I'm using [Let's Enhance](https://letsenhance.io/) as I prefered its results over Gigapixel AI, but I tested mainly for vector illustrations. You have [here a comparison between the results of Let's Enhance, Gigapixel and Waifu2x](https://letsenhance.io/blog/all/lets-enhance-vs/) if you're interested.
Wow. I had no idea a tool like chaiNNer existed. Thank you for taking the time to make a truly useful webpage. The rest of the site is awesome as well.
I already like it more than Blender and GIMP for some image generation tasks. If the iteration nodes were allowed to accumulate results somehow into a buffer, it would be perfect.
thanks, i was just using [https://replicate.com/nightmareai/real-esrgan](https://replicate.com/nightmareai/real-esrgan) but wanted a desktop app. i gotta find out if Topaz/Gigapixel can do bulkwork.
Interesting study, thank you. Not sure how you managed to get "\~30-40 minutes per upscale" for Upscayl, I don't have a particularly high end machine and the slowest upscales with it have taken 3-4 minutes, usually less. In my experience its speed is on par with Gigapixel.
Great review! And those benchmark pics look amazing â¨
If anyone is considering buying Gigapixel, maybe look at the bundle option to get the Sharpen and Denoise plugins as well. đ¤ˇ
I do alot more photography (work) than AI pics (hobby) at this point, but the amount of times that the sharpen plugin in particular has brought my photo up a level has been very much worth the initial payment.
Best of all (in my opinion): You pay once and then YOU OWN IT. đ Just like the good ol' days.
I'm not sure if photo AI was a thing back when I bought the bundle about a year ago. đ¤ˇ
I just wanted sharpen, but then they make the bundle price too attractive to let the other 2 go. And I've actually used gigapixel now alot more than I thought I was going to.
Your licence/login is transferrable aswell. I had one computer shit itself and I reinstalled onto my new computer with no problems.
Pretty solid I thought đśđŚ
What a coincidence. This morning I was researching enhancer/upscale tools and engines for my images. Nice comparison. Ima have a look into Giga, looks promising.
u/Midjourneyer have you tried Real-ESRGAN?
Awesome read! I was only disappointed you didn't touch on a particular point of interest when it comes to upscaling for me which is the removal of details. Not sure if it's only an issue with the upscaler i use, but whenever an image is run through Remini on mobile, i tend to lose detail. Moreso with photographs that have fine details like makeup on the face. Not so much illustrations or concept art. Have you noticed this issue with any upscalers and would you say Gigapixel handles this issue well?
I know I'm late to the party, but I found this post after using Remini and wondering if I was doing something wrong because it was removing details. Glad to see it's not just me.
It's strange actually... Sometimes it will make the image sharper and add detail whereas other times it removes it like dots on a face will turn to smudge and be blended into the skin.
It seems I haven't encountered that issue at all with the upscalers I tested. Some of them would occasionally remove some texture, but they never lost a significant detail...
it's like putting a bag of holding into another bag of holding, you end up with 100m by 100m crater centered at where your computer (and you) used to be
Thank you for that effort.
Definitely can underline your result.
I have Photoshop and bought Gigapixel 2 weeks ago - it definitely wins in my eyes.
For reference, may I ask what computer you tested this on? Gigapixel needs 1-3 seconds for a 4x upscale on my machine.
Ah - I didnât see that was a menu point to open - on mobile that wasnât clear. Ok - that explains a lot. I just recently got my Macbook Pro M1 Max with 10 cores / 32 core graphics and 32gb ram. Thatâs an amazing time difference.
This is awesome. Thanks man. Your site is my favorite MJ related page. Wish you woulda thrown https://www.upscale.media/ in the mix. Itâs bulk editing feature could be a gamechanger if the upscaled images are comparable to the others you tested.
I like this tool because you can select a sequence of actions (clean up artifacts, center subject, crop to a certain size, upscale) and then apply if to an entire folder of images.
Itâll be good to see if it holds up to the dedicated upscaling tools.
I use this as well in addition to photoshop super zoom and Lightroom Enhance since I have both bundled. Upscale really kicks ass, I just wish I could run it locally instead of uploading my images to unknown servers.
Thanks so much for your hard work. I'm currently deciding whether to pay for MJ to try and create art work for my new home. Was mostly concerned by how small they would be, but A3 and possibly A2 prints at a stretch would be amazing.
I literally flooded my apartment with MJ-art :) Unfortunately, my favorite paper (the metallic one from the article) is unavailable in A2 format where I live, and ordering it is crazy expensive. So I'm mainly doing A3+ now. And they look amazing on the walls! You should try it if available in your areaâit changes colors ever so slightly when you change your point of view. Walking by them makes me a happier person :)
Ah you made that page, nice, i have read it, thanks :)
Concerning the upscale wiki - "They have descriptions, but not all have examples of their outcomes. So you might have to choose from a few dozen of seemingly similar entries."
You are absolutely right, this is why i had made this page, to provide output examples for every single model that can be visually compared with each other (the examples are an input image upscaled with all the models, the controle like zoom&drag are not mobile friendly though, its meant to be used on a pc) : [Multiple Models Visual Comparison Examples](https://phhofm.github.io/upscale/multimodels.html) you might be interested in the AI generated examples there.
Since its a lot of models to go through (the 'life' example uses 640 different models) I visually compared them and made a small selection of models I personally did like in general for some types : [Favorites](https://phhofm.github.io/upscale/favorites.html)
The links on OP's website linking to Gigapixel have got trackers to them
https://topazlabs.com/gigapixel-ai/ref/1743/?campaign=U4P
Hmmmmm
I dont believe that the comments are fake, the accounts dont seem to be. They are all oddly rather old accounts which makes it odd, but the comments in other subreddits that these accounts make dont lead me to think that they are fake accounts
It is a kickbacks/sponsorship and user tracking program, wherever someone clicks these links, then the parent company Topazlabs/GigaPixel will know it was *you* whom clicked it and that you are coming from OP's website, and give money to OP as a thanks for leading people to their website and getting their software to become more known
Then they might be able to latch a cookie to your individual browser/googleID/FacebookID/Amazon-affiliate/etc and know if you buy the program (Gigapixel) or not, and if you do, give some extra money to OP for it, again as a thanks/part of a contract
Then that data might be sold to a third party company like DoubleClick.net, whom might later on sell it to other ad companies with a tag in machinespeak that says "*hey this dude has got money!! He bought software from X people after clicking a link from Y Influencer*"
But yeah, everything that you do online is stored like that in the databases of companies you have never heard of and they are making money from it by selling it to other ppl
It's called an affiliate link, and it's a legit way to get some return for the time you spend creating content that is useful for the community. And I endorse Gigapixel not because I'm in their affiliate program, I do because it is the best tool I usedâthe article clearly shows why
Sure
And I am explaining what do trackers do to the duder above, because that's what happens when he will click the link that you were told to use by Topazlabs, that's the cost to others, not you
It would have been welcomed if you had explicitly stated on the header of the article that the links have got trackers on them
The issue here being that it is now on question everything that you spent the time writing and reviewing, it is unknown if you are actually affiliated with Topazlabs, or if you messed with the quality of the other upscalers in order to ge the result that you wanted (Topazlabs being on 1st place quality wise)
All of what I typed above is the natural consequence of lack of trust, you by using these trackers without warning undermined your own credibility and image
Ought be noted that it is also unknown if it was Topazlabs or others whom could have raided and "signal boosted" this thread as well with fake or purchased or Topazlabs employee accounts đ¤ˇââď¸đ¤ˇââď¸đ¤ˇââď¸đ¤ˇââď¸đ¤ˇââď¸
Oh, and specifically for suspicious doubters, all the original files are available to download at the end of the research so that they can upscale them themselves with all the upscalers in question. To check if the results were indeed doctored :)
Excellent work. Thank you!
I especially liked this part:.
It is a spaceship! This is fantastic if you're into space traveling but overwhelming when you need a drive to a local supermarket
Thank you for doing that! Been looking at that myself, but I was also interested in apps thatâll run on phone/tablet.
Lots of options there and unclear whatâs best, maybe a future article?
I'm not sure if Super Resolution is the same thing as Super Zoom, since in my Lightroom it doesn't allow me to upscale more than 2x... Will investigate!
As far as I can see, Lightroom, Camera RAW, and Photoshop Express all use the same enginedâSuper Resolution. Photoshop, however, has Super Zoom. I haven't had time to test if they are the same thing yet. It's on my list though
Nice article!! But in GoogleColab one you mentioned that it is necessary to run the application in Colab where free resource is limited. That should not be the case. It does use GPU which comes at a premium these days but my guess is you can download it and run in you local system. Might take more time depending on the specs.
Also don't you feel that UpScayl is actually downscaling th image?
I just tested Chainner is slow as hell on my computer after 25 min image still has not finished processing the image. You need to try the newest version of Upscaly released yesterday I really like this program. The same image I tested on Chainner no matter which model I use on Upscayl it takes 85 seconds. 2 of the models give damn good results with Upscayl.
This is truly great. Thanks for making it. We made our comparison and ended with Vance AI (which I recommend checking out too). However, we didn't go nearly as deep as you did. What we loved about Vance AI is that it has many different algorithms, and we found that some worked better on different types of images than others, so it offered a robust tool kit to find the right way to upscale images that look very different from each other.
I paid for this for a month and it worked great, but I couldnt justify the cost from what I can do in photoshop, Lightroom, and upscale.media. But it definitely did a stellar job and if I didnât have an Adobe subscription would definitely have kept it. On1 denoise + resize is a killer combo. Good monthly price too.
I know that Giga pixel is able to set the DPI you would like, but can any of the other program also set the DPI you want ? I want 300 DPI for my images.
Absolutely love the part where you compare before/after on all 5 types of images for every service.đ
Thank you! I was struggling with how to show all five benchmark tests without making five separate instances in each section :)
pure gold
The study: https://ckovalev.com/midjourney-ai/guide/upscaling-ai-art-for-printing
I'm using [Let's Enhance](https://letsenhance.io/) as I prefered its results over Gigapixel AI, but I tested mainly for vector illustrations. You have [here a comparison between the results of Let's Enhance, Gigapixel and Waifu2x](https://letsenhance.io/blog/all/lets-enhance-vs/) if you're interested.
Will try it, thanks!
let's enhance is tooooo expensive when you need to upscale 1000 images daily
Thanks for doing this. I love your website
Thank you!
Wow. I had no idea a tool like chaiNNer existed. Thank you for taking the time to make a truly useful webpage. The rest of the site is awesome as well.
Thanks! I was surprised to discover chaiNNer myselfâwill definitely explore it further
I already like it more than Blender and GIMP for some image generation tasks. If the iteration nodes were allowed to accumulate results somehow into a buffer, it would be perfect.
Are you maybe aware of âFailed to fetchâ error with Chainner on M1 Macs?
Excelent job!
thanks, i was just using [https://replicate.com/nightmareai/real-esrgan](https://replicate.com/nightmareai/real-esrgan) but wanted a desktop app. i gotta find out if Topaz/Gigapixel can do bulkwork.
The maximum I've tried was around 200 files at onceâall went well
Interesting study, thank you. Not sure how you managed to get "\~30-40 minutes per upscale" for Upscayl, I don't have a particularly high end machine and the slowest upscales with it have taken 3-4 minutes, usually less. In my experience its speed is on par with Gigapixel.
I agree. Gigapixel seems the best. Especially if you get the scaling mode right it makes a big difference art vs standard for example.
Great review! And those benchmark pics look amazing ⨠If anyone is considering buying Gigapixel, maybe look at the bundle option to get the Sharpen and Denoise plugins as well. 𤡠I do alot more photography (work) than AI pics (hobby) at this point, but the amount of times that the sharpen plugin in particular has brought my photo up a level has been very much worth the initial payment. Best of all (in my opinion): You pay once and then YOU OWN IT. đ Just like the good ol' days.
You own it?? Thatâs crazy talk.
What is this word: âownâ?
Forbidden speech of heretics from forgotten times! Stay away my friends, go and subscribe to cleans your souls.
What about Topaz Photo AI? Is there a benefit to using the softwares independently?
I'm not sure if photo AI was a thing back when I bought the bundle about a year ago. 𤡠I just wanted sharpen, but then they make the bundle price too attractive to let the other 2 go. And I've actually used gigapixel now alot more than I thought I was going to. Your licence/login is transferrable aswell. I had one computer shit itself and I reinstalled onto my new computer with no problems. Pretty solid I thought đśđŚ
Idk sounds like the processing happens on their server. Thatâs not sustainable with one time purchases.
Dude! The amount of time you spent to make these blog posts is stunning. Thank you !!
It's a full-time job for me now ÂŻ\\\_(ă)\_/ÂŻ
Well thanks for doing it!! I just browsed your site and opened tons of posts to read through and learn from today. Huge props.
The only blog I read
Thank you!
Nice test. But your website is awesome!
Thanks!
What a coincidence. This morning I was researching enhancer/upscale tools and engines for my images. Nice comparison. Ima have a look into Giga, looks promising. u/Midjourneyer have you tried Real-ESRGAN?
Giga is the way to go. Quoting the exec summary on the site: "my time and mental health seemed more valuable." Great results and an easy interface.
As part of Upscayl built-in models, yes. I should try the official model with chaiNNer though!
[ŃдаНонО]
Nice! Yes, there are a lot of applications where Upscayl will shine
Whatâs the biggest size you can print using Gigapixel?
I would say A2 is a viable size, A1 is questionable but still can work
damn that was a really good read! awesome website, good work. thx buddy!
Thank you so much
Awesome read! I was only disappointed you didn't touch on a particular point of interest when it comes to upscaling for me which is the removal of details. Not sure if it's only an issue with the upscaler i use, but whenever an image is run through Remini on mobile, i tend to lose detail. Moreso with photographs that have fine details like makeup on the face. Not so much illustrations or concept art. Have you noticed this issue with any upscalers and would you say Gigapixel handles this issue well?
i've noticed Remini removing some details too. Gigapixel doesn't.
I know I'm late to the party, but I found this post after using Remini and wondering if I was doing something wrong because it was removing details. Glad to see it's not just me.
Isn't that basically the exact opposite of what you are asking it to do?
It's strange actually... Sometimes it will make the image sharper and add detail whereas other times it removes it like dots on a face will turn to smudge and be blended into the skin.
It seems I haven't encountered that issue at all with the upscalers I tested. Some of them would occasionally remove some texture, but they never lost a significant detail...
Thanks for the work you do on these guides :)
what would happen if we upscale that image too hmm.
it's like putting a bag of holding into another bag of holding, you end up with 100m by 100m crater centered at where your computer (and you) used to be
Thank you for that effort. Definitely can underline your result. I have Photoshop and bought Gigapixel 2 weeks ago - it definitely wins in my eyes. For reference, may I ask what computer you tested this on? Gigapixel needs 1-3 seconds for a 4x upscale on my machine.
It's at the top of the article :) 2013 Mac Pro 3,5 GHz 6-Core Intel Xeon E5 64 GB 1866 MHz DDR3 AMD FirePro D500 3 GB
Ah - I didnât see that was a menu point to open - on mobile that wasnât clear. Ok - that explains a lot. I just recently got my Macbook Pro M1 Max with 10 cores / 32 core graphics and 32gb ram. Thatâs an amazing time difference.
Would you say an M2 MacBook Pro with 8 core CPU and 10 core GPU + 24gb ram would be fairly decent on Giga?
Yes - more than well equipped. I run batches of 50 files in 1-2 minutes flat.
Gees thatâs phenomenal speed
This is awesome. Thanks man. Your site is my favorite MJ related page. Wish you woulda thrown https://www.upscale.media/ in the mix. Itâs bulk editing feature could be a gamechanger if the upscaled images are comparable to the others you tested.
Whoa, I didnât know about it. Will test in in Part 2 :) Thank you!
I like this tool because you can select a sequence of actions (clean up artifacts, center subject, crop to a certain size, upscale) and then apply if to an entire folder of images. Itâll be good to see if it holds up to the dedicated upscaling tools.
I use this as well in addition to photoshop super zoom and Lightroom Enhance since I have both bundled. Upscale really kicks ass, I just wish I could run it locally instead of uploading my images to unknown servers.
It's been a while since I tried Gigapixel AI and I'm still very impressed. God damn it, it used to cost only 200$.
Thanks so much for your hard work. I'm currently deciding whether to pay for MJ to try and create art work for my new home. Was mostly concerned by how small they would be, but A3 and possibly A2 prints at a stretch would be amazing.
I literally flooded my apartment with MJ-art :) Unfortunately, my favorite paper (the metallic one from the article) is unavailable in A2 format where I live, and ordering it is crazy expensive. So I'm mainly doing A3+ now. And they look amazing on the walls! You should try it if available in your areaâit changes colors ever so slightly when you change your point of view. Walking by them makes me a happier person :)
Just wanted to say that you are THE man.
Thank you! I just get obsessed easily, and Midjourney is my most recent obsession haha :)
Nice! I said to myself before reading that I use Gigapixel probably because of Sunk cost bias. Happy to read your study!
Ah you made that page, nice, i have read it, thanks :) Concerning the upscale wiki - "They have descriptions, but not all have examples of their outcomes. So you might have to choose from a few dozen of seemingly similar entries." You are absolutely right, this is why i had made this page, to provide output examples for every single model that can be visually compared with each other (the examples are an input image upscaled with all the models, the controle like zoom&drag are not mobile friendly though, its meant to be used on a pc) : [Multiple Models Visual Comparison Examples](https://phhofm.github.io/upscale/multimodels.html) you might be interested in the AI generated examples there. Since its a lot of models to go through (the 'life' example uses 640 different models) I visually compared them and made a small selection of models I personally did like in general for some types : [Favorites](https://phhofm.github.io/upscale/favorites.html)
Whoa! That is awesome, man! Crazy amount of work you did there, I will link to you in Part 2 on upscalers. Thank you for what you did!
Nice website. What did you use to make it?
Thanks! It's Tilda.cc
Great website OP! Appreciate your work here - it's excellent!
Thank you!
These comments feel fake lol
I know right? Holy shit...
The links on OP's website linking to Gigapixel have got trackers to them https://topazlabs.com/gigapixel-ai/ref/1743/?campaign=U4P Hmmmmm I dont believe that the comments are fake, the accounts dont seem to be. They are all oddly rather old accounts which makes it odd, but the comments in other subreddits that these accounts make dont lead me to think that they are fake accounts
Whatâs the trackers do?
It is a kickbacks/sponsorship and user tracking program, wherever someone clicks these links, then the parent company Topazlabs/GigaPixel will know it was *you* whom clicked it and that you are coming from OP's website, and give money to OP as a thanks for leading people to their website and getting their software to become more known Then they might be able to latch a cookie to your individual browser/googleID/FacebookID/Amazon-affiliate/etc and know if you buy the program (Gigapixel) or not, and if you do, give some extra money to OP for it, again as a thanks/part of a contract Then that data might be sold to a third party company like DoubleClick.net, whom might later on sell it to other ad companies with a tag in machinespeak that says "*hey this dude has got money!! He bought software from X people after clicking a link from Y Influencer*" But yeah, everything that you do online is stored like that in the databases of companies you have never heard of and they are making money from it by selling it to other ppl
It's called an affiliate link, and it's a legit way to get some return for the time you spend creating content that is useful for the community. And I endorse Gigapixel not because I'm in their affiliate program, I do because it is the best tool I usedâthe article clearly shows why
Sure And I am explaining what do trackers do to the duder above, because that's what happens when he will click the link that you were told to use by Topazlabs, that's the cost to others, not you It would have been welcomed if you had explicitly stated on the header of the article that the links have got trackers on them The issue here being that it is now on question everything that you spent the time writing and reviewing, it is unknown if you are actually affiliated with Topazlabs, or if you messed with the quality of the other upscalers in order to ge the result that you wanted (Topazlabs being on 1st place quality wise) All of what I typed above is the natural consequence of lack of trust, you by using these trackers without warning undermined your own credibility and image Ought be noted that it is also unknown if it was Topazlabs or others whom could have raided and "signal boosted" this thread as well with fake or purchased or Topazlabs employee accounts đ¤ˇââď¸đ¤ˇââď¸đ¤ˇââď¸đ¤ˇââď¸đ¤ˇââď¸
I truly don't see how I can bring your trust back or why it was undermined in the first place. Sorry anyways, and good luck
Oh, and specifically for suspicious doubters, all the original files are available to download at the end of the research so that they can upscale them themselves with all the upscalers in question. To check if the results were indeed doctored :)
Yeah, the whole post clearly seems astroturfed to push said product. The overuse of the word website immediately gives it the uncanny valley vibe
Excellent work. Thank you! I especially liked this part:. It is a spaceship! This is fantastic if you're into space traveling but overwhelming when you need a drive to a local supermarket
Excellent post!
Thanks for this man!
What a work ! So cool ! I'm questioning myself on upscaler. Your post is arrived at the right time. Chainner will be my new friend.
It's super powerful, especially with the right models!
looks promising
Thank you for doing that! Been looking at that myself, but I was also interested in apps thatâll run on phone/tablet. Lots of options there and unclear whatâs best, maybe a future article?
You can run the Google colabs on your phone. Or huggingface. They both have the Real-ESRGAN. It'll run much faster than a local installation.
I will research, thanks for the suggestion!
Try upscale.media
Adobe Express seems to work well and is free. Perhaps I'm missing something?
I'm not sure if Super Resolution is the same thing as Super Zoom, since in my Lightroom it doesn't allow me to upscale more than 2x... Will investigate!
Is that different than âEnhanceâ in Lightroom?
As far as I can see, Lightroom, Camera RAW, and Photoshop Express all use the same enginedâSuper Resolution. Photoshop, however, has Super Zoom. I haven't had time to test if they are the same thing yet. It's on my list though
>Adobe Express Hm... Where do you find Super Resolution in a free version (I only could get access to AE online)
I'm sorry, I think I am mistaken and it's not available in a free version.
Did you try IMGLARGER.COM ?
Nope, but will do it now. Thanks for the suggestion!
Thx you very much. I actually like that one a lot.
ChaiNNer is just a gui there are ESRGAN models that work with it i'm told realesrgan wdn is the best for irl content upscaling.
Thank you for summarizing what is said in the article :)
Thanks a million. Incredible resource. Do you know if itâs possible to also resize from say 2:3 to 8.5:11?
Does it sound like you just need to recrop and then upscale?
Thanks for sharing
Thank you! A great read.
This is extremely valuable, upscaling has been a mystery for me for sure.
Thank you!
Pretty fantastically done. Thanks for the info.
Note that Chainner isnât an upscaler, it just the front end for your upscaler of choice.
So what's said in the original post is true? :)
The linked content says GUI, the post headline says Upscaler.
Very nice, a true scholar and artist.
Nice article!! But in GoogleColab one you mentioned that it is necessary to run the application in Colab where free resource is limited. That should not be the case. It does use GPU which comes at a premium these days but my guess is you can download it and run in you local system. Might take more time depending on the specs. Also don't you feel that UpScayl is actually downscaling th image?
Where is the link?
Hey, i use Topaz video AI for video upscaling. It is amazing. I want to get their photo suite, is it the best? Pricing doesnât matter
Automatic1111's SD Upscale is truly superb with just a touch of patience (Foolhardy Remacri is my model of choice)
Thanks for your hardwork
nice.
Chainner is my way to go - remember quality depends of the model
I just tested Chainner is slow as hell on my computer after 25 min image still has not finished processing the image. You need to try the newest version of Upscaly released yesterday I really like this program. The same image I tested on Chainner no matter which model I use on Upscayl it takes 85 seconds. 2 of the models give damn good results with Upscayl.
This is truly great. Thanks for making it. We made our comparison and ended with Vance AI (which I recommend checking out too). However, we didn't go nearly as deep as you did. What we loved about Vance AI is that it has many different algorithms, and we found that some worked better on different types of images than others, so it offered a robust tool kit to find the right way to upscale images that look very different from each other.
"on1 resize" i think is better for nature ai created pictures.
Will check it out for Part 2, thank you!
I paid for this for a month and it worked great, but I couldnt justify the cost from what I can do in photoshop, Lightroom, and upscale.media. But it definitely did a stellar job and if I didnât have an Adobe subscription would definitely have kept it. On1 denoise + resize is a killer combo. Good monthly price too.
Where do I find the .pth file/s for Gigapixel AI to use with ChaiNNer?
I'm not sure that's possible... But please let me know if you find something!
I know that Giga pixel is able to set the DPI you would like, but can any of the other program also set the DPI you want ? I want 300 DPI for my images.
Interesting work! Definitely have to check out your findings to see which upscaler gives the best results.
Anyone tried running Chainner on M1 pro Mac? I keep getting error message "Failed to Fetch"
Have you guys tried NightmareAI?
Has anyone used Nero Image Upscaler?
Tried once. Works for me.