Building Pixelbead: turning photos into printable bead patterns
I built Pixelbead because I wanted a simple way to turn photos and illustrations into fuse bead patterns without creating an account or uploading private images to a server.
The tool is aimed at hobbyists who work with Perler beads, Hama beads, Artkal beads, MARD beads, and similar fuse beads.
What it does
Pixelbead converts an image into a printable bead grid directly in the browser.
Current features:
- Local image processing in the browser
- Brand palettes for Perler, Hama, Artkal, and MARD
- Grid size and color count controls
- CIEDE2000-based perceptual color matching
- Manual color editing with undo and redo
- PNG and PDF pattern export
- Materials list CSV export
- Share card export
- Mobile-friendly editor layout
The important privacy choice is that uploaded images are processed locally. The image itself is not sent to my server for conversion.
Why client-side processing
For this kind of tool, the original image is often personal: pets, family photos, gifts, portraits, fan art drafts, or craft references. I wanted the default flow to avoid server-side image upload entirely.
The conversion pipeline runs in the browser:
- Load the image into Canvas.
- Resize it into the selected bead grid.
- Compare sampled colors against selected bead palettes.
- Generate a grid, color counts, and export files.
Heavy conversion work runs in a Web Worker so changing grid width, color count, or palette settings does not freeze the interface.
Color matching tradeoffs
The current implementation uses CIEDE2000-style perceptual color comparison rather than a simple RGB distance. It helps produce more practical results for craft planning, but it is still a planning tool rather than a guarantee.
Real bead output can differ because of:
- monitor color differences
- bead batch differences
- lighting conditions
- ironing results
- limited availability of exact colors
That is why the export includes color codes and bead counts, but the user still needs to check real bead availability before making a large project.
Export workflow
The most useful workflow so far is:
- Upload a photo.
- Pick a bead brand palette.
- Adjust grid size and color count.
- Manually fix important areas.
- Export a printable PDF.
- Export a materials CSV before buying beads.
I recently added a share card export as well, because people often want to show the generated pattern before starting the craft.
What I am looking for
I would like feedback from developers and craft users on:
- whether the editor feels clear on mobile
- whether the PDF export is practical enough for printing
- which bead brands or color sets should be improved next
- whether the manual painting workflow is easy to understand
Live tool:
If you try it with a real craft image, I would appreciate feedback on where the output feels confusing or hard to use.
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