I recently ran into a problem where I created a Smart Object, applied a Camera Raw Filter, mad adjustments (all perfectly normal), then did some clean up in Content Aware fill using layers to continue the non-destructive workflow.
During subsequent processing, as the image evolved, I went back into the Camera Raw Filter and further refined the image. Which caused a significant mismatch with the layers containing Content Aware fill output.
I asked in the Photoshop forum, but the only answer was to take a sledgehammer to the problem and trash a bunch of layers.
Since there ARE Smart Objects, and they're being pushed as "non-destructive". And there are layers and they're being pushed as "non-destructive". As is content-aware fill in all its forms, it would be nice if they worked together.
I see the Camera Raw Filter touted in posts and in some documentation, claiming seamless round-trips from Photoshop. Unfortunately, it appears doing so is a good way to make a mess of a bunch of very time-consuming work in Content-Aware fill-created layers.
I'm not sure when the Camera Raw filter or content-aware fill were introduced, but it had to have been at least a couple YEARS ago, so is there some method in Photoshop to tell it to update layer X (that contains a bunch of pixels derived from pixels in layer X-1 or 2 or 10) with those pixels altered by a smart filter? Or even better, to KEEP layer X current with pixels altered by the smart filter on the Smart Object?
Or at LEAST some workaround less destructive than trashing layers into the garbage can and redoing everything?
