Simplify in Topaz Studio 2? Seems to have disappeared?

Topaz Products Product Technical Support
1

Hi there - I use Topaz filters with PSE 19 on a powerful MacBook Pro.

I originally came to Topaz to access Simplifier, having been a long-time user of Buzz Simplifier when it was a standalone product. When it was taken over by Topaz, to my relief, it was a standalone filter which worked well. I came to rely on it to simplify photos before I worked on them on a tablet with PS history and normal brushes. It was then incorporated in Studio 1 and seemed to cause quite a few snags but I managed to get around them. I was forever having problems however trying to get Impressions to work (either as a standalone or in Studio 1).

Now I see in Studio 2 Simplify seems to have disappeared! Am I correct? I really hope I am wrong and it is lurking in some as yet unfound corner! Kindly advise - many thanks, Sean

2

If you are talking about the plugin it will appear later with the plugin interface.

In Studio Simplify is primarily made of Abstraction & Edges filters so if you select Add Looks then in the search select All for the Look Category and then Sort by Abstraction and you will see lots of the original Simplify looks.

The other Sort category that is relevant is Edges.

3

thanks Don that is very handy and appreciate the very quick response - I had sort of if that was the case in that I came across a few “Looks” that referenced BuzSim and similar. Great to hear it will be available fully via a plugin interface.

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4

When will the Plug in interface be available? How will it work? My TS1 seems to be broken now.

5

I think Don is your person for a definitive answer on this

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Sean I, too, miss Simplify and am glad to hear that it will reappear as a plugin to Studio 2. Meanwhile in the tedious process of trying to match it in Studio 2, I discovered it consists of the following filters, in varying degrees of application: Abstraction, Basic Adjustment, Edges, Tone Curves, Vignette, Quad Tone.
I know it’s not much help.
As I said in another post, I wish Topaz had delayed this upgrade because it took quite a while to get familiar with Studio 1 and the Studio 2 upgrade initially lost much of its functionality AND mixed the Filter/Looks structure. Meanwhile, we users have been sent scurrying on another steep learning curve.
I still love the products, but this experience is pushing me to the brink.

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That is exactly the same as Studio 1, but in Studio 2 the looks are grouped differently.

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thanks all for the heads-up, once again, which will save me time.

I, and I am guessing quite a few other loyal Topaz users spent a good couple of hundred $$ on the various collections and filters in Topaz and it has been quite frustrating to go through these various structural changes, some of which worked and others not.

In TS2 the interface does seem to be an improvement but it’s a real bind to try to locate and/or reconstruct one’s old tried and tested filters or presets amongst the new layouts and options.

Surely it would have made sense, and still would, for Topaz to provide a matrix or table indicating where to find each of them or, if they will be upcoming as plugins (as Don said would happen for Simplify (although I see it is not listed by Topaz?), to let us know, so we don’t spend time searching etc.

Hopefully someone with influence or access to their corporate ear may agree and ask for that to be done.

thanks Sean

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9

Note that there is an option to migrate your Presets over as looks in the Help Menu.

There could be an option to create a Simplify Category for those who are used to the old system rather than incorporating into different categories … but I’m not sure if the newer users would understand a Category of Simplify.

Of course there may be an alternative to add a keyword search facility and add keywords to the Looks @ATharp

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as always, thanks Don

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