Clarity Update (1.1) for Photoshop users?

Topaz Products
21

I already followed the guide. I have not used it because after loaded it began downloading a bunch of textures so I quit the program. I hope I can just delete it easily if I decide I want to do that later.

If you view your post to rdcny above you added a screen shot that shows Topaz Clarity Pack $34.99. So it IS confusing. Bottom line, if we don’t want to use Studio there will be no further updates to our Topaz plug-ins? I have a number of other Topaz plug ins besides Clarity so I am interested learning about this.

22

And who said that or where did you see that statement?

23

Relax fella’ it was a question. I also asked how to remove my email address since that was your suggestion but you didn’t answer that one either.

24

Just edit your profile and remove it from the name field.

25

You can still access Clarity in Studio as a plugin for any application that supports Photoshop plugins. Also, Clarity itself has always relied on Fusion Express to launch in Lightroom. This is the same thing - but you get all the latest developments we release along with it. We’re not taking anything away here.

If you check this link, you’ll see that Clarity in Studio outperforms Clarity 1.0 quite demonstrably

Clarity in Studio | Faster Processing

Even launching it is faster. It sounds like you haven’t given it a try, yet. I’d suggest doing that before casting judgement :wink:

Have you checked our Changelog? We’ve fixed a ton of problems reported to us, and I challenge you to find a company being more responsive than we are. I will wait for examples :smiley:

Studio is a free application.

You can still do that: Clarity in Studio | Use as Plugin

Please, read the article: Clarity in Studio | Now in Studio

If you buy the Complete Plugin Collection in our Plugin Store, you will get a copy of Clarity, which includes Clarity in Studio. We’ve already planned for continued purchases, enabling them to provide you with the latest updates to the product, no matter what.

We have never released a roadmap for updates in the future, and I don’t see us doing so anytime soon.

All of our updates from now on will leverage your GPU to improve processing speed. Clarity has enjoyed quite the performance boost from using this approach, as has Studio itself. We’re doubling down on GPU processing, and have actually recently hired a developer that has experience with OpenGL. We’re not stopping here, and will be taking the processing you can do in our products to an entirely new level. We’re interested in progress, and progress will march on. Unfortunately, that means hardware will eventually be left behind. Nobody is happy to hear this if they expect otherwise, but hardware is much cheaper today than it has ever been. The NVIDIA GTX 750 Ti 2GB runs all of our applications just fine, and can be purchased for ~$80 if you catch a decent sale, and ~$100 on any given day, from multiple vendors.

Our updates are free. You can take them, or leave them. You don’t have to update Clarity if you do not want to, and continue using Clarity 1.0. However, we will not be updating that version, so if or when it does eventually break, it will not be updated. This is the tradeoff you make for accepting free updates to our products. We must only support a limited set of hardware and operating system configurations. It’s just not feasible to both give updates for free, and support weak hardware or update legacy versions of the software. There’s balance in everything, and compensation will always be a part of deliverability. We have to get it to you somehow, and if that means we cannot support every piece of hardware or OS, then so be it.

I’d like to step in - this IS an update. Hard and clear, here’s the update article - I suggest reading it:

WRONG! :slight_smile:

Clarity in Studio | Free Updates

The software will still be accessible as plugins, but yes, you will need to use Studio. We promise, it’s an improvement over the plugin versions. The processing speed improvements alone should be enough to convince you. Why on earth would anyone want to use the version with less control, slower processing, and longer startup times (15+ seconds for crying out loud!)?! We’re trying to make the software better.

I’ve removed this for you. This screenshot shows where to change this information:

Screen Shot 2017-08-29 at 8.30.21 PM.png1642×842 125 KB

1 Like
26

Do you mean if we sign in with our email and password, even though we have a username that shows up, it’s visible to anyone after logging in? Oh, just saw your reply to the other fellow. Thanks.

27

The Name field will show whatever you type into it. So, yes, if you type your email into the Name field, it’s visible to anyone.

You do not use an email address to login to this forum. You use your Topaz Labs account. This is called SSO (Single Sign-On). You cannot change the email address you’re using here, nor is it visible. We hide that information here, the same way we hide or remove it everywhere else. However, the moderators and myself have been fighting an uphill battle against people that just can’t help but introduce themselves as their email addresses, rather than their proper names. We can’t actually stop you from putting what you want in there, and only myself and moderators can remove the information. It’s not something that we’re likely to catch 100%, so it’s really on you to not tell everyone what your email address is :slight_smile:

28

Thanks but I did not type in my email address as my name. So even though it might appear that I “can’t help but introduce [myself] as my email address” I had no desire to do that. On my end there was nothing in the Name box - it was blank. I wish I had made a screen shot of it. For some reason when I signed into the forum it gave me a user name and the only place my email address showed up was below that Name box with “never shown to the public” below. it.

Thanks for removing it.

29

We promise, it’s an improvement over the plugin versions. The processing speed improvements alone should be enough to convince you. Why on earth would anyone want to use the version with less control, slower processing, and longer startup times (15+ seconds for crying out loud!)?! We’re trying to make the software better. >

Okay, I’m just trying to understand what’s happening to my Smart Object Workflow in Photoshop. Currently, using the standalone plug-ins, I have full support in most of Topaz’s plug-ins for re-entering the plug-in at any time with the settings I used—so as long as it’s a version of the plug-in I still have installed, I can freely edit it without starting over.

Exceptions have been Impressions and Texture Effects, where I must save a preset in order to get back to those settings, and now Topaz Studio when I run the plug-ins through Topaz Studio. I personally like being able to run the plug-ins through Studio, except when I want to retain full editability of the image.

So apparently your way forward will break that workflow completely, since I’ll only return with my Studio settings. I won’t be able to edit settings from the plug-ins, since they aren’t returned to Studio in any editable fashion. Or I can use old, unsupported plug-ins going forward to retain the Smart Object workflow, right?

Is my understanding correct? I need to establish my workflow going forward in order to protect my edits, so I’m asking as it appears your intention to go through Studio alone, but does that mean no ability to revisit any edits we made with the plug-ins, rather than with the Studio modules/adjustments, or whatever you call them?

Wait a second, I just took an image I used Glow on 2 days ago while in Studio, after making some edits, and now I don’t have any access whatsoever to my Topaz Plug-ins. Is this it for being able to use our plug-ins with Studio? If so, I’m going to have to update the blog post I wrote about Studio back when it was still in public beta. Or is this a glitch in my installation of the update?

30

We are designing our updates to take advantage of the Studio interface. Currently, the legacy plugin model does not allow those settings to be saved via Smart Object, because as you noted, only Studio’s settings are saved. However, the new plugin model, i.e. Clarity in Studio, is a part of Studio. Therefore, the settings and values you create there are sent back to Photoshop. We have never officially supported Smart Objects, as this is Adobe’s proprietary feature, and we’ve had our own implementations over the years that interfere with their feature. While we have never really supported this in the past, I think with an semi-integrated modular solution like this, it will become possible and potentially more reliable. Of course this will require testing, of which I am now responsible. I’m going to be considering these options to discuss with the team, because they have some value, and we’re doing our best to deliver real value to our customers.

We will be introducing project files in future updates. We’re currently testing that feature in our beta channel. I’m not quite sure how these would interact with a Photoshop Smart Object, but it’s worth giving a try. I’m going to add that to my list.

Do you not have access to the plugins in Studio? If that’s the case, we may need to open a ticket so I can request more specific information and keep a better record of it for development.

31

May I offer a suggestion:

Follow the link which you will find below and read through the entire page. In the past the only access to Clarity in LR and I believe PS was through Fusion Express. Now the access of the new version of Clarity is through Topaz Studio which is a free download. In LR under Edit In and PS under Filters. I am running a mid 2012 13 in MacBook Pro with 16GB of memory and I have not found a noticeable degradation of speed using Topaz Studio. Joe Fedric post is very clear if your read through the entire bit

As I understand it, if you are a current owner of a license for Clarity the new version is free.

Link: Topaz Labs

Hope this is helpful.

2 Likes
32

We have never officially supported Smart Objects, as this is Adobe’s proprietary feature, and we’ve had our own implementations over the years that interfere with their feature.>

No. I believe no one does. But for most of your “utility” plug-ins, it worked. If there’s any chance it will become possible and more reliable, as you say, I’m all for it.

Do you not have access to the plugins in Studio? If that’s the case, we may need to open a ticket so I can request more specific information and keep a better record of it for development.>

No, neither entering through PS nor launching Studio as a standalone. You did verify my plugins with Clarity and I can open Topaz> Studio> Clarity, but I still have no plug-ins. Is there a good routine for reinstalling to correct corruption, a glitch of some sort? See the screenshot at the bottom. If access to the plug-ins are there, I don’t know where to find it.

Topaz has made such good plug-ins, I’m sure I’ll adjust in some fashion to not being able to preserve a Smart Object workflow. It may mean something as tedious as running a plug-in on duplicate layers so I can toss just the one layer if I have to edit it, rather than the entire edit. But I need to be able to retain a PSD file of my layered edits, whatever else happens. I don’t care for the separate single layer TIF exports, even though they can be brought into a PSD document. They clutter my drive, and since I have lots of very large files, it doesn’t matter how cheap drives are these days—I don’t want to keep on purchasing them OR to have to constantly clean up all those extra TIF files I don’t want.

33

Try updating to v1.1.8 - we fixed that bug already! (Help → Check for Updates)

34

This will be quite useful feedback for the development of our own project files. I’m tagging @AshleyTharp so she sees this.

35

Wow, that was fast. The one I have was the update I installed after I got your email. Or it didn’t go through? I’ll update again. Thanks. I figured there must be something wrong with my installation.

36

Okay, I updated again, and I got the 1.1.8. So next question. I’ve got the plug-ins back, but Clarity isn’t updated going through Studio, whether as a standalone or from PS choosing Clarity. I still only get a Clarity Workflow, which includes presets, but not the sliders I get in the original Plug-in. Is that all as it is supposed to be? I’m relieved the plug-ins aren’t gone, anyway.

37

For the Clarity Workflow, i.e. invoking Filter> Topaz Studio> Clarity, you should get Basic Workflow, Precision Contrast and HSL Color Tuning panels which expand on the right of the workspace, on the left will be a set of presets. Use the arrow on the header of each panel to expand/close and use the slider to the right.

There is lots of help & tutorials on the blog at Topaz Labs Learning Center

Note that this is just the Workflow other Adjustments are still available under the Adjustments Menu or Button.

The Precision Contrast has the same functionality as the CLARITY panel and the HSL Color Tuning as the HUE/SAT/LUM panel.

38

Validating my plugins didn’t seem to add Clarity in Studio to my Topaz Studio installation. Right now I’m using it as the free trial, rather than it recognizing that I am an existing licensee of the Clarity plugin. I emailed support for assistance with that.

Other than that hiccup, I just wanted to say that the implementation in TStudio is pretty slick. It continues the design language that was introduced in Texture Effects and updating the old plugins to take advantage of the interface and performance improvements.My old workflow was creating layer upon layer to implement Adjust, Clarity, and sometimes TE, sometimes Glow, to get the look I wanted. I then had to flatten all of that out at the end to control the file size.I look forward to updates that allow me to integrate my Adjust and Texture Effects experience into the product as well. It’s worth upgrading for the masking improvements alone. I see Topaz Studio as being a one stop Topaz adjustment station that I still launch from within Photoshop. Just wanted to chime in that at least one user thinks you guys are on the right track.

One improvement I would like to see is better organization of the presets. My old clarity workflow took advantage of the subcategorization for presets (like landscape, architecture, etc.) and there doesn’t really seem to be an equivalent right now in TStudio. Given the volume of presets out there, having that type of organization would be very helpful, since I usually start with a category preset and then work my adjustments from there.

Keep up the good work.

39

I must be missing something subtle. I believe I’ve followed Joe’s instructions correctly, yet when I expand the HSL Color Tuning and Precision Contrast tools, I just get the GoPro link. I do own the entire plugin suite. I updated Studio to 1.1.8; I also uninstalled that update and reinstalled from scratch. The Help->Validate Plugins seems to run returning both “validating” and “validation complete” messages. I was logged into my Studio account as required. Tried both stand alone mode and edit in studio from LR. Also tried closing and restarting studio between steps as well as restarting my system.

clarity_in_studio.jpg1596×872 183 KB

Any insights, suggestions, etc??

Best regards

1 Like
40

I have Topaz “Clarity pluggin” as well as I purchased the “HSL for Studio”. I ran the update to version 1.1.8 and I do have the Studio Clarity on the left side and when clicked I get the Precision, Basic and HSL adjustments. I understand this so far.
What I am missing is that as an owner of “Clarity pluggin” shouldn’t “Precision Contrast” now be Blue in Studio? Also, I had purchased “HSL for Studio” when first introduced. I feel some what let down that I had paid for that adjustment and it is now free. I wonder what Pro purchasers are thinking also, bummer.
Any info on this would be appreciated.