It looks forget digital signed to “C:\Program Files\Topaz Labs LLC\Topaz Photo AI\cublasLt64_11.dll”
On Windows 11 22H2, that has contains new security function “Smart App Control” detects non digital signed files and block it.
Please apply valid digital sign to cublasLt64_11.dll from next release. Thanks.
After maximizing the window, to restore it again, I can press the “restore” button or just double-click the title bar, but it DOESN’T work if you do it once.
I mean, you have to click the restore button TWO times or double-click the title bar THREE times to restore the window.
The same happened with v1.0.0.
Am I the only one experiencing this behavior?
Cool! I was able to read this message in Japanese. It says something like:
“Windows Security:
Part of this App is being blocked.
The App tried to continue, but was unable to confirm cublasLt64_11.dll which the user had issued, and for that reason some features of Topaz Photo AI may not work.”
Or something to that effect. Hopefully this helps the devs a little bit more with this case.
Drag and drop works onto the open application.
Hi,
I’m seeing a strange behavior since I upgraded to 1.0.1, unless I have the image filling the preview screen, when I export it I just get a DNG with the are that I was zooming on at the time of exporting it. Anybody else is having this issue?
I’ve done quite a bit of testing lately, comparing PAI to Gigapixel, Sharpen and Denoise, and my conclusion is that PAI is meant to be a program for convenience but not necessarily for best quality work. Otherwise, it would still be in beta, and not an actual release version.
I agree with you, however it may be that we are not the target market for this release. There are many people who just want to click a button to ‘improve’ their photos without having to tweak and make adjustments.
A quick test with Photo AI (with a full resolution 25.2 MB Canon R3 RAW file) launched from LrC generates a much larger DNG file (139 MB) than DxO Photolab 5.5 Elite (73.8 MB). Why the 2x difference? I understand why the DNG file would be ~3x larger (demosaiced to RGB) but not why an additional 2x. Thoughts?
Additionally, why are LrC sharpening and lens corrections re-applied on importing the DNG? DxO Photolab does not apply these as it (and PhotoAI) handle them. I’m happy that other corrections are applied as I have an Import Preset.
Less options are not good for Advanced Amateurs or Professionals. While Topaz may well be looking to capitalize on the “One click market”, they are doing it at the expense of their primary base. They have indicated reduced support/ updates for their individual, and more versatile products, while moving to one click solutions. I doubt the one click users will be willing to pay $159-199, nevermind the product still cant remove noise reliably in many images. When the more advanced users leave because they aren’t being heard, then where will Topaz be?
There is a bug in v1.0.1. When you put a lot of pictures into the programm using the autopilot, and you set UPSCALE, only the 1st picture is using this setted upscale, all other pics not. In the previous version v1.0.0 this was done correctly for all pictures!
I do not like the locked “Recover Faces” Button.
Which I can only operate via a detour.
I like to switch back and forth to see the differences faster and better.
Furthermore, there is still a problem with the eye color. It likes to change after activating “Recover Faces”. Gigapixel also has this problem.
Blue and green eyes often turn into brownish-reddish tones.
It looks very unnatural.
Indeed, I don’t disagree.
This was an unexpected event so it was a quick grab on a Nikon D850, with Extremely high ISO (Auto) and there was no time to tweak settings as I ran in grabbed camera and grabbed the shot before the Falcon 9 rocket went out of view. This image received a first pass in DxO, followed by Lightroom adjustments and follow up in PAI and DAI with suggested settings. Other than choosing the best looking option from DeNoise AI no changes were made. While it may be hard to see in the lower res screen shot, DeNoise AI low light did a much better job of smoothing out the uneven areas of noise in the image. Again the stand alone product does a better job IMO. While the differences may be subtle, my feeling is, those of us using these products want the best performance/ quality, not a quicky solution.
The “Recover Faces” functionality is unnecessarily cumbersome if there is only one face. As it is, you have to figure out how to select the (only) face before you can turn face recovery on or off. And doing this is not particularly straightforward. Since there is only one face, the selection is unnecessary. Please require face selection only when there is more than one face.
A useful feature addition would be ‘add grain’ for photo Ai. Images can look too clean, the addition of some grain helps to give some texture to the skin for portraits. Essentially, the same feature in Sharpen ai.
Amen re: target mkt. Not my personal need/product desire.
At least how it is for now.
Which does still seem beta-ish.
I agree with both your post and @johnnystar post above.
The release thread for Topaz Photo AI has the subtitle “Autopilot for Image Quality,” so clearly the autopilot is the main focus of the application. The post consistently emphasizes the benefits of the autopilot automatically deciding on the settings and minimizing the amount of choices that the user manually has to make (of course the auto settings can be overridden if one chooses to).
The end result is an app that is targeted more towards casual users than “pros”—but given the state of the autopilot right now even the casuals may still need to make custom adjustments from time to time. The way that Photo AI’s user interface currently operates can make Autopilot a hindrance rather than a neutral feature or a help for these custom edits. And that’s unfortunate, since I think the idea of Autopilot is a good one, especially as the number of models and features increase.
You make a good point with the pricing. $150–$200 per year is steep, and while one can reduce the yearly price by not upgrading every year, it’s still a rather high cost. I think the competitive landscape where Topaz resides in comes from three different directions.
I think Gigapixel AI and its siblings are currently somewhere between 1. and 2., while Photo AI seems to be philosophically moving towards 3. but with the price of 2. If the “pro” image editors become competitive with Topaz in terms of AI enhancements while the default editors become good enough for most people looking to “enhance” their photos, then in my opinion, Photo AI is at risk of being squeezed out by both of those segments.
Casual users tend to use smartphones to take photos, and their cameras have improved greatly over the past several years, not to mention the automatic software processing. In recent years, several phones have introduced periscope lenses and/or quad Bayer sensors which allow for higher resolution.
A 48 MP quad Bayer sensor is effectively a “2x scaling” over a regular 12 MP sensor. (It’s not as good as a “real” 48 MP camera but neither is AI upscaling.)
I have doubts that Apple will add upscaling to their Photos app in the near future—they want to sell shiny new 48 MP iPhone 14 Pros after all—but other enhancements are up for grabs. Currently Apple Photos’s sharpening and noise reduction leave a lot to be desired, but what if Apple makes a big improvement to them in a few years’ time?
So unless Topaz can continue to stay ahead of the competition with a strong focus on models, I can see many of its target audience having less reason to buy its apps in the future.
I agree. I want image enhancement that’s the best I can afford. For now, that’s the GAI/DAI/SAI suite of separate products.
It bothers me that ongoing development of those products may be deprecated.
Sadly, the more I use PAI, the more discouraged I become. I did a follow-up evaluation of the previously posted image without any preemptive noise reduction by DxO prior to processing with PAI. The Following is a comparison of the PAI image with prior treatment with DxO vs a PAI only treatment. Notice the grid pattern in the Image when edited by only PAI?
