photocraft/docs/hardware-parity.md

Hardware parity

Last reviewed: 2026-10-10 · Last updated: 2026-11-06 · Change: minor (Windows: flipping the pen to its eraser end selects the Eraser with Windows Ink on, #2285, not yet confirmed on a pen with an eraser end; optional WinTab backend on Windows: pressure and the eraser end; tilt on devices with orientation axes; rotation only with a pen and driver that report twist, with Windows Ink off) · Target: Adobe Photoshop 2026

Each hardware feature Photoshop 2026 (27.11.0) uses, per platform, against PhotoCraft. Photoshop side: its bundle (Metal and OpenCL paths, "Precise Color Management for HDR Display" and EDR strings, Touch Bar resources, pen pressure/tilt strings) and Adobe's GPU FAQ. PhotoCraft side: crates/tablet, crates/ui-egui/src/stylus.rs, apps/photocraft/src/gpu_startup.rs, engine/src/display_color.rs, apps/photocraft/src/monitor_profile.rs.

Summary (estimated): ~50% ready. GPU compositing and colour-managed display are solid; pen input is uneven by platform (the default Windows Ink path lacks tilt and rotation, Wayland is broken; the opt-in WinTab path on Windows supplies tilt only on devices that report orientation axes, and rotation only when the pen and driver report twist) and there is no HDR output. Remaining: 80–150 h (gap G12). Human: tablets (Wacom, XP-Pen, Huion) on each OS and an HDR display to verify.

GPU

Feature	Photoshop	PhotoCraft	Status
GPU canvas, zoom/pan, rotate view	Metal (macOS), DirectX/OpenCL (Windows)	wgpu 30: Metal, Vulkan, DX12, GL; backend selectable	done
GPU compositing of layers, blend modes, effects	partial (Photoshop composites mostly on CPU)	wgpu compositor, ≤ 1/255 vs CPU oracle; Multichannel and > texture-limit regions fall back to CPU	done (ahead in places)
GPU compositor startup	available	Pipeline preparation runs in the background on native hardware; the CPU composites until ready. Windows WARP probe: 0.329 ms p95, 6.860 ms maximum device-work stall during two FXC builds; hardware measurements remain pending (#9157, #9364, #6419)	partial
GPU filters (Blur Gallery, Liquify, Smart Sharpen, Camera Raw)	yes	CPU (rayon) for filters; GPU for compose and effects. Camera Raw's preview runs its per-pixel stages (white balance to grain) in one wgpu pass, about 2-3 ms vs 11-28 ms on the CPU for the 858×572 proxy, depending on the machine; spatial stages, Calibration and OK still develop on the CPU (#6916)	partial
Documents larger than the GPU texture limit	yes (tiled)	CPU fallback; tiling in progress (#49)	partial
CPU-only fallback when no GPU	yes, reduced	cpu canvas preference; fails to start without an adapter on some Linux systems (#2519, #2412)	partial
Choosing the GPU on a multi-GPU machine	Preferences › Performance › Use Graphics Processor	Linux only: Preferences › Performance › Advanced › GPU adapter and PHOTOCRAFT_GPU_ADAPTER (#1885); ignored on Windows and macOS	partial
Old / integrated GPUs	yes	black line on Intel HD (#2426), OpenCore Macs fail (#1859), Rgba32Float panic (#2020)	partial

Pen tablets

Feature	Photoshop	macOS	Windows	Linux X11	Linux Wayland	Web
Pressure	yes	yes (AppKit monitor)	yes (WM_POINTER), jumpy (#2046)	yes (XInput2)	via Xwayland only; GNOME 50 pen doesn't click (#2622), KDE (#2297)	yes
Tilt	yes	yes	no (WinTab: with orientation axes, opt-in)	yes	no	yes
Barrel rotation	yes	yes (not applied to tip angle, #1301)	no (WinTab: with a twist-reporting pen and driver, opt-in)	partial	no	yes (twist)
Eraser end	yes	yes	yes with Windows Ink, not yet confirmed on hardware (#2285); WinTab: yes (opt-in)	partial	no	partial
WinTab driver mode	yes	–	yes (opt-in; Windows Ink off)	–	–	–
Pressure curve	Windows Ink / driver	global curve in Preferences (#2195)	same	same	same	same

Windows: the opt-in WinTab backend (tools.tabletInput = "winTab", with Windows Ink turned off in the tablet utility) supplies pressure and the eraser end, tilt only on devices that report orientation axes, and rotation only when the pen and driver report twist (pressure-only devices get neutral tilt and rotation). The default Windows Ink path still lacks tilt and rotation; its eraser end comes from the pointer hooks (#2285).

Displays and colour

Feature	Photoshop	PhotoCraft	Status
Colour-managed canvas (document → monitor profile)	yes	yes, folded into the GPU 3D LUT	done
Monitor profile detection	per display, live	macOS per display at launch; others sRGB or a chosen .icc	partial
HDR / EDR output for 32-bit and HDR images	yes ("Precise Color Management for HDR Display")	no; 8-bit sRGB-encoded canvas texture	missing
High-DPI, physical 100%	yes	yes (#1943)	done
Multiple monitors: documents in separate OS windows	yes	yes (extra_windows)	done
Panels in separate OS windows	yes	in-app floating only (UI-217-5)	missing

Input devices

Feature	Photoshop	PhotoCraft	Status
Trackpad pinch zoom, two-finger pan	yes	yes; pinch scrolls instead in 0.6.0 (#2463)	partial
Trackpad rotate (Rotate View)	yes	yes (rotate_view.rs)	done
Touch Bar	yes (Intel Macs)	no	missing (low value)
Touch screens (Windows)	yes	basic pointer only	partial
3D mouse, MIDI, Surface Dial	Surface Dial on Windows	no	missing (low value)
Scanners (WIA / TWAIN)	WIA menu (Windows)	menu item live; no driver integration	partial

Revision history

Date	Change	Summary
2026-11-06	minor	Windows eraser end: the pointer hooks read PEN_FLAG_INVERTED and the Eraser switch follows it (Windows Ink on; #2285)
2026-11-05	minor	Optional WinTab driver mode on Windows: pressure and eraser; tilt with orientation axes; rotation with a twist-reporting pen, with Windows Ink off
2026-10-28	minor	Build GPU compositor pipelines in the background; benchmark baseline pending (#9157)
2026-10-10	major	First version
2026-10-17	minor	GPU filters: Camera Raw's preview, per-pixel stages (#6916 step 1)
2026-10-19	minor	Graphics Adapter choice on Linux (#1885)