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How can I change the color of a Vector Smart Object that was imported from Illustrator into Photoshop? Both products are from CS 6.

When I try to do color overlay it just colors over the whole thing, and there's supposed to be a white cutout in the vector.

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Dani AI

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is on the right track: the cleanest, nondestructive fix is to make the "cutout" a true transparent hole inside the Illustrator source rather than a white shape pinned on top. Photoshop layer styles (Color Overlay, clipped fills, etc.) act on the smart object pixels — so a white-filled object inside the vector will be recolored like any other pixel unless that white is actually transparency.

Practical Illustrator edits that produce real transparency: convert the outer shape plus the inner shape into a compound path (so the inner path becomes a hole) or use Pathfinder > Minus Front / Trim to subtract the inner shape. Use the Attributes panel to check fill rules (even-odd vs nonzero) if overlapping paths behave unexpectedly. Also turn on the transparency grid in Illustrator to confirm the hole is truly transparent before saving.

If editing the AI source is not possible, a couple of Photoshop workarounds preserve nondestructive workflow: create a mask that removes the white area (Select > Color Range on the whites, then add a layer mask), or use Layer Style > Blend If to exclude the bright/white pixels (split the slider to feather). Both keep the smart object vector intact in the file while letting a Solid Color fill or Color/Hue blend recolor the visible shape only. Rasterizing the smart object and deleting the white is a last resort because it loses vector scalability.

Checklist: confirm the white is not a topmost fill object, make the inner path a true hole in Illustrator, verify with the transparency grid, then re-save so Photoshop shows the corrected transparency.

Member Avatar for pikpik

Hi!

One way seems to be to edit the contents of the imported/placed object. I just tried this with Illustrator and Photoshop in CS2. I don't know if it still applies to CS6.

In Illustrator:

  1. Create a rendering
  2. Save to file

In Photoshop:

  1. Place rendering from file
  2. Right-click the new item's layer
  3. Select Edit Contents
  4. Illustrator will open a window containing the Vector Smart Object

In the Vector Smart Object Illustrator window:

  1. Edit the rendering
  2. Save (Command + S / Control + S)
  3. Close window

Back to Photoshop:

  1. Reselect the Photoshop window
  2. The placed rendering will update to reflect the recent changes

I hope this helps!

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