P: Ability to choose a Smart Object's interpolation method [2013]

Report · Nov 19, 2013

In Photoshop CC, I think there should be a way to choose the interpolation method (Bicubic/Bilinear/etc) for Smart Objects.

When transforming a Smart Object, the Interpolation dropdown that's there for other raster transforms should be in that Options bar.

Smart Objects are far less useful when I don't have control of this interpolation, and I find myself avoiding Smart Objects because of this issue. I find that my smart objects look overly sharpened when I downscale them.

Report · Aug 22, 2014

I miss this since Adobe introduced Smart Clips. Please!
BTW: Are those JDI days still a thing at Adobe? This would be a great feature to think about. 😉

Report · Nov 25, 2014

What I can't get it is: why this option appears at Options Bar for "Dumb Objects", but it does not appear for Smart Objects as well?

Report · Nov 25, 2014

While you can't control interpolation from the options bar, it does follow the interpolation set in the Preferences>General panel.

Report · Nov 26, 2014

Thanks Jeffrey!

I did some tests and I have a satisfying setup, now ... finally. :-)
Settings / General / Image Interpolation: "Bilinear"

Bilinear has the least glow (from sharpening) and fits best to my SmartClip workflow.

Testimage:

Report · Nov 26, 2014

FWIW - Bicubic was the default interpolation method CS5 and earlier. CS6 introduced "Bicubic Automatic" which selects Bicubic Sharper if the image/transform is reduced, and selects Bicubic Smoother if the image/transform is enlarged.

Report · May 12, 2015

I agree it would be extremely helpful to have this on a per-smart-object level, rather than needing to switch my app-wide preferences depending on what kind of object I'm resizing. For now, I an resizing a copy of the layer as a dumb-object; but retaining the original smart object in case I need to resize/change it later. It's clearly not ideal, and specifying the interpolation method on each smart object seems like a necessary fix.

Report · Feb 27, 2017

Fantastic help, thank u.

Report · Mar 09, 2018

This feature is still very needed.Smart objects are so useful, but not being able to easily integrate scaled animated pixel art is killing me.

Report · Mar 09, 2018

Doesn't address needing multiple interpolations.

Report · Mar 09, 2018

you can change interpolation methods for smart objects by changing the preference...

Report · Mar 10, 2018

That sets the interpolation for all objects at once. I need some objects to be Nearest Neighbour so the pixels look chunky and others Bicubic to smooth others out. I tried scaling the Smart Object I wanted Nearest Neighbour seperately and then saving that, no dice.
Nearest Neighbour:

Note how the train is crisp but the text frames are jagged. Each of the text frames is about 20% original size.
Bicubic Automatic:

Note how blurred the train is now and the text is noticeably smoother.

Report · Jan 19, 2019

eartho: you can but this won't work on per layer basis properly. Because once you move or transform layer then interpolation method from settings is used. Not currently used method for this layer.

Report · Jan 19, 2019

Jaroslav, trust me, i'm all too aware of this limitation. It's beyond ridiculous that we can't assign a per SO interpolation setting and it's been needed for as long as SO's have been in Ps.

Report · Mar 25, 2019

I want this too as I do a lot of work with pixel art.

Adobe keep adding all kinds of gimmicky new features to Photoshop, but this is a genuinely useful feature that lots of people would find helpful. It would also be extremely easy to implement.

Report · May 14, 2019

100% this. It's crazy that you can get an image just right but it will ruin it just by opening it again (or someone else working on your file). Having to go into Prefs every time you you open a file depending on what file you worked on last in a huge pain.

Report · May 21, 2020

I cannot believe the original post is from seven years ago and we still don't have that feature.

Report · May 21, 2020

unfortunately, there are now even a few bugs with SO interpolation...
- select an SO which has a layer mask and hit cmd-t: you'll see interpolation in the option, but it has no effect on the SO.
- select two layers which are each SOs and cmd-t: same issue as above.

Report · Dec 06, 2021

Please add this, having this in the preferences makes no sense for smart object reisizing!

Report · Jul 29, 2022

It is now 2022; 9 years have gone by, and the world is now a very different place. The OP stated an undeniable truth; nonetheless, 9 Photoshop versions later, Adobe still has not acknowledged this truth.

The interpolation-method of the selected Smart Object should be directly adjustable, because that's what makes sense; it should not merely be indirectly adjustable, by way of modifying an application-wide setting, because that does not make sense. Adobe, please fix this.

Report · Aug 21, 2022

9 years later and this still hasn't been implemented. How can something so simple and necessary not be a thing???

Report · Nov 27, 2022

Desperately need this as well. I'm a web designer, and some icons need to use bilinear (no overshoot on edges) while some pictures need bicubic with sharpened edges. I can't compose them on the same document as smart objects.