Topaz AI Issues

[Abinoone]

As part of my normal post-production workflow, I frequently use Topaz DeNoise and/or Topaz Sharpen to clean up images a bit. In general, I’ve been very pleased with the products, except for the occasional small artifacts left by Sharpen. One issue that I consistently do have however is related to invoking Topaz plugins from within Photoshop (Filter->Topaz Sharpen for example), which is typically how I use these products. Sometimes they work perfectly fine and the Topaz application starts and runs as expected, but sometimes the application will not start - the little Topaz popup window shows, but nothing happens thereafter. I’ve contacted Topaz support about this and they tell me that it’s my system, not their applications. I find this hard to believe because I have a fairly robust computer, and don’t have similar problems with any other plugin. Does anyone have issues with Topaz?

 

[JAJohnson]

For me, the Topaz AI plugins for LrC and PS work fine. I’ve not had a problem with them as you described. I use Topaz Sharpen on occasion but usually standalone.

I use a MacBook Pro with the latest MacOS and app updates applied.

 

[John Woodworth]

Don't know how useful this is, but I use DeNoise and Sharpen regularly and have never had this problem Using Windoze 11. Use both from LRc and stand-alone.

 

[bsinc1962]

On a couple of occasions I've had to update the video drivers on the laptop. So maybe yours need updating or possibly they auto updated and need to be reverted back to the previous version.

The only times I've had issues with Topaz it's always been related to the video card.

 

[Ben C]

I’ve had an issue on my M2 MacBook Pro when invoking PhotoAI from Photoshop. The program does start, but the window just doesn’t pop forward. I have to click on the PhotoAI icon on my taskbar to see it. Have you checked to see if that’s what‘s happening - it can be hard to tell on a Mac since the icon is always in the taskbar and you may not notice the dot next to it.

 

[CoyoteCreationsNW]

I use Topaz software as a PS plug-in on a Windows 11 based system. Yes I have this issue. Not every time but often enough to be annoying. I open task manager and kill the process. Call the plug-in again and it usuallly opens without a problem. Most;ly use Denoise. More rarely Sharpen.

 

[DavidT]

I have had this happen and have had to uninstall and reinstall. Their new combo app will not work on my iMac for some reason but the stand-alone will. Doesn't break my heart because when it did work it was junk.

 

[Larry Shuman]

When I use Topaz Sharpen AI on a image I then apply Topaz Denoise AI to clean up any artifacts from Sharpen AI.

 

[Ben C]

I have had this happen and have had to uninstall and reinstall. Their new combo app will not work on my iMac for some reason but the stand-alone will. Doesn't break my heart because when it did work it was junk.

IMO PhotoAI has now surpassed the standalone apps. I didn’t like it at first because I felt like I had less control and the models worked better on the standalone apps. But they stopped doing any updates to those standalone apps about a year ago and they have been updating PhotoAI almost weekly, including a few major updates and a LOT of improvements to the models. Still takes some tweaking but they have given much more control back from the autopilot and I find that it works extremely well now. Not perfect, but really good, and much less artifacting than I used to get with Sharpen. You might want to give it another look.

 

[Mal Paso]

I’ve had an issue on my M2 MacBook Pro when invoking PhotoAI from Photoshop. The program does start, but the window just doesn’t pop forward. I have to click on the PhotoAI icon on my taskbar to see it. Have you checked to see if that’s what‘s happening - it can be hard to tell on a Mac since the icon is always in the taskbar and you may not notice the dot next to it.

Photo AI is a standalone product that does the masking for you. I don't see the advantage of using it with Photoshop like Denoise, Sharpen and Gigapixel.

 

[Warren D]

I get warnings that there are missing files on every start up. I click them both off and the program runs fine after that. Topaz seems to have some bugs from time to time, I stopped updating when they started charging extra for the updates.

 

[MartyD]

I would certainly look into Photo AI if you use DeNoise and Sharpen. It has matured a lot since it's first release. If you use DeNoise and Sharpen then Photo AI can perform both tasks, and it appears like it processes noise first and then sharpens in a second pass. The advantage is that the preview generated shows the results of the Denoise and Sharpen sliders. You do have to spend a little time setting the preferences and adjusting sliders but I have been pleased with the results. I think the newest version of DeNoise is 3.7.2 which is probably a year old and I think they have stopped updating it. It doesn't handle newer High Efficiency RAW files, and it may have issues with Photoshop and Lightroom Classic as they get upgraded.

 

[Whiskeyman]

... Does anyone have issues with Topaz?

I did earlier this week. I finally updated my OS, completely shut down and restarted LRC. Afterwards, I had a pop up window that let me know that I had a catalog corruption issue, and was offered an automated remedy for the issue. After I ran the routines that LRC opted to run, it has been working well.

Good luck getting this fixed!

 

[Tom Reynolds]

I use Topaz Photo AI. No issues as a PS add on.

 

[Griffym]

Lots of potential factors. Which OS.? What else is open? How much ram? It could be a cache issue - restart zap the parameter RAM used to be a solution to random unexplained behaviour(Mac OS). Are you using the GPU processing option in preferences/settings? I sometimes open the relevant stand alone app before I attempt to use the plug in. Sometimes it seems to work better. Uninstall the plug in, reinstall the plug in.
I agree Topaz can be hit and miss. I find different images need different sharpening settings and keep winding it back to the one where things, especially the eye, are improved but there are NO artifacts in feather or other textured areas. In Topaz less sharpness adjustment is better, if there are artifacts anywhere it is too much sharpening .

 

[seh]

I use Topaz Photo AI. No issues as a PS add on.

I use Topaz Denoise some. It takes 1/10 the time on my mini desktop with integratred graphic compared to LRC denoise. So I'm considering a desktop upgrage with high end Gpu, in prt because we can expect greater demands on GpU in tht future.

 

[Tom Reynolds]

So I'm considering a desktop upgrage with high end Gpu, in prt because we can expect greater demands on GpU in tht future.

I have an I9 processor and a high speed solid state drive plus a graphic accelerator and I'd still like more bandwidth. My I7 based, SSD laptops are too slow for me so I no longer do anything significant on the road.

 

[SHC]

I agree with others who point to the significant improvements that have occurred with Photo AI; for me, it was unusable when it first came out. Now, most of the time, it is giving me better results than DeNoise and Sharpen used separately (or DxO's noise reduction).

However, I have been working for several weeks with Topaz's tech support. When I send an image from Lightroom Classic to Photo AI and create a .dng file, it looks fine when imported back into LR. However, if I then export to .jpg, significant portions of the metadata don't show up in any photo apps. I've tried this with RAW files from a range of cameras, and it only occurs with those from my Z8. Is anybody else seeing this with Z8 files? My workaround is to open the .dng and the .NEF as layers in Photoshop, and to then export a .jpg. Obviously, this is not ideal in the long run, and I'm hoping Topaz will solve the issue as I now find Photo AI to be very useful.

 

[TJ McG]

I have pretty much abandoned the Denoise, Sharpen and Gigapixel apps for Photo AI, which seems to do an adequate job in most cases, especially if all you need is a tweak. The former apps haven't been updated in a long time, and never performed very well anyway, in my opinion. Too many artifacts, distortions of features, and AI-looking plastic-ness.

As for using Photo AI from Photoshop, it always works as intended, with no problems opening. I use Windows 11, have an I9 processor and a 10 GB GPU, so that may help with its performance.

 

[Neil H.]

As part of my normal post-production workflow, I frequently use Topaz DeNoise and/or Topaz Sharpen to clean up images a bit. In general, I’ve been very pleased with the products, except for the occasional small artifacts left by Sharpen. One issue that I consistently do have however is related to invoking Topaz plugins from within Photoshop (Filter->Topaz Sharpen for example), which is typically how I use these products. Sometimes they work perfectly fine and the Topaz application starts and runs as expected, but sometimes the application will not start - the little Topaz popup window shows, but nothing happens thereafter. I’ve contacted Topaz support about this and they tell me that it’s my system, not their applications. I find this hard to believe because I have a fairly robust computer, and don’t have similar problems with any other plugin. Does anyone have issues with Topaz?

If you have a Mac and have the Topaz icon in the dock try clicking the icon. Happened to me a few times. It looked like the plug-in was working but then nothing. When I clicked the icon there it was with my image loaded ??? Has not done that for a while though. May be a bug in an earlier version.

 

[Tom Reynolds]

My system: Topaz version 2.1.2 for Windows 10 Home, Intel I9 9900K, 32gb Ram, 1GB SSD, Photoshop ver. 25.1

I find that this combo works very well. Even the "adjust color" and "adjust lighting" beta modules sometimes improve an image. This is typically all I need for most photos.

Tom

 

[Craig McGowan]

As part of my normal post-production workflow, I frequently use Topaz DeNoise and/or Topaz Sharpen to clean up images a bit. In general, I’ve been very pleased with the products, except for the occasional small artifacts left by Sharpen. One issue that I consistently do have however is related to invoking Topaz plugins from within Photoshop (Filter->Topaz Sharpen for example), which is typically how I use these products. Sometimes they work perfectly fine and the Topaz application starts and runs as expected, but sometimes the application will not start - the little Topaz popup window shows, but nothing happens thereafter. I’ve contacted Topaz support about this and they tell me that it’s my system, not their applications. I find this hard to believe because I have a fairly robust computer, and don’t have similar problems with any other plugin. Does anyone have issues with Topaz?

I use Photoshop and DeNoise as a plugin on my Windows 11 desktop PC and have not encountered the issue you've described.

 

[soundbyte]

My most used option in Topaz Photo AI has been "Upscale" at x1 setting, most times it needs no other settings changed to get good results.
I may occasionally use extra denoise and/or sharpen if I feel it is needed.
I find for my use this is better than the Autopilot settings for denoise and sharpen which most times need various tweaks to achieve reasonable results for my liking.

My main concern is with the automatic selection of the subject/s, it is not very reliable.
I have to check each image loaded to ensure the subject is suitably selected, the need for checking is a nuisance if you have a few images let alone 10 or more!
An example of the issue.

You can only see EXIF info for this image if you are logged in.

 

[Griffym]

I have never found any program that does auto masking well. They only do it well in fairly easy circumstances. If you find a program that does auto-masking really well, let me know. I rarely use masking unless I have a very specific project in mind.

 

[bleirer]

The problem is the software can't read our minds. It just follows it's algorithm to seek edges or detect color or contrast patterns and does it very well. It can't know if we do or dont want to include the darker part of the head or not include the similar brush, until we tell it. It's up to us to start with the auto then use the add or subtract tools to refine the selection. Photoshop is great at this especially with the cloud option of some of the selection tools and the select and mask module, but Lightroom is also very good when you combine the auto with the add and subtract options and sometimes the manual brush.