Topaz?

Bob Sherwood wrote in post #11528004
Downloaded one of their programs...never could get it to work. Several e-mails to them with no answer. Good luck if you purchase Topaz products and need customer service...ain't gonna happen!

Well I bought the entire package and they have been a great help by phone. I am still learning the add-ons but so far so good.

I'm actually running Corel Paint Shop 13 on Windows 7...new computer with plenty of bells and whistles and 4 GB Ram.

Bob Sherwood wrote in post #11536127
I'm actually running Corel Paint Shop 13 on Windows 7...new computer with plenty of bells and whistles and 4 GB Ram.

Don't know if this will help?

This from the Corel Paint Shop Pro XI 'Help' page:

Setting plug-in preferences
Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo allows you to use Adobe-compatible plug-ins. The .8B* filename extension is the most common plug-in filename extension. You can choose to limit the use of plug-ins to plug-ins of that filename extension, or you can choose to use plug-ins of any extension.

To enable plug-ins
1. Choose File Preferences File Locations.
The File Locations dialog box appears.
2. From the File types list, select Plug-ins.
3. Mark the Enable plug-ins check box.

You can also
Load plug-ins with any extension Unmark the Limit Loaded plug-in files to those with an .8B* extension check box.
Open the file in the plug-in before it opens in Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo Mark the Allow file format plug-ins to request pre-filtering of support file types check box.

To add plug-in locations
1. Choose File Preferences File Locations.
The File Locations dialog box appears.
2. From the File types list, select Plug-ins.
3. Click Add.
A new blank item appears in the folder list, and the Browse for Folder dialog box appears.
4. Navigate to the folder you want to add, and click OK to return to the File Locations dialog box.
5. In the Folder options dialog box, mark the Enable check box.
6. Click OK.

Sevan

Customer supports in between holidays? Some people actually have vacation now so give it a break.
Never had any problems with installing or using. But then again I got the macbook

Bob Sherwood wrote in post #11534970
It's been 72 hours since I e-mailed them and still no response. This is NOT customer service.

Frustrating for sure, but it is the holidays. They could be running short handed. I'm surprised you didn't at least get an automatic notice that they had received your email.

Titus213 wrote in post #11541118
Frustrating for sure, but it is the holidays. They could be running short handed. I'm surprised you didn't at least get an automatic notice that they had received your email.

A lot of small business will close right before Chrsitmas thru the Ne Year. A very good explanation as to why no one has responded to e-mails of left messages. I remember when we used to close down like that at the Dental lab I work at, ah the good old days.

I use Topaz with both CS4 and LR. I like DeNoise a lot and I have been using Topaz Adjust for about 3 years on a regular basis. I went through the presets in Topaz Adjust, found ones that I liked and tweaked them and then saved them as new presets.

I don't think anyone here has had problems with it under Photoshop. Just want to point that out, as it seems it was assumed the problem was with Topaz, when Bob is using it with PaintShop Pro.

I use it with LR3 - great initial support

BrandonSi wrote in post #11541600
I don't think anyone here has had problems with it under Photoshop. Just want to point that out, as it seems it was assumed the problem was with Topaz, when Bob is using it with PaintShop Pro.

The main problem I've had with Topaz & CS5 is with Topaz Clean. It'll crash on too big of a file. I was in contact with their support and they've never come up with a solution. Initial response, seems to be consistent to any problem, was uninstall, re-download and install. Most of the time I can work around it by selecting the area, copying to new layer, and run the filter on it. Sadly, that's not an option always.

I'll use Detail, Adjust, and once in a while Denoise and they all work fine.


Just noticed - this is post #1000 for me!

BrandonSi wrote in post #11541600
I don't think anyone here has had problems with it under Photoshop. Just want to point that out, as it seems it was assumed the problem was with Topaz, when Bob is using it with PaintShop Pro.

I Didn't see anything on there site stating it works with Corel Paint. So maybe it is not compatible with it yet? I never have an issue using it in CS5.

D Thompson wrote in post #11541733
The main problem I've had with Topaz & CS5 is with Topaz Clean. It'll crash on too big of a file. I was in contact with their support and they've never come up with a solution. Initial response, seems to be consistent to any problem, was uninstall, re-download and install. Most of the time I can work around it by selecting the area, copying to new layer, and run the filter on it. Sadly, that's not an option always.

I'll use Detail, Adjust, and once in a while Denoise and they all work fine.


Just noticed - this is post #1000 for me!

Next time have you taskmanager open and see how much memory photoshop is using, the most common issue Iran into when even doing a 12 shot pano with RAW files was that photoshop was hogging all the memory an causing it to crash itself. So monitor the memory usage, you may need to upgrade to more RAM. It really will shine on a 64bit OS with tons of RAM.

S.E.V. wrote in post #11542640
Next time have you taskmanager open and see how much memory photoshop is using, the most common issue Iran into when even doing a 12 shot pano with RAW files was that photoshop was hogging all the memory an causing it to crash itself. So monitor the memory usage, you may need to upgrade to more RAM. It really will shine on a 64bit OS with tons of RAM.

This statement is so true! I was running PS on XP OS and it would crash. I upgraded to 64-bit, installed a quad core processor, installed 8 GB of RAM.....it screams now. There are times when my PC will be using more than 6 GB of RAM when PS and LR are running batch process at the same time.....and I can still do other stuff while that is happening.

If you work with large numbers of files in PS, or really large files, a 64-bit OS with at least 6 GB of RAM is the way to go. Otherwise, the processing time take too long. There are times when I will batch process over 100 images at one time in PS. It would crash every time on XP.

S.E.V. wrote in post #11542640
Next time have you taskmanager open and see how much memory photoshop is using, the most common issue Iran into when even doing a 12 shot pano with RAW files was that photoshop was hogging all the memory an causing it to crash itself. So monitor the memory usage, you may need to upgrade to more RAM. It really will shine on a 64bit OS with tons of RAM.

Tried that and sent several trace files to Topaz. They had me change my PS prefs around for usage, but nothing made a difference. Right now I'm running XPPro with 3GB ram (3G switch enabled) and have PS to use 1.8GB of the 2.6GB available (70%). Also, I have 2 scratch disk set up with the primary scratch separate from my main drive. Topaz had their people working on it, but never found/got back to me with a solution. It usually crashes on a big file after I select one of my presets and go to tweak. If I change more than a couple of settings it bombs out. The workaround works most of the time.

It is probably time I upgrade my whole system though.

D Thompson wrote in post #11544530
It is probably time I upgrade my whole system though.

Yes!

I am in the process of upgrading mine, from a dual core amd 2.4ghz to a hex core amd 3.2ghz xp pro 32bit to windows 764bit also from 4gb ram on xp to 12gb ram on windows 7 along with a 160gb SSD drive for the OS drive. I can't wit to try photo editing out on it.

Hi, I haven't tired any plugin. I'm wondering if Topaz, which is now on sale, is suitable for me. I usually shoot portrait and nature. I know how to do skin touchup in PS, making layers, healing, surface blur, opacity, etc. I know how to do HDR, etc. I tweak around levels and the like. I also know a little about actions but I have not really made use of it in my touching up processes.

I usually just try to adjust to good-enough results in LR instead of going to PS for every picture. I feel like that it's too time-consuming to go to PS even though it may make the pictures look better. I may be that kind of people who are too lazy to make fancy masks and layers in PS. And creating new effects in PS out of the blue is not my kind of things. So, I'm wondering:

1. Do I know enough of PS that I should really just go through a few online tutorials instead of buying Topaz?
2. Could Topaz save a lot of time for me so that I am willing to use PS more and enjoy the great results?