Flat tiff of an artwork needed as a layered PSD

Pray tell are there any solutions that will save me hours of work that i'll not get paid for?

 

Thanks

By @MaxMercuryLives

I would't go there! Even if you have all of the source elements and can rebuild the layered version.

Do you have agreed terms for exactly what type of file a client is purchasing?

Some consider layered and other editable native files to be their I.P. and a client is purchasing a final flattened file. This is made clear in the terms. If the client is purchasing a layered file, then the author should be compensated for this in my opinion.

This isn't legal advice or business advice, just my personal opinion.

If you open the TIFF and the only thing the Layers panel contains is one layer named Background, then it’s flat and there are no other layers.

If it contains a Smart Object layer, there might be other layers inside that, so double-click it.

What do they need the separate layers for? If it’s flattened, maybe you can save time by reconstructing only the layers they actually need. For example:

If they need a graphic element as a separate layer, in the flattened TIFF you could try selecting that element (the Object Selection tool might speed that up) and choosing the command Layer > New > Layer Via Copy, then on the original layer, fill the selection using Edit > Generative Fill.

If they need to reconstruct a type layer, you could try drawing a rectangular selection around the pixels of the text and using the command Type > Match Font to find the closest font match to use. After you re-type the type layer to match, again you can use Generative Fill to try and fill in the area where the type pixels were on the flattened layer.

Those are not great ideas of course, but my point is that if you have to try to reconstruct the layers that used to exist, current features like generative fill and Match Font make it a lot easier than it was before Photoshop had those features.

Unfortunately there are no workarounds for reconstructing layers such as Smart Objects, fill/pattern layers such as gradients, or other layer types such as adjustment layers or a gradient map. And there’s no way to reverse or reconstruct layer options such as opacity, blending mode, and layer effects.

Hi, thanks for reaching out! 

A flattened TIFF only stores the final composite image — essentially a single layer of pixels — without any of the Photoshop layer data. If the TIFF was saved with layers intact, then you can reopen it in Photoshop and recover them. Otherwise, once flattened and saved, the original PSD layers are permanently lost.