Hello
By doing a little cleaning in my hard disk I noticed that several TOPAZ labs software which are installed on my PC (but which I don’t use much) have disappeared from the Topaz Labs site
It is :
Adjust AI
JPEG to RAW AI
Mask AI
Studio 2
What happened to these software?
Is their development stopped?
Can installed versions continue to be used?
If they still work, you can use them. Mask AI was updated about a year ago. They are all discontinued, but I am ever hopeful that some of the newer masking technology Topaz has been working on in its other products might one day result in a Mask AI Mark 2. I for one would use a standalone masking app if it were really good.
Pretty much yeah. I was really looking forward to Mask AI when it came out because I do a lot of masking, but it was always unstable, buggy and incomplete from the start and Topaz did not invest as much as they should in it. So now its a dead end. Meanwhile Adobe managed to improve their selection AI software so I’m using that, but its a shame. Mask AI had potential, that was probably pissed away since there is I would imagine only smart percentage of users and R&D was shifted to use masking in other Topaz apps like denoise, or sharpen AI.
Details on those and other creative apps can be found here:
I don’t know what I’m going to do when they no longer work. I rely heavily on the legacy software in my editing. Plus, all of my tutorials and blog posts reference these softwares which are no longer available.
It is becoming clear that Topaz has acquired a reputation of abandoning products along with the customers of those products. Now that 'Photo AI" is out, they have abandoned Gigapixel, Denoise and Sharpen AI as separate programs and have rolled those into PhotoAi and focused all updates and upgrades on a one stop program. Well, I for one do-not want a program like that and will cease my “subscription” to their update program if this is the future path for their software.
There was a new version of Gigapixel AI released just five days ago.
I tend to agree with Tonyb2760. While Topaz has made some excellent applications over time, investing in Topaz products and expecting that Topaz will honor its users’ investments long term so often ends in disappointment. While Topaz Photo AI may eventually develop into an excellent program, it is not there yet and it’s direction seems to be total AI automation aimed at the novice photographer instead of giving the photographer advanced tools and options to control the outcome. The products it is replacing (Topaz Sharpen AI, Topaz DeNoise AI, Gigapixel, etc.) provides these tools so that the photographer has the tools to control the outcome as he/she desires. With so many other companies doing great things and staying loyal to the investments that their customer base makes (Adobe, OnOne, etc.), it just doesn’t make sense for me to continuing supporting Topaz Labs when their management clearly gives its customers so little reason to stay loyal.
