A while ago I wrote a tutorial on how to animate cut outs using .psds in FCP, which involved manipulating the photoshop layers.
In most instances an imported .psd, when double clicked in the browser or timeline, will open as a sequence displaying all the layers, which is excellent. But I started getting a few email from people who couldn't get this to work. The only cure that I knew was to copy paste into a fresh photoshop document, especially if the file had come from a PC.
This week I have had the same problem and I think I might have found the cure, but I would love it if some of you guys could test it at your end to see if it always works.
What I found was that some (anomalous) RGB images pasted into Photoshop ended up at 16 bit. These images were not able to be displayed in FCP as layers. If I changed them to RGB 8 bit, they display fine.
So, could someone please confirm or deny this? Will a RGB 16 bit photoshop file display layers in your FCP? If not, does changing it to 8 bit make it work?
You'll find the adjustments under Image > Mode > 8 bits/channel.