Blow Up 2 vs. Genuine Fractals 6

[cjmonty]

I haven't taken the time to do an "eyeball" test on various up-rezzer programs in a long time.  
I use and have always had faith in GenFractals software- but I know that software makers can leap-frog each other all the time.

For digital camera-captured images- does anyone have any insight on the smoothest, most detail-retaining enlarger program out there?

http://www.photographybay.com/2010/02/04/a...ow-up-2-review/

[digitaldog]

If they do, it would be darn useful if the also compared good ol’ Bicubic Smoother from Photoshop, then actually output the files to a decent printer (and maybe, I know for photographers, difficult), view at proper distance for the print size.

[Kirk Gittings]

view at proper distance for the print size.

proper distance hmmm...............I used to take a 4x loupe to Ansel Adams exhibits  

[nemophoto]

I own both programs. They are basically equal in abilities. I regularly use the to enlarge a clients images for 8 foot tall instore posters. On average, these are 1Ds3 images enlarged to 200% or more. (The printer takes it the rest of the way.) I did however, do an image years ago with the original 1D (4MP), with spectacular results. The client chose a shot for a poster that was originally going to be used for the web!

I find the edges and detail crisper than bicubic. The easiest thing is download the demo of both, take an image and enlarge it with all three (bicubic, GF and BlowUp), crop a section to fit on 8.5x11, and print each, looking at them at arms length and 5-feet. The other thing to keep in mind is view the enlarged image, onscreen, at only 50%. I find that gives a much more realistic view of what the final image (sharpening and all) looks like.

Nemo

[Kirk Gittings]

I regularly use GF for uprezzing files for magazines that want to do a radical crop of one of my images. Off hand I would say a 100% increase is for all practical purposes identical to the original file and certainly superior by my tests to anything PS has to offer.

I just wish they would get off their butts and offer the 64 bit upgrade. I am real tired of having to switch from PS 64 bit to PS 32 bit when I want to uprez an image. Ridiculous.

[dgberg]

Kirk,
I have PS4 and Genuine Fractals 6 and have never even seen any 32/64 bit issues. Where does this show up?

[Jeremy Payne]

From the GF website ...

The following products will support the 64-bit version of Photoshop CS4 (Vista and 7 only).

Plug-in Suite 5
Genuine Fractals 6.0.4 (Standard and Professional Edition)
PhotoTools 2.5 (Standard and Professional Edition)
PhotoFrame 4.5 (Standard and Professional Edition)
FocalPoint 2
PhotoTune 3

If you have older versions of the above plug-ins and a 64-bit computer and version of Windows you can still install and run the 32-bit and [...]

[tho_mas]

4 crops uprezzed 200% - bicubic - bicubic smoother - 2x Blow Up 2:
[attachment=20531:CF001801...ize_comp.jpg]

Settings for Blow Up 2:

Setting 1:
Sharpen Edges: 0
Add Grain: 0
Preserve Natural Texture: 100
Remove Compression Artifacts: 0
Sharpening for Output Device: off

Setting 2:
Sharpen Edges: 35
(rest as in setting 1)

Blow Up 2 is really powerful with regard to avoiding aliasing artifacts (stairs in diagonals): you can preserve details and texture whilst edges/lines still are interpolated without aliasing (even at high values like 400% or so).
It can help to avoid the overall artificial looking smearing effect of "S-Pline" on surfaces (as in Photozoom Pro and, AFAIK, Genuine Fractals).
This is also the case if you set "sharpen edges" to zero (which I prefer mostly).

It also depends on the image. Sometimes "bicubic smoother" will do it. Sometimes even "bicubic" looks more pleasant as it preserves more texture (at least it looks like preserving more texture as the interpolation is more coarse and for some images that's nice).
With Blow Up 2 you can achieve everything you can do with bicubic and bicubic smoother - but you also can do much more.
The anti aliasing in Blow Up 2 also works for downrezzing.

Blow Up 2 is my preferred uprezzing tool as it gives you a lot of control over the relation of texture/edges in the image.
If you finally sharpen the uprezzed images with masks (to smooth the sharpening on the edges) and add some fine grain you can get really good results.
I haven't tried Genuine Fractals for a while now. I always found the results were looking too artificial (much more than with Photozoom Pro… IMO), but maybe that changed in the current version.

[Jack Flesher]

If they do, it would be darn useful if the also compared good ol’ Bicubic Smoother from Photoshop, then actually output the files to a decent printer

+1...  

I find that if you start with an optimally processed and capture-sharpened file at native size, then in most cases using CS and going up to 120% desired output size via Bicubic smoother, then come back down to desired size via Bicubic Sharper, generates an excellent print file.  And I do that less and less frequently now as printing software is getting so good that using it's built-in sizing and sharpening settings produce very good results for most files.
YMMV...