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Have you ever framed up that perfect shot and it looks good on the camera display or on your smart phone preview only to find that when you look at the picture on your computer that the images are slightly out of focus or blurry? If this has happened to you, Topaz Labs created a solution that can help clean up those blurry pictures. That program is called Sharpen AI.
What is Sharpen AI
Sharpen AI is different than other focus and sharpening programs. Most focus and sharpening tools sharpen everything in the image. This includes noise and may even sharpen parts of the picture that do not need sharpening.
With Sharpen AI, the program only sharpens the things you want. It will bring out the details in the image. In other other words it will only sharpen the what needs to be sharpened and leave the rest alone.
How Does Sharpen AI Work
Topaz Lab’s Sharpen AI is the “only tool that understand the difference between detail and noise by learning through millions of images. This means it will focus on sharpening the things you actually want to sharpen, rather than artifacts or noise. Use it to create beautifully sharp images from even handheld, low-light, and fast-moving photos.” – According to Topaz Labs.
What Can Sharpen AI Do
Sharpens and Defines – “Most commercial sharpening tools will sharpen everything in your image – including noise. Sharpen AI only sharpens the things you want and brings out the detail and definition in your shot. It only sharpens the good stuff.” – Topaz Labs
Stabilizes – “When shooting a moving object or in a low-light scenario, motion blur is a common problem. Sharpen AI uses machine learning to stabilize motion blur in your images for a crisp clear result.” – Topaz Labs
Improves Focus – “Theoretically, there is no way to recover lens blur in your photos. Sharpen AI remembers patterns in your image and can rescue a blur within ten pixels. When your image is just slightly out of focus, Sharpen AI provides the solution.” – Topaz Labs
What Do I Need To Run Sharpen AI
Sharpen AI is a powerful tool. With this power, you need a computer with a high-end graphics card and plenty of RAM to make it work. If your computer doesn’t make the minimal requirements then your results won’t turn as well as if you had the right computer specs.
I tested this on my 10 year old computer. Even for its age, its still a powerful and fast computer. It faster than most budget friendly computers and lower quality video/image processing computer. But sadly my older graphics car isn’t supported.
A few weeks ago, Topaz Labs sent me and a few others a beta copy to test. My computer was was plenty powerful but the graphic card wasn’t supported (at the time I didn’t know this). Once Sharpen AI came out I checked out the specs and now understand why the software didn’t work that well.
I found with an unsupported graphics card I could still install and correct images. However it took anywhere from 5 minutes to an hour for the program to process the image and save it. Then the results weren’t much better than the original. From what I learned, the program needs a good graphic card and the power to properly process the image, figure out what needs to be fixed, and then apply those changes. Without the required hardware specs the program may not properly complete the task.
Sadly my buddy’s 8 year old gaming computer and a 6 year old gaming notebook have plenty of power and RAM but their graphic cards are not supported. I feel like you have to have an ultra high end computer just correct fuzzy images. Many photographers that might take advantage of this program still have older computers or computer hardware good enough to edit images but not good enough to operate this software.
Before purchasing Sharpen AI check out the Hardware Specs page. If you don’t have the hardware, try out inFocus by Topaz Labs or AI Clear. Both programs will clean up your images and do a good job at it. They are your second best option if you can’t use Sharpen AI.
How Much Does Sharpen AI Cost
Sharpen AI was just released on February 28th 2019. To celebrate the release Topaz Labs set the discounted price of $59.99 with the original price of $79.99. This is a limited time deal that will expire March 15th 2019. So get your copy today and take advantage of the sale price!
For more information check out this article on Topaz Labs. It goes into great detail about Sharpen AI.
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