Smart Objects get more and more common in designer’s workflows, but they are still being wildly underestimated. In this Quicktip we’ll go over the major advantages of using them.
1. REPETITIONS (INSTANCES)
Our favorite feature: if you need a specific element twice, using Smart Objects gives you the advantage of keeping the clone element updating along with the original.
Quick example: we converted two pictures from mosquitoes to Smart Objects and duplicated them several times, slightly transforming and shifting each object to create an organic swarm.
If we change our mind and wanted to replace the mosquitoes, all we have to do is simply go into the Smart Object and put a new layer with e.g. a butterfly on top of it:
The instance’s transformations remain the same, but the content updates accordingly. This wouldn’t have been possible if we had just duplicated the normal layer. Note the shadow is also a transformed S.O.
The very same concept of instancing comes in handy when working on repetitive patterns such as wall paper. While seeing several tiles of the pattern, you are able to change the whole pattern by working on the S.O. in a split screen view. Especially when working with perspective, the workflow rapidly starts to remind of a 3D texturing workflow, having the projection and the layed out texture side by side:
2. TRANSFORMATIONS & CHANGEABILITY
Resizing and all other types of transformation don’t result in a loss of information when performed on a Smart Object. Hence you can make an image smaller and then come back later and make it bigger again – Photoshop will restore the full range of pixel data instead of blowing up the small version.
It is also the cleanest and fastest way to place infinitely scalable vector data inside Photoshop.
If your target is to keep the Photoshop file as open as possible to further changes (and most cases it will be), use S.O. whenever you can. The filters applicable to S.O. are being stacked onto the object’s appearance, remaining changeable like Adjustment layers.
3. CROSS-APP WORKFLOW
Like mentioned afore, S.O. allow you to place real vector imagery coming directly from Illustrator. This enables an instant feedback workflow where one can change the vector drawing in Illustrator and see the changes happen in Photoshop in real-time. No links or connections have to be reloaded, thus facilitating the daily hustle. This principle applies for several file formats supported by Adobe, making Smart Objects interchangeable between tools like for example InDesign or Dreamweaver.
To conclude we can compare the procedure of using Smart Objects to precomping in After Effects: it is acting like a container which maintains the full range of information of the content of the Smart Object‘s original state. If you didn’t use them until now, start using them, and if you did use them, start using them more. You won’t regret it.
. the mosquito/butterfly example!
Jake & Dan