Has anyone tried this? (http://akvis.com/en/retoucher/index.php)

No, but there is a 10 day trial on the same link.

I've just tried the 10 day trial version and for the life of me, I don't know why anyone would want to use it. As I Understand, the plugin is to be used to eliminate noise, dust, scratches, etc.
I first downloaded a file originally posted at Retouch, selected the whole thing and hit start. There are no adjustments that you can make. The file was not large, 42, 000 but after 12 minutes it had completed only 20%. That portion was totally unrecogizable. Maybe this plugin requires a humungus amount of memory to work properly. I gave up on that and tried a small selection around the eyes. I posted the before and after. Unless I'm doing something very stupid, this doesn't look like anything an amateur let alone a professional retoucher would want to use.

Cheers
Dave

Dave,

I dont think you read the instructions or looked at the tutorial on the web site.

You have to actually make a selection of the dust or scratches.....

I too downloaded and gave it a try. I was not imressed - using the tools within Photoshop CS or 7 you could do a much better job just as fast.

Christine

"You could put an eye out with that thing if you're not careful" :)

No kiddin. I actually tried selecting a head on an other image and it totally disappeared. I like it!! It really does cool effects!

Hi Amy. I selected an area that I thought had dust and scratches around the eyes. Or are you getting at something else?

Cheers
Dave

Dave, I assume the hi Amy was actually meant for me - if you look at the tutorial you actually have to select the individual scratches etc...

Christine

OOPS! Sorry about that! You guys look so much alike. OK. I now get what you're saying Christine. It makes sense now why large selections were so slow to correct. I'll give it a go although I'm sure my results are still going to be similar to you.

cheers
Dave

Duv, I've tried remove the defects in this photo using Retoucher. I like the result. :wink: How long is the processing of the restoration? 40 second. :!: I suppose, it saves the time.

I read in the akvis.com that sending some examples of photo restoration you will get a free license key. :knockedou I would like to get a free license. Duv, can I use this photo for my example?

GaSS

Photo is from Dipech. You can find Diane in the member list under Dipech.

Cheers
Dave

I downloaded the trial version. thankfully it was a trial. It took over an hour to clean up an area of a photo that I could have retouched manually in about 15 min. and really didn't do a good job.
my humble opinion ,don't waste your time on the download.

I guess mileage must vary, because I've had great success with this. So much so I bought it after my 10 day trial was up. Here are some of the things I did.

1. Remove time stamps and text.

2. Remove blotchy artifacts that are byproducts of poster edges and other photoart techniques.

It was number two above that compelled me to buy, because it solved a problem that I've only been able to fix with tedious hand retouching.

I noticed some complaints here about the speed, so I just timed a test. The test was an old 640 by 480 image with some text in several spots and a border around it. I had Retoucher remove the text and extend the image into the border. Retoucher took 38 seconds in Photoshop CS on a 2.4GHz P4 with 1G of RAM. I don't think this is unreasonably slow.

BTW, one thing I do is make very careful selections, with maybe only 1 pixel extra around the object, if that much. But, then again, I'm not working on scratches. I'm working on things that are easy to select with the magic wand or color select.