Discover how to prepare your Photoshop project for export and presentation to a client. This article guides you through the process of transforming text layers to smart objects, duplicating layers, and preparing an image for screenshot.
Key Insights
- The article describes the need to convert text layers into smart objects when preparing an image for export. This step is vital as text layers can only be seen with the specific font if it is available in the computer's library.
- The process of duplicating the text layer can be done by first selecting the layer and using ctrl C to copy, then pasting it on top with ctrl shift V. Afterwards, the original text layer is hidden and the top layer is converted into a smart object.
- The article further details how to prepare an image for screenshot, which includes re-adding guides onto the file, ensuring all groups and layers are displayed, and capturing the screenshot. This screenshot, displaying all layers, guides, and properties, is to be uploaded for final grading.
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In this video, we're going to prepare our image for export to our client, as well as take a screenshot as part of our final project. The only change we need to make to save this as a Photoshop file, PDF, or other vector file to be shown to our client is to convert our text layers from text to Smart Objects.
This is because, as text, they can only be displayed with the correct font if that font is installed on the viewer's computer. Therefore, we need to change our text layer so that it is shown as a shape or a Smart Object. To do this, we need to duplicate our layer by first clicking it and hitting CTRL+C, and then pasting it directly on top by hitting CTRL+Shift+V on the keyboard.
From there, we'll hide our bottom text layer, and now we can make a destructive change by right-clicking on the top text layer and converting it to a Smart Object. From here, “Strategy Skyline” is now a Smart Object with a hidden text layer below. We'll do the same thing for our title by expanding the “Title Bar” group and selecting “Building the Future Skyline.”
We'll then hit CTRL+C and, to paste it directly on top, hit CTRL+Shift+V on the keyboard. Again, we'll hide the original text layer, right-click the top layer, and select Convert to Smart Object. We now have our image ready and our file prepared to be shared with another individual.
So let's hit CTRL+S on the keyboard to save our work. Now, let's prepare our image for the screenshot. To do this, we're going to make a couple of changes. First, we'll re-add our guides onto the file.
Let's re-add a guide at one inch from the right-hand side, holding Shift and releasing at five inches. Let's also add another guide at the bottom, releasing it at 3.25 inches. This is because we’ll remember that our logo has to be within the bottom-right inch of our image. In this case, it fits within that space, although it's a bit close to the left-hand side. Next, we'll click outside of the layers so that the Properties Panel is shown. We can see that the canvas is 6 inches by 4.25 inches. When no layers are selected, we can view the Properties.
Finally, as our last change, we're going to want to make sure that all of our groups are expanded and our layers are visible. Within this, we have the elements of our logo within the “Logo” group, and the text and gradient layers within the “Title Bar” group. We also have our Austin background image behind everything.
With all of these shown—our Properties Panel visible and our guides displayed—we're now prepared to take a screenshot. If you're on a Windows computer, press the Windows key and, while holding it, press Print Screen. This will take a screenshot that is saved within your Pictures folder.
If you're on a Mac, press Command+Shift+4 to drag a selection box, which will create a screenshot saved to your desktop. Within the Pictures folder on Windows or the desktop on a Mac, please crop the image so that it shows the entire interface. Make sure that the Properties Panel is showing, all of the layers are expanded, and the guides are visible in your image.
Once complete, please upload that screenshot to the portal. There's no need to upload the PSD or Photoshop file—only the screenshot is necessary as part of your final grade. I hope you've enjoyed this Photoshop course, and I wish you the best of luck in your future Photoshop endeavors.