Jump to content
You must now use your email address to sign in [click for more info] ×

Photoshop smart object


Recommended Posts

  • Staff

We are going to look at smart objects at a later date.  The solution will be quite involved, and whatever we do will need to fit with any solution we come up with for linked documents.

SerifLabs team - Affinity Developer
  • Software engineer  -  Photographer  -  Guitarist  -  Philosopher
  • iMac 27" Retina 5K (Late 2015), 4.0GHz i7, AMD Radeon R9 M395
  • MacBook (Early 2015), 1.3GHz Core M, Intel HD 5300
  • iPad Pro 10.5", 256GB
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Due to Adobe's rather lacking documentation, it is very difficult for third-party developers to support all of Photoshop's features.

 

I also work in Photoline, and the newest betas do import smart objects and art boards. If the smart object is a bitmap layered one generated within Photoshop, it is imported as an embedded placeholder, which can be opened and edited just as in Photoshop - even the layers are retained. It literally opens the psb file. But embedded text layers are converted to bitmap layers, and shape layers may disappear.

 

When I tested a CC2015 PSD file with a smart object which contains a placed Illustrator object, Photoline would even open that file more or less correct: the vectors remain intact, but the scaling is off compared to the original. Currently Photoline's workaround is to also include a rasterized version which does look correct.

 

In short, developers are pretty much left to their own device in regards to figuring out the intricacies of the PSD format.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Staff

And, when you think you've figured it out - they move the goal posts with yet another undocumented change.

SerifLabs team - Affinity Developer
  • Software engineer  -  Photographer  -  Guitarist  -  Philosopher
  • iMac 27" Retina 5K (Late 2015), 4.0GHz i7, AMD Radeon R9 M395
  • MacBook (Early 2015), 1.3GHz Core M, Intel HD 5300
  • iPad Pro 10.5", 256GB
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

A smart objects equivalent would be nice, in my opinion it doesn't need to be compatible with PS. 

 

Maybe coupled with a Affinity site where users can upload and sell/give away mockup material, similar to sites like graphic burger, but compatible with Affinity software, and maybe integrated into the software too, similar to the Unity 3d marketplace.

 

I would focus on real tasks, like trying to make it complete and easy to use tools for design tasks like logo design, where presentation with mockups is quite essential. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Hey, another PhotoLine user! Not to say that Affinity Photo is lacking in any way but the wise carpenter uses more than one tool in his belt.

 

I also work cross-platform and PhotoLine allows me to work in Windows when I'm working with PagePlus.

 

I just noticed that the newest beta version of Photoline supports PSD files with embedded smart objects with Illustrator content! And the content can be opened and edited directly in Photoline with its vector tools (opens in a new window just like Photoshop), and/or can be sent to an external application, such as InkScape, for a seamless round-trip editing workflow. That is actually quite impressive - I know of no other application outside of Photoshop that can pull this off - and even Photoshop is unable to edit embedded Illustrator files directly.

 

PSD import has been improved yet again, with support for all adjustment layers (except photofilter) and vector shapes. Photoline converts smart objects to placeholder layers (which are almost identical to smart objects).

 

Would be nice if Affinity Photo would support some sort of SO type of layer as well.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Staff

Herbert123 - are you on commission from Photoline?  ;)

SerifLabs team - Affinity Developer
  • Software engineer  -  Photographer  -  Guitarist  -  Philosopher
  • iMac 27" Retina 5K (Late 2015), 4.0GHz i7, AMD Radeon R9 M395
  • MacBook (Early 2015), 1.3GHz Core M, Intel HD 5300
  • iPad Pro 10.5", 256GB
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Herbert123 - are you on commission from Photoline?   ;)

 

Oh, I apologize. I work both on Mac and Windows, and I am tool agnostic - I am always on the lookout for new interesting tools (especially with Adobe's digital serfdom, and on the Mac I use both Photoline and Affinity Photo - though admittedly still more Photoline than AF Photo at the moment. People here compare Affinity Photo continuously with Photoshop, and I indeed compare with Photoline in a similar fashion.

 

Affinity photo misses certain features I use on a daily basis in Photoline (and used to use in Photoshop), and even Photoshop cannot compare with Photoline in terms of the layer stack (in my opinion). Of course, each application has its strengths and areas it could improve upon. For example, I do my digital painting in Krita nowadays, and AF Photo, Photoshop, or Photoline all pale in comparison for that type of work.

 

I do not believe in the "one app for all jobs" paradigm: a good carpenter has many great tools in his toolbox - and so do I (but I will not rent my software - same analogy: why rent your hammers?).

 

I suppose I stand out a bit because Photoline users are not that incredibly common - so when I compare both apps here, obviously I am kinda on my own (except maybe for one or two other users - Quarian? ;-). Most users compare Affinity Photo with Photoshop, and will not be called out on that - which is understandable, since it is a very common comparison to make. Every user here uses or has used Photoshop at some point, I assume. And I do really miss certain layer features in AF Photo - a smart object alternative would be great, for example. Or external file layers.

 

Anyway, I think each application can learn from the others as to how improve certain areas. I also told the Photoline devs a couple of weeks ago how they could improve their application by looking at how Affinity Photo implemented features. For example, the on-canvas filters, i.e. the lighting filter (which I sorely miss in Photoline!).

 

You gain some features, you lose some features. I will be more careful in future posts here, and compare less with Photoline. Or Photoshop ;-P

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

It would be great to set up an open-source, reverse engineering community where all developers can contribute to cracking the PSD and AI formats in order to pool resources and keep up with Adobe... I'm not a developer but I imagine many developers would benefit from this knowledge...

2021 16” Macbook Pro w/ M1 Max 10c cpu /24c gpu, 32 GB RAM, 1TB SSD, Ventura 13.6

2018 11" iPad Pro w/ A12X cpu/gpu, 256 GB, iPadOS 17

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So how do non-Adobe apps (including Affinity apps) support the unpublished PSD format? It must be reversed engineered if there is no public specification...

 

 

I'm pretty sure reverse engineering proprietary code is illegal.

2021 16” Macbook Pro w/ M1 Max 10c cpu /24c gpu, 32 GB RAM, 1TB SSD, Ventura 13.6

2018 11" iPad Pro w/ A12X cpu/gpu, 256 GB, iPadOS 17

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am not a programmer so I can't answer that. Reverse engineering goes on all the time in many fields of endeavor. Some is done legally and some of it is not. I'm quite sure Serif is aware of what can and cannot be done and have stayed within the bounds of what is legal and ethical. I would love for Affinity to have fully compliant Photoshop and Illustrator file exchange. And I completely disagree with Adobe's licensing sales strategy. But they have a right to protect what they created just as much as a graphic designer, photographer or musician does.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So how do non-Adobe apps (including Affinity apps) support the unpublished PSD format? It must be reversed engineered if there is no public specification...

 

There is a public specification: https://www.adobe.com/devnet-apps/photoshop/fileformatashtml/

 

But the spec is missing bits and pieces -always has. Adobe would be insane to share all their proprietary file format details with competitors. And note that the spec is already three years old, and new features have been introduced in Photoshop by now. One way to reverse-engineer/improve PSD format support is to use simple files with one specific feature, and examine the file. Then that Photoshop specific feature must be handled by and converted to a similar or identical feature in Affinity, Photoline, Krita, etc. I know that the Photoline developers have used this method for the latest betas.

 

Good import is achievable if enough time and effort is spent on it. But it will never be exactly identical-looking as the original in Photoshop. Add in export support - which has its own issues.

 

For example, if the software in question can save files bigger than 300.000 pixels in width and/or height, Photoshop will be unable to load such a PSD. I encountered this issue in Photoline when I  combined large sky maps of stars, and they exceeded the 300.000px width limit. Photoshop would no longer open a PSD I exported from Photoline. That is kinda funny ;)

 

Suffice to say, I do not believe in perfect PSD import. Export is even more problematic, and anyone hoping for Affinity or any other image editor to be able to load up Photoshop native file format with all the bells and whistles, is going to be sorely disappointed. The point of a native file format is that it is tied intimately to the parent application's feature set. A one-on-one mapping of features is just not really possible - unless a disproportionate amount of time, money, and effort is sacrificed. And you will always be lagging behind. I mean, even dedicated file format converters, such as QXpress2InDesign (Markzware), fail to convert certain things correctly. 

 

Get the PSD import as good as it can be within a reasonable amount of effort and time, and do not spend too much time on the export (meaning, basic support is okay) - Affinity is NOT Photoshop, thank goodness. .

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Herbert123 is correct. Adobe made at least one VERSION of the PSD specification an open one. This is how the GIMP and other open tools are able to write/read the PSD format.

 

Like Herbert123, I work--for the most part--in a platform-agnostic world. At my 9 to 5, I work on a Mac for production (and I have, incidentally, asked them to look at Affinity's offerings--my answer was "Why? Everyone knows Adobe is the industry standard."). However, on my own, I work on Windows and Linux as well as OS X. The quality of many open source tools has increased since 2005--when I first attempted to build a production-quality Linux workstation--to the point that I can perform many professional-level graphic-related tasks on my Linux system. As the man said, "why rent your hammers?" and this is something I refuse to do at home with the current "gun to the head" conundrum that Adobe places the user in these days once one does a major project with their software.

 

I don't blame Affinty, Serif, or any of the devs for not making their software available for Windows at the current time. This is the direction in which they have chosen to go and, as a loyal customer, I have to accept that. Of course, I am also a loyal user of PagePlus and DrawPlus... :). But Photoline also runs well on Windows as well as on Linux using WINE and so I can literally jump between platforms using it. My main layout software packages are Scribus (developmental version 1.5.0) on all platforms, PagePlus on Windows and on OS X--soon--Affinity Publisher with Scribus a close second.

 

Affinity Designer and Photo are EXCELLENT products but their only shortcoming for some of us who work cross-platform is the fact that they are only available on the one platform. That being said--if I've never said it before--kudos to Affinity; Designer and Photo (along with Hype, Motion, QuickTime Pro and Sketch) are LITERALLY the ONLY reasons I still use a Macintosh...I can accomplish everything else through open-source or free proprietary (Fusion 7 and Da Vinci Resolve immediately come to mind) packages and most of the open source packages have working OS X versions.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Guidelines | We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.