Create smart objects, Duplicate a smart object, Edit the content of a smart object – Adobe Photoshop CS4 User Manual
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USING PHOTOSHOP CS4
Layers
Last updated 1/10/2010
Create Smart Objects
❖
Do any of the following:
•
Choose File
> Open As Smart Object, select a file, and click Open.
•
Choose File
> Place to import files as Smart Objects into an open Photoshop document.
Although you can place JPEG files, it's better to place PSD, TIFF, or PSB files because you can add layers, modify
pixels, and resave the file without loss. (Saving a modified JPEG file requires you to flatten new layers and recompress
the image, causing image quality degradation).
•
Choose Layer
>
Smart Object >
Convert to Smart Object to convert a selected layer into a Smart Object.
•
In Bridge, choose File
> Place
> In Photoshop to import a file as a Smart Object into an open Photoshop document.
An easy way to work with camera raw files is to open them as Smart Objects. You can double-click the Smart Object
layer containing the raw file at any time to adjust the Camera Raw settings.
•
Select one or more layers and choose Layer
> Smart Objects
> Convert To Smart Object. The layers are bundled
into one Smart Object.
•
Drag PDF or Adobe Illustrator layers or objects into a Photoshop document.
•
Paste artwork from Illustrator into a Photoshop document, and choose Smart Object in the Paste dialog box. For
the greatest flexibility, enable both PDF and AICB (No Transparency Support) in the File Handling & Clipboard
section of the Preferences dialog box in Adobe Illustrator.
More Help topics
Paste Adobe Illustrator art into Photoshop
Duplicate a Smart Object
❖
In the Layers panel, select a Smart Object layer, and do one of the following:
•
To create a duplicate Smart Object that is linked to the original, choose Layer
> New
> Layer Via Copy, or drag the
Smart Object layer to the Create A New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers panel. Edits you make to the original
affect the copy and vice versa.
•
To create a duplicate Smart Object that isn’t linked to the original, choose Layer
> Smart Objects
> New Smart
Object Via Copy. Edits you make to the original don’t affect the copy.
A new Smart Object appears in the Layers panel with the same name as the original and “copy” as a suffix.
Edit the content of a Smart Object
When you edit a Smart Object, the source content is opened in either Photoshop (if the content is raster data or a
camera raw file) or Illustrator (if the content is vector PDF). When you save changes to the source content, the edits
appear in all linked instances of the Smart Object in the Photoshop document.
1
Select the Smart Object from the Layers panel, and do one of the following:
•
Choose Layer
> Smart Objects
> Edit Contents.
•
Double-click the Smart Objects thumbnail in the Layers panel.
2
Click OK to close the dialog box.
3
Make edits to the source content file, then choose File
> Save.