Skip to main content
Known Participant
October 13, 2009
Question

Automatically resize a layer to fit canvas

  • October 13, 2009
  • 4 replies
  • 192219 views

Hi!

Is there a way to quickly scale a selected layer so that it fits the canvas of a PS document? I need to load several high resolution images into a small canvas and at the moment the only way I know to resize the images to fit the canvas is to scale them manually by using the free transform box.

In Adobe After Effects you have the option to automatically scale a layer to fit the composition size (either horizontally or vertically). Is there no such option in Photoshop?

Any help will be appreciated!

This topic has been closed for replies.

4 replies

Stephen Marsh
Community Expert
October 31, 2024

Another scripted option here:

 

 

* Maintain Aspect Ratio
* Fill Canvas (may crop)
* Fit to Canvas (may distort)

 

Inchindown
Inspiring
October 13, 2009

If you don't mind using the Place command, there is an option in the general preferences that will automatically scale a placed image to the current canvas size.

It's supposed to work with pasted images as well, but I've never been able to get it to work that way on my system.

Andy BayAuthor
Known Participant
October 13, 2009

Good to know, thanks for the info!

October 13, 2009

Here is an action from Layers Magazine that builds an automatic Action to resize picture to screen.

http://www.layersmagazine.com/create-a-fit-to-screen-photoshop-action.html

Zeno Bokor
Inspiring
October 13, 2009

Another option would be to use Variables. Make a blank layer for each image that you want to import, go to Image->Variables->Define. In the Layer dropdown, select one of those blank layers, select the Pixel Replacement checkbox and select from the Method dropdown how you want to fill the layer with your images. Do this for each of those blank layers and then click on the Next button. Click on the floppy disk icon to create a new Data Set, select the layer that you want to replace from the list at the bottom, click on Select File and choose the file that you want to import, rinse and repeat for each layer. Click on Apply and then click on OK. You have to click on Apply otherwise you'll see no changes though you can still use Image->Apply Data Set to then apply the changes that you just made.

Andy BayAuthor
Known Participant
October 13, 2009

Thanks for your help guys, both suggestions help in the situation I described.

October 13, 2009

What about File > Automate > Fit Image...  ?

Inspiring
June 12, 2023

That is not fitting the image to the Canvas, but to an arbitrary size that needs to be filled in.