Image Restore AI

[CAcreeks]

USM (unsharp mask) is easy to implement but not particularly effective, and suffers from ugly halos when the radius or amount are set too high.

I suspect Focus Magic used deconvolution sharpening for correcting camera shake in different directions, if not circular. I found, but did not try, an ImageMagick plug-in called fftconvol that claims to be Fast Fourier Transform deconvolution. Also, Greg Benz created a Photoshop action, discussed here:

https://gregbenzphotography.com/pho...n-sharpening-and-how-to-get-increased-detail/

 

[Digital Nigel]

Hi!
I have updated the installer for windows and it now properly adds the application on the start menu apps as well, thank you for your feedback!

Unfortunately, the application also doesn't uninstall cleanly, whether using its own application manager, or the Windows uninstaller. It leaves behind 69 files and folders, including a non-functional IRAI.exe program file.

I could just delete the remaining files, but it's usually not a good idea to delete DLLs from Windows machines. Please could you provide a utility to cleanly and safely remove all the files?

Update:

Repeatedly running the Uninstall option in the Application Manager (installer.exe) seems to get rid of most of the files.

I think you really need to do much more testing of the Windows version. I would say it's not yet of alpha quality, let alone a commercial release.

Hi,

The installer has been updated to gracefully handle both the install and uninstall process, and has been properly tested on multiple systems and windows versions, without any issues. That said, testing is an ongoing process, I constantly check and verify that everything works as expected, and if any issue arises or is reported, I resolve it immediately.

I don’t doubt that you fix reported bugs immediately, but I also suspect you mainly test the Mac, not the Windows version.

And, btw, software developers should not test their own products. They should use professional software testers.

I'd also kindly like to point out, that this is the work of a single developer, working with very limited resources and budget. IRAI has been in development for more that 3 years now, during this time I have tested, and retested it countless times, to ensure a smooth operation on all systems. That said, it is a first launch of a new product, and some minor issues and glitches can be expected, as everyone's system and configuration is different.

That’s why professionals perform formal alpha and beta testing before commercial releases.

As of right now, and judging by the feedback I'm receiving, only a very minor percentage of users (~4%) has experienced issues.

Are they mainly Mac users? Surely Windows users would complain when a newly installed product doesn’t show up in the Start menu?

Such issues will be fully resolved in time, as I continue to receive quality feedback from my users.

I am sure that your intentions are pure and you're trying to help, and I truly, deeply appreciate that. But I've seen, and I think many will agree, much worse issues from large corporations on many software domains

Yes, indeed. Topaz, in particular, does too many releases, too frequently, and doesn’t test them properly. That doesn’t make it OK for others.

- IRAI is not perfect yet and far from mature, but I don't believe the term 'alpha' is justified here.

I’ve been a one-man software developer a long time ago, and a product manager for some years after that. So I do know the difference between alpha, beta and commercial software. And a product that won’t install or uninstall properly on the world’s most popular operating system is of alpha quality.

If I had known how immature the product was I wouldn’t have installed it, and now regret doing so. I don’t like the message I got from the Application Manager that it had encountered an error when updating the registry.

Once again, I am truly thankful to anyone that provides feedback. For anyone that is interested in the app, I highly encourage to try it first, the trial version has no time limits, take your time, evaluate the results you are getting, and only then, proceed to buy, there is no need to rush a purchase.

Thank you!

As I mentioned earlier, The Start Menu Entry has been resolved now on new installs, and will also be fixed in existing installations in the upcoming update.

How could you possibly have commercially released a product with such basic flaws? That suggests a complete lack of testing on Windows. That’s confirmed by the fact you released a fixed version within a day — that’s obviously also not been through a proper testing procedure either.

I understand that that you don't like the app

I really wanted to like the app, and said positive things about it in my initial reactions post. But I feel let down, by both you and Andy.

and this of course, is perfectly ok. What I don't understand is your full-on attack on an independent developer who is trying to do the right thing - To provide a single-purchase app, with no subscriptions, local and offline execution of models for data security and strict ethical policies regarding image sourcing.

You mean, just like your main competitor?

I fully respect your thoughts and opinions, and I am still thankful for the excellent feedback you provided in an earlier post. That said, people can judge for themselves whether the app works for them, or not. I am not, in any case, pressuring/forcing anyone into purchasing my app, I am just a passionate developer and photographer sharing my work to the world.

In the meantime, if you actually wish to help me improve the application, please send me an email with your suggestions, I'd be truly happy to incorporate any suggestions that will make the application better.

I wish you the best of luck, but, sorry, no, I won’t be spending any more time on IRAI. It seems to be trying to be too much like Photo AI, but is currently years behind, with much less resources available, and no proper road map.

Photo AI and Gigapixel do far more, have perpetual licences, process locally, and no images are shared, so I don’t see what’s different in your approach, apart from offering much less? Yes, they have a cloud processing option available, but I’ve never used it and don’t plan to.

I think you would be much better advised to find an unserved niche in the applications market, not trying to directly target a well-known, widely-used, existing product. Also note that Adobe also offers AI NR and upsizing, so it doesn’t seem like you’re offering Adobe users much.

 

[George Zampoukis]

USM (unsharp mask) is easy to implement but not particularly effective, and suffers from ugly halos when the radius or amount are set too high.

I suspect Focus Magic used deconvolution sharpening for correcting camera shake in different directions, if not circular. I found, but did not try, an ImageMagick plug-in called fftconvol that claims to be Fast Fourier Transform deconvolution. Also, Greg Benz created a Photoshop action, discussed here:

https://gregbenzphotography.com/pho...n-sharpening-and-how-to-get-increased-detail/

Hi!

The sharpening option in the post processing options is based on a USM approach, though I keep it a bit subtle to avoid such halos.


I've experimented with a custom FFT approach, it works slightly better than USM, but it is way more computationally expensive and tends to exaggerate such halos, so I decided not to keep that version.


The plan is to incorporate dedicated ML models for sharpening in the future.

 

[ishwanu]

Hi! I am the developer behind Image Restore AI and Founder of Neuralmoon.

Glad to see you here, and thanks for the additional information.

If you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer them!

I'm sure we'll be seeing some soon.

I'm sorry to see some of the negativity generated in the thread.

I don't have any further questions myself right now, but I'll be keeping an eye on continued improvements. I'm a mostly satisfied user of Topaz Photo AI 3.3.3. I don't anticipate paying for another year of Photo AI updates because most of the v4 features overtax my system and aren't of practical use to me; and I don't want to pay for cloud services.

If IRAI remains lean and fast and begins to challenge Photo AI's capabilities, I'll definitely be interested.

 

[Special Circumstances]

Photo AI and Gigapixel do far more, have perpetual licences, process locally, and no images are shared, so I don’t see what’s different in your approach, apart from offering much less? Yes, they have a cloud processing option available, but I’ve never used it and don’t plan to.

I find this disingenuous - both these products are from the same development team with different feature sets.

https://www.topazlabs.com/pai-vs-gp

Gigapixel doesn't denoise while Image Restore AI does and yet they cost approximately the same (but there is also a 20% discount code for IRAI).

Photo AI arguably does 'more' (cropping is a feature apparently) but costs over double ($199)

So there are differentiators between all three products - it's just that you have different preferences.

 

[Digital Nigel]

Photo AI and Gigapixel do far more, have perpetual licences, process locally, and no images are shared, so I don’t see what’s different in your approach, apart from offering much less? Yes, they have a cloud processing option available, but I’ve never used it and don’t plan to.

I find this disingenuous - both these products are from the same development team with different feature sets.

Actually, they both have very similar feature sets, and should be a single product. Have you actually compared them on actual images?

https://www.topazlabs.com/pai-vs-gp

Gigapixel doesn't denoise

Yes it does. And it sharpens, unlike IRAI. And it restores faces.

while Image Restore AI does

But it doesn’t sharpen, which is essential functionality in such apps.

and yet they cost approximately the same (but there is also a 20% discount code for IRAI).

30%

Photo AI arguably does 'more' (cropping is a feature apparently) but costs over double ($199)

It does a *lot* more. Have you actually used these products?

So there are differentiators between all three products - it's just that you have different preferences.

IRAI has a tiny subset of the functionality of either PAI or GAI. And it’s basically an early concept test prototype, not nearly a commercial release.

 

[George Zampoukis]

Hi! I am the developer behind Image Restore AI and Founder of Neuralmoon.

Glad to see you here, and thanks for the additional information.

If you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer them!

I'm sure we'll be seeing some soon.

I'm sorry to see some of the negativity generated in the thread.

I don't have any further questions myself right now, but I'll be keeping an eye on continued improvements. I'm a mostly satisfied user of Topaz Photo AI 3.3.3. I don't anticipate paying for another year of Photo AI updates because most of the v4 features overtax my system and aren't of practical use to me; and I don't want to pay for cloud services.

If IRAI remains lean and fast and begins to challenge Photo AI's capabilities, I'll definitely be interested.

No need to worry, all good

Just to clear some of the fog though, I have never presented IRAI as a replacement for existing tools - It is meant to join and accompany them so that people have more choices. It doesn't have to be A versus B versus C etc, every tool has its unique qualities and in the end, this benefits everyone. If you enjoy tool A, this doesn't mean that you are not allowed to also enjoy tool B, or tool C and vice versa. Having options is always a good thing.

If anyone has more questions, I'd be happy to answer them!

 

[ishwanu]

... I'll be keeping an eye on continued improvements. I'm a mostly satisfied user of Topaz Photo AI 3.3.3. I don't anticipate paying for another year of Photo AI updates because most of the v4 features overtax my system and aren't of practical use to me; and I don't want to pay for cloud services.

If IRAI remains lean and fast and begins to challenge Photo AI's capabilities, I'll definitely be interested.

No need to worry, all good

Just to clear some of the fog though, I have never presented IRAI as a replacement for existing tools - It is meant to join and accompany them so that people have more choices. It doesn't have to be A versus B versus C etc, every tool has its unique qualities and in the end, this benefits everyone. If you enjoy tool A, this doesn't mean that you are not allowed to also enjoy tool B, or tool C and vice versa. Having options is always a good thing.

No, but if access to all three requires paying for them, each one has to fulfill certain needs that no other can. That's why I presently have a number of different photo apps.

Actually, i do have a suggestion. You might want to offer a way to save a sidecar file with all the exact parameters that were used to process an image, That way, the user can easily come back to the project anytime and fine-tune it for possible improvements. If Photo AI has that feature, I haven't found it.