[Photo] Smart Objects & Mockup

[LachlanK]

Hey Affinity,

 

I've been using both Designer & Photo since its beta and I really enjoy it.

I have gained nothing but enjoyment and happiness using your software and the progress you make.

 

My only concern about Photo is the lack of smart objects. I understand there's a few posts from last year
that mention them, but I'm not sure where this feature sits on your list of things to do as I couldn't see it
on either of the roadmaps.

 

It's basically the only thing I need Photoshop for at this point.

 

• Ability to read .PSD with Smart Objects instead of flattening the file into a pixel layer.
• Smart Objects

 

This would be amazing, and I know that I'm not the only person that use mockups with this feature.
I tend to make my own, but sometimes it's more suitable to use an existing one, which is made using Photoshop.

 

I understand you aren't Adobe, so I'm unsure what you can and can't do, so even if the feature works
in it's own way, I would be overjoyed.

 

Keep up the good work Affinity,

 

Cheers,

Lachlan

[Paul Bravery]

Hi Lachlan, 

 

Have you tried the 'Place…' command in the File menu? 

 

 

This has a similar function to PS's Smart Objects: 

 

 

Cheers, 

Paul. 

 

[zkarj]

I'll weigh in here rather than open a new thread.

 

The Place ability is great but is lacking in two key ways what Photoshop's Smart Objects can do – at least for my purposes.

 

First, and this can be worked around currently, is that I cannot edit a Placed file unless it's an .aphoto file. This seems like a simple fix because opening a JPEG and choosing Save as... does the conversion and the resulting file can be placed and edited, so the functionality is all available, just not linked. In fact, Photoshop has the ability to "convert to smart object" any layer that is already in place – doing that would solve the problem AND the related problem of the Placement having to be in an external file to start with.

 

Second, duplicate by reference. The ability to load one "smart object" and have multiple copies each with their own scale and translation, layer effects, etc, but when you edit one, all copies are updated. This is really useful for logo work amongst other things.

[hexaae]

Definitely a MUST HAVE. At present Embedded documents implementation can't handle Mesh Deformation and other operations without converting these objects to plain pixel images. This means you can't appy a deformed Embedded document and keep it as a "template" easily switching the "texture" inside in the future.

From a professional POV this is an important feature wanted by many users.

See f.e. (www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLdLwxt0nB8)

 

Would be also very useful a direct import of PSD's Smart Object -> AP's Embedded document