Page 36 - CC 2019 WD Look Inside

Place Files as Smart Object Layers
As you have seen in the last few exercises, copying layer content from one file to
another results in new regular layers for the pasted content. Photoshop also supports
Smart Object layers, in which you place one file into another instead of pasting layer
content. Smart Objects provide a number of advantages over regular layers, which
you will explore later in this project. In this exercise, you will create the Smart Object
layers for the remaining image elements.

1. With aftermath.psd open, choose File>Place Embedded.
Two options in the File menu — Place Embedded and Place Linked — give you the
option to embed the placed file data into active file, or to place smart objects as links
to the original placed file. (See Page 50 for more about placing linked files.)

2. Choose the Lightning.jpg file (in your WIP>Movie folder) and click Place.

The placed file appears with
bounding-box handles and
crossed diagonal lines. The The Options bar shows
placement isn’t final until that the placed image
you press Return/Enter. If has been scaled to fit
into the active canvas.
you press the Escape key,
the file will not be placed. The placed image is
centered in the
In the Options bar, you document window.
can see that the placed
image has been scaled to Crossed diagonal lines
approximately 45% to fit and bounding-box
into the document where it handles indicate that the
is being placed. placement is not yet final.

Note:
3. Press Return/Enter to finalize the placement.
If you check Skip
After you finalize the placement, the bounding-box handles and crossed diagonal
lines disappear. In the Layers panel, the placed file has its own layer (just as the copied Transform when Plac-
layers do). This layer, however, is automatically named, based on the name of the ing in the General pane
placed file. of the Preferences dialog
box, you will not see
The layer’s thumbnail indicates that this layer is a Smart Object — it is linked to the the diagonal lines and
file that you placed. Changes in the original file will also be reflected in the file in transform handles when
which the original is placed.
you first place a Smart
Object layer.

The layer adopts the
name of the placed file.
This icon identifies
an embedded Smart
Object layer.

48 Project 1: Composite Movie Ad