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User Interface

Detail in Topaz Studio, Topaz Labs

User Interface

Topaz Studio 2 can be used as both a standalone application and plugin for Photoshop, Lightroom, etc. Select your host editor for step-by-step setup instructions for Topaz Studio 2.

The Right Hand Menu, or the Effect Layers panel, on the Studio 2 User Interface is meant to assist the user easily navigate between filters, looks, and more. The Effect Layers panel is divided into a few sections. First, the two prominent options on the Effect Layers Panel are the Add Filter and Add Look button. The Add Filter Button lets you choose from over 30 unique filters with thousands of options and build the layers on your image yourself with full customizable options. The Add Look button takes you to our pre-made Looks panel, where you can select from over 200 curated looks for your image.

Below these two options is the Layers Panel, where you will be able to see everything that has been applied to your image. When you have either a Look or a Filter selected from the layers panel, a section will appear that will allow you to access all of the options for that look or filter. The same thing happens when you apply a mask to a filter or look.

 The “Save Look” button allows you to save a look that includes all of the layers in your Layer Panel so you can access this look again later in the “My Looks” dropdown menu.

The “Add Filter” button allows you to access over 30 customizable filters divided into three unique sections: Essential, Creative, and Stylistic. Once you select this button, you will see all of the options available. Select a filter, and the filter will open in the right hand panel, allowing you full creative control on how the filter affects your image. You can save a favorite filter by highlighting the filter and clicking the heart of “Favorite” setting. These filters will be found in the “Favorite” menu at the top of the Add Filter screen. To see which filters you have recently used, select the “Recent” menu at the top of the Add Filter Screen.

The “Add Look” button allows you to access over 200 customizable Looks. These are packs of filters that give a unique look to your image. You can scroll through the looks that appear or select a category from the Look Category dropdown menu. You are also able to sort by filters using the Sort By drop down menu (for instance, if you are only looking for Looks that include the Impression filter). You can change the size of how the filters appear on your screen using the icon with four squares on the right hand side above your looks. You can favorite a look by seleting the heart beside the name of each look. These favorites will appear in the Category menu as “My Favorites”.  Lastly, if you know the name of a look you love, you can search for it with the search icon.

The Layers Panel shows you what has been applied to your image to achieve the look that appears on your image. The Layers Panel will show filters and looks that have been applied to your image. At the bottom will be the name of your image as the base layer. You are able to move filters and layers up or down in the layers pannel using the six dots to the left of each filter or look. Moving one filter above another may affect the overall appearance of your image.

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Importing and Exporting

Detail in Topaz Studio, Topaz Labs

Importing and Exporting

Topaz Studio 2 can be used as both a standalone application and plugin for Photoshop, Lightroom, etc. Learn how to import and export images using Studio 2, or Studio 2 as a plugin from Photoshop or Lightroom.

To import an image into Studio 2, Click the blue “Open” button in the center of the screen after launching the program. From here, you’ll locate the image you wish to open on your computer and then import it into Topaz Studio 2. If you find that you already have an open image and wish to open a new image, click the “Open” icon in the top left corner of the screen, or click File -> Open Image. 

  • To launch Topaz Studio 2 as a plugin from Photoshop, select the “Filter” dropdown menu at the top of your Photoshop screen, then select “Topaz Labs” -> Topaz Studio 2. 

Compatibility:

  • Lightroom 4-6
  • Lightroom CC 2015-2016
  • Lightroom CC 2019

* Lightroom CC 2018 does not support any external editors.

Launch Topaz Studio 2 as a plugin from Lightroom to edit your image in Topaz Studio 2.

To export an image from Studio 2, you have two options. You can either hit the “Export” button in the left hand side of your top navigation panel, or select “File” -> “Export” to save your image to your computer. You can either select where to save your image, or it will save your image automatically to the place you opened it from. For instance, if you opened an image from your Pictures folder, the saved version would appear in your Pictures folder as well. By default, the file will be the same name with “-studio” added to the end of the file. You can change this setting in the Preferences menu.

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Using Studio

Using Studio

Topaz Studio 2 can be used as both a standalone application and plugin for Photoshop, Lightroom, etc. Select your host editor for step-by-step setup instructions for Topaz Studio 2.

Topaz Studio 2 should automatically configure itself for Photoshop CC when it installs on your computer and you should find it under Filters>Topaz Labs>Topaz Studio 2.

If you have it installed and you are still not able to find it in your filters menu, try re-installing the application. You can use our Topaz Studio 2 Mac Installer or Topaz Studio 2 Windows Installer.

If you’re still not able to find it, you can manually configure it using the following steps:

Mac

  1. Open ‘Finder’
  2. Select Go>Go to Folder
  3. Copy and paste the following path: /Applications/Topaz Studio 2/Topaz Studio 2.app/Contents/Resources/PS_Plugins/TopazStudio2.plugin
  4. Click ‘Go’
  5. Right-click (or ctrl+click) on the ‘TopazStudio2.plugin file’
  6. Select ‘Copy “TopazStudio2.plugin”‘
  7. Open your Applications folder 
  8. Go to /Applications/Adobe Photoshop CC [year number]/Plug-ins
  9. Paste “TopazStudio2.plugin” file in the “Plug-ins” folder

Windows

  1. Open ‘Windows Explorer’
  2. Go to C:\Program Files\Topaz Labs\Topaz Studio 2\PS_Plugins_x64
  3. Right-click and copy the “tltopazstudiops_x64.8bf” alias file
  4. Navigate to C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CC\Plug-ins
  5. Right click in this folder, next to Generator, and paste the file here
  6. Restart Photoshop CC and try invoking your plug-in once more

Mac

1. Go to your preferences menu in Photoshop and select Plug-ins.

2. Check/enable the Additional Plug-ins Folder option then click Choose.

3. Navigate to: Computer/Macintosh HD/Library/Application Support and select the Topaz Labs folder.  If you cannot find this folder, press Command ⌘ + Shift + C to open the Computer Directory.

Be sure you are selecting the entire Topaz Labs folder. If you select a plugin folder, you will add just that one plugin to the Filter menu, but all other plugins will not show.

4. Click OK to save your changes, then restart Photoshop. Once Photoshop opens, go to your Filter menu and you should be able to access Topaz Labs.

Windows

  • Please click on Edit in the top menu and select Preferences → Plug-Ins..
  • Check/enable the Additional Plug-ins Folder option then click Choose.
  • After that, please navigate to:
    64bit OS –  C:\Program Files (x86)\
    32bit OS – C:\Program Files\
  • Then, select the Topaz Labs folder
    Be sure you are selecting the entire Topaz Labs folder. If you select a plugin folder, you will add just that one plugin to the Filter menu, but all other plugins will not show. 

You should see the file path below in Photoshop’s Plug-Ins Preferences.  From here, click OK to save your changes, then restart Photoshop. Once Photoshop opens, go to your Filter menu and you should be able to access Topaz Labs.

 To use Topaz Studio 2 in Lightroom, follow these steps:

  1. Preferences → External Editing
  2. In the Additional External Editor section, under preset please select “Choose” and search for your Studio 2. Make sure you have the application selected (make sure it is the actual icon and not the entire folder).
  3. Next click on the preset drop down menu and select “save current settings as a new preset” and enter the name of your application

Now that you have Topaz Studio 2 set up as a external editor, just click Photo>Edit In>Topaz Studio 2

Note: For Topaz Studio 2 to save back to Lightroom you will have use to “File → Save” in order to save.

Using your Topaz Labs plug-ins with Adobe Photoshop Elements is easy. Elements will usually find your Topaz Labs products on its own. You can find them by opening an image in Elements, then opening the ‘Filter‘ menu.

To manually configure Topaz Studio 2 for Photoshop Elements, follow these steps:

Mac

  1. Open the ‘Adobe Photoshop Elements 2019 Editor‘ menu and select ‘Preferences>Plug-ins
  2. Check the ‘Application Plug-ins Folder‘ box, then click ‘Choose.
  3. Select the folder for the application from the ‘Applications’ folder, then click ‘Choose.
  4. You will need to close and re-open Elements for your application to show up in the ‘Filter‘ menu.

Windows

  1. Open the ‘Edit‘ menu and select ‘Preferences>Plug-ins‘ 
  2. Check the ‘Application Plug-ins Folder‘ box, then click ‘Choose.‘ 
  3. In the “Browse for Folder” menu, navigate to OS (C:)>Program Files>Topaz Labs> then select the folder of the application you would like to use in Elements. Press OK.
  4. You will need to close and re-open Elements for your application to show up in the ‘Filter‘ menu.

You can use Topaz Studio 2 by opening an image in Luminar 3, then navigating to ‘Edit>Plugins‘. Studio 2 may show up here, but if you don’t see it, check under the ‘Other’ menu.

If you do not see your Topaz Studio 2 under the ‘Other‘ menu, here’s how to add it:

  1. Under the same ‘Edit>Plugins>Other’ menu, select ‘Open Plugin…’.
  2. Select the folder for the application from the ‘Applications’ folder, then click ‘Open
  3. You may need to close and re-open Luminar 3 before your plug-in appears in the ‘Plugins‘ menu.

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