It’s also possible to change the settings for each to select the image type and slider settings. This allows you to compare each of the sharpening modes against each other on one screen. What the Comparison view does is split the preview into four.
Options include the single view, side by side view and split view as you would expect. One way to make this easier is to use the Comparison view.Īt the top of the interface is a dropdown to control the preview. Trying to remember the best combination of settings for an image and then comparing them against other settings can be difficult, especially when the differences are small. Working through the different settings and options may become confusing. This is another reason why I like to leave the sliders set using the Auto option. But then you suddenly pass a point, and it seems to have a big impact on the image quality. If you do make changes, there seems to be little difference between settings. Interestingly, my experience has been that the sharpening mode and image type settings have more impact on the results than the sliders. There is also an “Auto” switch which I tend to leave set to on whilst selecting the sharpening mode and image type to use.
These are “Remove Blur” and “Suppress Noise”. The “Settings” (number 3) in Topaz Sharpen AI has two sliders to control the sharpening and noise reduction. With this next example the Too Noisy option was used, and this proved best. Usually these are either sharpening halos around high contrast edges or noise becoming exaggerated. I then check the image, often at 200% magnification, to see if I’m satisfied or if I can spot any problems. Personally, I like start with the Normal option. I’ve found some can produce problems as you will see shortly. The names make it obvious when they should be used, except I’ve found it’s worth checking each. Having selected the Topaz Sharpen AI mode to use you need to select the image type (number 2). My recommendation is to try each of the three different modes to decide which is best for the image.
I suspect the choice it makes depends on analysing the image preview area on startup as it changed when I resized the software window. Later it changed to selecting Out of Focus or sometimes Too Soft. The first few times I processed the example image (for the video) it recommended Motion Blur.
Interestingly it doesn’t always produce a consistent result. When active, Topaz Sharpen AI will analyse the image, trying to detect the best option to use. There is also an “Auto” switch just above the three mode buttons. These however are general guidelines, and you may find a different mode is unexpectedly better.
This displays the preferences dialog where you will see the option to toggle the auto preview update off and on.
On a Windows PC you would select the Options… command in the Edit menu.
On a Mac you would click the Topaz Sharpen AI menu and select the Preferences… option. If you decide don’t like the auto preview update you can turn it off in the software Preferences. This processing takes time and at lower magnifications levels there is more of the image to process. The reason the software starts with the image magnified is that whenever you move to a new area the preview updates. You can also change the level of magnification with the Zoom dropdown at the top of the interface. You can change the location of the magnified section by clicking and dragging the image or moving the small white box in the navigator panel. When the software opens, the image is magnified to show only a small section.