Topaz Gigapixel 7 Upscaling App Offers Better AI and New UI Features

Topaz Labs’ Gigapixel is one of the best applications available for upscaling images. Now, it should be even better, thanks to the largest update to the program that Topaz Labs has released in over a year. Users will see a range of improvements, including a fresh UI and, not surprisingly, upgrades to the AI engine.

Gigapixel is often a go-to program for those who want to increase the size or otherwise enhance details in their images. It features advanced AI tools that allow users to boost sharpness and clarity, enhance details, improve textures, and even create cleaner lines on graphic design work. It’s an ideal choice for improving low-res images or enhancing images with significant digital zoom and can even help restore vintage images.

The latest version of this app, Gigapixel 7, offers even more tools. To start, Topaz has updated two AI models. Right now, they fall under separate names, so users will still have access to the original versions as well. However, the new models will eventually replace the old ones. Overall, Topaz says these new models should be more generative, improving quality. Gigapixel 7 also features better deblur consistency in Standard v2, fixing a previous blurry patch issue.

In High Fidelity v2, Topaz has “improved the grain preserving consistency for low denoise/remove JPEG sliders,” explains Topaz in the release notes. “For use cases requiring keeping original noise/grain, select this model and tune down the two sliders.” The developer has also fixed the tile blending artifacts in High Fidelity v2 and the tile artifacts in both models on Apple Silicon Mac’s Neural Engine. Users can turn off the Neural Engine, but it will slow down processing.

The AI engine also sees updates, allowing better compatibility and faster processing. Topaz refreshed the UI with new design and controls and updated the preferences with new options. Users should keep in mind that updating to Gigapixel 7 will reset their preferences, so they should make note of current selections and re-check them after updating.

Part of the UI updates allows users to use Ctrl/Cmd + A to select all and Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + A to deselect all images. And when users have more than one image selected, the right control panel will show a mixed state if the values differ between the images.

Additional updates include new panning and pinch-to-zoom gestures in preview, updated RAW preview handling (closer to Photo AI), the ability to capture before and after in split and side-by-side views, and the option to move the file list up or down by dragging.

Beyond the updates, Topaz mentioned some important notes to keep in mind. As mentioned, all preferences will be reset. Also, users will likely need to re-authenticate when launching the new version the first time. Finally, the new minimum OS version for Mac users is 11.0 (Big Sur). Those with older versions will still be prompted to update due to how Topaz’s old in-app updater works, but they can re-install version 6.3.3.

Image credits: Topaz Labs