Installing Third Party plugins in GIMP

[Laco]

I am new to the forum and new to GIMP.
 
I tried researching the subject of how to install plugins in GIMP, but every tutorial I could find was in reference to GIMP plugins only—plugins designed specifically for GIMP. Can anyone tell me if third party plugins can be installed in GIMP? Specifically, I am wanting to use Topaz Photo AI as a plugin in GIMP.

I know how to find the GIMP plugins folder, but I don’t know which part of the Topaz Photo AI folder to put in there.

[Ofnuts]

A "plug-in" is meant to plug into something, and so to have the right shape of plug (USB-C vs HDMI, for instance) and be able to handle the flow of data (USB protocol vs HDMI protocol). As far as I can tell from their Web page, they can work as a plugin with Adobe products and that's it (even if they say "You can use Topaz Photo AI either as standalone software, or directly from most photo editors.", which is a bit preposterous).

It appears that you can use the Topaze product as an independent application., and there is a shellout.py Gimp plugin that can start another application on a Gimp layer. I don't have it, but I'm sure that Rich will come along and take it out of his treasure chest.

[Laco]

Thank you Ofnuts for your reply.

I get it. You saved me a lot of time trying.

The 'shellout .py' thing you mentioned sounds interesting . . .

[rich2005]

I am very doubtful if photo AI will work with Gimp.  As Ofnuts mentioned there is a plugin 'shellout'. No need to go into the basics, it is used by the Partha compiled Gimp http://www.partha.com for various older Topaz filters, if you have them installed, but not for photo AI.

I have downloaded the the trial photo AI (700 MB installer) and installed with much downloading from Topaz, an installation that is only 1.2 GB - bloat

From the photo AI desktop shortcut I can see what executable that calls. Not working here, I can see it calling home, internet activity, nothing happens, probably my Win10 VM is not compatible, not able to test anything.

You can try the attached, a modified Partha plugin. Unzip and put TopazPhotoAI.py in your plugins folder. It registers in the Filters menu. Might / might-not work. 

Do not complain if it does not work, pay your $199 for Topaz and probably $20 / month for PS.

You might want to look at the Gimp gmic plugin http://www.gmic.eu which has some good filters for de-noising up-scaling but certainly not Quote from Topaz "Maximize your image quality on AutoPilot" - no comment.

[Laco]

Thank you Rich for going to the trouble researching this. I have to admit I am reluctant to try some of these convoluted type installations. I am scared of making a mess of things.

I have actually already paid for the Topaz Photo AI, and as a hobbyist/novice I am quite happy with the results most of the time. It is just that sometimes a photo can appear over-processed, like it has been air brushed, and so for these situations I thought if I had the original photo on another layer I could blend the processed image with the original image and get a more natural looking result. But, of course, I need a program like GIMP that has layers to so this.

Won’t be renting Photoshop at $20 a month for the rest of my life, so I guess I will just keep using Photo AI as a standalone. I might take a look at the GIMP gmic plugin that you mentioned, Rich, for those cases where Topaz Photo AI overcooks the image.

Thank you again