PK Sharpener and support for smart objects

[GrahamWelland]

Any ideas on whether support for smart objects (used to create shadow/highlight versions of raw images) might be supported with PK Sharpener and the rest of the suite??

The use of smart objects for raw captures & blending is a very powerful tool within PS CS2 but PK products all require background layers and so this doesn't work. Is there any workaround other than saving a master file version and flattening the objects for a working base for use with the PK suite?

[GrahamWelland]

Well, in the absence of anyone answering my question from the PixelGenius folks I managed a simple workaround ...

If you follow the guidelines for creating a blend of a couple of Smart Objects of your raw files, the instructions typically begin with create a new blank document, place into the document your shadow/highlight smart objects and create your masks etc.

If you want the Photokit tools to work then you need to create a background layer - the simplest way is after creating a new document, Layer->New Background from Layer will create an empty background layer replacing Layer1. From there you can place objects etc to your hearts content and the PK tools will work. If you forget to do it at the beginning you can also do it at a later point by creating a new layer and applying the same Layer->New Background from Layer.

Hopefully this helps someone else?