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Illustrator Tip #14: Pasting Smart Objects in Photoshop

By Sonali Vora Posted on March 6th, 2009

Using both Photoshop and Illustrator is a common work flow process in many projects. In this small tip, I will show you how you can use Illustrator’s objects, shapes or text as Smart Object in Photoshop and still keep them editable in Illustrator.

In this example, I have created a shape using Star Tool, Pucker and Bloat Effect In Illustrator.

Next, I want to import it into Photoshop, so I select the shape and choose, Edit > Copy (Ctrl+C) to copy the text.

Create a new document in Photoshop and paste the text by choosing, Edit > Paste (Ctrl + V).

In the corresponding dialogue box, select Smart Object radio button and hit OK.

Your text should be pasted as a Smart Object in Photoshop, hit Enter on the num pad or checkmark on the Option Bar to commit it.

Now for some reasons I want to edit the object. For that, just double-click on the Smart Object icon in the Layer Palette. Photoshop will open a dialogue box, hit OK.

The object/shape will automatically open in Illustrator, edit the object or if you have any text or shape do the edit as you want, here I edited it a bit and added a another overlapping shape and also changed the color of the object to red.

After you are satistied with the edit, select File > Save and close the file and voila the changes will be automatically reflected in your Photoshop document.

About The Author: Sonali

Hi, I'm a designer and digital artist, I'm extremely fond of anything that is related to graphic design, creating arts & all the yumminess attached to it. I aim to reach my creative goals one step at a time and I believe in doing everything with a smile. You can also find me on Twitter, @dezignMusings.

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+Add Comment7 Comments

1. 
   rahul rai March 6th, 2009

   Good work but not clear can u berif all.

2. 
   Sonali March 7th, 2009

   @rahul rai: What is not clear?

3. 
   kyawthura March 7th, 2009

   I don’t get with you.

4. 
   Luis Clever March 9th, 2009

   Otimo estou aprendendo muito, obrigado

5. 
   bundle April 21st, 2009

   I’m wondering…if I make a smart object in Photoshop first, can I then bring it into Illustrator? Basically the opposite direction from your example. I haven’t tried it yet.

6. 
   Sonali April 26th, 2009

   @ bundle- Good question. You can paste the smart object in Illustrator but, i think it will not be editable. But, if you have a shape as path you can directly copy and paste it in Illustrator as fully editable Compound Shape or Compound Path.

7. 
   Sonali April 26th, 2009

   Hey Tony, I just realized that the images seems to be misplaced, this image in the above tutorial: http://www.vectordiary.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/img2.jpg should be after the sentence: “In the corresponding dialogue box, select Smart Object radio button and hit OK.”

   Also, in this lines: “Your text should be pasted as a Smart Object in Photoshop, hit Enter on the num pad or checkmark on the Option Bar to commit it.” -Instead of text it should be Shape.