: Automate replacement of Smart Objects in Photoshop I'm involved in the production of a touchscreen device. Our workflow for designing the graphics of the interface is to create the buttons, text,

@Hamm6457569

Since you presumably have a bunch of devs handy, perhaps you can persuade someone to get into the Photoshop DOM and write some custom javascript. I don't think it would be too complex, and it certainly isn't impossible.

An alternative approach, if I understand your workflow correctly (a single master AI file that drives all of the PSDs), would be to set up an Action that replaces the content of the SO (Layer > Smart Objects > Replace Contents) and saves the file.

Rather than simply saving your edit back to the PSD, which forces you into the Copy/Paste scenario, Save As standard_filename.ai in your master folder and have the Action target that file explicitly.

Select all the PSDs, then use the Batch script in Bridge (Tools > Photoshop > Batch...) to run the Action on all of them in one shot.

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@Nimeshi706

You could simply use one smart object within Photoshop.

For example:

Set up your Illustrator file will all the buttons:



Open the Photoshop file and simply choose File > Place and place the Illustrator file (as a Smart Object):



Now you can mask out portions you do not need and duplicate, reposition, and scale the Smart Object as often as needed:



At this point updating any of the smart object elements merely takes a double click on the layer thumbnail and then editing the (internal) master AI file. Once you save in AI and return to Photoshop, all of the smart object layers are update but transformations are not reset. This is very useful for merely changing appearance of smart object data without actually altering the dimensions of the internal data.



When you duplicate a Smart Object layer in Photoshop, you don't duplicate the internal Smart Object data. You actually create another instance of the same data. So, if the internal data is updated all instances will be updated as well.

The tricky part about doing things this way is the masking. If you have many items creating a mask for each item may take a bit of time. However, once the masks are generated, future updates are much faster this way.

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@Phylliss782

Why jump to Photoshop to do the layout? If you're creating the art in Illustrator to begin with, stick with Illy. It's much more fit to the task. You can place your art as links or just maintain your styles all in one doc (presuming your application isn't too large).

A [painful] work-around to make Photoshop do unnatural things is variables. You would only do this when Photoshop is absolutely necessary. Here's the basics from that link:


Step 1: Define Variables

Create layers with the variable names.

Setup Variable Layers

Go to Images > Variables > Define. Now select the layer that is named
varHeader in the dropdown, click the Pixel Replacement checkbox, and
give the variable a relevant name. I like to use the method “As Is” so
that the imported file isn’t resized. The imported file is aligned
relative to the boundaries of the file in which it is placed. In the
case of a header, I like to pick the top left corner of the grid so
that my header file will always align correctly.

Define variables

Click the Next button.

Step 2: Create Data Sets

Data sets are simply groups of data presented in tabular form. To
create a data set, click the small hard drive icon with an arrow
pointing to it. Give the data set a name that anyone will understand.
In the Variables box, make sure that header is selected and set the
Value by selecting the file that you want to import. You can then see
the variable name, file name, and the layer that they're associated
with below.

Create Data Set

Click Apply, then click OK.

That’s it! You’re first variable is linked to an external file.
Replicate the process to link additional variables to their associated
files.

Step 3: Apply Data Set

The whole point of this is the ability to update your designs easily
when changes are made to the external/imported files. Simply open the
design file and go to Image > Apply Data Set. Select the data set to
update and click Apply.

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