Bug or feature? No immediate updating of Smart Objects in Photoshop CS6

[si-boneGFX]

Hello.

It used to be that if one pasted vectors (from AI, for example) onto a new layer of Photoshop as a Smart Object, the vectors could be then edited in Illustrator and after editing, the Photoshop layer used to be automatically updated.

Since CS6 however, this automatic update does not occur as expected. In fact, most times it does not occur at all.

When I do have this problem (about 100% of the time I update Smart Objects in AI CS6 now) I have discover that if I select the Smart Object I just edited (but did not update) and then select "Duplicate Layer" from the Layers palette, the layer is NOT duplicated at all BUT the smart object is magically updated instead.

This is how I update Smart Objects now, via this odd method.

I have checked the Prefs of both PS and AI to see if there is some option that is turned on (or off) that may be causing this, but I have found nothing related to the updating of Smart Objects behavior there.

I'd appreciate your comments. Thank you. A.C.

[Chris Cox]

They should only update when you save the child file and view the parent document.

Are you sure you have all the Photoshop updates installed?

[si-boneGFX]

Hello Chris.

The behavior you describe is what I'd expect but it does not work like that.

I have PSD CS6 Extended v. 13.1.1 (x64). The App manager tells me I'm up to date.

Thanks.

Andres

[RoelofVenter]

Dear Chris,

I have Adobe CS5.1 on Windows 7 64bit and have suddenly found the same issue: if I edit any Pasted smart object, Photoshop does not update that smart object when I press Save. In stead, the Save As window opens. I have recently (mid-December) re-installed the software after a different issue and it was working fine, until now. The problem does not seem to apply to smart objects created from layers within the same document, only to pasted objects.

[Chris Cox]

That sounds like you changed the contents of the file such that it cannot be saved in the same format (like adding layers to a JPEG file).

That is completely expected, and not related to the original topic.

[si-boneGFX]

Hello Chris. Any updates for me? I'm experineceing the same, very consistent and predictable problem, still ... Will this be fixed on an upcoming update or is it just a freak behavior and I'm the only one reporting it? Thanks.

[Chris Cox]

I still have no idea what you're seeing.  But my guess is that you've made the same mistake (saving to another filename or format).

[si-boneGFX]

Thanks. When I read the email above, from RoeloVenter, as you did, I thought "I must have done the same" (your explanation makes total sense to me). However, after I've had the same thing happen over and over again, I know that –other than deleting some text or adjusting a vector– I have neither added layers, imported raster elements, nor otherwise "messed" with the AI file as it was opened by PS. This only happens with vector files; if I update a PS Smart Object, I see the change as soon as I return to the parent file.

A.C.

[Chris Cox]

Then I don't know -- other people are not reporting problems (without mistakenly changing the filename or format).

[si-boneGFX]

OK, fair enough. It remais a mystery for now.

Thank you for your time. A.C.

[RoelofVenter]

Dear Chris,

It follows that if you placed an external document as a smart object, and saw it fit to make changes (i.e. remove the background from a company logo to be used in the artwork), I would want the MOST RECENT version updated to the parent file.

Roelof Venter

[Max_W_]

Hi Chris,

I am experiencing this bug as well, it happens to me when I edit a vector smart object in Photoshop (CS6 with all updates installed). Closing and choosing save from Illustrator doesn't update the smart object back in Photoshop.

I am definitely not changing the file name or format or anything like that, I am simply tweaking the existing vector shape in Illustrator then closing and saving.

Unfortunately this bug happens more often than not when performing this process.

cheers,

Max

[Chris Cox]

If you are saving the same directory, filename, and extension, it would update in Photoshop.

So far this always comes down to someone saving to a different directory, filename or file extension.

[Max_W_]

I have found out that this occurs for me when I switch back to Photoshop "too quickly" after closing and saving the smart object in Illustrator.

So if it hasn't updated in Photoshop, if I switch back to Illustrator and then back to Photoshop it will update the smart object.

Alternatively, if I wait a little longer initially in Illustrator (after saving and closing the smart object) before switching back to Photoshop the smart object will update.

cheers,

Max

[Guest]

This currently happens to me as well. I have a PS file with a Smart Object created from a set of layers within PS. In this again I have an imported  Smart Object, dragged in from Illustrator. This Illustrator object is not updated in the PS file when changed and saved. Neither in the parent file (expected) nor its child (unexpected).

Quickly testing dragging the Illustrator content into the parent PS document and creating a Smart Object reveals the same problem. Editing the original Illustrator file and saving it does nothing for the PS document. Closing the original and double clicking the Smart Object in PS to reopen it, then editing and saving it also does nothing.

Then attempting to test the workaround OP posted suddenly revealed expected behavior before I got around to try the workaround. Erratic bug, this.

[Chris Cox]

It sounds like you expect smart objects to work as linked files (tied to the original child file on disk).

But they are only embedded, and you must start the edit from within Photoshop.

[Guest]

The thumbnails of smart objects were instantly updated after saving the smart object files in the early versions of CS6. I don't know what is the case now.

It is also in CC

Open an RGB image,

Convert the background layer to smart object.

Open smart object and make an adjustment

Close and save it.

Thumbnail of the smart object is not updated instantly.

It was updated instantly in the early versions of CS6 as far as I can remember.

It is also reported before:

http://forums.adobe.com/message/5449058#5449058

[Guest]

Chris Cox wrote:

It sounds like you expect smart objects to work as linked files

I am not. This used to work well, now it isn't. I drag the artwork into the PS document, create the Smart Object upon pasting it, double click it to edit, edit and save. And nothing happens. At least nothing happens those times this bug occur. The expected update also happens from time to time.

[Pacoan]

Hi, I'm going to be the jerk. When I place a document in Photoshop, I expect it to update if I save it outside of Photoshop- isn't that is how it's supposed to work?

[Chris Cox]

No, that is not how smart objects work.

Please consult the Photoshop documentation to learn more about how smart objects work.

[Pacoan]

Well thanks for the help Chris- it seems I was confused by the wording in the documentation: ' When you save changes to the source content, the edits appear in all linked instances of the Smart Object in the Photoshop document.'

Based on this wording, it sounds like I can make changes to a placed image and it will update in Photoshop...

[JJMack]

Pacoan wrote:

Well thanks for the help Chris- it seems I was confused by the wording in the documentation: ' When you save changes to the source content, the edits appear in all linked instances of the Smart Object in the Photoshop document.'

Based on this wording, it sounds like I can make changes to a placed image and it will update in Photoshop...

If you dupe a smart object layer with layer duplicate the duped layer in the same document share a single embedded object. You can have many of these.  In a document. Each layer has its own associated transform.  It is a great way to create a picture package.  When you replace the single object the content of all the layers change.

You can also have independent smart object layers when you  use menu Layers>Smart Objects>New smart Object via Copy.  For example if you Open a RAW files as a Smart Object layer the embedded smart Object is a copy of the RAW file and the ACR Settings you used.  Using  Layers>Smart Objects>New smart Object via Copy creates a second independent smart object layers it has it own copy of the RAW file and ACR settings.  When you update either layer you will wind up with two different RAW conversions you can blend together.

[Trevor.Dennis]

It sounds like some people are expecting SOs to act like the Autocad World Blocks that were mentioned a few days ago.  Yes you can right clickk an SO, and choose to duplicate it to a new document, but you imediately lose the link to the original SO.  You can double click the new SO and make a change which will take place in the new SO, but the original SO in the orginal document will remain unchanged.

It would be a nice feature to have SOs that worked across multiple documents, and that has been mentioned many times already.  It seems like a big ask though, and there would be so many ways such a feature could go pear shaped. 

[Pacoan]

It'd go pear shaped if you weren't paying attention or didn't know how to design software.

This is standard behavior in many programs- if you code at all- or work with websites, it's comon and simple.

Put a reference within a document, change the source, it updates in the document. <img src='blah.jpg> Everytime you change blah, it also changes in the document. Is this not how Illustrator works with placed content? It let's you know that source files have changed, and allows you to update it. Sorry, it's just a little dissapointing. OK, rant over.

Thanks for your tip JJ, I'll give it a shot.

[RoelofVenter]

A good example is the way Adobe Illustrator handles Smart (placed) Objects: Whenever one edits the one source file (i.e. a Photoshop document), ALL instances in any other documents containing that instance, are updated automatically.

The problem is that Photoshop creates a duplicate of the source file (which someone else stated above). When you edit that smart object, the changes only appear in the current file, leaving the source file unchanged. Sometimes that is a good thing but most times it is just frustrating.

It would be awesome and a time saving factor if Photoshop had this same capability or let us choose how we want the file to be handled.