Topaz A.I. Gigapixel

[rpcrowe]

I realize that this would probably only come into its own if you were intending to make large prints but, I wonder: 1. if it delivers what it says it will and 2. if there might be any uses except for making large prints?

https://topazlabs.com/ai-gigapixel/ref/81/

It seems to me offhand that this might be useful (if the output quality is as good as touted) in at least three scenarios:

1. wildlife photography - especially BIF images
2. macro photography
3. improving the crappy tiny images that many of our volunteers submit in their photos of the dogs that they are fostering

I am going for the FREE TRIAL - after all, nothing ventured - nothing gained

If this is REAL, wouldn't it be a benefit to photographers who shoot with smaller sensors

[russellsnr]

Hi, I use Qimage Ultimate for all printing, do I do a lot? No but when I want to it makes printing so easy along with what Qimage calls Fusion Interpolation (http://www.ddisoftware.com/qimage-u/tech-fus.htm). Not a tech minded person but this AI seems to be cropping up in more new softwares but like most new offerings from developers it is to start with IMO a fad and when the smoke settles you will see what Topaz is offering become a standard like there AI clear and AI ReMix. Luminar's Accent AI (https://skylum.com/luminar) ON1 Resize 2018 (https://www.on1.com/products/resize/) was Genuine Fractals® technology but again bet your bottom dollar soon will come an upgrade with the letters AI at the front. Also and again JMO the cost at $99.99 (always amazes me why they don't just make it $100 just think of the weight of all those 1 cent coins in your pocket) Still be interested in your views on Topaz AI but for me Qimage is the go to. Cheers, Russ.

[Stagecoach]

Just after having read Richards post this afternoon I came across some images on a rusty old flash drive that I was checking before throwing out and found what I considered a good test.

The image was a scan one of my sisters had given me of my parents at their wedding so I decided to see if it would be possible to get it to a size where it could be printed at 10 x 8", and also see what this AI would do with it. I also compared the result with what simple upsizing would achieve in PS.

So the results;

No 1 The orig small BMP image coverted to JPEG


No 2 Gigapixel AI Enhance at work


No 3


No 4


I have no experience of 'upsizing' but I can certainly see a difference between the Gigapixel Enhanced and unenhanced output and the basic one I did in PS. The results would of course benefit from a bit more basic improvement.

Grahame

[russellsnr]

Maybe woth having a look https://blog.topazlabs.com/webinars/

Russ.

[plugsnpixels]

For anybody interested in Gigapixel after the free trial, there is an unadvertised discount.

[photographyaxis]

I realize that this would probably only come into its own if you were intending to make large prints but, I wonder: 1. if it delivers what it says it will and 2. if there might be any uses except for making large prints?

https://topazlabs.com/ai-gigapixel/ref/81/

It seems to me offhand that this might be useful (if the output quality is as good as touted) in at least three scenarios:

1. wildlife photography - especially BIF images
2. macro photography
3. improving the crappy tiny images that many of our volunteers submit in their photos of the dogs that they are fostering

I am going for the FREE TRIAL - after all, nothing ventured - nothing gained

If this is REAL, wouldn't it be a benefit to photographers who shoot with smaller sensors

I have tried out the 30 day trial version of Ai Gigapixel and the results are quite good. It allows upto 6x magnification, without losing any image quality. Usually when I do the same thing with photoshop, there is some degradation in picture quality. I think the AI algorithms in this software does a good job of handling the details along with the noise factor.

My review on Topaz AI Gigapixel

[stevejayd]

It is great software. You need a good graphics card with at least 4 gun of ram.
I have a question. Has anyone used spyder print to profile papers?
The eyephoto pro is too expensive for me.

[Manfred M]

Just a bit of time to refresh this thread with a bit of testing I did using Topaz's AI GigaPixel software.

I did this work in response to an assignment I'm working on in my printing course. We were asked to take one of our images and rework it so that the largest dimension is 60" / 1.54m to make a large print. In order to maximize quality I used a 3-image stitch with the camera in portrait orientation, so it is closer to what a medium format camera would produce. I'm working at 360 PPI which works well with Epson's printers that output at 360 DPI.

This is the image I am using:




I then tried three different methods of upsizing. The images I'm showing are ~ 100% (full size) crops at the 60" / 154cm image size. I shot these images on my heavy duty tripod with large RRS ball head. I used mirror lockup mode and used a remote shutter release to ensure minimal camera movement. I hung approximately a 10 kg / 22 lb weight on the tripod for additional stability.


1. Photoshop CC 2019 @ 100%






2. Photoshop + USM with settings of Amount = 80, Radius = 0.9 and Threshold =0 @ 100%






3. Topaz AI GigaPixel at 100%




Bottom line is that there really is no significant difference in image quality between the resizing the Topaz product created versus what Photoshop CC 2019 produces. The AI Gigapixel was VERY slow in working an image this size and crashed several times. I am using a late model computer with a mid-range Intel i7 processor (4 core, 8 threads) with 32 GB RAM.

Bottom line: I would not recommend purchasing AI Gigapixel. It offers no advantage over the Photoshop CS2019 upsizing algorithms. Downsides are the cost, lack of stability and lack image quality improvement versus the Photoshop baseline.