Photo Upgrade

Upscale a photo, generate black-and-white engrave variants, and make it export-ready.

Photo Upgrade enlarges a photo to an engravable export size while preparing tone, edge sharpness, and a black-and-white variant at the same time. Vextrify Prep Local runs instantly in the browser; for visibly better edges and detail on small or soft source photos, Vextrify Enhance Pro is available as a server-side engine. A before/after slider shows the result live before you export it, drop it into the Artboard, hand it to Photo Studio, or send it straight to the laser.

Open tool See the feature

Loading an image

Upload image: Opens the file picker for a photo; once loaded, the first pass runs immediately with the currently selected engine, output size, and black-and-white variant.
Handoff from the laser: When Photo Upgrade is opened from a running laser session, it automatically loads the source image from that session and starts the first pass without a manual upload. If the source image is too large to hand over, a notice appears instead and you upload manually.
Status line: Shows the calculation in progress, the final size (source → output in pixels), the active engine and black-and-white mode, or an error message if the selected engine could not process the image.

Upgrade engine

Engine selector (dropdown): Switches between Vextrify Prep Local (instant, local in the browser, no real super-resolution) and Vextrify Enhance Pro (server-side reconstruction for visibly better edges and detail). Vextrify Enhance Desktop is marked planned and disabled in the list.
Engine info card: Shows a badge with the active engine name below the dropdown, plus a short description and a "best for" hint for the selected engine.
Switching the engine: Immediately recalculates the current image with the new engine and the existing control values — no re-upload needed.

Output size

Output size (dropdown): Sets how the target size is computed: "4× export area" scales by the factor selectable below, "4K long edge" scales the longer image side to 4096px and computes the other side proportionally, "2× quick check" fixedly doubles both sides for a fast preview.
Upscale factor (slider 2–4): Only visible with "4× export area": sets the linear scale factor (2x to 4x per side). With "4K long edge" and "2× quick check" the target size is fixed and the slider is hidden.

Upgrade preset

Preset dropdown: Applies a predefined combination of black-and-white mode, Detail Boost, and Cleanup in one click: Portrait Clean (smoother skin, clean midtones), Portrait Detail (eyes, hair, and contours stronger), Product Crisp (edges and material texture), Logo / Line (hard graphic separation), and Material Master (neutral engrave master). After selection, the individual controls (Black & White / Engrave, Detail Boost, Cleanup) are set accordingly and the image is recalculated.

Black & white / Engrave

Black & White / Engrave dropdown: Selects the tone mode for engrave prep: Neutral B&W, High-Key Portrait, Portrait Clean, Portrait Detail, Deep Contrast, Soft Skin, Product Detail, Material Master, Logo Crisp, Product Metal, Line Art / Logo (hard black-and-white split at a brightness value of 150), or Keep colour (original colour values stay unchanged, no tone mapping).
Detail Boost (slider 0–1): Boosts edge contrast and fine texture in the grayscale image — higher values emphasize contours and texture detail more strongly.
Cleanup (slider 0–1): Smooths flat, low-edge image areas without blurring edges themselves — reduces image noise in calm areas before engraving.

Before/After comparison

Fit / 1:1 pixel check: "Fit" shows the result scaled down to screen size — good for an overview of tone and detail. "1:1 pixel check" shows the output at true pixel size with a scroll area — shows exactly what export will produce.
Slider (drag on the comparison image): A draggable before/after divider over the image: the left side shows the original (scaled up to output size, unfiltered), the right side shows the computed upgrade result.
Export size / Original / Export area / Visible difference (badges): After every pass, these show the final output pixel dimensions, the original pixel dimensions, the actual scale factor (linear and in pixel area) for Vextrify Enhance Pro or the planned target area for Vextrify Prep Local, and a metric for the mean tonal difference between original and result.

Export & handoff

Apply & back to laser: Only visible when the tool was opened from a running laser session: replaces the image object in that exact session with the upgrade result and jumps back to the laser view. Only enabled once a result exists.
Send to laser: Only visible without an active session: opens a confirmation dialog and then drops the result into the laser view as a new image object. Only enabled once a result exists.
Export PNG: Downloads the current upgrade result as a PNG file, named after the original file name with an "upgraded-" prefix.
To Photo Studio: Only visible without an active laser session: creates a new project with the result as the source image and opens it in Photo Studio — for material and dithering refinement afterwards.
Insert into artboard: Only visible without an active laser session: places the result as a new, centered image object in the active Production Artboard project.

Common mistakes & fixes

Vextrify Enhance Pro is greyed out in the engine dropdown, or fails when calculating.

Fix: Vextrify Enhance Pro is a server-side, quota-limited feature. Check that you're signed in and that your plan's monthly Photo Upgrade allowance isn't used up. If the allowance is exhausted, upgrade to a higher plan or use Vextrify Prep Local until the allowance renews.

The status line shows "could not be performed with this engine."

Fix: Switch engines (e.g. from Vextrify Enhance Pro back to Vextrify Prep Local) and try again. For very large source images, using a smaller source photo also helps.

Vextrify Enhance Pro reports the target size is too large for automatic processing.

Fix: Choose a smaller output size — e.g. "2× quick check" instead of "4× export area" with a high factor, or reduce the upscale-factor slider when using "4× export area".

Important face details (eyes, hair) look soft or blurry after the upgrade.

Fix: Increase Detail Boost or choose a portrait preset (Portrait Clean or Portrait Detail) instead of Neutral B&W — those modes treat skin tones and fine contours differently from the neutral mode.

The result stays in colour even though a black-and-white variant was expected.

Fix: The Black & White / Engrave dropdown is set to "Keep colour" — that mode intentionally leaves the original colours unchanged. Choose one of the other modes (e.g. Neutral B&W) to get an actual tone conversion.

Export PNG or Send to laser stay disabled.

Fix: Both actions require a computed result. Upload an image or pull one in from the laser first, and wait for the pass to finish until the status line shows the final size.

Not obvious

Vextrify Prep Local scales in several small intermediate steps (staged upscaling) instead of one big jump — that produces cleaner edges than a single resize straight to the target size.
"4K long edge" is the right choice when the output needs a fixed maximum print/engrave edge regardless of the original's aspect ratio — "4× export area" instead scales relative to the source size.
Presets set black-and-white mode, Detail Boost, and Cleanup together — you can still fine-tune each control individually afterward without losing the preset's starting point.
The before/after slider always shows the upscaled but unfiltered original on the left — so you can see in isolation what tone mapping and the detail engine add on top.
Vextrify Enhance Pro pays off most on small or soft source photos; on already high-resolution, sharp source images Vextrify Prep Local often delivers a near-equivalent result without using up your allowance.
A finished Photo Upgrade result can be handed straight to Photo Studio instead of exporting and re-uploading it first — handy for the step from upscaling to material-specific refinement.