: Can Photoshop reference external files in a way that keeps .psd file size small? here is the situation: i have some large source photos that i am applying adjustment layers to in Photoshop,
here is the situation: i have some large source photos that i am applying adjustment layers to in Photoshop, then incorporating into Illustrator files.
i would like Photoshop to only save the info about what adjustments are applied and not store the source image data in the psd file, which i should think would result in a really small psd file.
this is important because i never change the source image, so it would only need to be stored and moved once by synchronization and version control software, while the psd could be edited freely without sync and VCS having to deal with a large binary changing.
i did some tests with Place Linked..., and the results seem totally counter-intuitive:
source.tif 15.9 MB
simply placing source.tif linked in a psd of the same size and saving results in
linked-1.psd 54.2 MB
a file that's multiple times the size of the source image.
turning off 'max compatibility' and image previews reduces size:
linked-2.psd 28 MB
but it's still larger than the source image.
anyone have any idea what's going on here? or how i can get Photoshop to exclude the image data?
for reference, the same canvas saved without placing the image clocks in at
blank.psd 1.1 MB
thanks in advance.
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So, it depends. If you need your PSD to be the same canvas size as your source, you're out of luck. But in my experience it's unusual to want the full resolution of your source – you often use it much smaller.
If you know how big (and at what resolution) you intend to use the image in Illustrator, create the PSD at that size, and place the source using Place linked. The resulting PSD will be proportional to its canvas size, regardless of the size of the source.
If, later, you need to increase the canvas size of your PSD, you have that option, because the source remains linked, and your PSD is only ever as large as it needs to be.
Make no mistake, this is no "use a PSD as a set of adjustment layers only"-type solution, as that's not possible.
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