Sharpen AI by Topaz

[hubell]

I agree.  It took 10 -5 minutes to process one image,

In addition, I did some simple High Pass sharpening on a couple of images  and compared it to Sharpen Ai results and found the simpler High pass method to give similar results with fraction of the effort.

On the other hand, iused Sharpen AI on some Iphone images taken in relativley low light using the "Stabilize" option.  these images took several minutes to run but the result were pretty nice

MDIJB

Perhaps Sharpen AI only excels compared to other options such as Focus Magic when you are sharpening lower quality images, or images that are degraded from camera or subject movement. That is consistent with my experience with Gigapixel AI when I compared it to Photoshop's own Preserve Details option with high resolution files.

[stockjock]

Hi,

I wonder if Sharpen AI creates the ringing (which is unlikely), or whether it just amplifies what is already there ...

Cheers,
Bart

This is a crop of the file that I ran through Topaz Sharpen AI in Stabilize mode at 60.  The starting file had been put through Adobe Enhanced Details but had all other sharpening turned off.  I did try the same file without Enhanced Details and it made no difference to the output from Topaz Sharpen AI that I could see and both had this haloing.

Even if you apply quite a bit of sharpening in LR to the starting file you won't find similar halos although lots of other artifacts show up that are absent in Topaz Sharpen AI.

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

Perhaps Sharpen AI only excels compared to other options such as Focus Magic when you are sharpening lower quality images, or images that are degraded from camera or subject movement.

I disagree. 'Sharpen AI' also does a great job on high-quality images, but there may be less to gain. I think that a lot of people still do not have a firm grasp of what 'Capture sharpening' is supposed to do. It is not the last step, it is one first step in the entire sharpening process.

That is consistent with my experience with Gigapixel AI when I compared it to Photoshop's own Preserve Details option with high resolution files.

Wait till you see the next version of Gigapixel AI (a free upgrade, as usual). The current beta cycle appears to be coming to a close, and a much-improved version is about to go into public release when some of the final wrinkles for this round of improvements have been ironed out. This is not a finished product yet, I expect more improvements will be made, and bugs will be squashed ...

Cheers,
Bart

[hubell]

I disagree. 'Sharpen AI' also does a great job on high-quality images, but there may be less to gain. I think that a lot of people still do not have a firm grasp of what 'Capture sharpening' is supposed to do. It is not the last step, it is one first step in the entire sharpening process.

Cheers,
Bart

Thanks. I have a very good understanding of when and how Capture Sharpening should be applied to files, and I have been using Focus Magic for that purpose for over 12 years. I have always evaluated my Capture Sharpening settings with FM at 100%. I always start by exporting a TIFF from the raw converter to Photoshop with all sharpening turned off in the raw converter. That’s what i did when I compared Sharpen AI to FM on several high resolution image files. As I noted, the FM sharpened files looked just a little bit better than the Sharpen AI files, plus FM is way faster and produces fewer if any artifacts.

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

Thanks. I have a very good understanding of when and how Capture Sharpening should be applied to files, and I have been using Focus Magic for that purpose for over 12 years. I have always evaluated my Capture Sharpening settings with FM at 100%. I always start by exporting a TIFF from the raw converter to Photoshop with all sharpening turned off in the raw converter.

Yes, that's a similar approach to mine. The images that we start with are essentially undersampled in several ways, so we have to be very careful when we attempt to restore full 'per-pixel' resolution. Especially when the camera is not properly low-pass filtered, we already have aliasing artifacts baked into the image. Subsequent sharpening will not only restore capture-process blur, but also amplify aliasing artifacts and noise.

That’s what i did when I compared Sharpen AI to FM on several high resolution image files. As I noted, the FM sharpened files looked just a little bit better than the Sharpen AI files, plus FM is way faster and produces fewer if any artifacts.

Yes, that's, of course, possible depending on the image content and the Raw converter used. But there is no reason for 'Sharpen AI' to add ringing where there is none in the source image. There might be a 1 pixel kind of halo, which is not really a halo but a trade-off way to restore the actual edge resolution. In such cases it can help to reduce the amount of SAI's blur correction or even increase the noise reduction a bit.

Although this is a thread about Sharpen AI, another approach worth mentioning is the creation of a larger file with more resolution from one's source image, and then down-sample that. That allows to address the undersampled nature of our captures, and at a larger size we can more easily retouch any problems that are now more easy to see. For that purpose Gigapixel AI shows a lot of potential, especially since version 4 which offers control over the amount of sharpening.

Cheers,
Bart

[julianv]

I was intrigued by Bart's comment that the "ringing" artifact might be present in an unsharpened file, and then intensified by Topaz Sharpen AI. So I downloaded the unsharpened image that Stockjock posted yesterday. I opened it in Photoshop CS6, displayed at 200%, and viewed each channel separately.  The "ringing" is faintly visible in the blue channel, most obvious on the right side of the tall black building.  I wonder what causes this?

Bart was right - the Stabilize mode in Sharpen AI is simply detecting and amplifying detail that is present in the file. Apparently, other sharpening methods are not as sensitive to this detail.

If you like the intense sharpening performed by Stabilize mode, it might be possible to create a Photoshop action that masks out this type of artifact.  Perhaps something involving edge detection on the blue channel of the sharpening layer.  But I don't have time to pursue it myself this week.

[MichaelEzra]

Here is another example of the Sharpen AI magic with version 1.1.2

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

Here is another example of the Sharpen AI magic with version 1.1.2

It's like magic indeed.

Cheers,
Bart

[JaapD]

Here is another example of the Sharpen AI magic with version 1.1.2

Great results, absolutely! I'm wondering how this compares to Focus Magic......

Regards,
Jaap

[hubell]

Great results, absolutely! I'm wondering how this compares to Focus Magic......

Regards,
Jaap

Fair question. Focus Magic has two algorithms, one for focus blur and another for motion blur. I only use the former, as that is the one designed for photographs that are basically sharp. The algorithm for motion blur requires judgment/experimentation with the settings. Sharpen AI in Stabilize Mode may be easier to use in theory but the amount of time required to experiment with different settings would  seriously compromise its utility.

[Jack Hogan]

I was intrigued by Bart's comment that the "ringing" artifact might be present in an unsharpened file, and then intensified by Topaz Sharpen AI. So I downloaded the unsharpened image that Stockjock posted yesterday. I opened it in Photoshop CS6, displayed at 200%, and viewed each channel separately.  The "ringing" is faintly visible in the blue channel, most obvious on the right side of the tall black building.  I wonder what causes this?

Is that a raw file?  If so there should be no ringing at all.  If not then it's probably introduced by whatever processing was applied.  For instance the version of ACR/LR I have 'sharpens' raw images even when all relative sliders are zeroed.

[bluloo]

Here is another example of the Sharpen AI magic with version 1.1.2

Did you save the .tiff image,  and then re-import and apply the second sharpening process in Sharpen AI?

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

Did you save the .tiff image,  and then re-import and apply the second sharpening process in Sharpen AI?

Currently, that's the only way to cascade sharpening runs.

Maybe in the future Topaz can add an "Apply" button, like they have in many plugins, that sets the current settings as the baseline for further changes. I'm not sure if there is a technical reason why they don't offer that yet, but it could be useful, as Michael's example shows.

Of course, there are more feature requests one can think of, like creating a Sharpening layer with a mask that allows to selectively disable/reduce the sharpening to certain regions (especially helpful when using the "Focus" models), or even change blending modes.

Cheers,
Bart

[MichaelEzra]

I suppose the slow runtime is the reason there is no "Apply" button.

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

I suppose the slow runtime is the reason there is no "Apply" button.

Yes, that's probably why. Another one could be that it would temporarily double the memory requirements, unless it can be applied in blocks of, say, 256x256 pixels. But it would be nice to have the option (one is not forced to use it ).

Cheers,
Bart

[bobfriedman]

Version 1.1.2 still strips off EXIF......

[Rajan Parrikar]

The latest update today seems to have speeded up processing (relatively speaking). Also, the program does not commandeer resources as much - you can work on other apps while it is running.

[bluloo]

The latest update today seems to have speeded up processing (relatively speaking). Also, the program does not commandeer resources as much - you can work on other apps while it is running.

Just ran a test using the latest update. It's definitely improved, but it still renders the computer unusably slow - forget bout typing anything.
Still, a step in the right direction.

[hubell]

Even if AI Sharpen is speeded up, the fundamental problem is that it is still too slow if you factor in the need to experiment with different settings in the software on an image by image basis. I can wait 5 minutes for the program to apply the desired settings. I can't wait 5 minutes to experiment with various settings in each of the three modules. Using Focus Magic on high res files of 40-80 MP, I almost always use the same radius and amount settings in FM (2 and 100%). If anyone has worked out somewhat "standardized" settings for the various modules in AI Sharpen for high res files, I would love to hear about them. Perhaps AI Sharpen doesn't lend itself to "standardized" settings so well.

[brandon]

Even if AI Sharpen is speeded up, the fundamental problem is that it is still too slow if you factor in the need to experiment with different settings in the software on an image by image basis. I can wait 5 minutes for the program to apply the desired settings. I can't wait 5 minutes to experiment with various settings in each of the three modules. Using Focus Magic on high res files of 40-80 MP, I almost always use the same radius and amount settings in FM (2 and 100%). If anyone has worked out somewhat "standardized" settings for the various modules in AI Sharpen for high res files, I would love to hear about them. Perhaps AI Sharpen doesn't lend itself to "standardized" settings so well.

I understand the slow time to render the settings. What Ive noticed (and you may have to) is that if you dont move the preview pane at all, each of your different settings (eg from mode to mode or settings within the mode) are able to be toggled once you have rendered them once for that image. I find it helpful to compare the three modes, and then for my preferred mode to try different strength and blur reduction settings etc. One move of the pane and its back to rendering each one again. Adding grain is real time.
The preview is rather shorter on my machine (MacPro 2009, with GPU below Topaz specs) but sure the final rendering is slow.
That said Im finding that some images on small sensor cameras I used for "street shooting" in an African country some years ago are now much better on screen and revitalising my interest to print some, including those I downrated due to blur/movement artifact.
Regards
Brandon