External References

[jakob.winter]

Hey everyone,

Photoshop files can become quite huge quite quickly. Especially when dropping a couple of high resolution cutout people into a scene, my Photoshop files regularly approach a GB in size. With a dozen projects and a couple of versions thats quickly eating up a lot of hard drive.

Therefore my question: Is there a way to externally reference files (such as cutout-people)? This would make a huge difference for me.

And if this isn't possible yet, should I post a feature request? Anyone else interested in this functionality?

[c.pfaffenbichler · Accepted solution]

Are you talking about Linked Smart Objects? 

And 1GB does not seem that terribly big. 

[jakob.winter]

Not quite. While this functionality is pretty cool, its still saving the information within the file it seems. So the file is still getting substantially bigger with every asset I drop in there.
What I want is Photoshop importing the information the data from the external file when opening the project and only keeping a low-res thumbnail in the actual file.

And yeah, 1GB is not terribly big... for Photoshop. Other apps (like Affinity) manage to produce files roughly half the size.

Right now, I often rasterize the assets I drop into my scene, scale them down to roughly the size I'll need them and then turn them back into a smart object. That way, I can save hundrets of MB, if the people in my scene are just small ones in the background. But its a lot of work that would be unnecessary, if the data was stored externally (and only once) on my hard drive.

[c.pfaffenbichler]

»Right now, I often rasterize the assets I drop into my scene, scale them down to roughly the size I'll need them and then turn them back into a smart object.«

Linked Smart Objects add to the containing file’s size the size of their instances, not of their original content, so you seem to have wasted time and destroyed data without relevant benefit. (Edit: That is assuming that you work with the scaled down images as embedded Smart Objects.)

»What I want is Photoshop importing the information the data from the external file when opening the project and only keeping a low-res thumbnail in the actual file.«

Photoshop is a layer-based pixel image editor, so it sounds a little like you actually want to work in a node-based one or in applications like Illustrator or Indesign. 

[jakob.winter]

Linked Smart Objects add to the containing file’s size the size of their instances, not of their original content

Oh wow, thats exactly what I wanted. I did a test, but didn't scale down the linked layers (doh!).

Thanks a lot for pointing that out!

While we are at it: Is there an easy way to place linked objects from Adobe Bridge into my Photoshop file (preferably a selection of several at once).

I usually browse assets there and then drag-and-drop them into my scene. Finding them again from inside Photoshop via File > Place Linked would be a bit cumbersome.

[c.pfaffenbichler]

You can place linked Smart Objects by alt-drag-dropping from Bridge or the Finder. 

[jakob.winter]

This is super awesome! So easy to implement into my current workflow (just hold ALT)... 🙂

Again, thanks a lot. You made my day!

[c.pfaffenbichler]

You’re welcome!  

I myself was not particularly taken with Linked Smart Objects when they were originally introduced but I had to realize that in certain situations they can be hugely useful.