Learn what Smart Objects are
are and why you should use them as much as you can.
This tutorial will show you how you can
use Smart Objects to make transformations
without any loss in quality,
apply filters you can change at a later time,
and more.
Watch this video and find out the
5 reasons why you should switch to Smart Objects.
What are Smart Objects?
In layman terms,
Smart Objects are layers
with powerful nondestructive-editing abilities.
Unlike a regular Photoshop layer,
Smart Objects preserve the original image data
so that you can transform,
apply filters,
and make other edits nondestructively.
They keep your layers to a minimum
and can even be used to
make editing easier for other people.
Work with Vector Data
The first advantage of using Smart Objects
is that you can import vector files
(ex. Adobe Illustrator files)
without rasterizing them.
To place images into your document as Smart Objects,
go to File > Place,
browse for the image,
then click OK.
Photoshop will have the transformation tool automatically enabled.
Make any transformation you like
then click on the checkmark button in the options bar
to place the image.
You can also do this by dragging and
dropping an image file into your Photoshop document.
Nondestructive Transformations
The transform tools are one of the most used tools in Photoshop.
They let you scale, rotate, skew,
and perform other transformations on a layer.
Unfortunately, you can easily ruin the
quality of your layer with too many transformations.
To demonstrate this to you,
let's shrink this layer then enlarge it back.
As you can see,
the image quality has deteriorated a lot.
Fortunately, Smart Objects solves this problem
by giving you nondestructive transformations.
To convert a layer to a smart object,
right-click on the layer and choose
"Convert to Smart Object".
Now you can scale, skew, rotate,
and do as many transformations as you like
without affecting the image quality.
Smart Filters
You can apply Photoshop filters nondestructively with Smart Filters.
When you apply a filter to a Smart Object,
Photoshop automatically applies it as a Smart Filter
which appears under your layer and can be changed at any time.
Double-click on the Smart Filter to change the settings.
You can also edit the blending option of the Smart Filter
by double-clicking on the Edit Blending Options icon.
Smart Filters lets you go back and edit the settings at any time,
shows you a list of filters applied to the layer,
and allows you to hide or unhide each filter individually.
Not all filters can be applied to Smart Objects
but Photoshop is always improving this with new versions and updates.
Link multiple layers
One of the least used features of Smart Objects is linking.
Sometimes you need to create multiple versions of a single layer.
To do this,
go to Layer > New > Layer Via Copy,
or drag the Smart Object layer to the "Create A New Layer" icon.
You can edit these layers in any way
then update the Smart Object to have the changes apply to all the linked layers.
For example, we can create a few linked instances of this Smart Object,
reposition them, edit the Smart Object,
and the changes will be applied to all the layers.
Update Placeholder Images
Many designers use stock photos in their designs.
Before they buy the full-size image,
they usually work with lower resolution comps provided by the stock agency.
This way, they can design their project using comps
instead of paying for the images upfront
and running the risk of not using it in the final design.
With Smart Objects, you can easily replace the contents with another image
by going to Layer > Smart Objects > Replace Contents.
Many designers also use this to create PSD files that are easier to edit.
Smart Objects are extremely useful and should be used whenever possible.
Give it a try and let us know if it helps!
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