P: Externally Linked Smart Objects

A related issues that i had hoped would be addressed in CS6 but hasn't in the beta is inline editing of smart objects...

Currently it's pretty tedious to adjust an element, let's say the color of a button inside a smart object, so that it matches it's background better. Because it opens in a different window without the actual background its positioned on.

My wish is that it would behave like any layer group (after double clicking), (or like code folding if you wish, for you coders out there) so that you can actually see what you are doing without having to saving and undo a 100 times in this trial & error process.

Oh, and as soon as I can get my hands on a copy of Photoshop CS6, I'll test it out there, but I think it'll probably work as I've tested it on all of CS4, CS5, and CS5.1 for Mac and Windows without any changes for those versions.

Hi David and Jeff,
Thanks for telling me! If it crashes again, if you can do a few things for me I'll very likely be able to debug the problem.

First, if you tell me what version of Photoshop and OS you're working on, I'll try to repeat the problem myself.

And if next time it crashes, it would really help me if you could
(a) send me a screenshot of the crash
(b) the PSDs you were working on, and
(c) follow the directions here to get and send me a log file: https://sites.google.com/a/canlinkit....

You can mail those to me if you'd rather do that than posting here: support@CanLinkIt.com

I do remember there being a problem with tabbed documents, though I spent some time trying to fix one of those bugs. It might not be completely fixed. I'll look into it if I can get more details.

- Aaron

Hi Alex,
Did you take a look at the CanLinkIt plugin yet? The video and link are in the comment right above this. I think it does what you're describing. If it doesn't, can you describe the feature you're looking for that would improve CanLinkIt? I might be able to implement it.

- Aaron

I am a design professional using Photoshop and other Adobe products on a regular, daily basis. I'd like to suggest a feature/modification that would greatly improve usability for professionals creating deep/rich PSDs for large-scale projects:

While it is currently possible to embed PSDs into each other - once embedded, there is no live connection between the original and the nested copy. You are essentially creating a parallel file. Changes made to the nested or the original PSD do no affect each other. This can be problematic when versioning (and accidentally pulling out-dated assets).

Why can't the nested PSD be a portal to the true original? Changing the nested version saves your work in both files (treating them as one). If you want to access only the original file (perhaps its smaller/lighter for quick revisions than opening a heavy master document) you can do that easily without worrying about re-importing/replacing the nested version.

EX: I'm working on a website that contains a rotating banner. The banners are becoming more and more rich/complex. Makes sense for exporting to create the banners in their own PSD. I'd like to place the banners PSD into the website comp so that my client can see a screenshot of the whole at any given time. Now that its nested, I essentially have two parallel files. I'll edit work daily and will quickly lose track of what file I made the change on. WHAT IF THEY WERE THE SAME FILE!?

Does this feature/modification resonate with any other serious Photoshop users? I wonder if this concept has been addressed and if there is a legitimate reason for why we don't have it as a feature.

Hi David, Do you have Tabbed Documents turned on in Photoshop? (Photoshop>Preferences>Interface...) Try turning off Tabbed Documents and let me know if still does this.

Actually it just crashed on me just now when I pressed "Update All." My test file had just 1 reference layer containing a PNG that I had color inverted.

i've tweeted about it here: https://twitter.com/#!/davidvb/status... Didn't find your twitter handle though.

I'm very impressed! Even more so after disabling the extension and seeing that the created reference layers are still functioning! Very nice work sir!

Are there any serious issues I should be aware of (like crashing PS for example) or is this ready to use in production?

Is it already CS6 compatible? 🙂

Thanks, David! Please let me know what you think after you try it.