Thanks, Moose. I'm impressed so far with Ai. It was far too complicated
to install it as a plug-in for LR. All of that stuff should be automatic!
I finally got it installed, though, and it works wonders!
Tina
On Tue, Sep 17, 2019 at 5:00 PM Moose <olymoose@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> On 9/17/2019 1:57 PM, Tina Manley wrote:
> > PESO:
> >
> > I recently had to reinstall Windows 10 and all of my Photoshop plug-ins
> had
> > to be reinstalled, too. The only one I've had problems with is Focus
> Magic
> > which I use a lot. I get a runtime error:
> > Runtime Error (at 5:198):
> > Internal Error: Failed to expand shell folder constant "userdocs"
> >
> > The software company is no help just saying that they've never seen that
> > error before and have no suggestions. I'm tired of messing with it and
> > started looking for a similar program. I downloaded SmartDeblur but it
> is
> > awful and nothing like Focus Magic.
>
> It's important, well, useful, to understand the differences in these
> programs.
>
> 1. The vast majority of sharpening programs/apps use UnSharp Mask, a
> technique inherited from film, where it was a
> physical technique. While powerful and useful in some ways,
> unsophisticated applications easily lead to troublesome
> artifacts. I have not used an USM for sharpening for a long time.
>
> 2. Deconvolution is another approach to sharpening that works by
> recreating detail lost in the aberrations on the lens.
> There are quite a few specialized versions that work from knowledge of the
> characteristics of specific lenses.
>
> Canon does that in their Raw conversion program. DPP. Some speculate that
> DxO uses deconvolution in their sharpening.
>
> The only generalized versions that I know are Focus Magic and Topaz
> InFocus. I did this comparison for another purpose,
> but it does provide some idea that Topaz IF will do pretty much what FM
> does, albeit with a different interface and
> settings. <
> http://www.moosemystic.net/Gallery/tech/Focus_Magic/_B003950fpACRvsPlugin.htm
> >
>
> 3. The newest approach is AI, in the form of a trained neural network.
> Topaz Sharpen AI does this. It's both almost
> magic, and frustrating.
>
> Like other Topaz AI products, when it works, which is most of the time, it
> is head and shoulders above anything else
> I've seen. Also like their other AI apps, where it doesn't "understand"
> the subject, or some part of it, it can fail.
> I've also had an image where it didn't do anything obviously wrong, but it
> wasn't as nice a result as FM.
>
> It is also a machine eater, taking what seems forever to do a whole frame.
> Because it's slow, even at showing previews,
> getting to know the settings is also slow.
>
> How Sharp Moose
>
> --
> What if the Hokey Pokey *IS* what it's all about?
> --
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>
>
--
Tina Manley
www.tinamanley.com
http://www.pbase.com/tinamanley
<http://www.alamy.com/stock-photography/3B49552F-90A0-4D0A-A11D-2175C937AA91/Tina+Manley.html>
*https://www.alamy.com/portfolio/649596.html
<https://www.alamy.com/portfolio/649596.html>*
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