I updated to the latest version 1.1.2 and I just noticed that the preview controls are not available, is this a bug?
BR
Hi Juan.
The Previews were removed because, numerous community members mentioned that the Previews didn’t match the final output so, to avoid confusion the small, medium and large Previews have now been removed however, you can Preview the entire image
Hope this helps
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Hi AND-E,
Thank you for taking the time to explain. I appreciate it.
I was actually one of the users who reported that the preview didn’t match the final output. That said, I’m disappointed that the decision was to remove the preview feature entirely rather than resolve the inconsistency.
When working with large-format images, the small, medium, and large preview options were extremely useful. Being able to quickly evaluate a specific region was far more efficient than previewing the entire image, especially with high-resolution files.
I understand the intention was to reduce confusion, but from a workflow perspective this feels like a step backward. I would much prefer improved consistency between preview and final output and greater transparency, such as exposing the seed value, rather than losing the feature altogether.
I hope someone from the staff has a chance to read this and pass the feedback along to the developers. If there are any plans to revisit this decision or improve the workflow, keeping the community informed would be greatly appreciated.
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Here’s a reply from Tyler at Topaz Support
Hope this helps
Andy
Last reply from AND-E, quoting Tyler, explains clearly why we can’t resolve the preview issue.
Hi,
I’ve just updated to release 1.1.3
Preview buttons controls aren’t available anymore, they don’t show in the GUI. I can’t preview the square selected area before upscaling.
Previuous version Topaz Gigapixel Ai 8 has the three buttons.
Please fix it.
What’s the point of the preview if this command upscales the entire image anyway? I still have to wait the full processing time of my GPU. The preview area buttons were extremely useful for my workflow. I understand there might be slight differences between the preview and the final render, but that was perfectly acceptable. Now I’m forced to go back to the older Topaz AI version just to keep my workflow efficient, which is very frustrating. Please bring back the preview area buttons and simply add a note like: “The preview area may not exactly match the final output.” It’s such a simple solution.
Additionally, this change only affects Redefine & Recover, since Standard Max & Wonder never had the option for cropped previews.
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Just wanted to say that I don’t understand why you have gotten rid of the small area preview. It’s much better to be able to check a small area first and try different settings. Now it’s much slower.
Hi.
This information is from Tyler at Topaz Support
As Tyler, mentioned the full Render is much more accurate than the old Small, Medium and large Previews hopefully the Topaz Boffins will be able to one day introduced a more accurate Previews
Hope this helps
Wow. That’s quite the regression. While there were indeed differences between the previews and the full output render, the small previews still had merit. You could gauge the strength of the generative outputs and tweak settings accordingly without having to wait in the order of 5-10 minutes or more for high resolution images.
A better way to handle this would have been to give users a warning that there can be differences between previews and final outputs and to proceed accordingly. Give users the option at least. Provide a toggle in the preferences/settings.
Topaz developers would do well to remember that Gigapixel is used at companies where data security is paramount and the app has to be used behind a firewall, making cloud rendering not an option.
This decision has hamstrung the app without giving it appropriate thought. I hope they’ll reconsider.
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On a 2K image I now have to wait nearly 5 minutes to see the effects of the Redefine filter. Versus <10seconds for a small preview. Tweak the settings a couple of times to get them where you want and you’re looking at 15-20 minutes of time wasted.
Come on Topaz. You can’t honestly think that is an improvement.
You can revert to version 1.1.1 if you want. Especially if you don’t need what the new versions have to offer 
