I was chatting with support and expressed sadness at Topaz mothballing the apps which drew me, as a digital art enthusiast, to Topaz. She replied at length to give more information on the change to the company’s direction. While this doesn’t represent an official release from Topaz, I thought it comprehensive and assume accurate. I thought others may find this of interest….
Topaz Labs started its life heavily invested in creative apps. However, and perhaps because of cell phones making filter apps, the overall photography market for such creative apps has been significantly diluted.
That’s why Topaz started experimenting with AI processing for objective image quality improvements such as noise reduction and enlargement, (ie, DeNoise AI, Gigapixel AI). After releasing these products, they discovered that there was tremendous room in this space to grow and that Topaz was in a position to be the best in the world at such image quality enhancements.
Topaz says their customers have voted, “both with their voices and their wallets” that the creative space is not where we can be the best in the world as they want to be. So, they don’t believe they can bet the future of the company on those apps anymore.
At the same time, Topaz believes their work with the objective image quality improvements remains far above that of their competitors and that they can maintain that advantage well into the future. They believe their customers have been “voting with their voices and wallets” in this regard as well and that given the small size of our team (about 20 people), they believe that AI based image quality improvements is a space they can be a leader in for years to come.
They know people enjoy the creative apps, and in a perfect world perhaps they would do both. However, but given the circumstances they face and the competition they will be facing from larger competitors they believe an unrelenting focus on the image quality apps is what will sustain Topaz Labs well into the future. They believe the same can’t be said for the creative apps anymore, which has led them to the decision to focus on the technical fixing apps rather than creative ones.
I had also mentioned that I still don’t find full functionality in Studio 2 (image layer particularly) and still use Studio 1. The reply was that Studio 2 isn’t an update of Studio1 but a different program altogether, and that they no longer support the old ones.
thank you for sharing … I too was drawn to Topaz because of the creative apps and also use the original Studio rather than TS2 … at least I can still use these and hope to be able to continue to do so. Fortunately I was able to purchase the original Studio outright and it is able to be used as a plugin to Affinity Photo. The computer requirements for AI apps are beyond the capability of my computer so I won’t be investing in any of them.
I’m afraid their new direction doesn’t offer anything I can use. I certainly hoping to keep using Studio 1 going, . and Restyle too. However I know the reality is that someday they may cease operating due to some new software update or change to my PC specs.
I have several other programs that’s sort of cover similar ground but none are a match for Studio 1. I’ve never found an alternative to Restyle either. Certainly cell phone and tablet apps don’t do it.
My ‘voice and wallet’ voted for the original apps I guess. As I purchased the full set of adjustments, the wallet got a lot of exercise. So I will have to take my voice and wallet elsewhere.
I understand Topaz have limited funds, small staff and a crowded marketplace. However putting all their eggs in one basket of image quality may not sustain them either. It is clearly what they want to do though … and digital art enthusiasts, like me, aren’t their target customers now.
The AI product line was not useful to my workflows at all. I prefer to work my images using the creative apps which is what attracted me to Topaz products.
The photography market place has changed dramatically and will continue to change in the direction of phone pics. The camera market is collapsing and is being destroyed with supply’s being limited.
As others have commented, I will continue to use the legacy products. My old computer doesn’t need Win11 or the new Topaz products for me to develop and work on my photographs.
I agree Jack. Actually I’d thought Corel may be interested in Restyle as I havent found any product like that. It would fit their PaintshopPro program for a start. My main program is Corel Painter and I would have loved to have Studio 1 and Restyle as plugins there at least. Painters AIRemix-like options are far better than Painters. At least that could be sold elsewhere.
I wouldnt be surprised if Corel is starting to feel the pinch too though. I get MANY ads for them trying to flog CorelDraw particularly. They also seem to be trying to make their money with sales of paint brushes on top of the main program now.
I havent seen anything really new from any of them. It’s like they have hit a creative ceiling.
Yes, fvanderb, I have a friend who has been a pro photographer and now he uses his phone camera instead in retirement. Unfortunately the cell apps are still limited in options. With due respect to the new styluses, I still prefer to use my Wacom pen and tablet. To get an iPad big enough for the purpose has become very costly too.
I am sticking with Win10 and Topaz legacy too.
I have enjoyed the AI within Studio 1. As a digital art enthusiast, I can sometimes find a good base to begin a painting with. However I always hoped Topaz would develop an AI adjustment that you can feed your own images and art references into. I do use Deepdreamgenerator often to generate ideas for mine. The outcome may mostly contain a lot of artifacts but it often gives me something inspirational to take off from. I assume it requires more power than the average computer currently though, and not everyone would want to buy something that doesnt have a perfect output guaranteed. Anyway deepdream is free and fun.
If Topaz isnt looking at the creative, Ill stick with what I have.
