ENGINE · DM-ICON-CORE
This pixel engine is built in-house
Every restyle in DeskMakeover is driven by dm-icon-core: a deterministic pixel-compute engine written in nearly twelve thousand lines of pure Rust. It reads each icon before touching it, and the same input always yields the same pixels. The desktop app and this page run the same engine; everything below is computed by it on the spot.
11,946 lines
of engine code, pure Rust
1,487 icons
verified byte by byte
57 tests
over the core algorithms
88 KB
the whole engine, in this page
The engine's assembly line, like an exploded engine diagram: read the original, derive the plate, compose the tile. Every layer is real engine output. Drag to rotate.
01 · READ
The engine's eyes: read first, act second
Every icon entering the engine goes through a full analysis: its dominant colour, whether it carries its own background, whether its outline is a standard shape. The findings are written into a profile that every later stage reads. Nothing is guessed. This is the foundation of everything the engine can do.
The scan passes over the real This PC icon: the outline layer lifts, the dominant colour is extracted, the profile is built. Drag to rotate.
02 · CUT
Clean separation: artwork from base, one cut
This Recycle Bin carries its own base: the whole glass basket, litter included. The engine recognises that the real artwork is just the recycle glyph — it shatters the base layer away, leaves the glyph exactly where it was, and lays a freshly derived plate underneath. The judgement is the engine's real output, not a hand trace.
Every scattering cube is a real pixel the engine judged to be base. That per-pixel verdict matches the desktop engine exactly. Drag to rotate.
03 · RESCUE
Auto rescue: colours collide, the engine handles it
A blue envelope lands on a blue plate and starts to disappear. The engine samples along the edge, finds both the colour gap and the lightness gap too small, and immediately draws an outline and lays a shadow. Not a hand-made special case: a live judgement the engine makes for every icon.
01
Collide
Blue on blue; the envelope's edge is vanishing
02
Detect
Edge samples fail both the colour and lightness checks
03
Rescue
The rescue layer merges in; the envelope is back
The floating layer is exactly what the engine computed as the rescue: one outline plus one shadow. Both states are real engine renders.
04 · PROMISE
Iron law: brand colours never move a pixel
One rule is hard-coded into this engine: the artwork itself is never recoloured. Distinction comes entirely from plate, outline and shadow. When several plates collide in colour, the engine nudges the plates apart so each icon stays recognisable, and the artwork does not move.
IRON LAW
Artwork pixels are never recoloured
Three blue-family icons, plates pushed apart until each reads clearly. The artwork has not changed by a single pixel.
05 · FINISH
Finish rendering: glass, pixel, sticker, all computed
A finish is not a filter image; it is the engine's rendering stage. Reflections, grain, borders and shadows are computed pixel by pixel against the current icon. Switch icons and everything is recomputed.
GLASS
Glass
Reflections and rim refraction follow the artwork
PIXEL
Pixel
Each cell averaged, then mapped to a candy palette
STICKER
Sticker
A white border grows along the outline
06 · LIVE
The engine is in this page
No install needed; the engine is already loaded into this page. 88 KB, the exact Rust code the desktop app ships. Pick a real icon or drop in your own image; every drag is computed on the spot, not a recording.
REAL ICONS
Your image is processed in your browser and never leaves it.
SHAPE
LOOK
FINISH
PLATE HUE
07 · RECEIPTS
Receipts, for engineers
Every claim above can be audited in source: 1,487 real icons verified byte by byte, and the demo in this page renders byte-identical with the desktop build. Every number is a link.
This engine is waiting for your desktop
It is not a demo piece; it works on real desktops every day. It snapshots your desktop before touching anything, and one click puts everything back.