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Sharpen AI was trained with millions of images so it could learn the characteristics of detail vs. noise - and then enhance just the detail. In some cases, it can even recover image detail.
Seamless integration
Works wherever you currently edit your photos. Use Sharpen AI either as a standalone software or as a plug-in for Topaz Studio / Photoshop / Lightroom Classic.
Constantly improving
Through continuous AI training, Sharpen AI's enhancement model becomes both faster and higher-quality with time. You’ll get the latest and greatest when the model improves.
Three kinds of sharpening for a perfect photo.
There’s nothing worse than the feeling of taking the perfect photo, rushing home, opening it up on your computer… and realizing that it’s blurry at 100%. When this happens, it’s usually caused by one of three problems: camera shake, focus issues, or general softness. Sharpen AI includes a separate module to handle each one.
Stabilize: natural shake reduction
Even the steadiest hands don't compare to a tripod when it comes to image sharpness. Unlike a tripod, though, you always have your hands with you! Sharpen AI's Stabilize module has been trained to reverse motion blur and make handheld images look like they were taken from a tripod.
Focus: better focus correction
Focus correction is a notoriously difficult problem that's easy to get wrong, but Sharpen AI's Focus module excels at correct up to ten pixels of focus blur. This is perfect for sharpening out-of-focus eyes or correct issues caused by incorrect in-camera focus. Tip: use selective adjustments for best results!
Sharpen: general input sharpening
Even with no motion blur or focus issues, images generally come out of the camera soft. Sharpen AI includes the Sharpen module that specializes in correcting small amounts of general softness without any artifacts or halos. It's the most natural-looking sharpening tool that you will ever use.
The perfect time to make images tack-sharp.
The need for sharpening is universal: most images come out a little soft straight out of the camera. Here’s just a handful of use cases in which we’ve seen exceptional results with Sharpen AI.
Animal Photography
You can pose people, but it’s much harder to ask animals to stay still! Use Sharpen AI’s Stabilize module to correct camera shake and the inevitable motion blur you get from fast-moving subjects. It’s also difficult to focus perfectly in these situations, so the Focus module will also be very useful. This applies to any photos with fast-moving subjects – not just animals! Adjust the slider to the left to see the difference at 100%, or click for a larger before/after.
Hand-held Landscapes
No matter how fast you set your shutter speed, you can’t shoot handheld landscapes as sharp as if you had a tripod. You don’t always have a tripod with you, though. Sometimes you don’t even have the luxury of using a fast shutter speed. Sharpen AI’s Stabilize module helps you get handheld images that look like they were taken from a tripod. This model was trained specifically to counteract motion blur caused by camera shake and can produce some pretty exceptional results in your photos.
Portrait Photography
Getting sharp portraits is essential. Using controlled lighting and tripods in a studio setting is a good way to do that, but you’re not always in a studio. Use Sharpen AI when the otherwise perfect portrait has slightly out-of-focus eyes or camera shake.
A new approach to sharpening.
We believe that better technology enables you to produce better art. The photos that thousands of other photographers have created with AI technology have been astounding, and we can’t wait to see what you create. Here’s how it works.
What does sharpness look like? (Training)
The first step of the machine learning process is to teach the software what sharpness is. We do this by feeding millions of blurred/sharp image pairs into the software and asking it to learn the characteristics of what makes an image sharp.
How to achieve this sharpness? (Learning)
Just like computers perform math and complex operations faster than humans, they can also learn much faster for very specific tasks. Sharpen AI soon understands how sharp images generally become blurred, and therefore how to reverse the process.
How do we sharpen images faster? (Optimization)
Sharpen AI performs millions of operations per pixel, so a significant amount of work is done to speed it up. This whole process continues even after the product's release: you'll likely see new updates with sharpening model improvements as the software learns more.
System Requirements:
Operating System Version:
- Windows 7 x64
- Windows 8/8.1 x64
- Windows 10 x64
Hardware Requirements:
- System RAM: 8GB / 16GB recommended
- GPU VRAM: 2GB / 4GB recommended
Graphics Card Requirements:
- NVIDIA: GeForce GTX 770 2GB / GeForce GTX 960 4GB recommended
- AMD: Radeon HD 8570 2GB / Radeon R9 270 4GB recommended
- Intel: HD Graphics 5000 / Iris Plus Graphics 640 recommended
Home Page - https://topazlabs.com/
Topaz Sharpen AI is a Imaging and Digital Photo application like FastPicture, Tux Paint, and Sculptris from Topaz Labs. It has a simple and basic user interface, and most importantly, it is free to download. Folks who use the BAA Topaz link to purchase Sharpen AI, DeNoise AI, or the Utility Bundle (or any other Topaz plugins) will receive a 15% discount by entering the ARTHUR15 code at checkout. To get the discount you must use my link and you must enter the discount code. Be sure to start with this link. So, with the considerable hype surrounding the new Topaz AI suite of products, I was intrigued when Topaz asked me to download the software and try it out. Since landscape photography is one of my main passions, I wanted to investigate whether and how Topaz Denoise AI and Sharpen AI could help for nocturnal landscapes.
Most photographers I know would rather spend time creating new images than painstakingly enhancing recent captures. Topaz Labs has introduced four new programs that use artificial intelligence to take some of the drudgery out of post-production.
From improving image quality in smartphones to creating software presets that emulate prominent painters’ styles, the branch of AI called machine learning is changing the imaging world. Firms including Adobe, Skylum, CyberLink, and Topaz are using AI to extend the capabilities of their products.
Topaz has released Sharpen AI, DeNoise AI, Gigapixel AI, and JPEG to Raw AI. Each one functions as a standalone application, while Sharpen and DeNoise are also plug-ins for Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic, and the free Topaz Studio.
- Topaz Sharpen AI Create tack-sharp images with no artifacts or halos. Sharpen AI is the first sharpening and shake reduction software that can tell the difference between real detail and noise. Create tack-sharp images even when you’re shooting handheld, at night, or with a shallow depth of field.
- Topaz Sharpen AI is the first sharpening and shake reduction software that can tell difference between real detail and noise. Create tack-sharp images even when you’re shooting handheld, at night, or with a shallow depth of field. Create tack-sharp images with no artifacts or halos Three kinds of sharpening for a perfect photo.
The product names make their primary uses self-explanatory, but each goes beyond its obvious purpose. Sharpen AI has learned the difference between image information and image noise. It sharpens the image, actually seeming to slightly smooth out-of-focus areas, and ignores noise. But there are two additional tabs to the Sharpen mode: Stabilize and Focus.
© Stan SholikOriginal image before Sharpen/Stabilize© Stan Sholik
Topaz Ai Sharpen Free
Final image after Sharpen/Stabilize with camera movement eliminated and a much sharper flower
Stabilize reverses and often eliminates image blur caused by handheld camera shake. Similar to but better than Photoshop’s Shake Reduction, it eliminates the artifacts sometimes found in Shake Reduction. The Focus module actually improves focus—within limitations. Topaz claims it can correct up to 10 pixels of defocus. With high-res sensors, 10 pixels isn’t much, but I’ve found it helps with macro photos. Applying Focus to an entire image can create artifacts. It’s often best applied by compositing the newly sharpened area back into the original image.
© Stan SholikOriginal image before Sharpen/Focus© Stan Sholik
Final image after Sharpen/Focus. The eyes are much sharper with sharpness decreasing naturally with no change in out-of-focus background.
Image noise reduction hasn’t advanced much since it was first introduced, with the exception of DxO Prime noise reduction in the Elite edition of DxO PhotoLab 2, which to me remains the gold standard. Using AI machine learning, Topaz reportedly fed its noise algorithm millions of images to teach it the difference between noise and image detail. The result is DeNoise AI, which incorporates AI Clear, the Topaz application that formerly provided noise reduction and image sharpening. I found it superior to any noise reduction software other than DxO Prime in its ability to eliminate noise while retaining and even enhancing image detail. DeNoise eliminated noise in my high-ISO Milky Way images without eliminating the stars.
© Stan SholikOriginal image (cropped) before noise reduction and captured at ISO 6400
© Stan SholikFinal image (cropped) after noise reduction© Stan Sholik
Denoise AI interface showing split-screen preview and settings
Topaz Photo Software
Image enlargement algorithms have improved over the years, but even the best from ON1 Photo Raw 2019 and Alien Skin Exposure X4 are based on pixel interpolation. Using machine learning on millions of images, Topaz has trained its Gigapixel AI algorithms how to add detail into areas to increase image detail and resolution. In testing I found impressive sharpness and detail in regions where there are natural, random textures such as grass, foliage, stone, water, and even skin. Enlarging images that predominately feature these textures shows amazing results. With images containing straight lines, buildings, and the like it does less well under close inspection. Gigapixel AI performs enlargements up to 600% and has a batch processing mode for multiple images or processing an entire folder of images. The ability to turn a 1,260x720-pixel smartphone image into a 24x14-inch inkjet print with improved highlight and shadow detail is now in the realm of possibility.
If you’ve captured images in JPEG format but you wish you had the image enhancement controls available for raw files, you need JPEG to Raw AI. Not only does the program output a DNG file that makes all raw file enhancement options available, JPEG to Raw AI improves highlight and shadow detail, removes JPEG artifacts, and enhances dynamic range along the way.
The four Topaz AI programs have a nearly identical look. The controls in each are a minimal set of sliders, and there is no learning curve to their operation. You do need to refrain from pushing the sliders to their maximum setting in either direction so that you don’t create artifacts somewhere in the image.
A movable vertical partition in the preview window allows you to see the effect of each slider adjustment. I wish there were a way to see the full image in the preview so I could choose the area to magnify—all of the programs default to at least a 50% magnification. This would allow you to preview artifacts in areas of the image that are not magnified.
But it would likely slow the process further as speed is the biggest issue with these programs. There is some heavy GPU processing going on behind the scenes in each. While my home computers aren’t the fastest, even my latest iMac at the studio kept me waiting for a few minutes while processing a focus correction. Each pan to a different area of the image and each slider adjustment is met with a corresponding pause while the preview processes. Fortunately, a button is available to disable the automatic preview updating.
Both Topaz Sharpen AI and DeNoise AI are major improvements over most competitive offerings and deserve to be in every photographer’s toolbox. Sharpen AI and DeNoise AI are available from Topaz for $79.99 each, Gigapixel AI and JPEG to Raw AI for $99.99 each, and the bundle of four is $249.99. A 30-day trial version of each program is available. If you decide on the bundle, the Topaz recommended order of use is: JPEG to Raw AI (if your original image is a JPEG), Sharpen AI, DeNoise AI, and last, Gigapixel AI.
Stan Sholik is a writer and photographer in San Clemente, California.
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