Rastercue 1.0.0

Rastercue 1.0.0

Rastercue 1.0.0 is the first stable Windows foundation: a local, designer-focused image-upscaling studio built around the preserved Upscayl Vulkan engine.

Highlights

• Compact three-column workspace with Input, Model and Output in one scrollable flow.
• Searchable Model Library with purpose, limitations, provenance and availability details.
• Hardware-aware onboarding and Settings inventory without a GPU-vendor whitelist.
• Original Upscayl Vulkan compatibility backend plus an explicitly selected native NCNN CPU backend.
• Source/output thumbnails in the Inspector and persistent local History.
• Guarded PNG, JPG/JPEG/JFIF, WebP, single-page TIFF and AVIF routes.
• Exact-byte .rastercue archives with checksum-verified, user-selected restore.
• Phase-aware progress, central error guidance and reviewable redacted support bundles.
• Full in-app release history, support contact and GitHub update checks.

Compatibility boundary

Windows 10/11 x64 is the supported binary target. The Radeon RX 580 Vulkan workflow was owner-tested; Intel, NVIDIA and other Vulkan devices are enabled only when the bundled engine probe accepts them and are not blanket-certified. The genuine CPU backend passed its no-Vulkan probe, automated processing matrix and packaged UI job; CPU processing is slower and TTA remains Vulkan-only in 1.0. Rastercue never silently changes device, backend, model or format.

The stable package includes Standard, Digital Art, Lite, High Fidelity, Anime Video x4, Nomos8kSC, HFA2k, LSDIR, LSDIRCompactC3, General v3 and General WDN v3. Anime x2/x3 are excluded because their labelled scale did not pass the protected command route. Other unresolved model pairs remain excluded on provenance or redistribution grounds.

Downloads

• Windows x64 installer: rastercue-1.0.0-win.exe
• Windows x64 ZIP: rastercue-1.0.0-win.zip
• rastercue-1.0.0-SHA256SUMS.txt
• rastercue-1.0.0-sbom.cdx.json
• rastercue-native-corresponding-source.tar.gz

The Windows binaries are unsigned. Windows may display SmartScreen warnings; Rastercue does not claim a verified publisher. Install the Microsoft Visual C++ x64 Redistributable from Microsoft. ZIP users must extract the complete folder.

Existing beta tags and assets are retained as superseded prereleases. See CHANGELOG.md for the full history and SECURITY.md for reporting guidance.

Rastercue 1.0.0-beta.2 — Guided settings and model library — Superseded

Superseded by Rastercue 1.0.0. This prerelease remains available for historical reference; use the stable release for current downloads.

Rastercue 1.0.0-beta.2 — Windows testing update

This update focuses on responsiveness, accessible settings and an installer-ready model library while preserving the original Upscayl native engine and processing contracts.

What changed

• Coalesced visual progress updates, asynchronous job thumbnails and file logging reduce interface stalls. Stop remains accessible; Ctrl+. provides a main-process cancellation shortcut. Cancellation retains files already written, but an interrupted output is not guaranteed complete.
• One large Settings window lists Output, Processing and Application options without arrow pagination.
• First-use welcome and a short five-step guide, with replay available in Support.
• Support includes licensing, provenance, documentation, GitHub links, update controls and access to readable/raw logs.
• Thirteen verified models are available automatically after installation: Standard, Digital Art, Lite, High Fidelity, HFA2k, LSDIR, LSDIRCompactC3, Nomos8kSC, three Anime Video scales, General v3 and General WDN v3.

Model credits and boundaries

Real-ESRGAN models credit Xintao Wang and contributors under BSD-3-Clause. Verified Phhofm/Philip Hofmann models retain CC-BY-4.0 attribution and documented conversion details. Complete model evidence and notices are included in the app and repository.

Eight catalogue models are not bundled because exact provenance or redistribution permission remains unverified: Remacri, Ultramix, Ultrasharp, NMKD Siax, Superscale, LSDIRplusC, uniscale_restore and the unidentified 2.0.1 model. Credit alone is not redistribution permission. Folder-based custom imports remain available; users must check the applicable rights.

Rastercue is based on Upscayl and retains its AGPL-3.0 licensing and upstream attribution. The corresponding source archive for the unchanged native executable is attached.

Verification and testing status

• All 22 regression tests and history persistence tests passed.
• Packaged first-use guide, Settings and Support checks passed.
• Packaged cancellation passed with a simulated process and a heavy progress flood; existing outputs were preserved. This is responsiveness evidence, not proof of every GPU cancellation path.
• Protected native binaries, built-in weights and processing handlers retain their baseline hashes.
• A real packaged Lite-model PNG upscale completed on the local GPU with an explicit test tile size of 32. The resulting colour image was visually inspected without the previously reported monochrome line corruption; product defaults were not changed for this test.

Please test Start/Stop/restart, single/batch/double upscaling and real-image output on your work GPU. Beta.1 was reported working by the owner; this beta.2 still needs that real-world acceptance test.

Downloads and release limitations

Use the Windows x64 EXE installer, or the ZIP for manual deployment. All thirteen cleared models are included; no separate model pack is needed. GitHub beta-channel update metadata and SHA-256 checksums are attached.

This is an unsigned Windows prerelease, not a claim of fully verified production readiness. Windows may show a SmartScreen warning; follow your workplace IT policy. The official Microsoft Visual C++ x64 runtime is an external prerequisite where required. macOS/Linux packaged testing, signing/notarisation and installed-version updater smoke tests remain release gates.

Further major-update development will remain local until the owner approves publication.

Rastercue 1.0.0-beta.1 — Windows designer testing — Superseded

Superseded by Rastercue 1.0.0. This prerelease remains available for historical reference; use the stable release for current downloads.

Unsigned Windows x64 beta for work-PC evaluation, not a production or cross-platform acceptance claim.

Download the Windows EXE installer, or extract the entire Windows ZIP and run Rastercue.exe. Requires Vulkan-capable GPU drivers and the official Microsoft Visual C++ x64 Redistributable: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/cpp/windows/latest-supported-vc-redist . No Microsoft runtime DLLs are redistributed. Follow workplace IT policy for unsigned applications.

Rastercue adds compact permanent panels, SVG branding, Yaze Media footer, model guidance and presets, before/after inspection, safe naming, persistent history and readable logs. The original native engine bytes, protected processing handlers and model IDs are preserved. Temporary alpha-to-RGB preparation corrects striped/desaturated JPG export; source files remain untouched. Original hardware acceleration and processing defaults are retained, with no hidden model substitution.

Included models: verified Standard and Digital Art. Optional credited custom pack: anime video x2/x3/x4 (Xintao Wang / Real-ESRGAN, BSD-3-Clause) and Nomos8kSC (Phhofm, CC BY 4.0; disclosed tensor-name/format adaptation). Other weights are excluded pending exact identity/rights verification. Import the extracted pack folder through custom-model settings; no in-app downloads.

Verification: production build, 21 regression tests, history safety tests, source publication audit, package inventory and hosted source CI passed. Full/production npm audits and refreshed GitHub Dependabot alerts report zero known/open advisories at publication, not an independent security guarantee. Saved colour JPG inspected; earlier single/batch/double/cancellation tests passed with disclosed explicit test settings.

Known limitation: this weak integrated-GPU laptop has intermittent Vulkan memory allocation failures, including the final hardware-accelerated processing smoke. The intended i5-8600K / RX 580 / 32 GB work PC is NOT yet tested. Signing, clean-machine installation, older-version hosted update installation, macOS/Linux and comprehensive designer acceptance remain pending. This beta is provided so the owner can test at work; do not treat outputs as approved deliverables without inspection.

Work-PC comparison checklist: https://github.com/YazeKT/Rastercue/blob/v1.0.0-beta.1/docs/WORK-PC-TEST.md

Application and native engine retain AGPL-3.0 with upstream Upscayl author credits. Complete recursive corresponding engine source is attached beside the binaries; application source is this release tag. Model/font/component notices are included. SHA256SUMS.txt checks integrity but is not a signature.