Hi, I’m a new Topaz user and I’m so disappointed with the products so far. I have a few images (people) that are blurred and niether, Topaz AI, Gigapix AI or Sharpen AI is able to solve the blur problem. When I look at the photos where Topaz advertises how photos go from blurred to sharp they look amazing. But, my photos do not improve.
I’m using a Mac.
Does anyone else experince this?
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Hi jkrigs. Could you please provide an example
Thank you
There is still a lot of obvious blur around the teeth and eyes.
Please upload some source immages for us so we can give it a try. 
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Hi jkrigs. I have some questions about your screenshot
The image Scale is set to 4X
What was the original image size, for instance is it a passport photograph
I see the AI Model is set to Art & CG
Have you tried Standard or if it’s a small image try Low Res or Very Compressed
Suppress Noise 7 good
Remove Blur 83 good
Face Recovery 90 good
Yet, the side by side comparison images look the same that’s because if look below the second image you’ll see it says Art & CG Not Updated
This seems to be the problem your preview isn’t updating and that’s why you can’t see any change
jkrigs, you could try one of the other settings I suggested see if that works
It could be and probably is a hardware issue, jkrigs, when was the last time you checked to see if your GPU Drivers were up to date
I have seen other users on the forum have problems with INTEL ARK GPUs
Also you could as Imo suggested upload the original image and let the community work on it for you
Failing all that if you scroll to the bottom of this page or any Topaz web page and click on Support you’re be able to ask helps from the support team (boffins) who are excellent
one last thing you could try within the Gigapixel app go to File > Preferences > Processing/Save > AI Processor and select Auto or CPU from the drop down menu that might work
Hope this helps
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Hi andrewlankester - thanks so much for your reply.
All the settings you see on the screenshot are what came up, once I uploaded the image. I took these to all be the auto settings.
I did try the other models - standard, etc. and there is no change.
I also tried changing the suppress noise, remove blur, face recovery toggles, but nothing improved the image.
I tried getting the update but nothing happened.
I’ll up load the orginal image, please don’t share outside of this community and many thanks for your reply.
Hi Imo, please see my reply, above to andrewlankester for the source image.
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Another question - is it better to sharpen the image before cropping and editing in Photoshop?
I tried sharpening a source image, and for some reason the update automatically happened. So at least it’s now up to date.
That looks so much better! How did you achieve the result?
I made an upscale by factor four, disabled the face recovery to keep more facial details, turned on sharpening strong with the default strength four and disabled subject only.
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Hello again jkrigs. Thanks for your kind words very much appreciated and I see Imo did a wonderful job glad you liked it
As for Sharpening, personally would always sharpen the image in Topaz Sharpen AI first before sending the image to Photoshop.
I often find it’s best to do my edits within any of the Topaz products before sending the images over to any photo editing software including Photoshop
Having said that, if you asking about sharpening in Photoshop then I would always sharpen the image at the end of the editing process
If there’s anything else I can help you with please don’t hesitate to ask.
Imo, thank you for this discription. Now for the quesitons on things I don’t understand, which is almost everything is this a good “recipe” for people like me who don’t know much about how to use programs like this, when trying to sharpen an image? And when you said you upscaled by factor four, do you mean, to factor four? Or from the auto factor that the program selected up to the next factor?
ANd, how do you disable subject only?
andrewlankester, when you say always sharpen with Topaz Sharpen AI first, which in the suit of Topaz programs, is your go to for blurred headshots? Would it be different for blurred full lenght or group shots?
I’m trying to understand which program to use when. Since they all seem to be able to do some degree of sharpening I’m not turly clear on how to best use them.
Hello jkrigs, up to factor four is shown by 4 x in Photo AI:
Sharpen “subject only” (or not) is found in the Sharpening panel:
Many thanks, Imo!
Isn’t it funny you look long and hard for solutions to problems, when the answer is obviously staring you in the face all along.
jkrigs. Have you buy any chance turned the Auto-Update Preview off?
Although I don’t see the - Update Preview button - for this on your original screen shot, just incase this is the reason, here’s the instructions on how to turn it back on.
- Open Gigapixel AI
- Go-to File and select Preferences
- From the Preferences window select Application button if it’s not already highlighted
- Under Customization you will see the option Auto-Update Preview and the button to toggle it on and off.
I do hope this is the answer for you, anyway give it a shot
Hello again jkrigs. Certainly no problem.
Part 1 - My Topaz Portrait Workflow
When I mentioned I sharpen in Sharpen AI first, before sending the image to Photoshop, I thought you were asking a question about Sharpen AI only
Confusing isn’t it DeNoise has sharpening, Sharpen AI has Suppress Noise and Gigapixel has both but why?
The answer is although in some small way they have the capabilities of the others they just aren’t the same, for instance DeNoise can sharpen, well yes because it’s there not to replace Sharpen AI it’s there to add a little bit of pop to the image. Sharpen AI’s Suppress Noise adds a little bit of cleaning and so on.
In my experience, I like to work with the Topaz apps first before editing in Lightroom or Photoshop. Because I have found I get consistently better results working on unprocessed images, rather than images that have had some kind of editing done elsewhere.
For head shots, full length and people in general, my workflow is the same.
I would start with Gigapixel AI, because obviously you can enlarge the image up-to 6X without any loss of detail but, also you have the added advantage of Face Recovery if needed (Tip: just because Topaz suggests Face Recovery is for enhancing low Res images, that doesn’t mean you can’t try it on a higher resolution image)
Next I’ll open the image or images in DeNoise, because you’re enlarged the image and possibly enhanced the faces there will still be noise to contend with. DeNoise is excellent at dealing with noise and retaining detail.
Also if I know I’m going to be editing in two or more of the apps, I would refrain from using their minor blur and sharpening abilities, for instance I wouldn’t sharpen in DeNoise if I know I’m going to be using Sharpen AI later and so on
Best practice here and with all three apps is to open the 4X Comparison View, so you can compare different settings at the same time, for instance you can compare the Standard setting in one window with the Strong setting in another window and so on.
Then, just play with the different settings, until you find the one that looks best for you, because in most cases no two images will have the same settings.
Alternatively try the recommended setting in any of the individual apps always a good place to start
Once I’ve got the image to the size I want and as clean as possible, I will then open the image is Sharpen AI.
I’ll then set the view to Comparison View if it’s not already open in Comparison View, because the Topaz apps remembers your last setting including views
Again there’s no set rule here, best advice is to just play with the settings until you’re happy.
Again you could try the recommended setting always a good place to start, besides you’re soon know if you go to far because the image will start to look crunchy
Finally I will import the image or images into Lightroom, because with Lightroom I can add Adjustments and Crop my images non-destructively ( meaning I can go back anytime and apply different Adjustments and Crop if need be ).
Finally, finally last but not least Photoshoppy yes that’s right I call it Photoshoppy for any further adjustments that only Photoshop can do.
jkrigs I’ll end the reply here because I’ve got some more information I think will help you.
Basically I don’t want to get bogged down with too much in one place
TTFN
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