Applying Transformations

Throughout the design process, you constantly need to make edits and changes to your artwork. Photoshop can help by enabling you to apply transformations to your layers and selections as you need them. These functions could be as simple and straightforward as moving an object from one side of the document to the other, or as complex as applying a warp distortion.

You can apply these transformations by choosing Edit, Transform (see Figure 5.58). In Photoshop, when you choose a transform function with a selection already made, the transform applies only to your selection. If you choose a transform function with no selection, the transform applies to the entire layer (or group).

Figure 5.58. Choosing to apply a Warp transformation.

If you want to apply a quick transformation, you can also choose Free Transform, which enables you to move, rotate, scale, and apply perspective to a selection all in one step.

Photoshop CS2 features a new transformation called Warp that enables you to twist and distort your selection. When you've chosen to apply a Warp, you are presented with a grid. By pulling the different parts of the grid, you can distort the pixels within it (see Figure 5.59).

Figure 5.59. Applying distortion to a selection using the Warp transformation.

Did you Know?

The Warp transformation feature can be very useful for distorting artwork or images to make them appear as if they are wrapped around a bottle, displayed on a monitor or video screen, or on billboards or signs.

Smart Objects

As you learned in Chapter 2, "So Many Applications: Which One to Use?" pixel-based images are limited, in that their resolution determines how they can be transformed. Enlarging pixels reduces the final quality of an image. This limitation can make the design process more difficult because you might want to reduce a particular element in size, but you know that you won't be able to enlarge it later if you need to. As soon as you scale the element in size, the extra pixels are removed from the file, never to be had again. This is especially true when placing content into Photoshop. For example, you might want to place some vector art from Illustrator into Photoshop. Although you can place the vector art at the size you need, they become pixels when you commit them and are then tied directly to the resolution of the file.

To address this issue, Photoshop has a feature called Smart Objects that enables you to scale artwork in Photoshop without losing any detail. Here's how it works. When you place an Illustrator file into Photoshop, a copy of the Illustrator file is embedded inside the Photoshop file. The artwork is placed onto a special kind of layer called a Smart Object, which displays the file in pixels, as a normal layer would. When you want to scale the Smart Object, Photoshop uses the embedded Illustrator file to regenerate the file at the higher resolution and simply updates the Smart Object layer.

In fact, you can even create Smart Objects from any raster file or Photoshop layer. Doing so enables you to scale your art smaller and back to the original size, with no loss of detail (scaling the artwork larger than the original won't help, though). Using Smart Objects, you can perform many edits in a nondestructive manner.

By the Way

When placing Illustrator files as Smart Objects, the Illustrator content is embedded into the Photoshop file, and no link exists to the original Illustrator file. That means if you update the original Illustrator file, your Photoshop file will not be updated to reflect the change. Keep in mind that Smart Objects can add considerably to file size as extra content is embedded in the Photoshop document.

There are several ways to create a Smart Object in Photoshop:

• Copy and paste artwork from Illustrator to Photoshop (see Figure 5.60).
  
  

  Figure 5.60. Upon pasting content from Illustrator into a Photoshop document, you can choose to paste the content as a Smart Object.

  

  
  
• Drag artwork from an Illustrator window directly into a Photoshop document.
  
  
• Place any file into a Photoshop document by choosing File, Place (see Figure 5.61).
  
  

  Figure 5.61. Choosing to place a file into a Photoshop document.

  

  
  
• Select a layer in your Photoshop document and choose Layer, Smart Objects, Group into New Smart Object (see Figure 5.62).
  
  

  Figure 5.62. Converting a Photoshop layer into a Smart Object.

  

  
  

You can tell that a layer is a Smart Object by the icon that appears in the thumbnail of the layer (see Figure 5.63).

Figure 5.63. A special icon in the Layers palette thumbnail indicates the presence of a Smart Object.

After you've created a Smart Object in Photoshop, you can apply transformations as you would any layer. Additionally, you can perform certain functions with Smart Objects to allow for further editing. If you've created a Smart Object from Illustrator content, you can choose Layer, Smart Objects, Edit Contents. Alternatively, you can double-click on the Smart Object icon in the Layer thumbnail. This action launches Illustrator and opens the Smart Object in Illustrator for editing. When you've made your changes to the file, save it and close the file. Upon returning to Photoshop, the Smart Object updates with the changes you made. Performing Edit Contents on a Smart Object that was created from a Photoshop layer opens that Smart Object in a new Photoshop file for editing.

By the Way

Remember that when you perform an Edit Contents function, you aren't editing the original Illustrator or Photoshop file; Photoshop is creating a temporary file from the embedded Smart Object.

Additionally, you can replace the contents of a Smart Object by choosing Layer, Smart Objects, Replace Contents. This enables you to embed either an updated Illustrator file or a totally new Illustrator file (similar to the Relink feature you'll find in InDesign).