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Author Topic: AI Clear - New Noise Reduction Tool by Topaz  (Read 5225 times)

Rajan Parrikar

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AI Clear - New Noise Reduction Tool by Topaz
« on: June 19, 2018, 02:09:13 pm »

Anyone here has tried it?

https://topazlabs.com/ai-clear/

rdonson

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Re: AI Clear - New Noise Reduction Tool by Topaz
« Reply #1 on: June 19, 2018, 05:31:57 pm »

Nope.  I wasn't all that impressed by their previous noise eliminating tool.  I'll hold off until a whole lot of people say its the greatest thing since sliced bread.

I'm a little skeptical of the current trend to hawk everything as AI driven. 
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Ron

Bart_van_der_Wolf

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Re: AI Clear - New Noise Reduction Tool by Topaz
« Reply #2 on: June 19, 2018, 06:54:31 pm »

Anyone here has tried it?

https://topazlabs.com/ai-clear/

Hi Rajan,

Yes, and it looks like an interesting tool if one wishes to save a lot of time, or if one lacks the experience to do it the tedious way (by using optimally tweaked noise reduction and deconvolution sharpening processes). I'm not a high ISO shooter myself, so I have not rigorously tested it on High-ISO content yet, but on low ISO shots, it achieves a significant improvement (after it has analyzed the image, which benefits from fast hardware).

Don't let the absence of many controls to fiddle with, fool you. That can be achieved by using it in concert with other adjustment layers and/or with the built-in masking capability to apply it locally. And as a non-destructive adjustment, it can also be applied multiple times (with separate masks).

Cheers,
Bart
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plugsnpixels

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Re: AI Clear - New Noise Reduction Tool by Topaz
« Reply #3 on: June 19, 2018, 09:07:08 pm »

Topaz is offering no coupon for AI Clear, but you can use code "plugsnpixels" for 15% off this release or anything else from Topaz, at any time.
« Last Edit: June 20, 2018, 12:18:48 pm by plugsnpixels »
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Bart_van_der_Wolf

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Re: AI Clear - New Noise Reduction Tool by Topaz
« Reply #4 on: June 19, 2018, 09:19:36 pm »

Topaz is offering no coupon for AI Clear, but you can use code "plugsnpixels" for 15% off this release or anything else from Topaz, at any time.

And, in addition, it's free to try it for 30 days.

Good to know that there actually is a discount for early adopters, the lack of which seemed like a deviation from earlier practices. In addition, it may be useful to stipulate that updates AND upgrades are free for life. I've been able to version UPGRADE for all my earlier investments in Topaz Labs software.

Cheers,
Bart
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Rajan Parrikar

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Re: AI Clear - New Noise Reduction Tool by Topaz
« Reply #5 on: June 20, 2018, 11:16:32 am »

Thanks, Bart. I’m going to do the free trial.

mshea

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Re: AI Clear - New Noise Reduction Tool by Topaz
« Reply #6 on: June 20, 2018, 02:48:51 pm »

It looks like the only way you can get the AI Clear 30-day free trial is to install Topaz Studio (which I already have).  :(

Merrill
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plugsnpixels

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Re: AI Clear - New Noise Reduction Tool by Topaz
« Reply #7 on: June 20, 2018, 02:53:42 pm »

Merrill, let me ask them about that.
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Bart_van_der_Wolf

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Re: AI Clear - New Noise Reduction Tool by Topaz
« Reply #8 on: June 20, 2018, 03:13:59 pm »

It looks like the only way you can get the AI Clear 30-day free trial is to install Topaz Studio (which I already have).  :(

Hi Merrill,

When you already have the latest version (1.11.4 as of this writing) of Studio installed, you can just go and add an adjustment to an image, where you can select AI Clear and then PRO to activate the 30 day demo.

https://help.topazlabs.com/hc/en-us/articles/360003861391-AI-Clear

Cheers,
Bart
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plugsnpixels

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Re: AI Clear - New Noise Reduction Tool by Topaz
« Reply #9 on: June 20, 2018, 03:24:06 pm »

Thanks Bart, Topaz also replied to me: "AI clear is a pro adjustment within Topaz Studio. You have to have Topaz Studio installed in order to have access to any of the pro adjustments that are part of it"

So Merrill should be ready to go.
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Rajan Parrikar

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Re: AI Clear - New Noise Reduction Tool by Topaz
« Reply #10 on: June 21, 2018, 01:10:07 pm »

Hi Merrill,

When you already have the latest version (1.11.4 as of this writing) of Studio installed, you can just go and add an adjustment to an image, where you can select AI Clear and then PRO to activate the 30 day demo.

https://help.topazlabs.com/hc/en-us/articles/360003861391-AI-Clear

Cheers,
Bart


Bart,

The way Topaz Studio installs is there's a Topaz Studio-->Topaz Studio tree to get to AI Clear (I don't see any Pro tab). Why do I have to go one level down once again into "Topaz Studio"? Also, as you can see from the attached screen grab some plugins remain outside "Topaz Studio."


mshea

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Re: AI Clear - New Noise Reduction Tool by Topaz
« Reply #11 on: June 21, 2018, 01:25:20 pm »

I figured it out. Open Topaz Studio and click on the blue Adjustments tab. Scroll down the list till you see AI Clear. That's where the free 30 day trial option is offered. Don't open Shop Pro Adjustments at the bottom of the list; the AI Clear free trial isn't available there.

Merrill
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Bart_van_der_Wolf

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Re: AI Clear - New Noise Reduction Tool by Topaz
« Reply #12 on: June 21, 2018, 01:55:39 pm »

I figured it out. Open Topaz Studio and click on the blue Adjustments tab. Scroll down the list till you see AI Clear. That's where the free 30 day trial option is offered. Don't open Shop Pro Adjustments at the bottom of the list; the AI Clear free trial isn't available there.

Correct, just add the adjustment with the Blue Adjustment button. At the bottom of the AI Clear adjustment tool itself, one can activate the trial period, or go on to purchase it.

Cheers,
Bart
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churly

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Re: AI Clear - New Noise Reduction Tool by Topaz
« Reply #13 on: June 28, 2018, 01:31:57 pm »

Does anyone have any thoughts about AI Clear after having given it a trial?  I've tried it on a couple of quite noisy images with mixed success.  I've had more luck with a gentle application of denoise6 and then a followup with AI Clear.

Chuck
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Chuck Hurich

Arlen

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Re: AI Clear - New Noise Reduction Tool by Topaz
« Reply #14 on: June 28, 2018, 09:35:23 pm »

I've been trying it on a number of images and so far it seems to do a pretty good job; marginally better on some images compared to other methods, and marginally worse on other images. Again so far, it seems to do better on images at ISO 800 or less, and struggled more to keep up on an ISO 3200 image. However, as Bart noted, on the images where it is doing a good job, it achieves the results much more quickly than fiddling with the optimization of both noise reduction and sharpening separately. (On images where noise is a particular concern, I usually use either Topaz Infocus or Nik Dfine together with Focus Magic for sharpening.) It also seems to automatically recognize which areas of an image lack much detail and applies more noise reduction there. More testing to do, but I'm thinking it may have a place in my arsenal.
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plugsnpixels

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Re: AI Clear - New Noise Reduction Tool by Topaz
« Reply #15 on: June 28, 2018, 10:07:15 pm »

Here's a quickie sample of AI Clear using an image by a friend shot at ISO 12800, screenshots at 100%, along with the various AI Clear settings I tried (note the full image scale in the navigation pane).

I'll have to dig up some less extreme examples from my own shots and try them.
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Arlen

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Re: AI Clear - New Noise Reduction Tool by Topaz
« Reply #16 on: June 28, 2018, 10:17:15 pm »

There is a discussion of AI Clear on the Topaz Discussion Forums where the moderator is providing feedback to problems/questions.
http://discuss.topazlabs.com/t/ai-clear-trial-discussion/6415
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Arlen

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Re: AI Clear - New Noise Reduction Tool by Topaz
« Reply #17 on: June 28, 2018, 10:25:41 pm »

Bart, could you clarify what you mean by "And as a non-destructive adjustment" in this case?

Edit:  never mind, I see now that you probably mean non-destructive within Studio, whereas I was thinking about what happens when you save it to a layer in PS.
« Last Edit: June 30, 2018, 06:29:18 pm by Arlen »
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donbga

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Re: AI Clear - New Noise Reduction Tool by Topaz
« Reply #18 on: June 28, 2018, 10:38:43 pm »

I'm always intrigued by noise reduction software and I've not tried the new Topaz product but for my money Noiseware and the old Noise Ninja (now evolved into Photo Ninja) have consistently produced the most effect noise reduction for me.

It will be interesting to see how it sizes up but IMO there are limits to trying or buying the next best thing. Not knocking anything but one just gets over whelmed with so many choices.

Don Bryant
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plugsnpixels

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Re: AI Clear - New Noise Reduction Tool by Topaz
« Reply #19 on: July 02, 2018, 12:31:29 pm »

I posted some examples of AI Clear on my blog today.
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