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Author Topic: Topaz Studio issues  (Read 3342 times)

datro

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Topaz Studio issues
« on: January 03, 2018, 05:04:38 pm »

I finally decided (based on the mostly good reviews here) to give Topaz Detail a go and purchased the "Detail in Studio" product (I'm a new Topaz customer so I'm starting out with Topaz Studio as the "host" software for their tools).  I then followed the Topaz web site instructions to download the free Topaz Studio product and install it.  Although it seems to install OK (Windows 10 64-bit), most of the menu items are grayed out and there is no way to login to the (required) Studio account.  After contacting support, they acknowledged this was a bug.  Today I got notification that they had fixed this and a new download was available.  So I downloaded the new version and installed it:  SAME RESULT...no login capability and same symptoms as before.  I'm waiting now for a reply from support.

I'm just curious, is this normal software quality for Topaz Labs?  Should I be re-thinking my decision?  Comments welcome from any Topaz Studio users....

Dave
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Kevin Raber

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Re: Topaz Studio issues
« Reply #1 on: January 03, 2018, 05:36:21 pm »

I have been using TOPAZ products from the beginning.  No issues.  I was one of the first studio owners and have all the modules installed that are available and not one issue.  I'm on a MAC though. 
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Kevin Raber
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datro

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Re: Topaz Studio issues
« Reply #2 on: January 03, 2018, 05:50:04 pm »

Thanks Kevin.  Glad to hear this may be an anomaly.

In the meantime, I have discovered further details on the bug (and a workaround) after some experimentation and have sent the details to Topaz.  The problem has to do with the "Product Tour" window which pops up when you first launch Studio.  In order to get the login screen you have to uncheck the "Show on startup" checkbox, close Studio, and then re-launch.  If, like me, you typically leave this box checked initially to help learn the product layout, you will never see the login screen.  So there is a logic problem in the code behind this Product Tour popup which they need to fix.

Dave
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mdijb

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Re: Topaz Studio issues
« Reply #3 on: January 03, 2018, 06:26:31 pm »

Good luck with Topaz.  The last support ticket i Submitted took a full month to get answered.

MDIJB
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rdonson

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Re: Topaz Studio issues
« Reply #4 on: January 03, 2018, 07:50:37 pm »

I gave up on Topaz after submitting a ticket that never was answered.
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Ron

Bart_van_der_Wolf

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Re: Topaz Studio issues
« Reply #5 on: January 03, 2018, 08:25:48 pm »

I'm just curious, is this normal software quality for Topaz Labs?  Should I be re-thinking my decision?  Comments welcome from any Topaz Studio users....

Hi Dave,

Topaz Studio user here. They're a relatively small operation, but with several very good applications. Flawless, no, but so far (and I've been a user of their prior Photoshop plugins almost since day one) they've been responsive to most of my questions/suggestions. In the specific case of 'Detail for Studio', I've identified an issue (compared to the previous Photoshop plugin version), and they've responded that it will take a number of weeks to fix it, but they intend to solve it.

The free Studio host environment is a recent (and more efficient) change in their model of delivering updates to the users, which is getting better with each upgrade. And talking about upgrades (not just updates but also new versions), they are typically free for those who've previously purchased a version license.

Cheers,
Bart
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myotis

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Re: Topaz Studio issues
« Reply #6 on: January 04, 2018, 02:23:16 am »

I'm just curious, is this normal software quality for Topaz Labs? 

I own nearly all the previous plugins, but only occasionally use them (and only really four/five of them), with no issues.  The switch to Studio has brought with it a tremendous amount of problems, which the small team at Topaz are obviously struggling with.

I've had several issues with Studio including  updating from my existing plugins, but Topaz have always responded very quickly (within 24 hours) even when they had issued official apologies about how long they were taking to respond, and were always very helpful, and the issues were always resolved.

I'm happy to just hang in there while they sort things out, which I assume they will, but I'm not a heavy user and everything I want to do is working fine at the moment.

Cheers,
Graham
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mdijb

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Re: Topaz Studio issues
« Reply #7 on: January 04, 2018, 06:56:07 pm »

When I complained about the response time at Topaz, the text below was ther eresponse

"We're sorry for the long reply times.  I was only able to get the help from the rest of the company (there are 10 of us) for 3.5 weeks, then they had to get back to their marketing and development tasks.  Our support team currently consists of just myself.  I run support, operations, and testing for the company.  We received over 5,000 requests from the release of Topaz Studio, which overwhelmed our ability to respond.  We will soon be adding another agent to support to amplify our capacity to respond to releases that bring in so many requests.  We have also learned many lessons from the issues that created nearly 40% of our ticket volume, that we'll be avoiding in the future.

The best we can do is learn from our mistakes, and apologize for our shortcomings.  We have plans to improve our response time moving forward, so you should see an improvement the next time you reach out to us. "

Their software is pretty useful and popular but having just one tech support person for a community of thousands of users is just not a good business model.

MDIJB
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BAB

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Re: Topaz Studio issues
« Reply #8 on: January 04, 2018, 10:15:31 pm »

The problem is not the software it is the security that Topaz is trying to use to keep their software safe.
They will answer your requests if you send a few every other day.
The only issues I’ve had is logging in and getting all of the filters I have purchased, after they internally removed the block on my account (their method of signing in does work) everything worked as promised.
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Jack Hogan

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Re: Topaz Studio issues
« Reply #9 on: January 06, 2018, 01:25:51 pm »

They still have not sorted me out four months in.  At the end of August, when I discovered that Studio would not recognize my previous purchases because performed under sometimes different emails, I sent them a message requesting consolidation of my purchases under a single email so that they could be used in Studio.  Several emails and months later the first week of December supposedly someone processed a free order on my account adding only about half of my previous plug-in purchases - the missing half are the ones that I use most: clarity, detail, sharpen, B&W, etc.  There was no notice, I discovered this myself logging into their Studio site today after noticing that still none of those was operational in Studio (why are there two different sites, with different logins anyways?).

Four months later, lots of wasted time collecting proof of purchase and prompting them along for this?  I've had enough and I have stopped recommending them.  There are good alternatives for every single one of their products out there, I suggest you look elsewhere.

Jack
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