Topic: Topaz AI Clear adjustment update (>3x faster) (Read 9354 times)

Rhossydd · « **Reply #20 on:** October 24, 2018, 06:01:27 pm »

Quote from: plugsnpixels on October 24, 2018, 05:53:09 pm

That was a quickie;

I'd suggest detailing the differences between each side as a first step. What raw conversion process has been used and at what settings. Then any influence of AIC can be more easily understood.
In my tests, detailed in a different thread, I found that AIC offered little benefit above good and appropriate processing in LR or CO.

plugsnpixels · « **Reply #21 on:** October 24, 2018, 06:06:37 pm »

Good point. That wasn't meant to be a true test, I was just checking for kirkt to make sure TS didn't crash ;-)

Zen8 · « **Reply #22 on:** October 24, 2018, 06:37:38 pm »

Quote from: plugsnpixels on October 24, 2018, 05:39:07 pm

OK thanks. Please clarify the "back as a TIFF and export using LR" part. Are you doing further treatment to the results you are getting from the non-LR apps? Or could you just stop the workflow with the TIFF from the other apps?

You can only send a file to Topaz as a TIFF, PSD or Jpeg. Since it goes to LR as a TIFF when you press Save (bottom right hand corner) it comes back as a TIFF. Actually the TIFF in LR is created immediately as soon as you send it. Typically I don't anymore editing back in LR. I do all my editing before sending it to Topaz. No I'd prefer to continue to use LR.

plugsnpixels · « **Reply #23 on:** October 24, 2018, 07:18:22 pm »

"You can only send a file to Topaz as a TIFF, PSD or Jpeg".
Topaz Studio imports RAW as well.

"Since it goes to LR as a TIFF when you press Save (bottom right hand corner)..."
When you press the Save icon (lower right) in TS it saves/overwrites to the original location, nothing to do with LR as far as I can tell.

"it comes back as a TIFF."
Back from where? Do you mean "is saved as"?

Other than that I really can't follow your description. I'm not sure what "send it" means (export from TS? import into LR?). You say you don't edit any more back in LR but you prefer to use LR (?).

I'm trying to figure this out really ;-)

Zen8 · « **Reply #24 on:** October 24, 2018, 08:33:38 pm »

Quote from: plugsnpixels on October 24, 2018, 07:18:22 pm

"You can only send a file to Topaz as a TIFF, PSD or Jpeg".
Topaz Studio imports RAW as well.

"Since it goes to LR as a TIFF when you press Save (bottom right hand corner)..."
When you press the Save icon (lower right) in TS it saves/overwrites to the original location, nothing to do with LR as far as I can tell.

"it comes back as a TIFF."
Back from where? Do you mean "is saved as"?

Other than that I really can't follow your description. I'm not sure what "send it" means (export from TS? import into LR?). You say you don't edit any more back in LR but you prefer to use LR (?).

I'm trying to figure this out really ;-)

NP. My apologies that I'm not explaining it well. I keep forgetting you don't use LR so I'm not putting in much effort.

LR is main software. I don't plan to import RAW into Topaz. I'm using it as a plug-in. That will rename.

When you send (using the Edit in Topaz Studio command) a file from LR to Topaz, LR creates a TIFF immediately and places it beside the original CR2 - in LR. Topaz syncs to that TIFF in LR. A TIFF because that is the default. I can also choose DNG or Jpeg but that is not critical now. In Topaz there is a "Save" icon in the bottom right hand corner. Not Save As. When you are done with the edits and press "Save" it saves those changes to the TIFF file that is in LR - beside the original CR2.

What I have been saying is if you make any additional edits in Topaz and you press "Save" a second time, those edits do not not show in the filmstrip in LR, only when you export. So 3 months down the road you wouldn't know that there were additional edits applied.

Also if you want to start over by deleting the file in Topaz and sending that same file again from LR it won't open in Topaz.

In both cases I have to restart Topaz.

Zen8 · « **Reply #25 on:** October 24, 2018, 08:37:48 pm »

Hope I that is better. Trying to do this and watch a hockey game.

plugsnpixels · « **Reply #26 on:** October 24, 2018, 08:39:22 pm »

Yes, that was good! I was not thinking "inside LR".

And today I am trying to learn to use JAMF to manage computer labs. I think hockey would be more enjoyable ;-)

Zen8 · « **Reply #27 on:** October 24, 2018, 08:49:43 pm »

Quote from: plugsnpixels on October 24, 2018, 08:39:22 pm

Yes, that was good! I was not thinking "inside LR".

And today I am trying to learn to use JAMF to manage computer labs. I think hockey would be more enjoyable ;-)

Most of the time. Not tonight. We are not doing well. Glad we aren't at that game.

kirkt · « **Reply #28 on:** October 25, 2018, 11:46:17 am »

As an update: I was contacted by Topaz support and told to download the Studio installer from the website and run it. Ok.

The first run uninstalled the existing, up-to-date version of Studio and then downloaded all of the components and started a fresh install - the fresh install locked up about 3/4 of the way through the process. I force quit it and restarted the installer and it successfully completed the fresh install and AI Clear no longer crashes Studio. I have no idea if they updated anything or if the "just hit CTRL-ALT-DEL and everything will work again" is the troubleshooting approach.

Brute force wins the day - I'm not impressed.

kirk

Zen8 · « **Reply #29 on:** October 25, 2018, 11:56:27 am »

Sorry for your troubles. Mine went smoothly. It should tell you if an update is required. The latest is 1. 12.6. You don't need to update AI Clear itself. It is part of the Studio update. They made some changes. If you see this you have the latest.

kirkt · « **Reply #30 on:** October 25, 2018, 01:00:05 pm »

Quote from: Zen8 on October 25, 2018, 11:56:27 am

Sorry for your troubles. Mine went smoothly. It should tell you if an update is required. The latest is 1. 12.6. You don't need to update AI Clear itself. It is part of the Studio update. They made some changes. If you see this you have the latest.

I updated Studio to 1.12.6 (the latest version) from within Studio before I purchased AI Clear. That is what set off the entire problem. I updated to the current version of Studio and AI Clear crashed it. Only on my MacPro that has 32GB of RAM and that has 2x AMD FirePro 500 video cards, each w 3GB or RAM - it did not cause a problem on my MacBook Pro laptop. Studio never had problems before on either machine when I demo'ed AI Clear previously, but I suspect that the new and improved AI Clear had some problems that are now hopefully fixed.

Whatever. It works now.

kirk

Wolfman · « **Reply #31 on:** October 25, 2018, 07:14:24 pm »

I have the latest update of A.I. Clear and I just tried it on a couple of images. It is doing something that bothers me.
Here are 2 comparisons with the original on the left & A.I. Clear on the right. It is changing some of the color, giving some areas a more green or cyanish tint.....is it trying to correct what it thinks should be color corrected. If that is the case I don't like that it does that. How can I keep the color of the original while enhancing sharpness & reducing noise?

smahn · « **Reply #32 on:** October 26, 2018, 04:24:08 am »

Quote from: Wolfman on October 25, 2018, 07:14:24 pm

How can I keep the color of the original while enhancing sharpness & reducing noise?

Use it on a duplicate layer set to luminosity blend mode.

Wolfman · « **Reply #33 on:** October 26, 2018, 12:24:10 pm »

Ok. now that I have given A.I. Clear a deeper look I see you can change the blend mode in the software......color shift problem solved...Luminosity
blend mode. I still wonder what's going on in regards to the color shift.

Zen8 · « **Reply #34 on:** October 26, 2018, 12:31:12 pm »

So is anyone seeing artifacts after exporting from Topaz. Save as or Save - back to LR. Topaz instructs to turn off all other NR before sending to a file to it. If you do that what are our results. It looks clean in Topaz.

Zen8 · « **Reply #35 on:** October 28, 2018, 03:00:12 pm »

About those bad artifacts. My iMac does not have enough VRAM to run AI Clear. Someone on the Topaz forum suggested to crop to about 2000 on the long side and try it. It worked. No artifacts. I guess I'll dust it off until I replace my iMac next year.

I have 512MB

https://help.topazlabs.com/hc/en-us/articles/115004759908-Topaz-Studio-Minimum-Requirements-and-Recommended-Hardware

plugsnpixels · « **Reply #36 on:** October 28, 2018, 03:47:13 pm »

Zen8, did you see my blog post about using Gigapixel on ancient hardware?

So it seems from your own experience Gigapixel will work up until a point with less VRAM. I will need to experiment on the 2008 MBP to see what that point is. Might take awhile ;-)

Zen8 · « **Reply #37 on:** October 28, 2018, 04:51:39 pm »

No I didn't. Interesting. I tried at 3,000 on the long side and it started to show. It is OK for low ISO if you some detail enhancement. Topaz suggests to turn all NR and Sharpening off. If you leave NR on only for example editing a file from LR it works better. Hard to tell what you are really getting.

kirkt · « **Reply #38 on:** October 29, 2018, 09:10:50 pm »

Quote from: Zen8 on October 28, 2018, 03:00:12 pm

About those bad artifacts. My iMac does not have enough VRAM to run AI Clear. Someone on the Topaz forum suggested to crop to about 2000 on the long side and try it. It worked. No artifacts. I guess I'll dust it off until I replace my iMac next year.

I have 512MB

https://help.topazlabs.com/hc/en-us/articles/115004759908-Topaz-Studio-Minimum-Requirements-and-Recommended-Hardware

My MacPro has 32GB of RAM and 2 video cards with 3GB of RAM each and I get artifacts with hi ISO images. Neither of these things is the cause. The artifacts show up at full res, but do not when I let AI Clear reduce the size of the image. Neat Image cleans up the full res image better than AI Clear and can be automated with a PS Action. Just a basic observation.

First Image - Before: Top (noisy image, in PS, 100% zoom) + Bottom (Screenshot of AI Clear preview);
Second Image - After: Top (in PS, 100% zoom, treated with AI Clear- note wormy white speckle artifacts) + Bottom (AI Clear preview). The AI Clear preview looks correct, but the processed image has artifacts not present in the preview.

This happens on my MacPro and my MacBook Pro with 16GB RAM and 2048 GB VRAM.

Kirk

plugsnpixels · « **Reply #39 on:** October 29, 2018, 11:16:03 pm »

Thanks kirkt, can you provide this or a similar image for me to play with?

Also, are you running Clear on the entire uncropped image, and if so, what is its full resolution?

Author Topic: Topaz AI Clear adjustment update (>3x faster) (Read 9354 times)