Case study 06 / Windows desktop

Rastercue

A designer-focused workspace that makes models, hardware choices, output and processing boundaries easier to understand.

Conceptual artwork / product evidence follows

View project repository Visit product site Release ↗

Rastercue product direction and design by Kirsten Trimaley, preserving the Upscayl compatibility foundation.

I use AI to explore and accelerate, but I own the product decisions, the verification, and the responsibility for what ships.

Release: Rastercue 1.0.0 stable
Platform: Windows 10/11 x64
Processing: Explicit Vulkan or CPU

The real product

Built to be used,
not just viewed.

A local Windows image-upscaling studio for designers, with guided model selection, image inspection and explicit Vulkan or native CPU processing.

Rastercue brand mark · view the product website for real interface screenshots

What I changed

Shaped a compact Input, Model and Output workflow with model guidance, image inspection and persistent local history.
Added explicit hardware choices, guided onboarding, guarded format routes and reviewable support information.

Boundaries first

Windows 10/11 x64 is the supported binary target; installer and ZIP are unsigned.
Vulkan compatibility depends on the bundled engine probe; CPU processing is slower and TTA remains Vulkan-only in 1.0.

Decisions

Preserve the established Upscayl Vulkan compatibility foundation and expose the native CPU backend as an explicit choice.
Explain model provenance and limitations instead of promising every model or device will work.

Proof of work

The stable 1.0.0 release provides Windows installer and ZIP packages, checksums and corresponding native source.
Public release notes document an owner-tested Radeon RX 580 workflow and the CPU processing verification boundary.

Foundation and attribution: Independently branded derivative of Upscayl. The upstream native upscaling foundation and its licensing obligations remain explicit; Rastercue does not claim authorship of the inherited engine.

What comes next

Visit the product website to check hardware requirements and download the current release; contact me about design and image-production workflow projects.

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