Topaz Simplify is intended to create artistic effects in photographs, such as paintings, sketches, watercolors, and cartoons. Unfortunately, it cannot work as an independent desktop application. It's a plugin for Photoshop and Lightroom.
Good news for inexperienced users is that the application has a series of presets with different styles, which include cartoon, image CrispEdge, painting colorful, painting oil, sketch color, sketch light pencil, wood carving and many more. Presets are organized into built-in collections but you can create additional ones if you feel the need. Although you may leave the effects just as they are, you may also want to tune them a little bit until you get what you expect. Likewise, you can create new presets or modify existing ones. Luckily, you can preview the results at all times.
Topaz Simplify has the right name because it certainly “simplifies” operations that are much harder to perform in Photoshop. In this regard, the plugin adds filters and effects that cannot be found in the base application. All in all, Topaz Simplify is an excellent tool for photographers and artists. The only limitation I can find is that it does not work as a standalone application, so you need to buy other expensive software before you can use it.
v3.0 [Apr 14, 2010]
- Advanced size-based technology allows you to suppress / eliminate select details.
- Color management for color removal and color enhancement.
- Generate or reduce lines, edges and shading.
- Edge detection for control over edge reduction and enhancement.
- Separate control over image base and image edges for complete creative control.
