v2.0.2

-Improved moodboard rendering quality,image resizing and fixed moodboard window from jumping when showing the header
-let ui render before crawler now startup is faster on 5400rpm HDD

v2.0.1

This hotfix addresses crashes reported after the v2.0 update, improves startup performance for users on mechanical hard drives (HDDs), and adds extra polish to the newly introduced Gesture tool

HDD Boot Optimization:

• The application now intelligently staggers its background threads on startup. By delaying the AI Engine and Background Crawler by a few seconds, it prevents extreme disk-thrashing and allows the UI to render instantly.

Upgraded Gesture Setup:

-The Gesture Practice folder selection is now a fully hierarchical tree (matching the main sidebar). It includes "Select All" / "Deselect All" buttons, and checking a parent folder automatically checks all its subfolders.

Caching Engine:

• Fixed the "Cache All Vault Images" button so it correctly processes files instead of passing raw directory paths to the thread.

Database Synchronization:

• Fixed a severe bug where renaming a folder would cause a database collision with the background crawler, leading to a collapsed sidebar hierarchy. Folder renaming now includes an automatic failsafe rollback.

v2

Gesture Drawing Trainer:

• A fully integrated, timed figure-drawing mode. Select folders, set your time-per-image, and set session limits (total images or total minutes)

PureRef-Style Moodboard:

• Similar to pure ref basically

AI Pipeline Controls:

• Full control over the background AI. Added "Pause Queue" and "Clear Queue" buttons, an option to disable auto-tagging on import, and a smart UI label that accurately reflects both the queue size and VRAM state

Global Caching System:

• Added a "Cache All Vault Images" button in Settings to pre-process your library in the background, allowing massive folders to load instantly in the future.

UI Stability:

• Fixed a bug causing save dialogs (for moodboards and detail crops) to render black text on black backgrounds.

Smart Memory Management:

• The AI model now defers loading into VRAM until an image is actively processed, saving system resources if the queue is paused on startup.

v1.1

-PureRef-Style Zooming: Hold Ctrl and use your scroll wheel to dynamically zoom the image grid. Thumbnails are now generated at high resolution (500x500) so they remain crystal clear no matter how close you zoom in.

-rebuilt the thumbnail engine. Instead of saving thousands of loose files to your hard drive, thumbnails are now heavily compressed and stored inside a thumbnails.cache database.

-Persistent UI Memory: Reference Vault now remembers exactly where you left off. When you close and reopen the app, it will automatically load your last viewed folder and remember which sidebar folders you left expanded.

-Complete VRAM Control: Added a new "Unload Tagger" button to the top bar. You can now manually eject the 300MB AI model from your GPU's VRAM with a single click, instantly freeing up resources for gaming or 3D rendering without having to close the app.

-Global Vault Re-Tagging: Added a new right-click option to folders to completely wipe all existing tags and force the AI to re-scan the entire directory from scratch.

-Settings Menu: Added a dedicated Settings window to manage the thumbnail cache and choose whether the AI engine boots automatically on startup.

v1.0.4 Stable

Stable release

Reference Vault v1.0.3

This update has improvements in stability and resource management

** New Features**

• Zero-Dependency Offline Installer: You can now install Reference Vault completely offline. The installer includes optional checkboxes to bundle the 300MB AI model and the required Microsoft Visual C++ Hardware Runtimes directly to your PC.

• VRAM Garbage Collection: The AI engine is now entirely self-managing. If the app detects 60 seconds of inactivity, it will completely flush the AI model from your GPU's VRAM, returning those resources to your system for gaming or 3D rendering. It instantly wakes up the moment you drop a new image.

• One-Click Folder Re-Tagging: Added a new right-click option on folders to instantly wipe old/buggy tags and send the entire folder back through the AI pipeline.

• Smart Eviction: Choosing "Remove from Vault (Keep File)" now safely moves the file to a ReferenceVault_Removed folder in your Documents, ensuring the background scanner doesn't accidentally re-add it.

Bug Fixes

• "Blue Skin" Fix: Fixed a color-channel math bug (RGB vs. BGR) that caused the AI to hallucinate blue skin on human subjects.

• Smarter Tagging: The AI now mathematically sorts its outputs by confidence, restricting itself to only the Top 4 most accurate tags per image.

• Pathing Integrity: Fixed a critical Windows file-pathing bug where renaming a parent folder would sever the database connection to its subfolders.

• Headless Boot Crash: Fixed a fatal crash on startup caused by the Hugging Face downloader attempting to draw a loading bar on a non-existent terminal console.

Reference Vault v1.0.2

Reference Vault v1.0.2

This major update overhauls the app's architecture for massive datasets and introduces Universal GPU Acceleration. Reference Vault now dynamically scales from lightweight laptops to high-end studio workstations.

✨ New Features

• Tree-View Sidebar: The folder sidebar has been completely rebuilt. Nested subfolders now visually branch out under their parent folders, making it infinitely easier to navigate complex libraries.
• Live Auto Tagger Queue Tracker: Added a real-time status tracker to the bottom of the sidebar. You will now see exactly how many images the Tagger has left to tag
• Universal Hardware Support: The AI engine has been upgraded to use Microsoft DirectML. It now natively utilizes NVIDIA, AMD, and Intel graphics cards via DirectX 12.
• Empty Folder UX: Clicking a master folder that only contains subfolders will no longer show a confusing blank screen. A helpful prompt now directs you to click the subfolders in the sidebar.
• Automatic Update Checker: The app will now silently check GitHub on startup. If a new version of Reference Vault drops, you will get a popup with a direct download link!
• Smart Fallback: If you download the GPU version but your hardware doesn't support it, the app will automatically catch the error and seamlessly boot the CPU engine instead.

✨ New Features

• Interactive Tree Sidebar: The folder list is now a fully collapsible visual tree with native OS icons. Nested subfolders display perfectly, making it easy to navigate complex reference libraries.
• Manual Tag Editing: Disagree with the AI? Right-click any image in your grid to manually edit, delete, or add custom searchable tags.
• Safe Folder Renaming & Creation: Right-click any folder in the sidebar to securely rename it without breaking your AI tags. Right-clicking and selecting "+ New Folder" will now intelligently nest the new folder directly inside the parent.

🛠️ Bug Fixes & Optimizations

• The "PIL" Crash Fix: Fixed a critical bug where the AI engine would fail to read images on certain Windows machines due to a missing Pillow dependency in the compiled executable.
• Thread Throttling & UI Smoothness: The background AI thread has been re-engineered to take microscopic pauses between image processing. This ensures the main app window remains perfectly smooth and responsive, even when chewing through thousands of images.
• Local Crash Logging: If the AI engine hits a fatal error , It will automatically generate a Vault_Crash_Log.txt file in the installation folder for easy debugging.
• Zero-Lag Interface: Engineered a new "Signal Throttling" and "SQLite Batch Transaction" system. You can now drop thousands of images into the app, and the main window will remain buttery smooth while the AI processes them in the background.

📥 Which version should I download?

• Standard CPU Only Edition (~52MB): Perfect for laptops or older PCs.
• GPU Edition (~60MB): Uses your graphics card with DirectX12 to tag massive libraries at blistering speeds.

📥 How to Install

1. Download the ReferenceVault_v1.0.2_Setup.exe file for CPU only or 'ReferenceVault_v1.0.2_GPUSetup.exe' file for GPU support.
2. Run the installer (it will safely overwrite your previous installation while keeping your saved databases intact).
3. Note: If Windows SmartScreen flags the app because it is an unsigned indie executable, click More info -> Run anyway.

Reference Vault v1.0.1

This patch fixes how nested folders are handled when imported.

🛠️ Bug Fixes & Optimizations

• Smart Subfolder Import: Dragging a master folder into the app (e.g., a "Faces" folder containing "Happy" and "Sad" subfolders) now automatically parses the entire directory tree. All nested subfolders are instantly added to your sidebar as distinct, clickable categories.

• Strict Folder Isolation: Fixed a bug where viewing a parent folder would aggressively load and display every image inside its subfolders as well. The canvas now acts like a native OS file explorer—clicking a folder will strictly display the images located directly inside it.

📥 How to Update

1. Download the new ReferenceVault_v1.0.1_Setup.exe below.
2. Run the installer (it will safely overwrite your previous installation while keeping all your saved databases and tagged images perfectly intact).
3. If Windows SmartScreen flags the app, click More info -> Run anyway.

Reference Vault v1.0 - Initial Release

Welcome to the v1.0 release of Reference Vault!

A local, AI-powered desktop application designed to help digital artists organize, automatically tag, and search their reference libraries instantly.