Photoshop CS5: The Missing Manual

Using Smart Objects

A Smart Object is a container-like layer into which you can plop all kinds of stuff like Raw files (Working with Raw Files), vectors (drawings) from programs like Adobe Illustrator (Chapter 13), whole PSD files, and even other layers. Smart Objects are smart because Photoshop remembers the original content and what program created it, which lets you:

• Transform or resize without losing quality. Instead of resizing the instance (a copy) of the content that you inserted into your document, Photoshop remembers info about the original, resizes that, and then places that information back into your image (without altering the original file). It doesn't matter whether that original lives elsewhere on your hard drive or right there in your Photoshop document (on another layer, say). In the blink of an eye, Photoshop updates your document with the newly resized content without making it look blocky (so long as you don't exceed the file's original dimensions—unless it's a vector, of course). You can also use the full range of transform tools (The Transformers) on Smart Objects, too.

  Frequently Asked Question: Clipping Masks

  What the heck is a clipping mask? Is it similar to a layer mask?

  Clipping masks and layer masks are similar in that they both hide parts of an image, but that's about all they have in common. Clipping masks are like Photoshop's version of stencils: they let you take one layer's contents (like bluebonnets) and shove it through the contents of the layer directly ...