How do I make a diamond painting pattern from a photo?

Add the photo, set the canvas width in cm and the number of colours. The photo is divided into 2.5 mm cells, each cell gets the nearest drill colour and a symbol, and the chart prints with counts per colour.

How many drills fit on a 30 cm canvas?

120 across; the height depends on the picture. A 30 × 40 cm portrait is 120 × 160 = 19,200 drills, less if the background is left empty.

Should I choose round or square drills?

Round drills are easier to place and show small gaps; square drills fill the canvas with no gaps but need careful alignment. Cell counts are the same for both; only the display changes.

How much spare should I add?

Usually 10 to 20 %. The default is 15 %, rounded up to tens, so colours with few drills get a larger share of spare.

Are the colour codes the same as the DMC numbers in kits?

No. The codes are positions in this tool's list and the shades are approximations. When buying drills separately, match the swatch in the key to the closest available colour.

Diamond Painting Pattern Maker

Turn a photo into a diamond painting chart with round or square drills, canvas size in cm, colour limit, symbol grid, drill counts per colour with spare and printing

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Turns a photo into a diamond painting chart. Enter the canvas width in centimetres and the chart is sized to the 2.5 mm grid; every cell gets the nearest drill colour and a symbol. The page shows drill counts per colour with spare, bags, the finished size and the canvas size, so you can put a kit together yourself.

How to use

A chart made from the sunset-and-lighthouse sample is shown first. For your own photo, click "Drop a photo or drawing here or click to choose" or paste it with Ctrl+V.
Pick "Round" or "Square" under "Drill shape" and enter "Canvas width, cm". The height follows the picture, and the canvas size including "Canvas border (each side)" is shown.
Set the number of drill colours with "Most colors". Keep "Dithering" on for photos to preserve gradients; raise "Tidy small specks" if many single drills remain.
Enter "Spare" and "Drills per bag": the key then lists drills needed, drills with spare and bags for each colour. Tap a colour in the key to show only its cells.
Use "Save as PDF", "Print" or "Save PNG". A large chart is split into sheets at the "Printed cell size", and joined sheets repeat 2 cells.

How it works

Cells across = canvas width in mm ÷ 2.5 (grid pitch). A 30 cm canvas gives 120 cells, and the finished size is recalculated as cells × 2.5 mm. Round and square drills are assumed to sit on the same grid.
Each cell takes its average colour and the nearest drill colour is chosen in the CIELAB colour space with the CIEDE2000 colour difference. The colour limit groups colours with k-means first; dithering uses the Floyd–Steinberg method.
Drills with spare = count × (1 + spare %) rounded up to the next ten; bags = that number divided by "Drills per bag", rounded up.
Colour names and shades are approximations of common drill colours and differ from kit colour numbers. The picture is processed in this browser on this device and is never uploaded.

Choosing size and colours for a diamond painting pattern from a photo

One drill is 2.5 mm, so a 30 cm canvas has 120 cells across and a 40 cm canvas 160. A photo with a face needs 160 cells (40 cm) or more for eyes and nose to read; a landscape or a simple drawing works at 100 to 120. The number of drills grows with width times height, so a 40 × 30 cm canvas holds about 19,000 drills.

20 to 30 colours suit a photo. Too many colours make sorting slow; too few turn skin and sky into bands. Dithering smooths gradients with fewer colours but adds many single-drill colour changes, so for an easier chart turn dithering off and raise "Tidy small specks" to 2 or 3.

Working from the printed chart

The first sheet shows the whole picture and the key (symbol, colour, count). From the second sheet on, the chart is split at the printed cell size; each sheet's heading says which columns and rows of the whole chart it holds, and joined sheets share 2 shaded cells so you can line them up.

A bold line every 10 cells helps you count position. When placing one colour at a time, tap that colour in the key on screen to show only its cells. On a black-and-white printer set "Cells show" to "Symbols (black and white)" and find colours by symbol in the key.

Questions and answers

How do I make a diamond painting pattern from a photo?: Add the photo, set the canvas width in cm and the number of colours. The photo is divided into 2.5 mm cells, each cell gets the nearest drill colour and a symbol, and the chart prints with counts per colour.
How many drills fit on a 30 cm canvas?: 120 across; the height depends on the picture. A 30 × 40 cm portrait is 120 × 160 = 19,200 drills, less if the background is left empty.
Should I choose round or square drills?: Round drills are easier to place and show small gaps; square drills fill the canvas with no gaps but need careful alignment. Cell counts are the same for both; only the display changes.
How much spare should I add?: Usually 10 to 20 %. The default is 15 %, rounded up to tens, so colours with few drills get a larger share of spare.
Are the colour codes the same as the DMC numbers in kits?: No. The codes are positions in this tool's list and the shades are approximations. When buying drills separately, match the swatch in the key to the closest available colour.