Is AI-Clear going to be supported now that DeNoise AI is available? In spite of what you say in your promotional material, I find the final result is BETTER with AI-Clear than Denoise AI even with the “save” bug adding artifacts. DeNoise AI removes noise well, but the resultant image is dull, lacks saturation and contrast, and needs to be sharpened. The overall result after processing the tiff file generated by DeNoise AI has more noise than one pass through AI-clear.
I have to jump on this bandwagon.
First of all I am a fan of the AI programs…I want to buy them and use them…but…they are quite confusing to use (as in, which one(s) is BEST to use and in what order)…they take LONG TIME to use (but they are remarkable in what they accomplish)…and they all cost a not insignificant amount of money.
Look…
If there is one thing that makes a person hesitant to buy a product, it’s when there are TOO MANY choices…this is a fact…it kinda paralyzes people. That’s compounded when the products seem to all have the same/similar features to varying degrees, and when they are not cheap (a relative term)…meaning a person wants to be extra sure they buying the product they need.
And that’s further compounded when there are about a 10000 (and counting) workflows that may or may not be better than another workflow, and even more compounded when each one of those workflows takes many minutes to complete (due to the time it takes to process the images). Topaz products are very confusing in what they do best and when best to use them.
The two products mentioned by the O.P. are a prime example. I was once told that AI Clear “is the best Topaz noise reduction software”.
So what the heck does Topaz do? Create another denoise program? And how/why/when is that program supposed to be better than AI Clear? And how is that denoising better/different/worse than the denoise sliders in all the other Topaz programs?
Is there anything wrong with that? Not really. But when it confuses/frustrates your customers, the answer is yes.
I think Topaz has some brilliant ideas and programs for photographers. But I find myself confused with the release of DeNoise as it is another program that has a denoise slider.
So I don’t (yet?) use either of these two products.
My sense is that AI Clear is a more general “clean up and spruce up” program and DeNoise is aimed specifically at dealing with Noise really well.
I am more likely to want a really good tool for dealing with noise, so this product attracts me and makes sense to me. Because Topaz has done good work in the past, I might still look at AI Clear, just to see if it will work for me, but a solid noise solution which can be applied on its own seems more likely to appeal to me. And I can see many (probably more) will feel the other way.
When should DeNoise be applied? I would say as early as possible in your workflow after correcting for white balance and basic exposure. Why? Because anything you do to enhance the image will also enhance the noise, so it is generally better dealt with before enhancing. It is possible there might be reasons why this isn’t good advice, but it is probably the best place to start. Then repeat the process with a later application and see what you think.
So the reason I like DeNoise better, at least in principle, is that it fits in better with how my workflow works.
Just one point of view…
I’m wondering the same question. Ai Clear can batch process as a stand alone app whereas DeNoise Ai seems to be a single image editor. In non-batch mode I can send a file from Lightroom to AiClear and get it back nicely denoised and sharp. If the image had little noise to begin with, I could just use Sharpen Ai and that would be enough. But with DeNoise Ai, sending the file to it from Lightroom simply creates a tiff file with no changes. It never opens the app. It must be a bug. I have to send the file to Studio and then open it in DeNoise Ai, apply changes, and then it can come back to Lightroom.
Some inconsistencies appear to have developed as well. Sharpen Ai and Ai Clear can work as plug-ins or standalone and only return files as PSD, Tif or jpg or PNG for Sharpen Ai. For DeNoise Ai we can save as a DNG file and preserve it as a raw file, which the others cannot do. However it seems I can’t do that from Lightroom or from Studio. Only as a standalone app and it can’t batch, which would seem to be the primary use for a denoise tool such as this, similar to what DXO Prime is used for.
At this point it looks like it’s pretty confusing for most people to figure out what’s going on. Without a really good road map with explanations and workflow scenarios, it’s more confusing than ever.
I agree. I’m very confused as to when to use AI Clear vs DeNoise AI. I’m confused by the differences in how each works. And I would really like to get a recommended workflow for using these, along with Sharpen AI.
So, it turns out I qualified for a free upgrade to DeNoise based on previous purchases 
The initial directions for DeNoise indicate, as I surmised above, that you want to apply DeNoise as early as possible in your workflow, before any enhancing or resizing efforts. The closer to the RAW stage you can apply DeNoise, the better. And this is consistent with best practices in post processing, regardless of what tools you are using.
So, the simple answer is, use DeNoise as early as possible before doing other post processing 
AI Clear is a Adjustment in Topaz Studio and can only be used from within Studio, obviosly Studio does have a batch processing option.[quote=“jsmcpheeters, post:4, topic:10328”]
For DeNoise Ai we can save as a DNG file and preserve it as a raw file, which the others cannot do. However it seems I can’t do that from Lightroom or from Studio.
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Sharpen AI, JPEG to RAW AI and DeNoise AI can all create a DNG image using the Save As option. In the case of Lightroom you will need to save back to the directory as a DNG using Save as and then synchronize the folder. Unfortunately Lightroom cannot pass a DNG to any external apps.
There is a thread in product feature requests where you can add your support.
As a follow-up to the posts here, some overly aggressive, here is a summary of the current offerings in the AI space:
- AI Clear - a Topaz Studio Pro Studio Adjustment that removes noise and sharpens detail in photos automatically.
- DeNoise AI - a replacement for the DeNoise 6 standalone/plugin. DeNoise AI examines the whole image and determines the difference between detail and noise in that photo. For example if can differentiate grain from noise and then understanding the difference between noise and detail allows it to recover more detail.
Then the other AI products:
- Sharpen AI - is a replacement for InFocus and rectifies things like soft focus, camera shake and enhances sharpness.
- GigaPixel AI - is an application to enlarge images with the highest quality
- JPEG to RAW AI - is just that, produces a DNG or TIF with enhanced detail and dynamic range.
Note I didn’t include AI Remix because as a Topaz Studio Adjustment that transform your image’s style to recreate contemporary and classic artistic styles it falls more into the category of other adjustments such as Impression and Glow as artistic effects.
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If you are using a Mac check out the Denoise external editing profile in Lightroom. The default one installed on my system referenced a .exe file in C:/programfiles… So not surprising it didn’t manage to open Denoise. I created a new profile that references the correct .app file and I can successfully access Denoise from Lightroom via “Edit In”.
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Thanks Don. Is AI clear still an active product, or is it being replaced by Denoise AI as the promotional material hints? I have had issues with AI clear, but none that want to make me abandon it. It is just magic on micro four-thirds files.
And I fully agree about keeping it cordial!
AI Clear is still available as a Adjustment in Studio, I have no idea how long it will be supported for but if it is there you can use it.
So as a new Topazian, I purchased Studio 2, and it’s a learning process, but I like it. My question is, if I abandon AI Clear to plugin Denoise, are we still use Sharpen AI and Gigapizel AI? ALL 3? Then in what order would you do that? So as someone stated earlier in this post, it is definetely confusing as all get out to understand how or why you would use all these different plugins in Studio 2, and in what order. I will likely buy Denoise, as from what I’ve seen it just does a better job at preserving detail. But I’d love to know if I ran Denoise followed by Sharpen, would it help, or just be too much? I dunno…
