Version Evolution & Upgrade Guide
Alcedo Studio has evolved from an early cross-platform experiment into a mature, professional digital darkroom and digital asset management system. This guide summarizes key architectural milestones and essential upgrade considerations.
Critical Upgrade Notes
Review these architectural and workflow updates before performing major version upgrades:
| Change | Introduced In | Upgrade & Workflow Guidance |
|---|---|---|
| Catalog Format Redesign (Incompatible with v0.2.x) | v0.3.0 | v0.3.0 completely redesigned the node-based pipeline and DuckDB project format. Projects created in v0.2.9 or earlier cannot be directly opened in v0.3.x. Keep an earlier build installed to export existing master edits, or initialize new v0.3.x projects by re-importing source files. |
| Node Pipeline & Layer Stack | v0.3.0 | Introduced sequential node grading, layer-based mask groups, and CAT02 creative white balance. Legacy merge operations evolved into safer Selective Parameter Transfer. |
| LUT Distribution & Encoding | v0.3.1 | Official film simulation packages transitioned to on-demand downloads. Visit Settings → LUTs to install packages; configure Input and Output Color Space Encodings for custom LUTs. |
| Production Export Presets | v0.3.3 | Full-fledged export presets replaced legacy naming-only presets, offering turnkey profiles for Web, Social Media, and Print with automated GPS privacy protection for online sharing. |
Architectural Evolution
v0.3.x Era: Node Pipelines, Color Science & Agent Automation
- v0.3.3: Introduced
alcedo-clicommand-line companion and AI agent cooperative control; launched comprehensive export presets with GPS privacy toggles; enhanced Ultra HDR gain map exports and background queue management. - v0.3.2: Added automatic color space detection for raster bitmaps (JPEG, PNG, TIFF, OpenEXR); added persistent memory for 3D LUT input/output color encodings; introduced persistent top status light.
- v0.3.1: Added official film simulation package manager; introduced A/B visual comparison system; added optical Diffusion glow; introduced dynamic sorting and collapsible grouping in the Album Inspector.
- v0.3.0: Major milestone. Deployed the modern
.alcdproject architecture; launched node-based grading with radial/gradient mask groups; introduced CAT02 matrix creative white balance and middle-gray contrast.
v0.2.x Era: Single-Window Workspaces & Platform Foundations
- v0.2.9: Digitally signed online update system; integrated Export Inspector; seamless Filmstrip navigation.
- v0.2.8: Unified single-window Qt Quick QML architecture; GPU-accelerated Neural Engine demosaicing; transactional recovery logging and recursive folder imports.
- v0.2.7: Multimodal cloud vision LLM integration; introduced five-tier critique strictness personas; supported OpenAI Codex OAuth browser sign-in.
- v0.2.6: Added procedural film grain and optical halation; integrated on-device CLIP vision models for offline semantic tagging and natural language search; native Nikon HE/HE* raw support.
- v0.2.4–v0.2.5: Introduced the DuckDB-powered Sleeve asset management catalog; added OpenCL GPU compute backend; implemented bilateral tone mapping and 8-hue selective color.
- v0.2.0–v0.2.3: Established the Alcedo Studio brand; implemented Apple Silicon Metal 3 unified memory compute and Windows CUDA pipelines; standardized on the ACES scene-referred linear color workflow.
For exhaustive changelogs, benchmark notes, and bug fixes across all versions, explore the Release Archive in the sidebar.