Version 3.2.8

RAW 9 preview handling, AF-point sharpness sorting, and measured focus-location evidence in AI review.

Historical record dated 2026-10-02. Requirements and release status below refer to this version. For usage instructions, see the documentation.

Changes: v3.2.6 → v3.2.8

This changelog continues from the 3.2.6 release notes and covers subsequent development through the latest source commit on September 30, 2026. It includes the intervening development leading to version 3.2.8 and does not establish App Store availability.

RawCull requires macOS 27 (Golden Gate) and an Apple Silicon Mac. Building from source requires Xcode 27.

Commit range: 89cb666..1c12bb0
Baseline: the 3.2.6 source snapshot documented in the previous release notes, Build 392
Latest commit: 1c12bb0 (update, 2026-09-30)
Current source version: RawCull 3.2.8 (Build 398)
Scope: 17 commits after the documented 3.2.6 snapshot

🚀 Major Enhancements

• Request RAW 9 decoding for developed RAW previews and sharpness analysis.
• Show RAW 9 in the image-source selector when the installed decoder supports it for the selected photograph.
• Sort Grid View photographs by measured detail at the recorded autofocus point.
• Display focus maps and camera autofocus markers alongside AI subject outlines.
• Add measured focus-location evidence to individual Objects results.
• Show keyboard shortcut help for the active review workspace.
• Add a separate real-photo Release sharpness test plan and detailed Markdown reports.

🖼️ RAW 9 Preview Handling

• Request RAW 9 when developing full-size RAW JPEGs and generating sharpened previews for Zoom and comparison views.
• Request RAW 9 in the production photo-analysis adapter.
• Check the selected file’s supported decoder versions asynchronously, recognizing both RAW 9 and RAW 9 DNG support.
• Label the developed source RAW 9 when supported, with corresponding help text and accessibility labels. Retain the RAW label and system-decoder guidance when RAW 9 is unavailable.
• Update developed-RAW disk-cache keys so previews generated by the previous decoder are not reused. Embedded JPEG cache keys remain compatible.

Decoder availability is determined per photograph by the installed system; this change does not promise RAW 9 support for every camera or file.

🎯 AF-Point Sharpness Sorting

• Change catalog/Grid View sharpness ordering to use the small AF-center measurement rather than the combined photograph score.
• Require a valid recorded autofocus location and a finite, usable AF-center score before treating a photograph as measured.
• Sort measured photographs strongest-first and place unknown measurements last, preserving the incoming order for ties and unknown values.
• Rename the controls to Score AF Sharpness and AF-point sharpness, and show the number of photographs with AF measurements.
• Save and restore AF-point scores separately from existing combined sharpness scores.
• Keep legacy saved combined scores from enabling AF-point sorting when no usable AF measurements exist.

The smaller measurement region helps avoid ranking a photograph by nearby sharp background detail instead of the intended focus location. A score remains review evidence rather than a guarantee that the subject or eye is sharp.

🧠 Focus Evidence in AI Review

• Add the generated focus map and camera autofocus point to the Objects overview alongside numbered regions and subject outlines.
• Add per-object Measured focus locations showing whether the camera AF point lies inside the object, the object’s share of highlighted focus-map edges, and highlighted edges near the AF point when available.
• Report missing focus information as unavailable.
• Add focus maps and camera autofocus markers to SAM 3 + CLIP Deep Review previews alongside the subject mask.
• Load preview and focus information asynchronously, with cancellation checks when the selected photograph changes.

These spatial measurements support inspection alongside Qwen’s assessment. Focus-map overlap alone does not confirm sharpness, and AI assessments remain advisory.

⌨️ Context-Sensitive Shortcut Help

• Refine the About window to show shortcuts for the active workspace together with shared app commands.
• Distinguish catalog browsing, Grid View, Loupe, Zoom, manual comparison, burst groups, burst review, and burst comparison contexts.
• Match Zoom navigation help to the active vertical or horizontal navigation axis.
• Expand guidance for focus masks, autofocus points, subject outlines, source switching, ratings, and burst actions.
• Clarify that P means previous in Burst Review, where 0 keeps a photograph neutral.

🧪 Release Sharpness Evaluation and Tests

• Add make releasesharpnesstest and the separate ReleaseSharpness plan to the existing hostless Release integration target.
• Analyze real ARW photographs in 11 scenarios covering all five presets, missing AF information, quality levels, image resolution, and embedded-preview versus RAW-demosaic input.
• Run sharpness evaluation without requiring Qwen or SAM 3 models, using a separate explicit opt-in flag.
• Write incremental Markdown reports containing configuration, algorithm identity, metadata, scores, available focus diagnostics, timings, failures, ordering comparisons, and a visual-inspection worksheet.
• Preserve failed and unprocessed comparisons, and return failure for invalid or incomplete scoring runs.
• Rename the Objects integration suite to ReleaseAIObjectsTest and retain separate plans and opt-in controls for Objects and sharpness runs.
• Add regression coverage for AF-point ordering, invalid and missing measurements, saved-score handling, and object focus-location mapping.

The harness checks execution and numeric validity. Photographic ranking accuracy still requires visual review and expert-ranked comparison photographs. No application tests or real-photo benchmarks were run while preparing this changelog.

🛠️ Dependencies and Documentation

• Advance app and downloader-extension metadata to version 3.2.8, Build 398.
• Update RawParserKit from 1.3.0 to 1.3.1 and Swift Collections from 1.7.0 to 1.7.1.
• Expand the Release integration documentation with sharpness scenarios and report interpretation.
• Consolidate asset guidance into Docs/assets.md and add a future-release roadmap. Roadmap proposals are not implemented features or commitments for 3.2.8.

• ←Previous
• Next→