Linked smart objects
or: In Which Our Hero Falls A Little Bit More In Love With Adobe Photoshop CC
At my work we have long used Smart Objects as a way of keeping complexly structured files reasonably simple but still retaining editability. One of the best examples of this that I can share is within our marketing documents and product images.
For the uninitiated, Smart Objects work by essentially embedding a fully editable Photoshop file (a .psb) inside another (usually .psd) as a single layer. You can open up this file, edit the contents and then return to the original, cleanly organised parent file. If you have good reasons to keep certain files easily accessible to Photoshop novices or are just a bit anally retentive (I refuse to disclose which of these applies to me), then they are a godsend.
However, they are pretty resource-heavy in terms of file size and if you have a number of files essentially using the same smart object but duplicated, such as an app screen on varying product shots, then it can become a pain to go through and edit/replace each one. Photoshop CC’s new feature allows you to not only embed Smart Objects, but also link various psds to the same source psb file.
Check the animated gif below; the file on the far left is a fully editable homescreen .psb file of our Divide app on Android. By changing the wallpaper on that one file it has updated all the other mockups immediately. Now if you work at a startup you’ll know that you have to iterate quickly and from release to release you may go through reasonably noticeable UI changes. This means replacing all those lovingly crafted product shots on the website & marketing documents in a not un-tedious task. Using the linked Smart Objects feature you can create a single .psb file and then place (File > Place Linked) into each mockup/position you need it. When you then edit this single .psb file and save it, and it will automatically update all of those extra product shots you need.
I know personally that we’ll be making use of this feature in a number of different ways in the Divide design team but I’m sure plenty of people will find this new update indispensible.
If you’re confused or just want a bit more info then Adobe has put together a great little tutorial to explain it.
As a simple guide/freebie too, here’s a vectorized Nexus 5 .psd* with linked Smart Object at the correct 1080 x 1920 resolution for you to swap out your own app screens. Try linking another Nexus 5 .psd to the same .psb included here and watch the magic happen.
*Beware that it’s 100+mb.
