Topaz Studio vs Topaz Studio 2

When Topaz Studio 2 first came out I tried and did not like it. One reason is I could not find some of my favourites but in general I did not like it. I had read that I could have both versions at once. Today I decided to try to use version 2 and it says I have to Uninstall version 1 in order to use Topaz Studio 2. Has something changed? Are people liking version 2? I don’t want to uninstall version 1 and lose all my favourites. Would appreciate any comments. Thanks.

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Make sure you don’t install it in the same directory as Studio 1.

I have both versions installed and so far I have not had an issue in using them. So when you use version 2 is it a trial version? Even if it is you should not have to uninstall TS 1.

I have both installed … but rarely use TS2 - for me it doesn’t have the functionality I need that the original Topaz Studio offers.

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I tried to like TS2, I really did, but going back to TS1 was like a breath of fresh air. So much more creative and controllable. Why it was abandoned is a total mystery.

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I had an 8-month long issue with my Mac and Topaz Precision Detail, finally resuming to use Topaz products once I switched to Catalina. I feel that Studio 2 is a huge step back some of the issues in random order:

  • No Full-Screen support, TS1 has great full-screen support.
  • Ergonomics of the layout for some unknown reason there is a more-or-less useless toolbar at the bottom now
  • Order of presets applied is unconventional, users have to re-learn that presets are applied bottom to top not top to bottom.
  • No publicly shared presets, which was a really killer feature, selection of looks out of the box is pathetic at best
  • Blue paint of coat for tools is now in line with other Topaz products but this is a very annoying color as it changes the perception of colors in my photos, I prefer off-black, dark grey tones as they don’t change how I see my photo. TS1 had almost perfect shades of gray.
  • I used to apply one of my standard presets to a whole batch of photos before introducing custom additional tweaks. Now batch processing is gone.
  • It also seems that AI Clear in TS2 is producing a slightly different result, removing some more fine details and at the same time not removing all noise.

Unfortunately, TS2, in my opinion, is a huge step back in terms of features and tools. Hopefully, Topaz team will reconsider.

5 Likes

Fully agreed on the Ai Clear issue!!! TS 1, still gives better results, and batch editing is amazing in version 1, I use it over TS 2 all the time!

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