Photoshop open image sequence results in "file name was not valid" error.

[anthonyb8520326]

I am running photoshop CC 2018 19.1.2.  I am a new user and I am experimenting with photoshop image sequence export/import.  I wanted to start with the simplest possible test: load a video file, export to an image sequence, close photoshop, reopen photoshop, then import the image sequence that I exported.   Loading the video and exporting to an image sequence worked correctly.   I exported an image sequence from a video.   The file names are of the form filename0001.jpg, filename0002.jpg, ... .   I then tried to import this sequence of images using the instructions in the section "Import image sequences" on this page Import video files and image sequences in Adobe Photoshop .   I select one of the files, choose file type JPEG, select the Image Sequence box, and then click the open button.  Photoshop responds with a frame rate dialog box, I select 30 and click ok.  Photoshop responds with an error message dialog box "Could not complete the Open command because the file name was not valid".   I've searched on this forum and on google and I have not found a similar problem with solution.

[anthonyb8520326]

I am running photoshop CC 2018 19.1.2 on Windows 10 Pro, version 1709, build 16299.334.

[anthonyb8520326 · Accepted solution]

The problem is resolved.

I did some more searching and found a similar problem: Unable to Import Image Sequence into Premiere Pro CC 2015

It appears that the Premiere and Photoshop image sequence import is very sensitive to filename format.  The video file that I opened in Photoshop was named VID_20180401_115900678.mp4.   When I exported the image sequence, Photoshop created the image sequence files with filenames of the form:

VID_20180401_1159006780000.jpg

VID_20180401_1159006780001.jpg

...

VID_20180401_1159006780066.jpg

The last 4 digits of the filenames are the sequence numbers and were created by the Photoshop export process.

When I attempted to import this sequence, I got the "file name was not valid" error. 

Based on some of the comments in Unable to Import Image Sequence into Premiere Pro CC 2015 , it appears that Photoshop is sensitive to the exact format of the filename.   I suspected that the numbers in my video filename were causing the problem so I renamed the video file to VID_20180401_115900678-.mp4 (note the trailing '-' in the filename) and repeated the entire process of opening the video file, exporting the image sequence, and then opening the generated image sequence.

This time, when I exported the image sequence, Photoshop created the image sequence files with filenames of the form:

VID_20180401_115900678-0000.jpg

VID_20180401_115900678-0001.jpg

...

VID_20180401_115900678-0066.jpg

Note the '-' character that separates the numbers in the filename from the image sequence numbers.

The open image sequence worked with this set of files.

It appears that Photoshop expects at least one non-numeric character to separate the sequence number from the rest of the filename.

Adobe should document this behavior in the instructions Import video files and image sequences in Adobe Photoshop  so that users are aware of the exact naming requirements for image sequences.