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Sean David
Participating Frequently
December 21, 2016
Question

Flattening a PSD file without losing adjustments

  • December 21, 2016
  • 3 replies
  • 3954 views

Hi. I have opened (and tried imported, and tried placed) scanned art into a psd file so I can apply levels to darken it up. When I try to merge the layers (or flatten, or merge what's visible), the adjustment layer isn't applied into the flattened layer.

I have read on similar threads that it has something to do with 100% view. But I have tried all of that and it doesn't work.

Probably something simple I am missing. Any help is appreciated. Working in CS6. Thanks.

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3 replies

gener7
Community Expert
gener7Community Expert
Community Expert
December 21, 2016

Try another format instead of PDF, perhaps tiff or psd as set in your scanner. I set my scanner to output tiff and open in Ps.

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Sean DavidAuthor
Participating Frequently
December 21, 2016

Hi gener7. I have tried scanning as a tiff but that only helped slightly. It still didn't retain the adjustment layer as is when merged.

Trevor.Dennis
Community Expert
Trevor.DennisCommunity Expert
Community Expert
December 21, 2016

My first trick when this happens, is to add a copy merged layer to the top of the stack (Shift Ctrl Alt e), then flatten. That generally works.

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Sean DavidAuthor
Participating Frequently
December 21, 2016

Hi Trevor.Dennis. I am not sure I am tracking with ya on your suggestion. When I make a copy of the merged layer, the merged layer doesn't retain the adjustment layer- so it appears back to how it was to begin with. Anytime I try to merge it does away with any adjustments. So not able to make a copy of a merged layer that has the adjustments applied- if that is what you are saying.

Trevor.Dennis
Community Expert
Trevor.DennisCommunity Expert
Community Expert
December 21, 2016

My point is that on those rare occasions when flattening a document changes its appearance, selection the top most layer and adding a copy merge layer before flattening, usually fixes it.  However, with a project like your with just the background and one adjustment layer, I suspect something else is going on.

There are other ways to harden up line work like yours.  Instead of using Levels, use the paint brush set to Overlay (in the options bar).  paint with black to firm up the line work, and white to remove the lighter greys.  I was not able to demonstrate properly with your screen shot because you'd already reduced it almost to a Threshold state, but applying a small Gaussian blur (value 1) I was able to give you at least and indication.  The original is masked in on the right of course.  This is the standard method of cleaning up alpha channels, and layer masks.

gener7
Community Expert
gener7Community Expert
Community Expert
December 21, 2016

Was there a time that this process did what was expected? In other words, is this a recent problem?

(Note: I may have to leave soon, I hope others here can look at it.)

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Sean DavidAuthor
Participating Frequently
December 21, 2016

Hi Gener7. No, this has happened before. Strange thing is flattening adjustment layers on a photo or art brought in from ai (or art strictly created in psd) works just fine whereas anything imported in (or opened, or placed) that was originally scanned in from scanner will not flatten with an adjustment layer and retain the adjustment layer. SO one would think it is a scanner setting but I am at a loss as to what that might be- perhaps a different thread now if a scanner issue

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Sean DavidAuthor
Participating Frequently
December 21, 2016

Sean

I see no difference between those before and after screenshots.

In fact I imported both - aligned them and set blending mode to Difference - result a complete black screen

Dave


Dave, when I bring in the file into Ai, it looks quite different. I have made a screenshot of how the layers look (art layer and adjustment layer) unmerged when in Photoshop. I placed the screenshot into ai beside the same file where the layers were merged and opened in ai. Hope that makes sense. I am probably missing something here about going from psd to ai in terms of the view. I see what you are saying about the screenshots looking the same at 100% in psd. Just can't figure out why they look so different at 100% in ai. This is probably something really simple I am missing See screenshot below:

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