Changes at Topaz

One the marketing fundimental messages from Topaz for years was that once you purchase one of the apps, all upgrades to that app would be free. Today the CEO announced a new plan that does away with free upgrades after 1 year. Not everyone is thrilled by this very big change in their plans.

All existing Topaz customers will have to draw their own conclusions and act accordingly.

Unfortunately such a change in business model is inevitable for any software product that reaches a certain level of success and maturity (unless the community step in to do the development on an open source/volunteer basis).

Supporting and developing software costs money. The more complex/mature the product the more it costs. Users want new features and bug fixes and the developer must also support changes to hardware and operating systems (as well as new cameras). That on going cost can't be funded indefinitely from a single payment made 3 years ago and, as a product matures, the rate of new users will reduce thus reducing the income below what is needed to continue.

The only way around this is to charge significantly more for the initial purchase (not a good idea), stop development/freeze the product and wait for it to die due to incompatibility, or start charging money for on-going development.

Topaz's new management has been headed this way for years. On the original (legacy) plugins they offered free lifetime upgrades. They did away with that in a backhanded way by classifying them as "no longer supported legacy plugins," came out with the Studio line and started to incorporate the same plugins into the Studio product. And of course, even tho a specific legacy plugin was upgraded, its inclusion in the Studio product meant old customers who were promised free updates had to pay for the new Studio and the new upgrade. It was a sneaky way of getting around their initial offer of free lifetime upgrades.

This announcement is just the expected next step in Topaz's long line of broken promises and deceptions.

Doesn't matter. I see this as another nail in their coffin. The Skylum Luminar and HDR products are so superior to the Topaz products they are not even in the same universe.

Whereas Topaz used to be a regular component in my fine art workflow, they rarely are any more. This announcement will only alienate more customers, driving them to their competitors.

Wasn't included in the OP. Here's a link / info:

Topaz announcement

Glad I got rid of if about a year ago. AI Clear had that worm effect they didn't solve for a long time. If you read about it people say Denoise AI it is good but can produce unexpected artefacts.

digital paradise wrote in post #19009869
Glad I got rid of if about a year ago. AI Clear had that worm effect they didn't solve for a long time. If you read about it people say Denoise AI it is good but can produce unexpected artefacts.

In my experience AI Denoise oversharpens stuff, even when you tell it not to. What I've seen is oversharpening to the point of creating halos (don't know if that is what you mean by artifacts.)

digital paradise wrote in post #19009869
Glad I got rid of if about a year ago. AI Clear had that worm effect they didn't solve for a long time. If you read about it people say Denoise AI it is good but can produce unexpected artefacts.

"Worm effect"? Can you explain, please?

By the way, a big thank you to McAsan for the post. Did not know this.

digital paradise wrote in post #19009869
AI Clear had that worm effect they didn't solve for a long time.

It appears AI Clear has been removed from the Topaz Labs product line.

Picture North Carolina wrote in post #19009909
It appears AI Clear has been removed from the Topaz Labs product line.

They must be feeling the pain after all that R&D is tipped down the drain.

bpiper7 wrote in post #19009899
"Worm effect"? Can you explain, please?

After exporting back to LR (even my desktop) it had this effect that looked looked like tiny rings. Looked great in Topaz. There was a thread about it at Topaz forums where I posted with other people that had the issue. A moderator I guess didn't like the questions and shut that thread down. I was a member at Luminous Landscape and it was discussed there as well. One person who kinda knew the moderator agreed he shut threads down very quickly. I waited for months for a solution and gave up.

Picture North Carolina wrote in post #19009909
It appears AI Clear has been removed from the Topaz Labs product line.

I thought it was still there. I know Denoise is the replacement but AI Clear I still accessible based on other threads I have read.

digital paradise wrote in post #19010058
I thought it was still there. I know Denoise is the replacement but AI Clear I still accessible based on other threads I have read.

Don't know. I read that AI Clear was removed from the product line and replaced with ? ? ?

If you go to the topaz website it is nowhere to be found under current products.

If you have it and are logged into your account, I am sure you will still see it.

However, for a new buyer as far as I can tell, it is no longer listed as a product.

digital paradise wrote in post #19010055
After exporting back to LR (even my desktop) it had this effect that looked looked like tiny rings. Looked great in Topaz. There was a thread about it at Topaz forums where I posted with other people that had the issue. A moderator I guess didn't like the questions and shut that thread down. I was a member at Luminous Landscape and it was discussed there as well. One person who kinda knew the moderator agreed he shut threads down very quickly. I waited for months for a solution and gave up.

I, personally, have received very bad technical support from Topaz - as in no response at all to support tickets. I just let it go. Water under a crumbling bridge. All that is going on (from broken promises to bad support) will eventually catch up to them.

Stiga wrote in post #19009916
They must be feeling the pain after all that R&D is tipped down the drain.

May not be a popular decision with users, but from a business standpoint it makes sense. When you have an inferior product with bugs you cannot fix (like the worm problem) it's better to cut your losses and move on

digital paradise wrote in post #19010055
There was a thread about it at Topaz forums where I posted with other people that had the issue. A moderator I guess didn't like the questions and shut that thread down.

You got to admit, pretending a problem does not exist and censoring talk about it is the cheapest way to fix a bug.