14 DAY TRIAL // It does not matter where you take a look, computer assisted image editing is right in your eyes. Whether it is the cover of a magazine, an indoors advertisement or a huge billboard in the street informing you of another best product that should become a buying routine for you, image editing is everywhere.
As simple as it may sound, up-sizing an image without compromising its quality too much is not too simple a job. You have to make retouches here and there in order to mask defects unseen in the original image, and give the smooth look of the initial picture. You have to make a series of operations that some times end with an unsuccessful output.
Fortunately there are plenty of tools on the market for enlarging an image in such way as to not lose too much of its quality. Reshade is one of the solutions available and it comes as a web application as well as a client app that sells for $149. The good part is that you get to test the application before buying it and decide if it is worth all that money. The web service is absolutely free but you have much less input in the processing of the image than with the client alternative.
Reshade client comes with a very simple interface that permits even to the ultimate noob to get his/her way around with no problems. Once loaded it will display a sample picture for you to play around with and witness the value of the application. For quick results Reshade offers instant preview for all settings applied. Trial version comes with only one limitation: saved images will be applied a watermark, but other than this the application is fully functional.
Adjusting the image consists in simple dragging by some sliders until the desired effect on the image is reached. Enlarging the image can be done in two different ways: either by dragging by "Zoom" slider (but in this case the maximum limit is 20x) or by manually inputting the width and height values yourself (in this case you can go as far as you want).
The options for getting the best results possible are little but helpful and very easy to use. Edge control variations can have a great impact on the overall sharpness of the image making it look more crisp. If you are not noticing any difference in the manual setting of the value, turn the feature automatic and enable the software to pick the best value for you.
Smooth defects option is designed to take care of image noise and artifacts by smoothing it out. This option works great in combination with texture which contrasts the edges giving them a more realistic look. It is all a matter of dragging by the slider to a convenient value (it takes a jiffy for the preview to become available) between zero and one hundred.
If you need rounder edges a low Accuracy level is exactly what you need; higher values for this feature result in Reshade's estimating of the original lines in the image. Again the setting is made by dragging by the corresponding slider in the interface until appropriate result is reached.
With Edge Thresholod feature you get to control which lines are sharpened and which ones are smoothened. Thus higher values take care or stronger edges making them more evident and nit affecting softer ones while lower values deal with all the edges in the picture, sharpening them.
Processing a picture takes very little time and the effort of the user is minimum, all the burden falling in the hands of the application. It works great for enlarging small sized images fast and with imperceivable quality loss (it all depends of the zoom level and the settings you make).
Although there is a loss in quality when processing an image with Reshade, the application does a great job at working the texture, edges and colors to your advantage and masking the defects in the picture. During our testing Reshade raised above many image editors rendering much crisper images at a better quality.
The application is so simple to use you don't even need a Help file (not that it comes with one). Dragging and dropping the images in the interface is supported as well as panning of zoomed image. The double perspective (original and enlarged picture) permits a much more comfortable view of the changes. Reshade does a fine job adapting the images at low zoom levels, but as you go higher with the enlargement there will be trouble ahead as the quality of the image cannot be preserved and finer tuning is required.
The price may be a reason for sticking to the web application, despite the fact that you do not have the same flexibility and you have to stay content with fixed zoom levels as well as automatic settings for getting the best result possible. The good part is that the web app supports both images stored on your computer as well as URLs of pictures.
The Good
It comes with amazing ease of use and will not pose any trouble regardless of the computer skill of any user. Working with available options is just a matter of dragging to the right value and live preview feature shows you the modifications in an instant.
The Bad
Reshade will not alert the user about closing the program and not saving the image so if you accidentally close the application all settings will be lost.
The price seems a bit high considering that applications with similar purpose come with price tags sometimes even well under $100.
The Truth
The results are truly impressive and achieving them takes a bit more than a jiffy. There is quality loss but this is just normal. However, the edge control, texture smoothening options and masking of artifacts and defects work like a charm and you can see that.
It comes with a bit of a price, which may be a bit too much, but the results are indeed amazing (zoom level and the type of the image are also playing an important role). Testing is not hindered by any restriction, save that the output image will be watermarked with Reshade's stamp.
Here are some snapshots of the application in action:
