I made a free tool that turns pictures into bead patterns with color codes, would love your feedback
Hey everyone, first time posting here.
Me and my friends got into fuse beads through the Chinese bead scene (MARD beads). Over there patterns get shared as charts with a color code on every bead and the bead counts at the bottom. Some of those charts end up on Pinterest, and I've seen people here ask where they come from. I couldn't find a tool that makes charts like that from my own pictures, so I spent the last few months building one.
You upload a picture (or start from a blank board), pick a size and a brand palette, and you get a chart you can build from:
- Brand palettes for Perler, Hama, Artkal (S series) and MARD, with a color code on every bead
- Bead counts per color, so you know what to pull out or order before you start
- Red guide lines, chart downloads, and more tools that help you follow a pattern
- A build companion for your phone or tablet that highlights the color you're placing, tracks your progress, and estimates time left from your pace
- One-click merge for rare colors, which folds the ones that only appear a few times into the closest common color so you're not buying a whole bag for 3 beads
- A bead stash and build log where you mark which colors you own, log finished builds, and see how many beads you've used in total (plus your most-used colors)
- A small gallery of ready-made free patterns (classic paintings, animals, food) if you'd rather grab one and start beading
It's free and runs in the browser. You don't need to install anything, no account needed to try it. The conversion happens on your device, your photo never gets uploaded anywhere, and there's no AI involved, just color math.
It's not magic though. Busy photos with lots of gradients come out muddy. Every brand only has so many colors (Perler 103, Hama Midi 92, Artkal S 199, MARD 291), so some pictures just can't be matched perfectly. There's a full editor to fix stray beads or swap a color everywhere when that happens.
I built this alone. There's a lot more planned, and requests basically decide what comes next. Also, bead makers don't publish official color values, so the palettes come from community lists. If a color looks wrong next to the real beads on your desk, or something feels missing or clunky, that's exactly the feedback I need.
Link's in the comments.
Edit: added Artkal C, A, M and R, plus Perler Mini and Hama Mini and Maxi