Inspiring

Question

Image size inside smart object issue

Forum|Forum|6 years ago
February 1, 2020
2 replies
9980 views

Hi,

I think I came across this issue before, but today it's really confusing me.

So I have this document where I have an image as background that I converted to a smart object, which is now a Linked psb file. When I open that file individually (double click the psb on my computer), the canvas is 5927x3951

I dragged and dropped an image that's 4500x3000 into that same dcument and yet it gets super small: 1080x720. And when I try to Transform, it says that's already at 100%. Sure, I can resize it, because it becomes a smart object when it's Placed, but why does it resize the image to a complete different size and yet says it's at 100%?

I tried with a new document and it behaves the same way.

Also, besides trying to undestand this, is there a way to reset the image size automatically? Does Photoshop keep the original image info so that we can reset it to its original size?

Thanks 🙂

This topic has been closed for replies.

JJMack

Community Expert

If drag and drop is from outside of Photoshop not dragging between open document. Photoshop is most likely using place to create a smart object layer. Photoshop's Place has a big issue. For some reason if the document you are dragging in the image file into has a different print resolution than the Image File being dragged in. Place will degrade the image being dragged in. The Smart Object Larger object will have a canvas size greater than or smaller than the Image file's canvas size. If you drag a image with 300PPI print resolution into a document the has a 100ppi resolution. Place will create a smart object layer that is much smaller then the Image file canvas size. Here I opened a 8MP image with a 100PPI print resolution iy print like 23" x 35". Then I Placed the same 8MP image that file has a 300ppi print resolution it prints like 8" x 12". The pixels size printed are different in the prints. Both Image have exactly the same 8MP pixels. Place degraded the 300ppi image when it create the layers smart object. The Placed image has been reduced in size.

I then Opened the 300 PPI image in Photoshop and placed in the 100 PPI image and the layers look the same but they are not. The photoshop's Preference resizd during Place scaled the large smart object layer created down in size to fit on canvas. The layer size is much larger.

I then change the Smart Object layer's associated layer transform to 100% width and height so you can see the actual layer size that place created.

So if you do not want degraded images make sure that the image being placed in has the same print resolution as the document you are working on. I wrote a Photoshop script for myself Place No Degrade I use when placing in images.

JJMack

T

TiagoRochaAuthor

Inspiring

Sorry for the late reply, but I wanted to have some free time to really dive into this.

Ok so one of my issues is not the degradation of the image, even though that's not desirable, of course. My issue is that Photoshop says that the image is at 100% when in fact it's not, at least, size wise. This only happens when the resolutions are different, yes, but if an image is 1000px by 500px and it's now at 2000px by 1000px, because it was resized to fit the canvas, then the Transform information should clearly say 200% and not 100%, otherwise I will never know how much the image was scalled up. Does it make sense?

In your example, the second to last image was in fact scalled down to fit the canvas, but I don't see a problem with that. It's just how Photoshop works, I guess and for me, it actually works better that way. But as you can see, the Transform window tells you that the image was scalled down to 33.33%, which is a good indication. The issue is when it's scalled up and you have no idea how much. That's when real degradation happens, not when you scale it down.

I was testing with some images with different resolutions and what I noticed (not sure if that makes any sense or not for those more into resolution than I am) is that if the resolution of the image being dragged into an opened document is LOWER than the opened document, it scales UP and doesn't tell you how much. The opposite also happens, but the other way around: an image with higher resolution will be scalled down and it shows you how much.

Here are the results. Feel free to comment. Maybe I'm missing something here, but when it says "100%" when it actually scalled it up/down, seems like a bug to me...

Original image:

300px by 300px, 300ppi

Imported images:

100px by 100px, 100ppi: scaled it UP to 300px and showed it as 100% in the Transform window

100px by 100px, 300ppi: kept the original size (100px) and it showed as 100% in the Transform window

300px by 300px, 100ppi: scaled it DOWN to 300px and showed it as 33.33% in the Transform window

600px by 600px, 300ppi: scaled it DOWN to 300px and showed it as 50% in the Transform window

600px by 600px, 600ppi: scaled it DOWN to 300px, but showed it as 100% in the Transform window

D Fosse

Community Expert

In a smart object, physical print size takes precedence over pixels.

This is somewhat counter-intuitive to anyone familiar with Photoshop, but part of the reason it was done this way is to ensure compatibility with vector applications like Ai, which only operate by physical dimensions.

In any case, the net effect is that a smart object is treated like a vector object that doesn't have any pixels, and you need to do the same. Yes, I know, it feels wrong, but it's the only way to make sense of it. Disregard pixel sizes, go by print sizes.

Bojan Živković11378569

Community Expert

Photoshop keeps original image but there is something which you should know when placing images. When resolutions does not match, Photoshop will either upscale or downscale image when placing it because one document can not contain multiple resolutions. You can see which are original dimensions by double clicking on Smart Object layer then use either Info panel, Image Size.... to see original dimensions. If you change Resolution to match document in which is placed image then you will have real 100% without any up or down scaling due to resolution missmatch. You can do that after placing image in Smart Object editing mode which is new tab after double clicking on Smart Object thumbnail in the Layers panel.

JJMack

Community Expert

Place degrade image by resizing them. Place should just place in all the images pixels to preserve the image quality like duplicate layer, like copy paste. If the layer need to be scaled to work with the other layers composition the user will do that. Place resizing simply degrade images it does not fix any scaling issues between layer contents. The user has to scale the Placed Smart Object layer to work with the other layers. The resizing place does is a bug. Photoshop New Frame Tool use place there are problem with some frame layer cause by place. I even removed the Frame tool from my Tool bar and disabled its shortcut.

Simply put Print Resolution has nothing to do with image size and quality. It just a print setting that set the size that a pixel will be printed. Its a printer setting a X wide Y high MP image can be printed any size by changing the printer's ppi setting. The Image size does not change and the file size does not change. Only the Print size is changed. Adobe knows this some designer just mess up Place its a bug. A bug that drove me crazy when I first start scripting Photoshop CS2. Once I understood what Place was doing I was able to program around the bug.

JJMack

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