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Hey everyone, Steve Patterson here from PhotoshopEssentials.com. In this video, I'll show you how to create smart objects in Photoshop! You'll learn how to open an image in Photoshop as a smart object, how to convert an existing layer into a smart object, and how to place an image as a smart object into your document. We'll also look at how to open raw files as smart objects, both from Photoshop's Camera Raw plug-in and from Adobe Lightroom. And we'll even learn how to place Adobe Illustrator files directly into Photoshop as smart objects! This is the first in a series of videos where I'll be covering everything you need to know about smart objects, so be sure to subscribe,and let's get started! A smart object is a container that holds the contents of a layer. The container protects the contents inside it from harm. We can scale and rotate the container, apply transformations, warps and distortions, and even apply Photoshop's filters to a smart object, all without any loss in quality and without making a single permanent change to the layer inside it. We can make multiple copies of a smart object, all displaying the same content, and then edit or even replace the content and have our changes instantly appear in each and every copy! And this makes smart objects perfect for creating reusable templates! We'll be looking at different ways to use smart objects throughout this series. For now, let's learn how to create smart objects! We'll start by learning how to convert an existing layer into a smart object. Here's an image I have open in Photoshop. I downloaded this one from Adobe Stock. If we look in the Layers panel, we see the image on the Background layer. There's a few ways that we can convert a layer into a smart object. One way is by going up to the Layer menu in the Menu Bar, choosing Smart Objects, and then choosing Convert to Smart Object. It won't look like anything has happened, but if we look again in the Layers panel, we see a smart object icon in the lower right of the layer's preview thumbnail. And this is how Photoshop tells us that the layer is now a smart object. I'll undo that so we can look at a few other ways to convert a layer to a smart object by going up to the Edit menu in the Menu Bar and choosing Undo Convert to Smart Object. And now we see that our layer is back to being a normal Background layer. Another way to convert a layer into a smart object is from the Layers panel. Click on the menu icon in the upper right corner of the Layers panel, and then choose Convert to Smart Object. Again we see the smart object icon in the lower right of the preview thumbnail. I'll undo that, this time using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Z on a Windows PC or Command+Z on a Mac. A third way is from the layer itself. Right-click on a Windows PC or Control-click on a Mac directly on the layer and then choose Convert to Smart Object. Again I'll undo that by pressing Ctrl or Command+Z. And finally, if you have one of Photoshop's selection tools active in the Toolbar, and that includes any of the marquee tools, the lasso tools or the Quick Selection Tool, then you can simply Right-click on a Windows PC or Control-click on a Mac directly on the image and choose Convert to Smart Object from the menu. And again we see the smart object icon in the Layers panel. And that's how to convert a layer into a smart object! Next, let's learn how to open a new image into Photoshop as a smart object. To do that, go up to the File menu in the Menu Bar and choose Open as Smart Object. Navigate to the image on your computer that you want to open. I'll choose another image that I downloaded from Adobe Stock. Click on it to select it, and then click Open. The image opens in its own separate document, which we can see by looking at the tabs along the top. And if we look in the Layers panel, we see the same smart object icon in the layer's preview thumbnail, telling us that Photoshop has automatically converted the image into a smart object. Along with opening standard image files like JPEGs, we can also open raw files into Photoshop as smart objects. And the benefit is that a copy of the raw file itself will be embedded into the Photoshop file. And this will let us reopen and edit the image in Camera Raw and have our changes instantly appear in the document. To open a raw file as a smart object, go up to the File menu and choose Open. Then navigate to a raw file on your computer. I'll choose my "flower.dng" file. I'll click on it to select it, and then I'll click Open. And this opens the image in Photoshop's Camera Raw plugin. If we look down at the bottom, we see a button that says Open Image. But if we click on it, Photoshop will open the image as a normal layer, not as a smart object, and will lose all the benefits of having the raw file to work with. To open the image as a smart object, press and hold the Shift key on your keyboard. And this turns Open image into Open Object. Click on Open Object, and Photoshop opens the image in a new document. And in the Layers panel, we again see the icon telling us that the image was opened as a smart object. As I mentioned, the main benefit of opening a raw file as a smart object is that the raw file itself is now embedded in the document. To reopen the raw file, double-click on its thumbnail. And this reopens the image in Camera Raw where you can make any changes you need. I'll convert my image from color to black and white by clicking the HSL / Grayscale tab and then choosing Convert to Grayscale. I'll click OK to accept it, and now we see the black and white version in the document. if I want to switch back to the color version, I can again double-click on the thumbnail, and in the Camera Raw dialog box, I'll reopen the HSL / Grayscale panel and I'll deselect Convert to Grayscale. I'll click OK, and now we're back to seeing the color version in the document. You can also open a raw file as a smart object in Photoshop directly from Adobe Lightroom. I've switched over to Lightroom for a moment where I've opened the same image. To open your image into Photoshop as a smart object, go up to the Photo menu in Lightroom, choose Edit In, and then choose Open as Smart Object in Photoshop. The image opens in Photoshop as a new document, which we can see by looking at the tabs. And again in the Layers panel, we see the smart object icon in the thumbnail. Now one thing to note is that if you double- click on the thumbnail to edit the raw file after opening the image from Lightroom, the image will open in Camera Raw, not in Lightroom. But that's okay because the editing options in Camera Raw and Lightroom are exactly the same. I'll click cancel to close the image without making any changes. And since I don't need this document, I'll click on the small "x" in the tab to close it. And when Photoshop asks if I want to save it, I'll choose No, and that would be Don't Save on a Mac. Instead of opening an image into a new Photoshop document, we can also place an image into an existing document as a smart object. To place an image, in Photoshop CC, go up to the File menu and choose Place Embedded. In Photoshop CS6, the Place Embedded option is just called Place. Note that in Photoshop CC, there's also an option called Place Linked. We'll look at the difference between Place Embedded and Place Linked in a separate video. Navigate to the image that you want to place into your document. I'll choose my "texture"JPEG image. Click on it to select it, and then click Place. Photoshop places my texture image into the document. But before we accept it, we first get the chance to resize and reposition the image if we need to. I want to blend my texture into the photo, but at the moment, the texture is too small. To resize it, I'll press and hold the Alt key on a Windows PC or the Option key on a Mac, and I'll click the top handle and drag it up. the Alt or Option key tells Photoshop to resize the image from its center, so the bottom handle moves along with it in the opposite direction. Then, with the Alt or Option key still held down, I'll click on one of the side handles and drag it outward. Again the handle on the opposite side moves in the opposite direction. To accept it, I'll click the checkmark in the Options Bar. And in the Layers panel, we see that my texture has been placed into the document as a smart object. To blend the texture in with the photo, all I need to do is change the texture's blend mode. We can use blend modes with smart objects just like we can with normal layers. I'll change the blend mode from Normal to Soft Light. And now the texture and the photo are blending together. So let's say I like the texture itself but I don't like its color. I'd rather have a grayscale version of the texture so I can keep the original colors in the photo below it. Well the best way to convert a color image to grayscale, or to black and white, in Photoshop is by using Camera Raw which we looked at earlier. But because my texture is a JPEG image, not a raw file, I can't just double-click on its thumbnail to open it in Camera Raw. But in Photoshop CC, what I can do is apply Camera Raw to the texture as a filter! And since we'll be applying the filter to a smart object, it will automatically become a smart filter! We'll be looking at smart filters in detail in another video. For now, to use the Camera Raw Filter, I'll go up to the Filter menu and I'll choose Camera Raw Filter. Note that the Camera Raw Filter is only available in Photoshop CC. This opens my texture in the Camera Raw Filter dialog box, which gives us the same image editing features as the main Camera Raw plugin. To convert the texture to grayscale, I'll do the same thing I did before by opening the HSL / Grayscale panel and choosing Convert to Grayscale. And then I'll click OK to close the dialog box. And just like that, I now have a grayscale version of my texture blending in with the photo's original colors. Now the advantage of applying a filter to a smart object is that Photoshop applies it as a smart filter. And in the Layers panel, we see the Camera Raw Filter listed as a smart filter below the texture. Smart filters are non-destructive, which means they don't make any permanent changes to the image. And we can change a smart filter's settings at any time. We can even turn smart filters on and off by clicking the visibility icon beside the filter's name. If I click to turn Camera Raw Filter off, the original color of the texture returns. And if I turn the filter back on, I'm back to the grayscale version. I could also reopen the Camera Raw Filter's dialog box by double-clicking on its name. Then, to restore the color in the texture, I'll reopen the HSL / Grayscale panel and I'll uncheck Convert to Grayscale. I'll click OK, and now I'm back to the color version of the texture. Again we'll be learning more about smart filters in another video. And finally, let's learn how to paste a vector file from Adobe Illustrator into Photoshop as a smart object. I've switched over to illustrator where I've opened some artwork of a hummingbird. I downloaded this file from Adobe Stock. To move your artwork from illustrator into Photoshop, go up to the Select menu in Illustrator and choose All. Then, with the artwork selected, go up to the Edit menu and choose Copy. I'll switch over to Photoshop where I've opened the image that I want to place the bird into. To place the artwork from Illustrator into Photoshop, go up to the Edit menu in Photoshop and choose Paste. When Photoshop asks how you want to paste it, choose Smart Object, and then click OK. And just as we saw earlier when we were placing a JPEG image, Photoshop first gives us the chance to resize and reposition the artwork. In this case, I'm just going to drag the bird up a bit higher into the sky, and then to accept it, I'll click the checkmark in the Options Bar. Photoshop places the artwork from Illustrator into the document. And if we look in the Layers panel, we see it sitting on a new Vector Smart Object above the image. And there we have it! That's how to open and place images, including raw files and even Adobe Illustrator files, as smart objects in Photoshop! As always, I hope you enjoyed this video, and if you did, please consider liking it, sharing it and subscribing to our channel. Visit our website, photoshopessentials.com, for more tutorials! Thanks for watching, and I'll see you next time. I'm Steve Patterson from PhotoshopEssentials.com.