P: EPS or PDF Smart objects render badly (with jags) when being scaled or transformed.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Like the title says.
Smart objects render badly (with jags) when being scaled or transformed.
There are stair-like jags on the edges and text looks like crackled.

[c.pfaffenbichler]

I seem to be getting identical results for SO- and pixel Layer-transformations.

What version are you working on?
Is the white background part of the SO?
What are your Preferences > General > Image Interpolation-settings?

Edit: Is the SO a Vector SO?

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

My Photoshop is 12.1 x64

The white background you see there is actually a letterhead. I was designing one for a customer and placed it over a grey background with some noise on it. So the white thing is one rasterized layer. It cannot be seen on that example, but very often the outer edges/boundaries of a layer get very strong stairways-like - especially when rotating the layer i think.
--> The smart object is a pixel image.

Interpolation is set to bicubic in my settings - I didn't change this anytime, it should be the standard setting.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Something is off - are you sure you didn't use the warp transform mode by mistake?

Which version of Photoshop are you using? Are you sure all updates have been installed?

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

I always install the updates.
I did use the perspective transformation on this one.
I just played around in photoshop just now, but couln't get it that way again...
I have noticed this problem since about 3 years already - this is no new problem to me.
I don't know what kind of transformation brings up this...

edit: I am not sure if I really used the perspective transformation in this screenshot already, because I did the screenshot in the middle of buidling up the composition/image...

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

It seems to be more visible when I transform the smart object from a high resolution to a much smaller (to 30% of size for example - but still like 500px wide) and transform in perspective.

[Anthony_Edge]

I also have this problem (Photoshop CS6).
The moire and jaggy effect make Smart Objects MUCH less useful.
If I take Raster artwork (copied from Illustrator) and paste into Photoshop as a smart object, scale down, the results are terrible. I'm mean - unusable.

To get a usable result I have to rasterise the full-sized smart object and then scale it down to get acceptable results. Goodbye smart object.
I'm using CTRL-T to transform (not perspective or other transform).

Photoshop CS6, Win 7, 64bit.

[Anthony_Edge]

FYI, if you use CTRL-T to transform your Smart Layer and scale it, you see a live preview of the layer scaling. Traditionally (CS5) when the transforming is completed and you 'tick' or hit 'Enter' to apply the Transform, there is a monir delay whilst Photoshop calculates and renders the anti-aliased version.

This rendering of the "scaling preview" DOES NOT happen in CS6.
You are left with the preview.
No wonder it looks like crap!

I'm guessing Adobe will want to fix this pretty quickly.

Smart Objects are dead until it is rectified.

[Anthony_Edge]

Eight months on, issue raised again with Adobe staff, still no resolution. Seems to be related to PDF sourced smart objects or elements copied into Photoshop from Illustrator documents with raster elements (as Smart Objects). It does not happen with all PDFs, mind you. Is most obvious when scaling dramatically down.

This is a serious bug with Smart Object support.
Is anyone working on this?

The attached image shows the full-sized source PDF (flattened raster PDF) in the background. I scaled down a raster layer (green box) and also a Smart Object version (dark shading with white boxes highlighting the difference). It's bad. And the further away you scale from the source PDF document size, the worse it gets.

The very small versions (Smart Object vs Raster Transform) show this the most starkly.

Is an update coming for this? I can't use Smart Objects! Is anyone watching this space?

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Nobody else is having such problems.

My only guess is that your default interpolation is set to Nearest Neighbor by mistake.

[Anthony_Edge]

I had lengthy discussions and exchanged tests with Brian Chau in early December about this bug. He confirmed he could replicate it. He was unable to identify a workaround - although he suggested many options, all of which failed, if the artwork arrives in Photoshop as a Smart Object.

Default interpolation settings are for document resizing (last time I checked). Regardless, my preferences are set to Bicubic Automatic.

I promise - other people ARE having this problem - but are likely not noticing because it is very obvious if you scale dramatically away from the Smart Object's native size.

But your are correct, the resulting image is (likely) using nearest neighbor (or in other words, no smoothing). But why?!

[Anthony_Edge]

You can download the same test I sent to Brian. As I mentioned, not all sources behave this way. Naturally I've installed all updates since this set of demo files was compiled. The problem persists.

http://mredge.com/temp/AdobePS_CS6_Sm...

[Anthony_Edge]

So, open a PSD, drag in the attached PDF and scale it down to around 300px width. Apply the transform (notice no smoothing is applied when you do this).

ps, As well as Brian, all other users running CS6 in my office can replicate this problem. PC and Mac. Actually I'm yet to find anyone who can scale the PDF sourced Smart Object with smoothing in PS CS6.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

The scaling used for SOs depends on your default interpolation -- change your default interpolation to Bicubic, then force the SO to re-rasterize (transform, or update the file)

[Anthony_Edge]

Wow, did that work for you Chris? It certainly made no difference for me.
I used: Edit > Preferences > General > Image Interpolation > Bicubic (best for smooth gradients)

nb. When transforming smart object, "Anti-alias" is checked.

Restarted Photoshop - just in case. Still fails to smooth scaled down Smart Object created from PDF in previously posted .zip file.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

It makes a difference. But I'm just not sure exactly what you're seeing since I have yet to see a problem such as you describe.

[Anthony_Edge]

Here's a screencast of the issue at work.
https://tfa.viewscreencasts.com/29f9f...

[Anthony_Edge]

Here's a link to an example PDF which, when placed or dragged into a PSD (creating a Smart Object layer), fails to be smoothed.

http://mredge.com/temp/BobJane-Demo-C...

[Jeffrey Tranberry]

Thanks Anthony. This is helpful. I'm seeing something funky here. I'm going to run my results by engineering.

[Anthony_Edge]

Thanks Mr Tranberry.
I suspect the source PDFs a little (supplied by 3rd parties). Perhaps a PDF not well formatted, or locked in some way, could be to blame. Perhaps not made by Acrobat, for example.
Regardless, before CS6, I never experienced this issue.
And when some PDFs are opened in Illustrator and only some elements are copied and pasted into a PSD as a Smart Object, the same thing can occur. This too, is quite odd behavior.

[Jeffrey Tranberry]

Yeah. It may be something specific to this particular PDF. We'll figure it out.

[Jeanne Rubbo]

I am also able to reproduce it with the file you provided. I've logged it in our bug database.

[Anthony_Edge]

Thanks folks.
ps. The problem is not isolated to this one PDF. I can reproduce it with loads of them, but not all. Many PDFs scale beautifully.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Why Photoshop CS6 have defective rasterizing module? I'm asking because same file in CS 5.5 is rasterising properly. Below 2 files rasterized from same PDF in photoshop CS 5.5 and CS 6:

[Anthony_Edge]

So, problem first reported 14 months ago.
Any update on a fix?

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Nothing I can share yet. But the rasterization team did find the cause, eventually.