10-Point Software Audit: Gigapixel AI

Name and Version
Topaz Labs Gigapixel 8.1.2

1. What Does It Do?
Gigapixel AI allows users to enhance, upscale, sharpen, denoise, recover and reimagine images—-even low-res, pixelated dreck—and render stunning, sharp, printable images. Operating as a standalone app or a plugin to Adobe Photoshop, Gigapixel AI provides a pair of powerful generative functions, Recover and Redefine (Beta) in addition to more traditional enhancement models. Recover brings old, formerly useless images to life. Redefine adds a heaping helping of AI imagination to your artistic creations. See samples below (item 10).

From Topaz Labs’ LinkedIn profile: “We build software to solve imaging problems like denoising, super-resolution, and deconvolution with deep learning. Over 1M photographers and videographers trust us with their work, including on teams at Apple, Netflix, NASA, and more. We’ve processed over 1 billion images, achieved 1500% revenue growth in the last 6 years, and we’re only getting started.”

2. Why Do I Need It?
If you want to resurrect old images and/or upscale (up to 16X) normal images, Gigapixel AI is a very powerful tool. Furthermore, if you wish to add a few more teeth to your AI dragons, or other imaginative pursuits, Gigapixel AI’s Redefine model will simply amaze you.

3. Is It Easy To Use?
About as easy as it gets. If you can handle any photo editor, Gigapixel AI is a piece of cake.

4. Performance
Gigapixel AI can process locally or in the cloud. Local processing can run slow if you’re using a generative model (i.e., Recover of Redefine) but is fast enough with the more traditional enhancement models. Cloud processing is much faster but requires the purchase of credits from Topaz.

If you’re doing “normal” things like removing pixelation, restoring detail, upscaling and dampening noise, Gigapixel AI does a phenomenal job and is quite fast (running on Apple silicon in my case).

5. Drawbacks & Downsides
If you follow the rules and don’t expect Gigapixel’s generative models to quickly modify huge files, there are no apparent downsides. If you exceed the reasonable limits, you’ll hit a time crunch.

The cloud processing credits are on the expensive end of the arc. The $7.90 subscription plan nets 200 credits per month—that’s 4¢ each for most of us with intermediate needs. For $23.90 monthly you get 3000 credits. For free, everyone gets 5 complimentary credits (refreshes every 24 hours).

In the Redefine (Beta) generative model, you control “creativity” via a 10-step slider. This does not allow much control over the final result; i.e., you get what you get, and if you don’t like it, you try again. Yes, you can preview a small section of an image to get a taste of the final output, but that takes time and is still a “try it until you like it” procedure. I guess all presets in all software operate about the same way, so this is not a condemnation, just a statement of fact.

6. What Platforms Are Compatible?
The bar is fairly low, but for sure visit Topaz Labs for complete details.

In all cases, Gigapixel AI requires 20GB of free hard drive space on a PC and 14.5GB on a Mac. If you have less available space than that, stop reading and upgrade your system now. Please.

For regular processing models, Windows PCs must have a modern CPU, 16GB RAM, a graphics card and be running Win 10 or 11. Macs using Apple silicon need 8GB RAM and must be running on macOS 11 (Big Sur) or later.

Here are the system requirements for the generative (Redefine and Recover) models. These are a bit more restrictive, as one would expect. Note that Redefine does not run on a Mac with an Intel CPU.

7. How Do I Get It?
Download directly from Topaz Labs.

8. How Much Does It Cost?
The price of Gigapixel AI for personal use is $99, including 12 months of updates free. For professional use, Gigapixel Pro costs $499 and includes a commercial license.

9. Can I Try It First?
Yes. Click here and scroll down. Topaz says it’s the “best trial ever” because you enjoy full features with no time limit. Explore Gigapixel as long as you need. Wait—that can’t be right…no time limit?

10. Before/After Examples

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