www.mattkprovideo.com/2026/03/17/new-to-topaz-ai/

March 17, 2026, 3:53 pm. I am brand new to using Topaz AI. ( I just downloaded it a few days ago)

I bought it mainly to upscale video.

The Youtube show I am paid to edit is shot via 1280 by 720 zoom calls.  I’ve tried to get the client to get newer better 4K cameras or even just use his iPhone on a cheap Walmart tripod- to no avail.

The footage I get from the client is a split screen conversation between two people (sometimes more than two!) so if I want to make it 4K I have to somehow upscale it 300%.

I tried to upscale the video (in Adobe Premiere) 300 percent and it looked terrible.

I tried to upscale the footage using after effects “Detail Preserving Upscale” but I have found that once you go over 200% it looks bad.

When I want to do close ups – that means I have to blow up the footage 600% to fill the screen with one persons face. That looks terrible even with “Detail Preserving Upscale.”

I asked on a lot of online forums and everyone suggested I use TOPAZ AI.

So I bought TOPAZ and used it on one episode. I didn’t have time to learn how to use it the right way, I was on a strict deadline and wanted to get this done as fast as possible.

I imported the raw unedited one hour and a half Zoom footage into Topaz and exported it as “4K, 60 fps.”

I did it at the end of my work day as I assumed 90 minutes of upscaling would take a long time to render. I was right, when I woke up the next morning it STILL wasn’t done.  Luckily I just got a new computer with a fast processor and lots of extra hard drive space.  

Now what about close ups?  I wondered if I could do cropping or trimming right in Topaz. I am assuming it CAN be done but I didn’t have time to research how to do that. 

So I took the 1280 by 720 original footage into After Effects. I imported the video into a composition set to 640 by 360, 60 fps,  moved the position of the footage so that one person filled the screen.

( I added some basic color correction such as contrast on an adjustment layer before exporting.)

Then I exported it using the Quicktime > Animation codec. 

This took more time than I wanted to spend on this…. I knew I was probably doing it wrong… but I felt the need to keep moving.

After Importing this close up footage into Topaz AI, I set it to export as 4K/60fps…

I thought the close up footage looked really great. I don’t think anyone would know it was originally from such small format video.

Then I took the close up footage back into After Effects and added my graphic overlays, Lower Third Super names, etc…

I imported both the huge 90 minute upscaled video file and the almost as huge close up file into Adobe Premiere, and just edited the footage as if that was its normal size. This went off without any problems.

Finally, I exported whole edited thing as one big file and uploaded it to the clients YouTube channel.

I KNOW I am doing this the dumb way, the wrong way. 

I am sure there is a better way that would take less time and work.

Ideally, I would like it if I could install TOPAZ AI as a part of After Effects. So that I can only upscale the exact parts I want, with the shots with two men upscaled 300%, and the close ups I want set to 600%. Then instead of rendering the whole thing, I can import the after effects composition into Adobe Premiere and cut the un-rendered comp and only have to render once Im fully done.

I googled “add Topaz” and I saw how to click “plug ins > install after effects plugins” 

and after that I saw in After Effects:  Effects > Topaz > Enhance

But their enhancement options were just “2X Upscale” and “4X Upscale” and not the 300% and 600% I need for this ongoing projects.

Please don’t laugh at my ignorance.

(And yes I know- from a business point of view, I should have the attitude that is the client is happy with small 1280 by 720 footage then I should be too.  I am doing this partially for the client and partially for me to learn how to use TOPAZ for my own projects in the future.)

Thanks in advance for your help.

Matt