Importing Smart Objects in Adobe Photoshop CS5
Note: This excerpt does not include the lesson files. The lesson files are available with purchase of the book.
From the book
From the book
From the book
Smart Objects are layers that you can edit in Photoshop nondestructively; that is, changes you make to the image remain editable and don’t affect the actual image pixels, which are preserved. Regardless of how often you scale, rotate, skew, or otherwise transform a Smart Object, it retains its sharp, precise edges.
You can import vector objects from Adobe Illustrator as Smart Objects. If you edit the original object in Illustrator, the changes will be reflected in the placed Smart Object in your Photoshop image file. You’ll work with a Smart Object now by placing text created in Illustrator into the toy store poster.
Adding the title
The toy-store name was created in Illustrator. You’ll add it to the poster now.
- Select the Spaceship layer, and choose File > Place. Navigate to the Lessons/Lesson08 folder, select the Title.ai file, and
click Place. Click OK in the Place PDF dialog box that appears.
The Retro Toyz text is added to the middle of the composition, inside a bounding box with adjustable handles. A new layer, title, appears in the Layers panel.
- Drag the Retro Toyz object to the upper-left corner of the poster, and then press Shift and drag a corner to make the text
object proportionally larger—so that it fills the top portion of the poster, as in the following figure. When you’ve finished,
either press Enter or Return, or click the Commit Transform button (
) in the options bar.
When you commit to the transformation, the layer thumbnail icon changes to reflect that the title layer is a Smart Object.
Because the Retro Toyz title is a Smart Object, you can continue to edit its size and shape, if you’d like. Simply select the layer, choose Edit > Free Transform to access the control handles, and drag to adjust them. Or, select the Move tool (
), and select Show Transform Controls in the options bar. Then adjust the handles.
)
Adding a vector mask to a Smart Object
For a fun effect, you’ll turn the center of each letter “O” in the title into a star that matches the cutout you created earlier. You’ll use a vector mask, which you can link to a Smart Object in Photoshop.
- Select the title layer, and then click the Add Layer Mask button at the bottom of the Layers panel.
- Select the Polygon tool (
), hidden beneath the Custom Shape tool (
). The options you used earlier to create the star should still be in effect. The Polygon tool holds your settings until you
change them again. If you need to reset the options, refer to “Subtracting shapes from a shape layer.”
- Click the Switch Foreground And Background Colors button in the Tools panel, so that black is the foreground color.
- Click in the center of the “O” in “Toyz,” and drag the cursor outward until the star covers the center of the “O.”
- Repeat step 4 to add a star in the small “O” in Retro.
)
)
Rotating the canvas (OpenGL only)
You’ve been working with the image with “Retro Toyz” at the top of the work area and the ground at the bottom. But if your video card supports OpenGL, you can rotate the work area to draw, type, or position objects from a different perspective. You’ll rotate the view as you add a copyright statement along the side of the image. (If your video card doesn’t support OpenGL, skip this section.)
First, you’ll type the text.
- In the Character panel, select a serif font such as Myriad Pro with a small text size such as 10 pt, and set the color to white.
- Select the Horizontal Type tool, and then click in the lower-left corner of the image. Type Copyright YOUR NAME Productions, substituting your own name.
You want the copyright to run along the left side of the image. You’ll rotate the canvas to make it easier to place.
- Select the Rotate View tool (
), hidden beneath the Hand tool (
).
- Press the Shift key as you drag the tool in an arc to rotate the canvas 90 degrees clockwise. Pressing the Shift key restrains the rotation to 45-degree increments.
- Select the Copyright text layer, and then choose Edit > Transform > Rotate 90° CCW.
- Use the Move tool to align the text along the top edge of the image, which will be the left edge when it is in its usual position.
- Select the Rotate View tool again, and then click Reset View in the options bar.
- Choose File > Save to save your work.
)
)
)