Embed file data in a Smart Object

- [Instructor] Alright, we're gonna start things off by applying a multi-step action that I've created for you in advance, so that you and I have a common set of operations, so that I can demonstrate how multiple undos now work inside Photoshop CC, 2019. And in doing so, we'll take this photograph from the Dreamstime image library about which you could learn more and get some great deals at dreamstime.com/deke.php. And we'll turn it into this hedcut effect, ala the Wall Street Journal. And if you wanna learn exactly how this effect works, then you can check out Deke's Techniques number 723 from the year 2018, which is called Creating a faux hedcut in Photoshop.

And incidentally, that technique continues on to episode 724 and 725. But again, we're going to apply the whole thing using a prerecorded action. And so if you're working along with me, make sure that this image is not open. I'm going to close it so that we have one and only one image open here inside Photoshop. Then I'll go up to the Window menu and choose the Actions command in order to bring up the Actions panel. And I'll go ahead and make it taller, as well. And I'll collapse these default actions, which are not particularly useful.

And then I'll click on the fly out menu icon in the top right corner of the panel and I'll choose Load Actions. And if you have access to my exercise files, you're welcome to do so as well, at which point you'll see this guy right here, Hedcut actions. And then just go ahead and click the Load button in order to load up this folder of actions that you can see right here. Now, notice that I've divided the actions into five parts, all of which are collected in this guy right here, All hedcut. And that just allowed me to proceed through things a little more sanely so that I could troubleshoot the operation because it is quite complicated.

All right, now, to make things work, you'll want this Dreamstime layer to be selected here inside the Layers panel, at which point all you have to do is click the Play button in order to play the action. Now, you are gonna see a few prompts, including this guy right here. And what you wanna do is just go ahead and save this file as Dmap.eyes. Dmap stands for displacement map, by the way. And then just go ahead and click the Save button, at which point Photoshop will probably ask you if you wanna replace the existing file. You do, so just go ahead and click Yes or Save or what have you.

Then, a few moments later, you'll see this Displace dialog box, which is applying the Displace filter, which is available from the Distort sub-menu under the Filter menu. And notice that I've already set up these values in advance. We have a horizontal scale of 50 and a vertical scale value of 100. The displacement map is set to stretch to fit and undefined areas is set to wrap around. This guy right here, this check box, is new to Photoshop CC, 2019: Embed File Data in Smart Object. And what that's gonna do is, it's gonna take the displacement map that we just saved a moment ago and it's going to embed it inside the smart object.

That is going to increase the file size, but it's also gonna ensure that the displacement map does not get lost, which it always used to in the old days. At which point I'll go ahead and click Okay and then I'll find that Dmap.eyes file right there. And then I'll select that Dmap.eyes file, which may end in a psd extension, and I'll click Open in order to apply that displacement map, which gives us these wavy lines, which are actually contoured across the details in the woman's face. All right, now we have another application of the Displace filter.

Notice that the values have changed a little bit, but Embed File Data in Smart Object is still selected, which is a very good thing, at which point I'll go ahead and click Okay, select that Dmap.eyes files, and then click Open in order to create yet another series of lines. And then, just a few moments later, we end up with this full color effect. All right, I'll go ahead and hide the Actions panel so that we can see the final effect. And I just wanna take a moment to make sure that you understand that new check box. And so whenever you apply a displacement map, you're using one image to warp another.

And so let's say I go ahead and make sure this top layer in this stack is selected. And I'll go up to the Filter menu, choose Distort, and choose this very first command, Displace. And notice, this time around, we're still seeing those horizontal and vertical scale values, as before, along with these radio buttons here, but we're not seeing that check box. And that's because, this time around, we're working with a static layer, which means we're not gonna be creating any kind of link to that file on disk. And so if I were to click Okay and then select Dmap.eyes, and then click Open, we'll be applying that displacement map as a static effect, meaning that there is no link to the file on disk.

So I'll just go ahead and cancel out there so you can see the difference. If I were to go up to the Filter menu and choose Convert For Smart Filters, which turns this layer into a non-destructible smart object, as indicated by this alert message, I'll just go ahead and click Okay, and notice now that the thumbnail for this layer has a tiny page icon in its bottom right corner, which tells us, once again, that we're working with a smart object. And now, if I were to return to the Filter menu, choose Distort, and then choose Displace, I am now seeing this check box because otherwise, we're creating a dynamic link.

And the reason this has been such a problem in the past is because Photoshop identifies an absolute path to that file. And so if you put it in a different folder, or copy it to a different machine, the link doesn't work anymore. Whereas if you turn on this check box and embed the file, then you don't have a link anymore, so you can't lose the displacement map. At which point I would go ahead and click Okay, select the Dmap.eyes file, and then click Open. Now, in our case, it's not really making that much of a difference. You can see that the color is leaking out over here on the left-hand side.

But now I can copy this file to any location and the displacement map information will survive. All right, now that may seem like an awfully big windup, but it's all gonna pay off when I introduce you to the new and improved world of multiple undos that eagerly awaits you in the very next movie.