Overlay transfer modes applied.
Once Combustion has imported the various layers, twirling down the Footage Library twirly-thingee (which is Discreet's preferred term, I understand) reveals the source layers included in the parent PSD file (fig. 7). OK, so all the layers are there, and named what they were named in Photoshop. So far, so good! But two layers (big_bar" and small_bar) had the Overlay transfer mode applied in Photoshop, so let's check and see if those settings made it over as well. Selecting the big_bar layer in the Workspace panel, and then clicking the Layer tab in the Composite Control panel reveals that the Overlay transfer mode is applied in Combustion as well (fig. 8). Ditto for the small_bar layer. Plus, I modified the original Watermark file by setting one of the text layers to 75% opacity, and that made it fine too (fig. 9). So Combustion is recognizing the total number of layers, all the layer names, and things like opacity settings and transfer modes as well.
Figure 7: Importing a PSD file either with the Grouped or Nested option results in each individual layer being accessible in Combustion's Footage Library.
Figure 8: Combustion caught the trickiness, correctly assigning the Overlay transfer mode to the appropriate layers.
Figure 9: Ditto for any opacity settings I threw at it.
At this point, it may seem like I've glossed over a glaring omission: the apparent lack of single layer import from a PSD file in Combustion. No individual layer import? No problem! Actually, importing an individual layer is a function of the Merged Image option that pops up as a choice when you first import Photoshop footage. Let's say that I want just the Watermark text layer from the Watermark file. To do that, select Import, choose the Watermark.psd file, and then pick Merged Image. Then twirl down the Footage Library, select the Footage - Watermark clip, and then make sure the Source tab is active under the Footage Controls panel. On the right side of the panel, underneath the Source Layer heading, is a Merge Layers checkbox. Uncheck that, and then select the watermark_text layer from the pulldown menu located directly above the Merge Layers checkbox (fig. 10). Bingo! Single layer. In this particular case, this process results in the watermark text looking really freaky (fig. 11, left), but checking the Color+Alpha option in the same panel (fig. 11, center) results in everything looking fint 'n dandy once again (fig. 11, right).
Figure 10: Unchecking the Merge Layers box in a PSD file brought in as a merged image gives you access to any single layer the PSD file contains.
Figure 11
OK, this little ol' lovefest is about to have a few drops of cold water thrown on it. While it's true that Combustion is perfectly happy reading and using PSD files natively, there are a few things that you may be used to from After Effects that aren't present in Combustion. As far as I'm concerned, what problems exist aren't a real hindrance to moving over to Combustion, but as usual, your mileage may vary. So in the interest of full disclosure, here's the list of "gotchas" I found:
1) No drag and drop. This is an issue that's not relegated only to Photoshop files, but certainly worth a mention. Combustion doesn't support dragging files from the Windows Explorer or the Mac OS Finder into the Combustion Workspace. This doesn't affect me too much, as I preferred the more precise controls the Import dialog offered in After Effects, but sometimes drag and drop comes in very handy, so it is definitely missed in Combustion.
2) Make sure compatibility mode is on. If you're working in Photoshop 7, be warned that Combustion doesn't support everything a PS7 file may have in it (more on that next). Fortunately, Adobe built a compatibility mode into Photoshop 7, which you can activate through the Photoshop File Handling Preferences dialog box (fig. 12). Checking "Always Maximize Compatibility for Photoshop (PSD) Files" will ensure that you won't run across too many hassles.
Figure 12: Please, for your own safety and sanity, make sure the Maximize Compatibility item is checked!
3) Newer transfer modes don't always work. This is related to the last point, in that it affects Photoshop 7 users. PS7 introduces a slew of new transfer modes, which aren't supported in Combustion. So if you're planning on using these newer modes, you will have compositing problems if you import such files into Combustion using the Grouped or Nested options, as there is no equivalent transfer mode in Combustion. However, if compatibility mode is on in Photoshop, these images will import correctly using the Merged Image option.
The last word
Some may poke holes in the arguments I've made here, but I found Combustion's PSD handling options are close enough to those of After Effects as to not to cause significant workflow hassle if you're considering the switch. Next time we'll be translating the Combustion interface to make a little more sense to After Effects users, so stay tuned!
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