When I add GAIA CG v5 model to upscale my 640x480 clips, then the whole footage is characterised by some “moving surface” („dancing pixel/artefacts), just look at it: The whole scene is moving so I think GAIA CG is not ok for my clips.
Another clip is prepared by a method proposed by JCP29 according to the following path: 480p to 2560x1920p (400% AAA9) and then AHQ11. To be precise, once JCP29 proposed 480p to 2560x1920p (400% AAA9) and then down to Full HD (1080p) using AHQ11. I have modified it a little bit, namely I downscale using DaVinci Resolve to 1080p , much faster and the apply on 1080p just AHQ11 Denoise/Deblock 100%. It gives sharper output. So I do not download using Artemis HQ11 but DR and then use 100% denoise/deblock AHQ11.
Is there any to even further improve the footage? The method using AAA9 and AHQ11 does not introduce such strange behaviour as CG. Please check Victor if you observe the same problems.
PS Can you write me your upscale time from 640x480 ProRes422HQ to Prores HQ 2560x1920 by AAA9 400% and another one from 640x480 ProRes422HQ to 2560x1920 by GAIA CG v5 400% Prores HQ.
Thank you.
https://we.tl/t-yS25XJb3Ve
Exactly, and my 480p clips are recorded using very strange codec, since they show dancing pixels, artefacts, flickering even in daylight. Bitrate is high, AVI clips but strange footage…
v9/v10 is the sweetspot.
I used v11 before. Used to work okay for me with high quality 1080p low bitrate movies.
I usually export as TIF and I tell everyone to do the same for the best quality output.
480p => 4K = 0.17 s/f with 450% upscaling.
Gaia CG was all but destroyed around 1.7 when the change in engine caused it to no longer work properly with the newer versions. It was going to be looked at originally (its in the release notes here Video Enhance AI v1.7.0).
Ever since this release, Gaia CG doesn’t work properly as it was intended. There was talk about trying to fix it but then everything went into the newer models and Gaia itself (both CG and Normal) didn’t really get looked at since.
I still use Gaia CG in my current upscales - but I have to run it in 1.5.3 at the moment and then incorporate the images into the sequence as no other model does what Gaia CG does in the older versions. I really wish they would fix it to bring it up to date in the newer versions so I don’t have to go back all the time.
Gaia models use GPU heavily. It also depends on the drivers of Nvidia or AMD. Maybe you should update GPU driver and try again?
No, if you have tracked the Gaia CG development from back to 1.6 and earlier you would understand what I am meaning. The current Gaia CG models don’t work the same as they used to. There is a lot of forum discussion around it back around 1.7 when it first came out.
Because it was an engine change not a model change, you can’t just get the versions of models to work now. The only option to get Gaia CG as it was originally is to go back to the older versions of the program.
I don’t have a lot of CG in the current episode I am doing, but this is a side by side comparison with GaiaCG post 1.7 (run just now in 2.2) and GaiaCG in 1.5.3. The current GaiaCG is on the left of this image.
The difference is more stark in many other scenes as well. The original GaiaCG was designed for CG content and it did wonders with some of this content the other models can’t match. However, I guess that the usage for this model was low enough that they didn’t bother to try to fix the issue with the engine change as most probably didn’t use it much. It was not really useful for enhancing faces - which is probably a large factor in which models get selected.
That doesn’t mean the model as it is now can’t be used, but it is not remotely close to what it was originally being used for and the outputs are not compareable anymore. The only way to get that same CG output that works wonders in some content is to go back to an older version that has it.
Second one for reference:
I am quite familiar with the older Gaia CG version. In some ways, it was similar to what Artemis MQ and LQ do currently, except it also added a level of shading detail that made things look more real and 3 dimensional. In comparison, Artemis denoises and sharpens, but the results look flat and lack realism. The new Gaia CG v5 doesn’t compare to either in any practical way.
Pity. I wonder how older GAIA GC would deal with my bridge file. Current GAIA CG creates dancing pixels…
I do a lot of upscaling using Artemis LQv12 typically at 200%. Recently I happened to do one at 400% and my impression was that it was better, so I just did this experiment.
The source is 640x480 from 2010. Left is the original zoomed 200% in the viewer (MPC-HC). Middle is the v12 2x output. Right is the v12 4x output, downsized 50% using avisynth spline64resize. The whole image (a cropped portion of the original) capture was then enlarged 2x to make the difference most apparent.
Not bad. Could you do it with my 640x480p file which is in WeTransfer above to Full HD (1080p 4:3)? ProRes is the starting file.
I have similar issue with Gaia model using v2.2.0. I just did a completely fresh install of Windows 10 21H1, with Nvidia driver 466.47 and I get ‘Application Topaz Video Enhance AI has been blocked from Accessing Graphics Hardware’ whenever I choose the Gaia model. Encoding then starts using the CPU. I have RTX 3090 and Ryzen Threadripper 3960X. I don’t want to install Studio Drivers because I use my computer for other things such as gaming. I was using Gaia and v2.2.0 prior to my rebuild on the same hardware, so either this is either Nvidia driver bug or a problem with Windows 21H1. However there is obviously something peculiar about Gaia because the other models work just fine.
question to devs:
Do you working for better performance with apple m1?
Or current speed of veai -is the best for m1?
I would try, but the 640x480 file isn’t in that list of 6, all are much larger versions already upscaled.
Try to install Studio Driver instead of Game Ready Driver
Sorry, I forgot I had added upscaled clips, here you are:
https://we.tl/t-R9ZICVqqba
So please upscale and downsized to 1080p ok?
Thank you.
Hi Topaz, there’s an annoying window resize issue with VEAI and it’s making it almost unusable right now. My main monitor is 1440p, my 2nd monitor is 4k. When I move VEAI over to the 4k monitor, exit, and open VEAI again, it opens on my 1440p monitor but 80% of the app window is oversized and out of bounds. You are unable to move this window cos the title bar is outside of the screen and you can only see the menu bar and a little bit of the main preview screen. Randomly opening and closing it over and over again will eventually fix this, but it’s really annoying.
It should always start up Maximized if it was maximized when it was closed, so every UI element will be visible no matter the resolution. It should also always relaunch on the screen it was last on. These 2 are lacking features in VEAI right now, which are standard in almost every application made for Windows.
I have the same issue and both my monitors are 1440p. This isn’t a new bug either as it happened in previous versions.
The problem with LQ in either case is it eliminated the texture of her hoodie and turned her face into a wax mannequin. If you disregard those idiosyncrasies, then it’s alright. 
