Smart object workflow

[aaabbbccc]

Is there a similar workflow in Affinity to that of the smart objects present in Photoshop?!

I am used to having smart objects in my documents that have different effects applied to them. Most advanced filters are supported for smart objects in Photoshop.

 

[Callum]

Hi Aaabbbccc,

Smart objects are supported in Affinity Photo but you must enable support for them first via the apps preferences as for features in Affinity that are equivalent to smart objects in it would depend on the purpose of the smart object.

Thanks
C

[James Ritson]

On 12/2/2024 at 10:55 PM, aaabbbccc said:

Is there a similar workflow in Affinity to that of the smart objects present in Photoshop?!

I am used to having smart objects in my documents that have different effects applied to them. Most advanced filters are supported for smart objects in Photoshop.

 

Hi @aaabbbccc, smart objects can be imported from PSD documents as Callum has said (go into Settings>General and enable "Import PSD smart objects where possible").

If you were referring more generally to "what is Affinity's equivalent of smart objects", then you have several answers:

• Drag-dropping or using File>Place to place another .afphoto, .afdesign or .afpub file into an existing document will place it as an Embedded Document. These can be "entered" and their contents edited, which will then reflect in the parent document. This is the closest thing to a direct equivalent.
• Placed images (e.g. JPEG, TIFF) are brought in as immutable Image layers. These are layers that display the image data, but just store the image data in the document (or they can be linked), reducing file size. You do however need to rasterise them to perform destructive operations on them. Which leads to...
• Live filters (Layer>New Live Filter Layer) are implementations of common filters such as various blurs, sharpening, distortions etc that can be applied non-destructive as layers. This is how you would apply "smart filters" to layers. You don't explicitly convert to any kind of smart object first, just apply the filter you want from Layer>New Live Filter Layer. You can mask it, blend it how you want, and click on the layer thumbnails to bring the settings back up at any time.

Hope the above helps. If you have any specific workflow steps that you're wondering about, do feel free to ask and we should be able to advise!

[aaabbbccc]

Thank you for the comprehensive answer. It will come in handy.

However I have found that camera raw is not yet supported as a live filter in the same way that it is in PS.

[James Ritson]

19 minutes ago, aaabbbccc said:

However I have found that camera raw is not yet supported as a live filter in the same way that it is in PS.

Non-destructive RAW is available: when developing a RAW file, change the output dropdown (top left) from Pixel to RAW Layer embedded or linked (embedded is preferable, unless you will always have the original RAW file to hand so Photo can access it). This lets you re-enter development at any time with that layer to change the development settings.

Tutorial here: 

Hope that helps!

[aaabbbccc]

It does. But here is what I mean... let's say I develop it, and afterwards add a brightness / contrast and an HSL adjustment on top of the developed layer. Can I then select all three of these and create a single 'smart object' out of them?

[walt.farrell]

13 hours ago, aaabbbccc said:

It does. But here is what I mean... let's say I develop it, and afterwards add a brightness / contrast and an HSL adjustment on top of the developed layer. Can I then select all three of these and create a single 'smart object' out of them?

Once you have that "smart object", how do you intend to use it in a workflow?

[aaabbbccc]

25 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

Once you have that "smart object", how do you intend to use it in a workflow?

Think of that as a 'base comp'. I do 3d rendering mostly... so I compose this 'base layer' from multiple renders, then I process it. The reason I need it as 'smart object' is because sometimes I need to blur it or do other things to it, and I need this whole file procedural, where if the 'base comp' changes, all the other adjustments propagate. This is possible in PS. I mean... I don't want to be mean (pun) but Affinity won't do UI scaling, yet I am expecting these possibilities to be translated by the devs from PS...

[walt.farrell]

5 hours ago, aaabbbccc said:

.. so I compose this 'base layer' from multiple renders, then I process it. The reason I need it as 'smart object' is because sometimes I need to blur it or do other things to it, and I need this whole file procedural, where if the 'base comp' changes, all the other adjustments propagate.

Thanks, but I'm not sure I understand. But have you considered Saving your image + the adjustments as a .afphoto file, and then Placing that file into another document as either an Embedded or Linked document? That would be one Affinity equivalent of a PS smart object, I believe.

[Ldina]

@aaabbbccc Walt's suggestion works fine, at least for the types of things I need to do. I'm not sure if the following will work for for what you want to do or not...

1. Create a "Group" of the all layers you wish to convert to a Smart Object (or in Affinity terms, an Image Resource).
2. Duplicate the Group (primarily to keep your original layers intact as a backup)
3. Rasterize your duplicated Group.
4. With the "Move Tool" selected, right-click on your rasterized group layer, and select "Convert to Image Resource"

This will convert that rasterized layer to an Image Resource, which will be listed in your Resource Manager as an embedded resource. You can probably change that to a linked resource too, if you wish.

EDIT: The above flattens and rasterizes, of course. Walt's suggestion will keep all your layers intact and allow you to place the saved afPhoto file into other documents as an Image Resource. That's the approach I'd probably take.