GPU & Drivers

RapidRAW renders the entire edit pipeline on the GPU using WGPU, a cross-platform graphics layer that runs on DirectX 12 (Windows), Metal (macOS), and Vulkan (Linux).

The most common GPU symptoms are:

Black canvas, transparent canvas, or visual glitches.
Very slow editing despite a capable GPU (sign of a software fallback).
App fails to launch after an OS or driver update.

Force a specific GPU backend

This is the single most useful troubleshooting step on Windows in particular.

Open the splash screen → gear icon (Settings) → Processing → Backend. Options:

Auto (default): WGPU picks the best available backend.
Vulkan
DirectX 12 (Windows only)
Metal (macOS only)
OpenGL (fallback, slower)

If the canvas is broken on Auto, try Vulkan explicitly on Windows, Metal explicitly on macOS, Vulkan explicitly on Linux. If those fail too, try OpenGL, which is slower but the most compatible.

The setting takes effect after restarting the app.

Symptoms and what they suggest

Symptom	Likely cause	Try
Canvas is fully transparent or invisible	WGPU surface init issue with the auto-selected backend	Switch to the OpenGL backend in Settings → Processing
Sliders don't update the preview	GPU stalled or memory pressure	Restart the app; reduce Live Preview Quality in Settings → Processing or switch to the OpenGL backend
Editing is very slow despite a fast GPU	Software-rendering fallback	Check the log for "Llvmpipe" or "Microsoft Basic Render Driver"; install a real GPU driver ;)
Black flicker on zoom	Driver-level issue	Update GPU driver from the vendor

Forcing the discrete GPU

On laptops with both integrated and discrete GPUs, RapidRAW sometimes runs on the integrated chip.

Windows

Settings → System → Display → Graphics → Add desktop app → pick RapidRAW.exe → Options → High performance.

For NVIDIA: NVIDIA Control Panel → Manage 3D settings → Program Settings → add RapidRAW → "High-performance NVIDIA processor."

macOS

Apple Silicon Macs have a single unified GPU; nothing to configure. On Intel MacBook Pros, plug in power and disable "Automatic graphics switching" in System Settings → Battery, or use gfxCardStatus for fine control.

Linux

For hybrid laptops:

DRI_PRIME=1 ./RapidRAW-*.AppImage

For NVIDIA Optimus systems:

prime-run ./RapidRAW-*.AppImage

AI is on the CPU, not the GPU

This is intentional and not a bug. All AI features in RapidRAW (Subject / Sky / Foreground / Depth masks, AI Denoise, Quick Erase) run on the CPU because of dependency limitations in the ONNX Runtime build that ships with RapidRAW. Tracking: #997.

This means a faster CPU helps AI operations more than a faster GPU. The rest of the editing pipeline (Crop, Tone, Color, Curves, Detail, Effects, Masks compositing) runs on the GPU and remains realtime.

When all else fails

Zip the log (paths in the OS-specific troubleshooting pages) and open an issue with the Bug Report template.
Mention which backend you tried (Auto, Vulkan, DX12, Metal, OpenGL).
Mention your GPU model and current driver version.

See Filing a Bug Report.