Yes, I find this version much BETTER in all regards. The “layers” approach is so much faster for selectively editing parts of the image.
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The tiles or squares happen no matter what model or with the lowest settings, everything down to a minimum. Now I just tried 2.4.2 where they claim you can enable/disable everything. I guess they didn’t mean the RAW Denoise at the very beginning, stage 1. Once again, TOTALLY UNUSABLE!!! Way too many artifacts to use even turned down all the way. I can’t believe this isn’t more of an issue! I’ve loved these plug-ins, but the direction they’re going is totally brain dead consumer garbage! Definitely won’t be paying for upgrades. Time to look elsewhere?!?!
I’m shocked at how bad your upgrades are Topaz. I purchased both your photo and your video AI products a couple of years ago, and until this recent series of updates was very pleased with the quality of your software and with the gradual improvements being made to it. Not anymore. You have essentially crippled your own products and one has to wonder, was this deliberate? I’ve been in the tech world a long time and have occasionally seen companies gradually destroy their own products only to “re-improve” them later and ask for more money. I don’t even know where to begin. The UI is illogical, the delays in pre-processing get longer and longer, the absence to basic prompts in the UI ranges from the stupid to the insulting. I’m a LONG time Adobe Creative Suite user and would pre-process photos with Topaz because you were clearly way ahead of Adobe’s AI based image processing, but they are rapidly catching up and you have either hired incompetent product managers, or your C-Suite folks have become either clueless or evil. Either way you have created a hot mess where you once had world-class products. Did your founder bail? What happened? I’ll be dropping this mess in favor of whatever smarter company takes advantage of the gaping hole you just blew in your own products. I don’t need to describe all of the absurd faults that you have created in these products as there are countless other users in this forum that have already done that, and I doubt anyone’s really listening.
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That’s not why people don’t like the new UI.
Totally agree with you. Horrible, almost unusable and I loved it before
Thanks for reporting this, a few of us have also documented this bug in the 2.4.2 release thread, so they should be aware and fixing it.
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I have never felt so compelled to complain about an update as I am right now.
Topaz, you completely, and I mean completely missed the mark with the latest update.
I’m struggling to see what was the goal of the UI changes? Dumb everything down into oblivion? Why?
What is the thinking behind putting all of the customizations behind multiple clicks, tabs and menus? How is this beneficial to the users? It’s not like your previous UI was overly complex. We had everything nicely organized and most importantly, I was able to see at a glance at what settings I chose for the photo, making it more easier to memorize which settings worked best for the photos I was working on.
Currently, I can’t see ANY details or ANY settings of the enhancements, unless I go manually into each and every adjustment.
This is a major step backward.
I’m a pro photographer, I use Topaz for my work. I need the ability to easily and quickly make multiple changes, mixing multiple enhancements, go back and forth over and over again until I tune everything just right. I used to have this with Topaz, but you guys have now decided to take a heavy turn into dumbing everything down to the point where this is now a one-click plugin. Click and done. Full auto. Full amateur mode.
If I sound upset, that’s because I am. Upset and frustrated after trying to integrate the latest update into my workflow.
I regret I updated, will be going back to the previous version ASAP.
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DID YOU MANAGE TO GET YOUR TOPAZ TO WORK? MINE IS NOT WORKING AT ALL!!!
Agree, this is the worst update ever!!! It’s wasting my money and I am not paying for this. The features quality has dropped tremendously, we need to go back to previous version badly. The upscaling function works terribly bad now, its affecting my current project as well.
Please fix it ASAP!
I am late to this party but reading through this is rather entertaining. Post after post of “it’s unusable” with not an iota of useful feedback provided.
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Photo AI v 2.4.0. was so terrible that I binned it and returned to v2.3.2. What is the verdict on the latest update, v3.0.1? Did Topaz return to their prior trajectory or is it a continuation of the 240 ballsup?
I have the same question. I posted above that I thought some of the feedback was not very helpful, but after looking closely at the UI changes myself, I have to agree it’s horrible.
Looking at the interface I’m left with the feeling there was no UX testing at all. It literally violates almost every established UI convention and is utterly bizarre. I’ll post a video with feedback when I get a chance. It definitely stopped me from upgrading, which otherwise would have been a no brainer.
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Tried 2.4 when it came out, and it just broke almost everything about my workflow. Downgraded to 2.3.2 and continued to use it for the last couple of months. Finally caught up on a lot of my work, so decided to give 3.0.2 a try, and again it is just awful. I mostly process images in batch, and the changes made to the UI just bring my batch workflow to a crawl. Here are a few of the changes that make the updates unusable for me with batch processing:
(1) Having to open up each enhancement individually to see what settings have been applied and make changes. In 2.3.2, these were clearly visible and could be modified without needless additional clicks to pen a window. This is still my biggest issue, and it still a problem in 3.0.2, even with the ability to save “presets”.
(2) The image preview size resets to 100% for each image in my batch, no matter what size I set on the first image I edit. In 2.3.2, all of the previews would default to whatever I set the first image in the batch. Having to change this EVERY time is mind numbing.
(3) In 2.3.2, the thumbnail image at the bottom would show exactly what enhancements had been applied with separate icons. Now it only shows that some enhancement has been applied, but am unable to see exactly what enhancement unless I go into the image. Again, this simply slows my workflow to a crawl.
(4) The overall speed of working in batch is crazy slow, and it seems to get slower with every step - maybe due to memory leakage - With all of the items mentioned above that affect speed, this makes it too slow to use.
I could go on, but these are the biggest issues I have with 3.0.2 and working in batch. I just can’t understand the UI changes. Maybe if someone is only working on one image at a time, then this update could be helpful. However, for those of us working in batch, anything past 2.3.2 is unusable. I have no option but to opt out of future upgrades until something usable is released. If this doesn’t happen, I’ll have to eventually look for an alternative. I was very happy with Photo AI until 2.4, but this has been the worst update I’ve every seen.
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I have given up all hope of a TPAI version acceptable to me, mainly because of the UI. The UI has changed a lot, but I don’t understand why so strangely, because the use of the TPAI window area is very bad. It changes the position of the image (photo) with senseless shifts to the left, while an empty black unused area grows on the right, which even the menu and sub-menu don’t actually fill. As a photo amateur, I do not process photos systematically, in batches; only usually (and irregularly) 5-50 occasional photos from nature. So I’m not permanently and hard trained to use the menu – forever searching, rummaging everywhere takes my time. But an intuitive UI is important for me to use the software.
I tried upgrading to 2.4 once, then to some 3.x, and immediately went back to my favorite 2.3.2. It now tells me 6 upgrades are available, but I don’t try it anymore, it’s enough for me to read the dissatisfaction of other users here, as if nothing is getting better. I don’t expect Topaz to go back (at least partially) to the previous menu system, it would be impractical for them after so many upgrades. I paid for another year of updates at the beginning of November 2023, but it was a waste of money. There is no indication anywhere that the new UI should be completely redesigned, that would be a waste of resources for Topaz. But should it stay that way? I’m using the latest survivor Gigapixel 7.1.3, I’m quite comfortable with the UI there, so I’ve tried this latest version and I’m satisfied (for my needs). TPAI 2.3.2 will last for some time and then hopefully a similar tool from another sw producer will be available. It’s a pity, but what can be done. I only want to pay for the improved sw that suits me.
The direction taken by TPAI does not suit me. Well, it was such a promising tool. I need a functional denoise, gigapixel, sharpener, either individually or under one roof. Optional improvement of whole or only parts of photos (masking). But using a good UI. But I can’t guess where Topaz is going, I can’t risk paying for further upgrades after a year.
2 Likes
After having good experience with prior versions, experience today total failure. Am on iMac with 14.5 macOS, LIghtroom Classic 13.2. When looked on About for Photo AI, thought it said 3.03 but it also said update available which turned out to be 3.0.2.
First round, prior to update to 3.0.2: From LrC, did Edit in Topaz Photo AI. It opened and appeared to operate properly. Used only default Denoise operations. When clicked Export to LrC, thumbnail in LrC appeared but was gray, message was Lightroom has encountered problems reading this photo. Removed from Catalog, tried to import image file. Could not build …
After Update to Photo AI 3.0.2: Did Edit In Photo AI, opened immediately without taking any time to process, also immediately placed new file in Catalog, xxxxxx-Edit-2. But LrC froze until Force Quit.
Photo AI is useless in its current state. I’m a heavy user of LrC and have had zero issues with it. Only issue experienced is the failed communication between LrC and Photo AI. Please fix and notify.
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Very disappointing that Topaz appear entirely unmoved by the extended dissatisfaction of users with the awful changes to the UI since version 2.4. Six further updates, all resolutely following that unpopular development trajectory. They must be spending so much effort fishing for new idiots with their glossy adverts that they do not have time to read the disgruntled feedback.
One wonders why these Feedback pages even exist.
After purchasing the complete suite of Photo AI and Video AI, I feel financially shafted because the included updates for a year that come with the new purchase will be entirely useless. It is as if I have paid for stuff that I cannot use and I cannot help feeling that I should be entitled to a partial refund.
5 Likes
We can only vote with our pocketbooks. I was going to upgrade to Photo 3.0 and was also going to purchase Video AI, but won’t give them another penny. It’s scary to think they are so clueless about UX that anyone would find this acceptable. It’s like something that was either designed by a drunkard or someones 16 year old kid that “knows a lot about computers”. I’ll start with just one comment of which I could give a hundred. Please tell me what program you’ve ever used that has fly-outs that go from right to left?! But that’s the least of it. It is the worst I’ve seen in years from a established software company. I’m looking to move to something else. It’s a shame to see products destroyed like this.
1 Like
It’s not the fact that there are layers that are bad, all the features are nice. it’s the horrendous implementation. The UX is horrible.
4 Likes
The only issue I saw the other day was that the upscaling never completed.
Alan
I have used Topaz several year, and I am finding that version 3 UNUSABLE. I have wasted far too many hours trying to make it work on my birds in flight images (with no success) that now I am going to look at purchasing a competitor’s package. I truly cannot imagine what sort of testing process Topaz used to determine this version was ready to be released. Whatever it was, it failed miserably.
Issues:
- I can no longer effectively adjust the amount of sharpening applied
- The crop I applied to the raw file is somehow lost as Topaz processes the image
- the result is just horrendously bad - ghosting around the subject, bird legs disappear - it’s truly terrible
1 Like
