AI is now officially the most popular technology in 2023; From ChatGPT to Midjourney, the average user is finally discovering what AI can do. AI photography, in particular, has gained popularity in recent months.
Projects like Dall-E or Midjourney are already capable of creating high-quality images on many occasions It is indistinguishable from the pictures Or real works of art. Even the glitches that used to plague them, like people’s hands, are now very realistic.
However, it is good to remember that this is only one of the things we can do with AI; There are also other tools that can be more useful depending on our needs, and now we will talk about a tool that will become essential on any computer: Classy.
Enlarge images using artificial intelligence
Upscayl is an open source project that allows you to use different algorithms to do this Expand the resolution of our images; In other words, it makes images “bigger” and sharper. The end result is as if the image had originally been created in high resolution, for example, using a higher quality camera.
Anyone who has tried to enlarge an image using an image editor like Photoshop, Paint, or Gimp will know this It’s more complicated than it seems; The problem lies in the small amount of information (i.e. pixels) that the small image contains. We might think that the easiest way to enlarge an image four times is to simply take a pixel and create four identical pixels of the same color, and so on until the larger image is complete; But the result of this process is a blurry image that contains no more detail than the original image and looks worse when viewed larger.
This is where the artificial intelligence and algorithms used by Upscayl come in; able to Create new details where they weren’t there before, depending on the context of the rest of the image. The result is a new image based on the original, which looks sharper; In addition, it can also remove visual blemishes, such as the “grain” of old images or the “banding” effect that occurs in low-quality images.
Using Upscayl is very simple. Once installed, the application displays the steps we need to take in the left part of the window. First, we must choose the image we want to enlarge, in PNG, JPG, JPEG or WEBP format (we can choose a folder by clicking “Batch Upscayl”), and in the second step, choose the algorithm to use.
Upscayl allows you to enlarge the image up to 4 times using artificial intelligence
Each algorithm has its own strengths and will produce a different result on each image; For example, if we want to enlarge a drawing or illustration, we might be interested in choosing “Digital Art.” For photographs, we have verified that “Ultramix Balanced” delivers a result more identical to the original image, while “Real-Esrgan” applies more effects and Creates a clearer image But also more “artificial”; It’s a matter of taste, and we recommend trying until you find what you like best.
Once we have chosen the destination folder, we just have to click on the Upscayl button. By default, the program Applies 4x magnification to the image, although we can change this and other options in the Settings section. The larger the image, the longer it takes to process it, which depends on how powerful our computer is; Although Upscayl is willing to harness the power of graphics cards in the process.
Upscayl is the best image enlargement software we’ve seen yet, and the best thing is that it is Completely free; It can be downloaded for Windows, macOS, and LinuxThe code is open. Its creators are also preparing a cloud version that will work on mobile phones and less powerful devices.
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