v1.3

Basically just one change: the workflow is now available as a custom node, making it easier to reuse and more adaptable to different image shapes.

download node here: https://github.com/NotProniss/PixelAnchoredRemaster
or the custom node manager

v1.2

Big update for Pixel Anchored Remaster.

What changed in v1.2

The main improvement is that HiRes Fix now feeds directly into the final Pixel Anchored Remaster pass instead of treating them more separately.
This ended up being a huge quality improvement and is basically the core reason v1.2 is better.

Main v1.2 changes

• HiRes Fix output now becomes the input for the main Pixel Anchored Remaster stage

• switched the final latent upscale method from bicubic to bislerp

• increased final remaster denoise to 0.55

• cleaned up and reorganized the workflow

v1.1

Based on community feedback regarding background softening, v1.1 introduces key mathematical refinements to the pixel-anchor stage to dramatically improve architectural crispness, background preservation, and edge definition—while keeping the main subject completely perfect.

What Changed under the Hood:

• Resize Interpolation: area ➔ lanczos (Restores sharp geometric lines and window leading)

• Upscale Method: bilinear ➔ bicubic (Cleaner pixel-space translation before the latent pass)

• Remaster KSampler CFG: 3 ➔ 4 (Tighter prompt and structural adherence)

• Remaster KSampler Denoise: 0.55 ➔ 0.50 (Slightly lower denoise to anchor original details while preventing hallucinations)

v1

Pixel Anchored Remaster is a 2x remaster workflow built to clean up upscale artifacts without turning into a generic sharpener. It starts from a base image, upscales it with a 2x model, normalizes the result to a fixed canvas, re-encodes it into latent space, and runs a second KSampler pass at lower denoise to rebuild detail while keeping the composition anchored. The goal is a cleaner final image, not perfect pixel preservation.

What the workflow is doing

This is not a traditional upscaler and it is not meant to perfectly preserve every detail.

The goal is:

controlled drift for better final output

The workflow works best as a creative remaster pipeline:

• start with a good original image

• improve it with HiRes Fix

• then run it through the final Pixel Anchored Remaster stage

• accept some drift if the overall vibe, composition, and subject stay intact and the final image looks better

Compatibility testing so far

it seems to work well with refined SDXL / Illustrious / Pony-family checkpoints, with some model-specific tweaking.

Good results with:

• WonderMix v16

• WAI Illustrious

• some Pony-derived checkpoints

• some realistic refined checkpoints

Less successful with:

• base Illustrious

• base Pony v6

• Anima (anything that uses 16 point latents)

So far the pattern seems to be:

If a model can make a strong original image, the Pixel Anchored Remaster pipeline will usually improve it, sometimes significantly.

Important note

This workflow is better thought of as a remaster than an upscale.
If you want strict preservation, this may not be the right tool.
If you want the same image idea/vibe but cleaner, more detailed, and more polished, this is where it shines.

Built for 2x remasters, not 4x.

Feel free to leave a review or drop your comparison grids below! If you enjoy the template, keep an eye out for the streamlined, single-output production version coming soon.