Gigapixel v8.4.0

[esther.huynh (esther.h)]

We’re thrilled to introduce Gigapixel v8.4.0, packed with powerful enhancements, smarter tools, and a few more updates. This release takes your creative control and image fidelity to new heights—whether you’re restoring, enhancing, or experimenting with AI.

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v8.4.0
Mac: [Download]
Windows: [Download]
Windows ARM: [Download]
Released May 22, 2025

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Pre-downscaling: Smarter Input for Sharper Results

We’ve enhanced how Gigapixel processes your images with the introduction of Pre-downscaling, now seamlessly integrated into the Recover v2 model.

When working with images that have been previously upscaled or contain limited detail, results can sometimes appear inconsistent. This often stems from low information density—where image size has increased without a corresponding boost in visual detail. Pre-downscaling addresses this by intelligently optimizing image input before enhancement.

How it works:

• Pre-downscaling reduces resolution to re-concentrate information density.
• The enhanced input is then upscaled using AI to restore natural sharpness and detail.
• Choose between four different intensities to preview the intensity of the downscale.
• We recommend using the Preview controls to scope out the intensity that will work best for your enhancement

Key Notes:

• Available for images ≥ 1000px on each side.
• Ideal for old JPEGs, scanned photos, or badly upscaled content.
• Select None if you prefer to skip pre-downscaling.

Take another look at tough-to-enhance images—you’ll be surprised what Pre-downscaling unlocks.

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Personalized Adjustments (Auto Mode Learning)

We’ve enhanced Auto mode with Personalized Adjustments, which learns from your export history to fine-tune Auto defaults.

• Applies to Detail and Texture settings (excluding creativity levels in Redefine modes).
• Enabled by default.

How to enable learning:

1. Make manual tweaks to Auto suggestions.
2. Export the image.
3. Gigapixel refines future defaults based on your choices.

To reset: Go to Preferences > Auto Mode, click Reset learning, and restart the app.

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Expanded Language Support

Gigapixel just became even more international. We can now support the following languages:

German
French
Spanish
Portuguese
Japanese

Enjoy localized menus and functionality no matter your region. From Parisian portraits to Kyoto streetscapes, Gigapixel speaks your language. While Gigapixel is a powerful app designed for English-speaking users, its translation capabilities are still developing—and we’re actively enhancing them to deliver a smoother experience across languages.

To switch languages:
Go to Preferences > General > Language, select your choice, and hit Save.

You can also now run Redefine prompts in your native language—no English needed!

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Redefine Evolved, Two Powerful Paths: Realistic & Creative Modes

The Redefine model now is split into two tailored enhancement modes to effectively move through your workflow.

Realistic mode is best for enhancing and refining existing details in an image, while Creative mode is better suited for reimagining or altering those details to achieve a different look.

Redefine realistic

• Keeps edits close to the original.
• Ideal for authenticity and subtle improvements.
• Modes:
  • None (Creativity Level 1)
  • Subtle (Creativity Level 2 – text prompt included)

Redefine creative

• Designed for creative exploration and bold transformations.
• All modes include text prompt
• Modes:
  • Low (Creativity Level 3)
  • Medium (Creativity Level 4)
  • High (Creativity Level 5)
  • Max (Creativity Level 6)

Quick-access buttons now replace sliders—making mode selection faster and clearer than ever.

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Cloud Compare Tool

Easily view, compare, and share results from generative models with the Cloud Compare tool.

Steps:

1. Cloud-render your image.
2. When status is “Downloaded,” click the A/B icon next to the folder.
3. A side-by-side comparison opens in your browser.
4. Use tools to inspect and Copy Link to share.

Security Note:

• Links are secured via tokenized, hashed URLs.
• Not publicly listed or searchable.
• Only shared if you copy and share the link.

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One-Click Support: Get Help Button

Borrowing from Photo AI, we’ve now added the Get Help button directly inside Gigapixel.

• Instantly sends diagnostic data to our team.
• No email or log hunting required.
• Fast, frictionless, and user-friendly.

Now, you can stay focused on creating, not troubleshooting.

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Gigapixel PRO User Update

Gigapixel CLI now includes support for generative models, providing PRO users with an additional enhancement option via the --model flag. Review updates in our CLI Support Documentation page.

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Changelog:

• Added new pre-downscaling option to Recovery V2
  • Use this when enhancing naively upscaled images to get better results
• Added app translations for French, German, Japanese, Portuguese, and Spanish
• Redefine is now split into Realistic and Creative modes
• Added personalized adjustments for autopilot
• Status will now show if a generative model is currently preparing
• Added cloud compare button to finished images in cloud queue
• Added new Get Help button to report issues
• Updated Exiftool to version 13.27
• Improved model verification check logic
• Fixed various misc. crashes
• Fixed logging out not clearing token correctly
• Fixed some issues with model downloads in installers
• Fixed face recovery sometimes turning off in batch exports
• Fixed unselected images being visually added to the export queue
• Fixed various focus issues
• Minor UI changes
• [PRO] CLI now supports generative models
• [PRO] CLI should now suppress more internal logs
• [PRO] CLI should now not get stuck after finishing on some machines

[saulozra]

Now it does not open, it is installed and the program is immediately closed.

[esther.huynh (esther.h)]

By chance can you try a clean uninstall and reinstall of 8.4.0?

If you continue to have this issue please let me know!

[saulozra]

Yes, I reinstalled and installed the new version but without success. I also tried to repair the program but it doesn’t work. It worked fine for me before the update. Now I can’t use the program, I would really appreciate it if you could help me.

[esther.huynh (esther.h)]

Your support ticket was sent to me - i’ll reply through email

[saulozra]

Ok, thanks!!

[Tostanica-fezanamu]

@esther.huynh
Does this release fix my Recover 2 bug report from March? And my Redefine bug report from March also? I have an M2 Pro 12/19/16 32gb Mac. These things are not mentioned in your post.

[Zed1]

First tests with v8.4.0

Easy and speedy upgrade using incremental download from v8.3.4
Good to see several user requests added/improved
Especially happy to see Text Prompt box for Redefine-Realistic Subtle - it helps a lot from 1st tests - thank you for adding that !

One observation - when doing repeated tests with different option settings and using the Update entire preview button (bottom right of screen) the processing timebar says - Recovering your image - BUT surely I’m Redefining not Recovering so that is confusing ?

I enjoy trying different Redefine Artistic creativity settings with and without text prompts to find a preferred combination that artistically improves image quality without excessive fantasy.

In the range of test images using AutoPilot when possible and Creativity from None to Max I’m disappointed to see some bad sky artifacts and tiling with Med creativity and Texture 3 !!!
Redefine sky artifacts have been reduced lately so it’s bad to see them back again.
Sometimes going either +1 or -1 with Texture can improve things but not always.
It’s interesting that the worst sky “blobs” and tiling do not seem to carry through to Creativity High and Max so hopefully Topaz can correct the Creativity Med with Tex 3 combination ???

The test images below go from small original online jpg through Creativity None to Max with Autopilot selected whenever available.

original jpg 900x694px

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Creativity None

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Creativity Subtle with Gemini Prompt — with prompt much better than previously

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Creativity Low & AutoPilot with Gemini Prompt — some sky artifacts
Overall not bad for retaining the original military style but lady in middle has lost her head and horse being hoisted aboard has turned into canvas ?
Higher Texture and increasing upscale can sometimes bring back those details

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Creativity Med & AutoPilot with Gemini Prompt — bad sky artifacts

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NO Gemini Prompt Creativity Med & AutoPilot — bad sky artifacts & tiling
With no Prompt the people have lost the military attire and look like farmers

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Creativity High & AutoPilot with Gemini Prompt — a few people & horse blendings

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Creativity Max & AutoPilot with Gemini Prompt — people transforming into horses

The “detailed” Google Gemini Prompt used was-

This detailed painting, possibly titled “Hussars Embarking at Deptford,” depicts a bustling scene of military embarkation at a port, likely Deptford, given the suggested titles. The overall impression is one of organized chaos, with numerous figures, horses, and large sailing ships filling the frame under a clear, pale blue sky with hints of white clouds.

In the foreground, the ground is a mix of dirt and perhaps cobbled stone, indicating a busy dockside. To the left, a man in a blue coat and white trousers sits on the ground, attending to a horse that is mostly out of frame. Nearby, various equipment, including what appears to be military saddles and possibly weaponry, are scattered on the ground.

The central and right foreground are dominated by groups of hussars and other military figures. Many wear distinctive blue coats with red facings and white breeches, characteristic of hussar uniforms. Some are mounted on horses, while others are on foot, either marching or standing in conversational groups. A notable detail is a horse being led up a ramp or gangplank onto one of the large ships in the middle ground, indicating the process of loading the cavalry.

Among the military personnel, there are also a few civilian figures, including women in long dresses and bonnets, suggesting farewells or spectators. One woman in a pink dress and another in a white dress are prominent in the central foreground, accompanied by military officers.

The middle ground is dominated by several large, multi-masted sailing ships, likely warships or transport vessels. Their tall masts and intricate rigging reach high into the sky. One ship, prominently featured on the right, flies a large British Union Jack flag from its stern. The ships appear to be docked or moored, with gangplanks connecting them to the shore. Numerous figures are visible on the decks of the ships, further emphasizing the activity of embarkation.

In the background, to the left, a distant city or town with buildings and spires is visible, suggesting the urban setting of the port. The overall color palette is somewhat subdued, with dominant blues, browns, and whites, reflecting the natural light of the day and the colors of military uniforms and ships. The brushwork appears detailed, capturing the textures of clothing, horsehair, and ship rigging, contributing to the realistic depiction of the busy port scene.

These test were specifically done using AutoPilot and Text Prompts to investigate the range of Creativity settings. In practice further tweaking of the better initial results can very often be worthwhile and usually a Cloud render of the “best” Local Redefine render will generally produce even more quality and realism.

So, overall 1st impression - Good but not quite excellent cos a bit disappointed by sky defects

Any questions, comments and or suggestions for improvement would be most welcome.

[Tostanica-fezanamu]

I discovered that 8.4.0 strips the EXIF info, but before it did not. Sigh. Another regression.

Yes, I know the standard Topaz response: You can go back to an earlier version. Which means that I would have to give up the Recover 2 bug fix I have been waiting for almost 2 months to get. Why can’t I have both Recover 2 and EXIF info?

[BBCXearth]

I do not understand recover v2, it’s significantly worse than v1, washes out many of the details.
Even when i run pre-downscale at a 1x upscaling, all textures are lost.
Working on an M2 Ultra, but i dont think the client doesnt affect the model’s results

[Imo]

Thank you Esther. Great, we got the option to use the text prompt in creativity two. I also often miss the face-recovery in creativity three and beyond. After update the app reset my GPU from Auto to 4090 again. There is an inconsistency with the Preferences menu which is to be found in the file menu in Gigapixel but in the Edit menu in Photo AI. When the model downloads got interrupted during install it tries to get them at start, but the model downloads either take forever or never end; at least the progress bar does not move.

The taskmanager shows no online activity at all:

I can access the new HELP menu but the helping dialog is locked behind the progress bar of the stuck model download.

When I open an image it says: Upscaling … and a progress bar runs even though the scaling is set to original size 1 x. In Redefine Creative the face recovery option is completely disabled now.

I have a problem with the Recover mode where the overall image looks stunning except the face with the face recovery is turned on: it looks way too soft in comparison to the rest of the image so that I always have to turn it back off again. But this looks also the other way round where before the enhancement the image looks sharper than after recovery no matter if the face recover is turned on or off with or with no pre-downsampling. mainly the foreground gets sharper but the background softer.

When I selected a mode to work with I can not use STRG+O to open another image file.

[Zed1]

Where are my “ghosts” and “sky artifacts” coming from ???

Using Recover v2 the image glitches and sky artifacts I’ve routinely encountered have mainly been “blobs” and “short to medium length lines” appearing randomly in the rendered image.
I get those defects so often that now it’s hardly worth me trying Recover as an option.

I find the much faster but maybe lower quality Standard or Low Resolution options are often adequate for www and average social media screen viewing.

Sometimes Redefine Realistic Subtle or Redefine Artistic Low & Med Creativity are worth the longer render times - unfortunately they take 2-3 Cloud Credits compared with the very good value of Recover only needing one Credit.

I’m intrigued by some of the Recover v2 and Redefine sky artifact “ghosts” that tend to appear in empty sky areas especially in the upper corners of an image with Creativity 3 and above. Examples below.

Sometimes these ghosts will be unrelated to the original image eg cherry blossom branches in the sky above a maritime seascape or pre-Raphaelite swirls and patterns in plain hotel curtains etc.

In other cases the ghosts will be copies or derivations of the original subject eg the faint grey ghosts of Julia Roberts in the corners (below) or tiny line drawings of ships when the original image was an 18th century man of war under sail.

Occasionally a sky artifact will seem totally unrelated to the original image eg a word or two of elaborate cursive text or gobbledygook characters when the original image had no text at all.

Fairly frequently the upper edge and corners of sky in a landscape will have detailed small line drawings that reflect the main subject eg trees when there is a forest in the view or a town street plan if there is a cityscape in the image.

For now my final example is the visible patterns in tiling such as my desktop icons or scraps of a previously loaded image appearing in the tiles.

clouds in the sky get turned into trees

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using v8.4.0.beta4 C-Max Tex-2 — AND ADDS SNOW ON THE GROUND !!!

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Hotel bedroom gets some strange effects with v8.3.0.2b Creativity 6 Tex 5 on GH4 photo

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handbag becomes a decapitated head and mini person Topaz Girl pops up on the desk !

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bedsheets get a pre-Raphaelite twist and a random patch on the wall

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Julia Roberts online jpg original

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all 4 corner ghosts in a 3x Cloud render with Creativity 2 Texture 2

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Interesting the same settings as a 2x upscale Cloud render had NO GHOSTS
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tiny ships in the sky with v8.4.0.beta4 Local Redefine Creativity Low Texture 3

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random text from online jpg

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and v8.3.0.5b Local Recover V2

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gobbledygook text from online jpg

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and v8.3.0.5b Local Recover v2

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upper edge and corners details from online jpg

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and v8.4.0-beta4 Local Redefine Prompt C-Max Tex-5

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then compare the same original and settings done as a Cloud render !!!

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small old colour print gets a 3D plan on the upper edge

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desktop icons in tiles using v8.4.0 AutoPilot Creativity Med Tex 3

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Although I have tried to understand and trace when these effects occur I’m still not sure how they are generated and I would like to understand that better.
Often they are repeatable but sometimes not …

QUESTIONS

Q1 Where are these ghosts coming from ?
- are they created in the render process and put in Gigapixel AI memory ?
- are they put into a cache memory ?
- are they saved with the rendered image ?

Q2 How to clean the memory for a fresh render ?
- in Windows is there a cache to clear ?
- do we need to close image and reselect it ?
- do we need to shut down Gigapixel AI and restart the program ?
- do we need to restart Windows and then Gigapixel AI ?

Any answers would be most welcome !!!

[Zed1]

Yes it is so disappointing how often recent Topaz releases take us forwards 2 or 3 steps and then we discover we are also sliding backwards 2 or 3 steps on things that had been fine but now aren’t. Deep breaths and more patience I suppose but it is becoming very frustrating. Overall I try to remind myself that we are in a better place than 12 months ago but it’s taking a lot of blood, sweat and tears to keep up !!!

[Zed1]

Agree with you. I have an old but good i7 7700K CPU and a good new RTX4070 Super with 12GB but I very seldom bother trying Recover v2 now because it is so poor.

[aykutbozkurt]

Hi there. It has been a long time since I comment on a product from topaz. I have been a long time supporter and a member of Topaz Video AI from the very first days while the gui was still in development. It has been years but I keep an eye on the products.

From the user’s perspective I want to add these to Gigapixel AI :
The product is great but I see some mistakes on the roadmap of development and some rollbacks and fixes are needed.

1. When you introduced redefine and recover models, the UI had hyper parameters but you remove them,hide them or made them unavailable. The reason is people complained about face blending with higher creativity when face restoration is on etc. So you have taken the easy way of getting rid of complains. Hide or remove parameters. Instead let users find what is working what is not. In that time you try to figure out ways of fixing the features. For example you can try to match the colors of the generated image when using blending or something else. maybe even face replacement is an option with enhancement (by overwriting the generated face from the original face) inswapper model like feature or something better.
2. Again the sliders are better control than buttons.
3. This one is in my opinion very mandatory. Confirmation windows are so annoying(close the window,close the image etc.) Put an option to “disable all confirmation boxes and windows” to the options. So users can get rid of annoying “are you sure?” etc stuff and multi clicks are saved for more faster and better experience.
4. Opening image with gigapixel exe or shortcut from an image editor is always overwriting the source image when saved. There shall be an option to set this “save as a copy” by incremental numeration if filename exists.
5. When Face recovery is enabled : Face recovery strength shall be automatically applied when user changes values from the slider instead of “changing the value and clicking the update the entire image button”.

Another thing is Overlays covering the picture (instead of a processing overlay make it a progress bar not covering the UI) .

I would like to see these across all Topaz products not special to Gigapixel.
In short give the power to the users, do not hide stuff or take the features away from them.

I am aware these can take a lot of time to do for all products and you may not want to do this,but this is how it should have been from a long time ago.

With my best regards to Topaz Team members…

[patriciainfluential]

All praise for the improvements in the new version, but in the CLI version the face recovery option no longer works correctly! The upscaling finishes and face recovery gets skipped even though I explicitly specify the face recovery argument. This happens on Windows. Please fix this!

[Harald.De.Luca]

I’m very happy with this very nice update. Finally an interface with several languages, including French, which I’ve been waiting for for quite a few years. This new interface with the Recovery v2 improvements is very interesting. And Redefine is finally much clearer, with its division into 2 distinct groups. As I often do realistic photo enhancement, it’s really better this way.

Many thanks for this update.

Little question though. With regard to the different languages supported, is this also valid for the “image description” part? Or is English always the default?

[Harald.De.Luca]

I hope to see more languages added to Photo AI and Video AI. Then I’ll be really, really happy hahaha.

[f.keely]

I miss the sliders for creativity level 2 now… Especially the texture slider as it tends to overtexture a lot.

Recovery v2 still unusably poor results compared to v1 for my usecases.

[RDPA]

Here we go. Does this fix the Redefine issue with Mac M3 chips? We are stuck with 8.0.2 and cannot move forward with Gigapixel versions past that. I received the email to update because I have an active license. I would like to if it actually FIXES the bug with M3 processors.