THE PHOTOSHOP CS2 HELP DESK BOOK [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

Smart Objects

This new Photoshop CS2 feature brings layer flexibility to another level, allowing you to link from one Photoshop document to another. There are two ways to create a Smart Object from another Photoshop document: use the Place command to import the document, or drag in the layers you need and convert them to a Smart Object. Let's look at both options.

Option One

Here I used the File>Place command to bring a second image into our document. After resizing and pressing Enter, the layer indicates that this is a Smart Object.

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I can rotate the image, change the blend mode, lower the opacity, or add a layer effect (you cannot apply adjustments to the Smart Object or use any painting-type tools such as the Brush or the Clone Stamp tool).

Then if I decide I need a different imagebut want to preserve all the other changesI simply use Layer>Smart Objects>Replace Contents and choose a different image. Click OK and the existing Smart Object is replaced with the new image, complete with any changes I made.

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Option Two

In the following example, a multilayered document was created to make a small banner for a website.

After Shift-clicking to select all the layers, I used the Move tool (V) to drag the layers into another document. Although I could keep all the separate layers, or put the layers into a Group, in this case I made a Smart Object instead. From Layer>Smart Objects I chose Group into New Smart Object. It looks as though the layers have been merged, and in a sense they have.

®ISTOCKPHOTO/MARTIN WORKMAN, FEFFREY SMITH

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However, double-clicking on the newly created Smart Object will open a new document based on your Smart Object. (Note: It is not opening the original document from which I copied the layers, but a different document, in PSB format.)

Any changes I make to the document will be updated automatically by the Smart Object.

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You can also select layers in a document and turn them into a Smart Object. It's as simple as selecting them and then choosing Layer>Smart Objects>Group into New Smart Object. The onlyand importantdifference is that this Smart Object is not based on a separate document. If I double-click to edit the Smart Object, it will open a document that contains the layers in the Smart Object. Edit that document, save it, and the Smart Object will update in the original document.

If you place a Camera Raw file into another Photoshop document, it will also become a Smart Objectafter launching the Camera Raw dialog. This means that you can apply the settings you want in Camera Raw, click OK, and then scale it to size in the other document. If you double-click on the Smart Object, it will launch Camera Raw so that you can tweak the settings.