Smart objects
A smart object is a type of Adobe Photoshop layer that preserves the original content of an image or graphic so it can be transformed without destroying its data
What it means, how it is used and where it comes up, with its related concepts.
What it is and how it works
It allows scaling, rotating, warping or applying smart filters, which remain editable, without losing the source information. It can contain bitmap images, Illustrator vector graphics or other documents, and it can be embedded in the file or linked to an external one, so that updating it updates every instance.
It is very useful for mockups, templates and assets reused across several formats. Bear in mind that if the content is a bitmap image, enlarging it beyond its original size does reduce quality, because there are no extra pixels to recover.
Also known as
Smart object layer
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