Thanks, Craig. I’ve been continuing to try to replicate the look of Clean 3 > Skin Smoothing Strong in Studio 2, but I’m still unable to do so successfully.
And I’m unable to locate Blemish Removal, Elemish Removal Strong, Degrunge and Skin Even Looks in the folder you made available via Dropbox, even though I have the files listed in alphabetical order.
I asked for tech support about how to replicate Clean 3 > Skin Smoothing Strong, but the reply I got was that Clean 3 is no longer supported, and that I can get similar effects in Studio 2, but as I just wrote, I’m unable to replicate Clean 3 > Skin Smoothing Strong in Studio 2.
My favorite look in Clean 3 > Skin Smoothing 2 is to have Strength, Threshold and Radius at maximum levels, and Accent and Texture at 0, when applied to a about a 75-megabyte image file (TIFF, JPEG or PNG).
Can anyone figure this out? If you have a file with Clean 3 > Skin Smoothing Strong applied to it, and then next to that start with the same image file without modifications and then try to replicate the look of Clean 3 > Skin Smoothing Strong, can anybody do that and have the files look very similar to one another?
I wonder how the technicians at Topaz did it, but they won’t tell me.
The tpr files I provided through the Dropbox link were the effects available in the first version of Studio. Topaz had incorporated effects from Glow, Impression, Simplify, and Texture Effects. However, they did not include the presets from other plugins, including Clean (at least not with the same/similar names).
I have experimented with controls in both versions of Studio and Adjust AI but am unable to replicate the effects that you are after. When I use the settings you recommend, it seems similar to a BuzSim effect (which uses the Abstraction filter).
In your original post on this issue, you asked whether Clean 3 will work in Big Sur. At the time, like others, I had not upgraded since I was waiting for an update to Adjust AI. Since the newest version of Adjust AI is now compatible, I upgraded and have conducted cursory tests with Clean 3. It still functions as a plugin within Photoshop Elements (V. 19.0). I have opened a number of files and everything seems to work. However, I have noticed that applying the effect—which sends the file back to Elements, takes much longer. For example, a 22 megabyte file took 40 seconds to process. Prior to Big Sur I think the operation would take a few seconds. So, this may not be practical for you if you are typically processing 75 megabyte files.
It’s a good sign that at least you can get Clean 3 to work sluggishly on smaller files in Photoshop Elements with Big Sur operating system.
Is Photoshop Elements 19 the latest version? I looked at the Adobe Web site regarding Elements. On the purchase page, it doesn’t even mention Elements. I was only able to find how-to information about Elements with the site search motor.
I’m using Photoshop 2020, and I don’t know how that compares to Elements.
Yes, I too noticed that Clean 3 > Skin Smoothing Strong is similar to Studio 2’s Buzsim, and Topaz Lab’s Buzsim I, II, III, IV and V – but it’s look is not the same as any of those, and in my opinion – in most instances Clean 3’s look is preferable.
It’s a shame that Topaz has abandoned Clean 3. It’s apparent that Topaz management doesn’t recognize its significance and isn’t willing to share how to replicate its look with Studio 2. Surely the technicians who developed it must know the secret. I wonder why Topaz decided to drop Clean 3 and claims that similar effects can be achieved in Studio 2. Apparently Topaz’s claim is false, according to your and my tests and the tests of the fellow in this thread who lamented that he couldn’t replicate the look of Clean 3 > Crisp Style in Studio 2).
I still haven’t ‘upgraded’ to Big Sur because of this issue.
Photoshop Elements V. 19.0 is the most recent version; it is also known as Photoshop Elements 2021. It is a reduced version of Photoshop, containing all of the most important features—at least for dabblers like myself. Here is a link to their product page: https://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop-elements.html
If Clean 3.0, or any of the other Topaz plugins work in Elements it is highly probable that they will work within Photoshop (since Elements is claimed to be based on the same code as Photoshop). Interestingly, I have not found sluggishness in any of the other plugins I have tried, e.g. Adjust 5, Restyle, Simplify.
I agree that it is unfortunate that the plugins have been abandoned, although I am happy enough to have the AI tools available. It is possible that Topaz cannot offer advice about how to reproduce the Clean 3 effects because the original developers may no longer work at Topaz.
I would not rule out the possibility that the Clean 3 effects can be reproduced in Studio 2, given the number of filters and individual controls that are available. However, it may take someone with a deeper and richer understanding of Studio 2 than me. Dave Kelly has posted dozens of YouTube videos about how to use Topaz products; perhaps he might have an idea if you leave a comment on one of his Studio 2 videos. Craig
I did as you suggested; I asked my question under one of Dave Kelly’s Topaz Studio 2 Youtube videos.
I was pleasantly surprised that he quickly answered. But I was disappointed that he wrote that he doesn’t know how to replicate the Clean 3 look that I like using Studio 2.
He suggested using Topaz AI Clear, which sounds counterproductive and illogical, because AI Clear sharpens images, whereas the Clean 3 effect I like posterizes part of images and softens other parts of those images.
It sounds like Ai Clear wouldn’t do anything close to the look I’m seeking. Among my favorite looks in Studio 2 that I sometimes use is Architectural Detail, which also just sharpens images, and that’s not at all what I’m trying to achieve.
I suspect he doesn’t understand the look that I seek, and doesn’t want to put in the considerable volunteer work that it would require for him to investigate my problem seriously, and realizing that he might not have a good answer to my quandary, and that therefore his volunteer investigation might lead to a dead end even if he did do that work.
Our company depended on Topaz Clean. We still keep an old iMac in the corner of the studio to run images through Clean. How Topaz could just up and discontinue such a powerful tool is beyond me. I bought their entire collection, went through every filter and there is nothing there to replace it. It is just a pain to transfer files over to this old iMac. But worth it.
Hi, Lars. Do find that Clean 3 won’t work on the newer operating systems? Which operating system are you using? I’m still using Catalina, which is that last one in which Topaz supported Clean 3. I still don’t know if Clean 3 will work on the operating systems that are newer than Catalina, so I haven’t upgraded to a newer operating system because of still wanting to use Clean 3.
Thanks Aidon. I tried your advice: to try Studio 2 > Precision Detail and then Studio 2 > Unsharp Mask to emulate Clean 3, but the result is not as pleasing as the Clean 3 effect.
I don’t know why Topaz dropped support of Clean 3 for Apple operating systems after Catalina. Clean 3 is the most important of any of the Topaz effects, by far. Apparently, Topaz doesn’t recognize this.
And no one has suggested out a good workaround to replace Clean 3.
Does Clean 3 work on the new Macintosh computers that contain the “M series” chips? Lars wrote above that he uses an old Macintosh computer so that he can run Clean 3 on it, which implies that he found that Clean 3 won’t run on a newer computer.
