Pasting into Photoshop CS5 + Auto Resize

Question

We copy a lot of existing elements from illustrator files into existing Photoshop documents. The dimensions of the Illustrator files are much larger, so we've always pasted into Photoshop and it resizes to the smaller photoshop document.
When I paste into the existing Photoshop document in CS5, I need the image/object to resize to my Photoshop document, instead of pasting in at the actual/original size.
Is there something I can change in preferences? Or a way to do this?

Answer 1

Yes many Photoshop users that know they know how Photoshop Place and Paste work. Even when they do know. Their actual understanding may not comprend the whole story yet. For they have may not had to seen all the variations of Place and Paste and haven't given the subject deep thought.
A lot has to do with size.   Many users think about size differently for there are several sizes when it comes down to it..   When Photoshop documentation states size its best to think "Print Size" You know this has to do document resolution and the number of pixels in the document. It what make the physical print size    When images are Pasted and Placed into some other document Photoshop maintains the new layers  "physical print size"  If the two document do not have the same resolution the image going into the document will be scaled to the receiving document resolution it does not mater how your Photoshop preferences setting are set.  There will be scaling size change made.   The result may or may not fit within the receiving documents canvas.  In the case of place if what is being place in does not fit. What does not fit may be scaled to fit within the receiving document canvas size.  Place images are smart object layers and the object pixels are the original ones for the object.  All smart object layers have a single transform associated with them. This transform may or may not scale the original image.   Image that have the same resolution may just be scale to 100% and have not change in number of pixels.  When the object being place is larger the canvas size depending on the Photoshop's Preference Place object resize option the object may be resized to fit within canvas its print size will be different then the original object.  Its only when you have been puzzled by some Photoshop's Places and Paste operation that you deepen your though process and inveterate the subject thoroughly that you see the whole story
Target a placed in image smart object layer  and use the free transform shortcut key to see the current associated transform. Look in the option bar at its scale setting it may surprise you.
I will admit my knowledge was very faulty till I started scripting place and had to deal with how Photoshop did the operation. I had a lot of problems till I realized what was happening. I then realizes that I could scale the placed object to 100% get it back to its original pixels then transform these pixels to where I needed them to be and scaled to the size I needed.
As wrote I don't have AI. Since AI is an Adobe product  when you use copy in AI and paste in PS  I can beleive that Photoshop may well know that the clipboards contents were copied there from AI and Photoshop may give you options like to use paste or place.   I would think any resizing done to the clipboards pixels is done by Photoshop not AI.
Message was edited by: JJMack