Layer Opacity percentage from Photoshop is different in After Effects

Question

When importing a layered PS CS3 document into AE CS3 with layers set to different opacity, AE interprets the % differently. AE displays the % as a whole number but when you click on the field you can see the number goes to at least the thousandths.
This is an issue as our animators need to usually make footage loop perfectly and if they use the default imported value as the start value, and then change it over time and then create a new keyframe at the end of the loop to the whole number it displays, it is actually different so there is a slight shift.
As you can see in this example:
PS layer opacity = 10%
AE layer opacity = 10.196%
PS layer opacity = 20%
AE layer opacity = 20%
PS layer opacity = 30%
AE layer opacity = 30.196%
PS layer opacity = 40%
AE layer opacity = 40%
PS layer opacity = 22%
AE layer opacity = 21.0968%
PS layer opacity = 88%
AE layer opacity = 87.8431%
Anyone else know why this is happening? This is a mind boggler for me.
Thanks,
Jon
FYI, our Macs are running:
OS X 10.5.4
AE CS3 8.0.2.27
PS CS3 10.0.1

Answer 1

Simple: AE will use a higher precision than Photoshop even in the 8bpc/16bpc modes, let alone 32bpc. Photoshop will surely use the same values internally, but it doesn't display them. Dunno why, but PS being the old dog it is, I'm not really wondering... More of a question for that forum for sure. Could of course also be a problem with different color profiles/ color space settings between the apps, so this might be worth checking. Maybe you are using an outdated version of a profile in one of them... A simple solution inside AE would be to simply nail down those values with expressions, e.g.
opacity.valueAtTime(thisComp.startTime)
Otherwise: Stay away from the evil Photoshop. ;-)
Mylenium