How to edit smart object mockup in affinity photo?

[VladTam]

Hi guys

Can please someone tell me how can I edit "smart object mockup" in AF?

Like in this video for PS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxTge8fHbW8

All mockup's that I have are made for Photoshop so they are using smart objects to place our designs so after I open mockup and try to edit them by opening that layer in new tab like I did in Photoshop nothing happens!  I simply can not find way to edit that layer in separate tab which is crucial for my work!

This really makes things a very hard for me because I use mockup's all a time and I can't just use "place image" option and add more layers that I will adjust on spot, because it make things a lot harder then to just edit "smart object" like I did in PS.

If you could show me how can I do this in AF, that would be a life saver!

Thanks

[Gabe]

Hi @VladTam,

Welcome to the forums. 

We do not currently support Smart Objects. They will be rasterised on import. It is an Adobe-specific feature which cannot be transfered to us. 

Thanks,

Gabe. 

 

[ClarusDignus]

Having just installed the Affinity Photo trial, I opened a PSD and proceeded to attempt to edit a smart object for a mock-up I'm working with.

What should have been a smart object, was rasterised. 

The absence of smart object editing effectively makes Affinity Photo unusable for me.

Affinity Photo isn't a complete alternative to Photoshop CC. As a professional, I can't be expected to switch to Affinity from Adobe.

Smart objects are intrinsic to the modern work-flow.

I've read similar threads pointing out that Affinity Photo can achieve the functionality of smart objects and that the concept of smart objects is just an Adobe paradigm. This means very little when I'm required to edit existing smart objects in PSDs.

It's unfortunate. A competitor to the overpriced Adobe CC is much needed.

[R C-R]

1 hour ago, ClarusDignus said:

It's unfortunate. A competitor to the overpriced Adobe CC is much needed.

What is also unfortunate but not too surprising is that Adobe is not keen on the idea of any lower priced competitor being able to offer un-compromised support for its "smart objects" technology.

[VladTam]

Thank you guys for all the answers.

I really can not see why is this "smart object feature" so difficult to implement, especially because it is very important part of any design process and it really puts  AF way down in comparison to PS from a designer standpoint. 

I think that this feature "is a must" and if they do not solve this problem soon, they will lose many new customers, including me, unfortunately!

The reason why I even tried AF is because after last windows update my PS literally stopped working and it crashed every single time I start it, but I expect that problem will be solved soon so I have to use AF for now and I like it, but without smart object feature I simply can not do my work properly and that is a big problem for me!

I would really like to see AF winning, but for now, that is not a case!

[VladTam]

On 6/29/2018 at 10:41 PM, ClarusDignus said:

Having just installed the Affinity Photo trial, I opened a PSD and proceeded to attempt to edit a smart object for a mock-up I'm working with.

What should have been a smart object, was rasterised. 

The absence of smart object editing effectively makes Affinity Photo unusable for me.

Affinity Photo isn't a complete alternative to Photoshop CC. As a professional, I can't be expected to switch to Affinity from Adobe.

Smart objects are intrinsic to the modern work-flow.

I've read similar threads pointing out that Affinity Photo can achieve the functionality of smart objects and that the concept of smart objects is just an Adobe paradigm. This means very little when I'm required to edit existing smart objects in PSDs.

It's unfortunate. A competitor to the overpriced Adobe CC is much needed.

I completely agree and I think that AF really is on right track but without key features like smart objects, they simply do not have a chance to compete with Adobe!

[John Rostron]

These postings confound two aspects of Smart Objects. Affinity offers a similar workflow/functionality to that of PS smart objects, but they do not have the same structure and are thus not interchangeable. Affinity cannot read PSD smart objects, but PS may or may not be able to read the Affinity equivalent. If will all depend on whether the user needs to transfer image files between AF and PS. If not, then AF will offer all the user needs.

John

[Ron P.]

49 minutes ago, John Rostron said:

These postings confound two aspects of Smart Objects. Affinity offers a similar workflow/functionality to that of PS smart objects, but they do not have the same structure and are thus not interchangeable. Affinity cannot read PSD smart objects, but PS may or may not be able to read the Affinity equivalent. If will all depend on whether the user needs to transfer image files between AF and PS. If not, then AF will offer all the user needs.

John

 

What is Affinity's similar workflow/functionality to PS Smart Objects? I'd like to utilize that.

[VladTam]

16 hours ago, John Rostron said:

These postings confound two aspects of Smart Objects. Affinity offers a similar workflow/functionality to that of PS smart objects, but they do not have the same structure and are thus not interchangeable. Affinity cannot read PSD smart objects, but PS may or may not be able to read the Affinity equivalent. If will all depend on whether the user needs to transfer image files between AF and PS. If not, then AF will offer all the user needs.

John

 

Hey John, thank you for joining conversations about this because this is a very important topic and any kind of help would be highly appreciated.

Can someone please make some video tutorial about how we can use features inside AF that can create "similar workflow/functionality" of PS smart objects..?

 

I think that this topic deserves much more attention because it can be determining factor will someone keep using this software or will we go back to PS!

[juliantentori]

On 6/28/2018 at 9:14 AM, GabrielM said:

Hi @VladTam,

Welcome to the forums. 

We do not currently support Smart Objects. They will be rasterised on import. It is an Adobe-specific feature which cannot be transfered to us. 

Thanks,

Gabe. 

 

Hi! I just purchased affinity photo and designer, using Place embedded document works alright for doing what I want in my mock-ups, but I want to apply a pattern to a MUG, but the warp Mesh Warp Tool rasterizes the whole embedded document, is there a way to warp the embedded document without rasterizing it? That would enable us to apply a design to circular objects and have instant results as how is going to be.

[lrnz]

I agree, supporting Smart Objects would be great. I currently have to rely on Photopea for that...

[andrewio]

On 2/12/2019 at 1:36 PM, lrnz said:

I agree, supporting Smart Objects would be great. I currently have to rely on Photopea for that...

Absolutely agree. 

[MaryLAlcocer]

Hi, i also work constantly with mock ups, so smart objects its feature that i constantly need, it will be awesome to have this compatibility with affinity. 

[Ulysses]

On 7/12/2018 at 2:18 PM, John Rostron said:

These postings confound two aspects of Smart Objects. Affinity offers a similar workflow/functionality to that of PS smart objects, but they do not have the same structure and are thus not interchangeable. Affinity cannot read PSD smart objects, but PS may or may not be able to read the Affinity equivalent. If will all depend on whether the user needs to transfer image files between AF and PS. If not, then AF will offer all the user needs.

John

@John Rostron thanks for clarifying. This is pretty much what I expected would be the case. When people "want what they want" they rarely seem to care about the "why it doesn’t work."

The lack of Adobe smart object support may be disappointing, but it’s understandable. Hopefully as Affinity Photo gains more traction, there will be more artists preparing mockups using AP's tools.

[Mike S.]

@John Rostron and @Ulysses

Are you saying there is a functionality that allows you to accomplish the same thing? It seems utterly simplistic to just look at the import problem and not the underlying lack of functionality. The fact that people are dependent on a free SaaS app for this functionality is indicative of the lack of insight and understanding. 

Affinity Photo is not able to understand layers beyond being utterly flat. Distort is a far cry. Both in terms of reliable solution (it often just doesn't map well) and the amount of time it takes to do (15 minutes best, most simplistic case, and beating your head up against it and trying to do *something* to make it work for 3-4 hours).

Mind you, this is something that consistently takes no more than 5-10 minutes in photoshop to replace. There's even a robust third party marketplace of smart object based PSDs that are amazingly simply to edit and update.

The problem clearly isn't *that* tough, or an online free SaaS app wouldn't have it solved. Shucks, affinity could buy or license the tech and make the money back in new licenses in a few months. 

Affinity products are great, but they *do* lack some highly productive workflows for some difficult problems that Adobe has solved. Pretending that these are not problems, or even more amazing, that they are solved with some inferred solution and sayings like "we do it differently" without specifics is unproductive and creates frustration that causes people to just go back to what they know can actually solve the problem.

Admitting gaps keeps people from hitting their head against an invisible ceiling they're being told doesn't exist and leaving frustrated and angry instead of coming back when the problem actually *is* solved. 

[Ulysses]

7 hours ago, Mike S. said:

@John Rostron and @Ulysses

Are you saying there is a functionality that allows you to accomplish the same thing? It seems utterly simplistic to just look at the import problem and not the underlying lack of functionality. The fact that people are dependent on a free SaaS app for this functionality is indicative of the lack of insight and understanding. 
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Affinity Photo is not able to understand layers beyond being utterly flat. Distort is a far cry. Both in terms of reliable solution (it often just doesn't map well) and the amount of time it takes to do (15 minutes best, most simplistic case, and beating your head up against it and trying to do *something* to make it work for 3-4 hours).
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Affinity products are great, but they *do* lack some highly productive workflows for some difficult problems that Adobe has solved. Pretending that these are not problems, or even more amazing, that they are solved with some inferred solution and sayings like "we do it differently" without specifics is unproductive and creates frustration that causes people to just go back to what they know can actually solve the problem.

No one disagrees with any of your frustrations with Affinity Photo's current lack of support for Adobe Photoshop's Smart Objects. We ALL wish it was there. No one is pretending it's not a problem. But it's a completely different conclusion to say, "this is what we have... let's see how we can work the problem to find a solution for the overall goal of our projects." For me personally, once I abandoned Adobe (for a wide variety of reasons), I was prepared to make adjustments — even large ones — to my workflow to accommodate a new approach. But I well understand this is undesirable and even unworkable for some.

Additionally, the issue does not seem to be that Affinity Photo is unable to understand layers; it most definitely CAN. We can open and utilize .PSD files containing any number of layers created in Photoshop. But maybe you're working with projects that present problems that some of us simply aren't experiencing. If so, PLEASE pass these on to the developers in the Feature Requests area of this forum! 

As for similar functionality to Smart Objects, here's what I'm finding (at least in simple cases): If you create an .AFPHOTO or .AFDESIGN file (or even save an Affinity Photo project as a .PSD), which you then PLACE into a new project, it shows up as a new layer with the title "Embedded File" in your new project. Using the Move tool to double-click on this embedded file reveals the various layers of that embedded document, which you can then further edit. This is similar *enough* to Smart Objects for my usage, but it most definitely doesn't go as far as it could.

EDITED TO CORRECT MY UNDERSTANDING OF HANDLING TIFF FILES: I'm still trying to understand the differences between these various placement options. For example, if I save a .TIFF file with Affinity layers intact, and then PLACE that TIFF into a new Affinity Photo project, it's placed as an "IMAGE," and double-tapping that object does NOT give access to all the layers contained therein. However, if I open that TIFF file on its own, I have access to those layers. I'm unclear as to why this is any different than a .PSD file. 

[Mike S.]

@Ulysses

Forgive my rant, it comes from a place of frustration, but by *no* means am I giving up, I'm frustrated with spending hours trying to figure out how to get something done that was minutes for a neophyte in PS. First thing I want to do when I refine my workflow and figure out how to deal with the differences is to document it, share it and create a tutorial. Just wish there was more help in this particular space, but this *is* more like community support and I get that we don't really pay Affinity enough to expect consultative support.

Thank you. 

[Ulysses]

@Mike S. I do "get" the frustration. Although I haven’t run into too many issues with he Affinity apps personally, I’ve experienced them with other applications and apps.

Maybe you already tried this, but have you shown/shared any projects or asked questions about "how can I produce this in Affinity Photo?" I've had several good responses on this forum when I’ve provided specific needs or use cases. Maybe they can help you find a solution that would shorten the time spent and lessen the frustration.  

[Mike S.]

@Ulysses
Thanks for that. Unfortunately clients don't take kindly to sharing their intermediate work online. NDAs and such. 

That said, I'm working on a few "teaching and training" examples to do exactly that.

[Ulysses]

4 hours ago, Mike S. said:

That said, I'm working on a few "teaching and training" examples to do exactly that.

I’m sure it would help. Anything examples that would allow you to at least discuss concepts or production use of the Affinity tools might enable you to reach your goal. 

[macmikeal]

On 6/8/2019 at 5:12 AM, andrewio said:

Absolutely agree. 

I agree.  If Microsoft can figure out how to create Windows, they did, and make it court proof against Apple and the Macintosh. Then Serif should be able to figure out how to implement a “smart object” like feature that would work and be law suit proof. Anything to get away from Adobe’s Ransom Subscription operation.

[abarkalo]

Affinity Photo already has Smart Object-like features. While actual smart objects are a proprietary Adobe thing, and they obviously don't want to share that and lose their own market share - here's what you can do:

1. In Photoshop take a mockup PSD and open the smart object and save that as a PSD file. Repeat for as many smart objects there are.

2. Open the original mockup PSD file in Affinity Photo and notice where the smart objects got flattened - replace those with the PSDs you saved from the smart objects. Place those objects. Then use the Live Perspective Filter (don't use the Perspective Tool as that will flatten the embedded document you placed).  Use as many Live Filters as you want to recolor, distort, blur etc.  

What I really would love to see Affinity do is take a group of layers and convert to an Embedded Document without have to copy these to a new document then saving then placing again (that seems tedious for no reason!).

Here is one that I did.  (Including the original PSD as well).  Notice how much smaller the file size is as well.

Apple Watch mockup for Affinity.afphoto

mockups_-2Apple-Watch_Space_Grey_Aluminum_Case_Black_Sport_Band(free-mockup).psd

However, much more need to be developed to make the Embedded Documents function like smart objects.  You can't really warp them or liquify. Other than simple planar displacements they aren't at Photoshop's level of working with more complex mockups.

[macmikeal]

Apple uses a trash can for deleting files. Microsoft calls theirs a recycle bin. Same feature different name. Thus past muster in court. Apple V. Microsoft 1994. Affinity could do that feature call it razzle dazzle. Same principle. Would work. Need a “smart object” and while at it Actions too in AD or AP for Text effect styles and mockups.

[ashf]

@GabrielM

But at least Affinity should be able to read smart object without rasterizing it as single pixel layer.
Photopea can read smart object as smart object.
https://www.photopea.com/

[sarituulia]

I found this helpful as a way around