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davidvb77
Participating Frequently
April 28, 2011
Released

P: Externally Linked Smart Objects

  • April 28, 2011
  • 95 replies
  • 2137 views

I'm a UI designer and some of my PSD's become very complex over time which makes it extremely hard for our developers to find what they are looking for.
A search-tool in the layers palette would be helpful as well but what would be at least as welcome is a "reference" tool where i can add URLs (to Jira tickets for example) but more importantly add reference links to actual layer groups or layers. (After effects' way of linking layers would be perfect for that)

An example: if a developer is looking for a certain design they just need to click a link I provided for let's say "Login UI - final step - updated" and they simply go there in the layers panel by clicking a reference link.

This way others can use my complex ui psd's without problems.

    95 replies

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    A
    ahudson87
    Participant
    February 4, 2012
    Hey, you know what? It appears to be working just fine now. Can't really say what was going on but now when I bring in PSDs I'm seeing everything at the appropriate size and linking is working great.

    I can't wait to put this into use. Thanks a ton for trouble shooting with me. Great tool you've got here.
    A
    AaronPowers2
    Participating Frequently
    February 4, 2012
    Hi Alex,
    Can you try the same thing using Photoshop's "File" -> "Place" and see if it does the same rescaling? If it does, I think it may be a Photoshop standard.

    This may be happening due to the resolution in the image, e.g. if you go into "Image" -> "Image Size" and look at the "Resolution", if the destination file is other than 72 pixels/inch, Photoshop may be automatically rescaling the image in a poor attempt to keep each image at the same number of inches.

    However, if neither of those things explains it, I'll need some more details, like the two files you're using so I can try it myself and figure out what's happening. If you prefer, you can email me at Support@CanLinkIt.com

    Thanks, and let me know.
    - Aaron
    A
    AaronPowers2
    Participating Frequently
    February 3, 2012
    Thanks, Alex! I'm going to take a look at this and get back to you. I'll probably come back to ask you for more details in a day or so.
    A
    ahudson87
    Participant
    February 3, 2012
    Hey Aaron,

    Thanks for the support. Link to PSD is functioning now!

    I'm having a new issue though. PSD's brought into my file come in scaled up about 1/3 (ex: my 100px X 100px file comes in to the master file and shows its at 100% but its at 133px and pixilates). I'm able to scale down to about 75% and work with it but I'm pretty sure that's not how you want it to function.

    I'm on PS CS5.1 on Mac running Lion OS. If you need me to screencap anything or more info let me know.

    Thanks again.
    A
    AaronPowers2
    Participating Frequently
    February 3, 2012
    Hi Alex,
    I've uploaded a new version that fixes some problems that were on macs. You can download it at http://CanLinkIt.com.

    If it still doesn't work, I'd be happy to look into and try to fix it, I would just need you to send me some more information. The info I need, including steps on to find and send me your log file, is posted here:
    http://www.canlinkit.com/contact/su
    A
    AaronPowers2
    Participating Frequently
    February 3, 2012
    Jeff was right -- the problem was indeed related to having tabs on in Photoshop on a mac. I've implemented a workaround which has now been uploaded to CanLinkIt.com
    If it's still crashing, send me any debugging logs and I may be able to fix it. The way to get a log is here:
    https://sites.google.com/a/canlinkit....
    A
    AaronPowers2
    Participating Frequently
    February 3, 2012
    Hi Alex,
    Yes, it sounds like there's a problem. It's probably a bug in CanLinkIt.

    I'm uploading a new version that will have some fixes very soon -- I'll post when it's up and it would be great if you could try it out (and if it doesn't work, I'll post how to send me the logfile that will let me fix the problem).
    A
    ahudson87
    Participant
    February 2, 2012
    Thanks Aaron,

    I just checked it out and I don't seem to be getting the desired results. When I try to New Link to a PSD, nothing happens. I'm able to link other files (jpgs, pngs) but not existing multilayered PSDs. That is really what I'm trying to accomplish.

    Am I experiencing an error? Or is CanLinkIt meant to handle only non-PSD file types?
    F
    FeedbackCommunityMember
    Inspiring
    February 2, 2012
    Smart objects generally cannot be edited "inline". They have different document sizes, depths, color modes, and can be vector files that Photoshop can't even edit. Only rarely would it be even remotely possible to edit "inline" (and then you'd lose most of the benefits of having smart objects)
    D
    davidvb77Author
    Participating Frequently
    February 2, 2012
    i'm on OSX 10.7.2, Pshop 12.0.4 64bit - PSD is in your mailbox.
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