Amadeus Loc: New York

I keep getting offers from Topaz about upgrading to Photo AI. I have deNose and sharpen. Rarely use sharpen. Use DeNoise for everything. It takes out the noise and sharpens slightly which I find very convenient. I tried gigapixel once, and didn’t think it did much for me.
Now they’re offering the upgrade for $126 which includes gigapixel, photo AI, and I guess I keep sharpen and DeNoise. But this photo AI is supposed to do it all.
My question is, is the upgrade worth it for me. If I do get it, does all the other stuff become obsolete?
Any input will be very appreciated.

Curmudgeon Loc: SE Arizona

In a single word no.

The only problem is that Topaz has focused all its efforts on perfecting Photo AI. I don't remember when they posted an update to DeNoise or Sharpen. I suspect they are going to abandon them in the near future

David Martin Loc: Cary, NC

Photo AI indeed does it all, but I think that the individual modules do it better. AI Sharpen sharpens better and DeNoise AI does a better job, than Photo AI can do.
There is a free trial so you could see how effective Photo AI is for you.

Amadeus Loc: New York

I do a lot of high ISO shots. The DeNoise works like a charm. I’d hate to see them abandon it but I guess we’ll see. I think I will take a test drive with the AI though. Thanks for your comments.

terryMc Loc: Arizona's White Mountains

For years I have heard people raving about Topaz and how it can make a silk purse from a sow's ear, so I finally broke down and bought all three: Gigapixel, Sharpen, and Denoise. All I ever got from any of them was artifacts and weird AI distortions, especially in faces.

Then Photo AI came out, and it was the same thing. "It's magic! It's outstanding!

Well, it is better than any of the others, in my opinion, but it all depends on what you're trying to get from the image, and what you have to begin with. Trying to fix very low resolution images is pretty much hopeless, but if all you're doing is trying to minimize noise, sharpen a bit, or resize a file, it's okay, as long as your file was not too far gone or too small. I still prefer to sharpen in Photoshop, because of the artifacts left by AI. Up-resing will always be problematical, I think, and while AI has some advantages over interpolation, it's often hard to see the benefit. Which is why I always shoot as big as I can, and love my 45 megapickle V8...I mean Z8.

Lastly is facial enhancement. For the most part, facial enhancement either screws the faces up into unrecognizable blobs or makes them look like plastic dolls. Even the best takes out all the texture in skin and it has to be made to look more realistic by adding grain or noise.

That said, when my brother recently asked about how to get noise out of his pictures, I recommended Photo AI, since it is much better than Denoise or Sharpen AI. Gigapixel is a total waste of money. I will run images through Photo AI for the denoise capability which I think is better than Denoise.

For entertainment, I download pictures from Facebook groups to edit them for people who don't know how. This is an enlargement (screen cap) of a piece of one I got today. It was about a 2 Mp jpeg image and this is after Photo AI enlarged it 2x and applied sharpening and "facial enhancement." This is a vast improvement over Gigapixel.

You have to decide if this is what you you want.

(Download)

Amadeus Loc: New York

I agree with most of what you stated here that I’m familiar with. DeNoise does what I want. I tried gigapixel bc some people give me low res phone pics to work on and I thought gigapixel would help for that but I had no luck with it either. I rarely use sharpen because a lot of times I wind up with something like you posted. 😊

AzPicLady Loc: Behind the camera!

I purchased AI, and like it. I also have the sharpen program, and now when I try to open it, it doesn't work. I assumed that AI took it over somehow?

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

AI is not (yet) magic. It works on what you give it. In the old days we would just say "GIGO".

Jimmy T Loc: Virginia

Regarding Topaz Photo AI here is my “Sip of water from the fire hose”:
I have eight Topaz Products and it has been a Long Time since ANY (except Topaz Photo AI) of the original seven programs have been updated, and I checked each program for updates before writing this. I suspect that my first seven programs will become “Topaz Legacy” programs, availble to the owner but never updated, like my Topaz Studio program. Topaz Photo AI is Frequently Updated.
Topaz Photo AI has “Upscaling, Remove Noise, Sharpen, Recovering Face, Preserve Text, Adjust Lighting (Beta), Balance Color (Beta)” using only the "AI" mode, plus you have the ability to "tweak" each setting manually. Bottom line, if you are dipping your toes into Topaz Lab Products my Strong Recommendation would be to download Topaz Photo AI free trial and purchase it if you like it. Topaz Photo AI does so much in the default "AI" mode that there is seldom anything, except minor tweaks left for you to do. This is REALLY a Huge Time Saver for me when I can dump a days shooting of 400+ pics in the hopper and still receive Great results using just the default settings. Rarely do I have to second guess Topaz Photo AI. It just works for me.

Therefore I recommend:
1. Download a trial copy to see how you like it.
2. Topaz Products recommends that your computer has 12 GB or More of RAM. I have 16 GB and I don’t have any problems.
3. On the front page of the program it has a section with “Getting Started, User Guides, Features, and Plugins”. Before you do Anything, Review these Very Helpful items.
4. After reviewing number 3 above, load a file into the program and process it using the default AI settings. Avoid Initially Adjusting ANY setting for the first pass, as this is a fools errand. If you are not satisfied with the default settings result, then run the file through the program again After Tweaking one or all of the Adjustments you may require for “Upscaling, Remove Noise, Sharpen, Recovering Face, Preserve Text, Adjust Lighting (Beta), Balance Color (Beta)”. Note: Each of these categories has Many Different Adjustments that can be made.
5. The Topaz Learning Center is always available to anyone @ https://www.topazlabs.com/learn?mc_cid=9289005635&mc_eid=c9be7297b0

Remember, “Everything is hard until you learn how to do it.”
Smile,
JimmyT Sends
Best Wishes


Edit: Yes The Upgrade Was Worth It For Me!

David Martin Loc: Cary, NC

Are you using the stand-alone Topaz products or the plug-ins?

I have the stand-alone versions and can use Photo AI, Sharpen AI, DeNoise AI and Gigapixel AI.

Can't advise on whether the plug-ins work independently or if Photo AI might replace the other(s).

Also note that all 4 apps are "AI," not just the newer Photo AI.

dannac Loc: 60 miles SW of New Orleans

No matter what you decide ... at this point, wait 1 1/2 to 2 months.

terryMc Loc: Arizona's White Mountains

The Topaz apps I have are Photo AI, Sharpen AI, Denoise AI and Gigapixel. All were installed as stand-alone and plugins, all still work as both in Photoshop and Affinity Photo, except Gigapixel, because Photoshop does not allow a plugin to resize an image.

I never use any of them except Photo AI, and then I usually back off quite a bit from the Autopilot settings to avoid artifacts and AI "too-smoothness" as much as possible.

Amadeus Loc: New York

[quote=Jimmy T]Regarding Topaz Photo AI here is my “Sip of water from the fire hose”:
I have eight Topaz Products and it has been a Long Time since ANY (except Topaz Photo AI) of the original seven programs have been updated, and I checked each program for updates before writing this. I suspect that my first seven programs will become “Topaz Legacy” programs, availble to the owner but never updated, like my Topaz Studio program. Topaz Photo AI is Frequently Updated.
Topaz Photo AI has “Upscaling, Remove Noise, Sharpen, Recovering Face, Preserve Text, Adjust Lighting (Beta), Balance Color (Beta)” using only the "AI" mode, plus you have the ability to "tweak" each setting manually. Bottom line, if you are dipping your toes into Topaz Lab Products my Strong Recommendation would be to download Topaz Photo AI free trial and purchase it if you like it. Topaz Photo AI does so much in the default "AI" mode that there is seldom anything, except minor tweaks left for you to do. This is REALLY a Huge Time Saver for me when I can dump a days shooting of 400+ pics in the hopper and still receive Great results using just the default settings. Rarely do I have to second guess Topaz Photo AI. It just works for me.

Therefore I recommend:
1. Download a trial copy to see how you like it.
2. Topaz Products recommends that your computer has 12 GB or More of RAM. I have 16 GB and I don’t have any problems.
3. On the front page of the program it has a section with “Getting Started, User Guides, Features, and Plugins”. Before you do Anything, Review these Very Helpful items.
4. After reviewing number 3 above, load a file into the program and process it using the default AI settings. Avoid Initially Adjusting ANY setting for the first pass, as this is a fools errand. If you are not satisfied with the default settings result, then run the file through the program again After Tweaking one or all of the Adjustments you may require for “Upscaling, Remove Noise, Sharpen, Recovering Face, Preserve Text, Adjust Lighting (Beta), Balance Color (Beta)”. Note: Each of these categories has Many Different Adjustments that can be made.
5. The Topaz Learning Center is always available to anyone @ https://www.topazlabs.com/learn?mc_cid=9289005635&mc_eid=c9be7297b0

Remember, “Everything is hard until you learn how to do it.”
Smile,
JimmyT Sends
Best Wishes


Edit: Yes The Upgrade Was Worth It For Me![/
Computer hardware was another concern. I have 16mb RAM but I don’t have a decent graphics card. DeNoise works ok on my pc but sharpen takes much too long. I’m guessing AI is graphics card intensive also.

Jimmy T Loc: Virginia

[quote=Amadeus][quote=Jimmy T]Regarding Topaz Photo AI here is my “Sip of water from the fire hose”:
I have eight Topaz Products and it has been a Long Time since ANY (except Topaz Photo AI) of the original seven programs have been updated, and I checked each program for updates before writing this. I suspect that my first seven programs will become “Topaz Legacy” programs, availble to the owner but never updated, like my Topaz Studio program. Topaz Photo AI is Frequently Updated.
Topaz Photo AI has “Upscaling, Remove Noise, Sharpen, Recovering Face, Preserve Text, Adjust Lighting (Beta), Balance Color (Beta)” using only the "AI" mode, plus you have the ability to "tweak" each setting manually. Bottom line, if you are dipping your toes into Topaz Lab Products my Strong Recommendation would be to download Topaz Photo AI free trial and purchase it if you like it. Topaz Photo AI does so much in the default "AI" mode that there is seldom anything, except minor tweaks left for you to do. This is REALLY a Huge Time Saver for me when I can dump a days shooting of 400+ pics in the hopper and still receive Great results using just the default settings. Rarely do I have to second guess Topaz Photo AI. It just works for me.

Therefore I recommend for Topaz Photo AI:
1. Download a trial copy to see how you like it.
2. Topaz Products recommends that your computer has 12 GB or More of RAM. I have 16 GB and I don’t have any problems.
3. On the front page of the program it has a section with “Getting Started, User Guides, Features, and Plugins”. Before you do Anything, Review these Very Helpful items.
4. After reviewing number 3 above, load a file into the program and process it using the default AI settings. Avoid Initially Adjusting ANY setting for the first pass, as this is a fools errand. If you are not satisfied with the default settings result, then run the file through the program again After Tweaking one or all of the Adjustments you may require for “Upscaling, Remove Noise, Sharpen, Recovering Face, Preserve Text, Adjust Lighting (Beta), Balance Color (Beta)”. Note: Each of these categories has Many Different Adjustments that can be made.
5. On the Open program click on "Edit" and select "Preferences" then select, "General, Autopilot, Shortcuts" to expand or define the Program's Default Settings.
6. The Topaz Learning Center is always available to anyone @ https://www.topazlabs.com/learn?mc_cid=9289005635&mc_eid=c9be7297b0

Remember, “Everything is hard until you learn how to do it.”
Smile,
JimmyT Sends
Best Wishes


Edit: Yes The Upgrade Was Worth It For Me!

[/
Computer hardware was another concern. I have 16mb RAM but I don’t have a decent graphics card. DeNoise works ok on my pc but sharpen takes much too long. I’m guessing AI is graphics card intensive also.[/quote]

A possible solution for your comment about the Graphics Card and Topaz DeNoise AI, Topaz Sharpen AI, or Topaz Gigapixel AI: Under "File" (Top Left Corner) select "Preferences", then "Application", "AI Processor" and select either "Auto, CPU, or (your named) Graphics Card".
Then just below that, under "Allowed Memory Consumption", select "High", as this is usually overlooked and may speed up the processing speed.
If your computer is borderline capable, Obvious Man also recommends that you close down all open programs, and do a "Re-Start" of your computer to clear the RAM. Then open Only what is required.

For Topaz Photo AI: There is no selection for either "Auto, CPU, or (your named) Graphics Card".
If Topaz Photo AI is running too slow, I would recommend contacting Topaz or consulting with a computer guru for expert advice.
I hope that this helps,
JimmyT Sends

Amadeus Loc: New York

Yes, I have adjusted the settings as you said. Prob is I don’t have a dedicated GPU. DENoise runs ok. When I use sharpen though the GPU runs at 99% and fans come on trying to keep the guts cool. I need to upgrade the GPU. I’ve been looking into that. During Covid the prices on GPU’s was though the roof. Seems like they’ve come down again.