MotifPad. A little image. A new perspective.INSIDE THE WORKSHOP
What changes when an image becomes a file you can use?
A guide to our conversion methods, data handling and the limits of a digital chart.
THE IMAGE IS A STARTING POINT
A picture stores color at each pixel. A useful craft chart also needs a meaning for every position: a bead, a stitch or a mesh block. Our tools reduce image detail, assign colors or states, then package that information for a specific output.
The converters work from the image you provide. They do not use a text prompt to invent a new scene. Reducing an image can remove small details; changing the output type can change its proportions and structure.
The numbered instructions on each tool page explain its controls. This guide explains why the results differ, what information survives a transfer, and what still needs checking away from the screen.
CHOOSE BY WHAT YOU NEED TO KEEP
| Output | Information in the file | What it does not establish |
|---|---|---|
| Pixel image | A PNG made of image pixels; the grid PDF represents those pixels on paper. | A pixel grid does not specify craft materials, stitch geometry or assembly. |
| Spreadsheet | An XLSX workbook with editable cell fills, rather than one picture pasted over the sheet. | Spreadsheet software can display and print cell sizes differently. |
| Perler plan | Occupied bead positions, selected palette entries, counts and pegboard sections. | A listed product code does not make its approximate screen RGB a physical color match. |
| Tapestry graph | A flat single-crochet color chart whose proportions use your stitch and row gauge. | It is not a complete garment recipe, yarn estimate or a graph for every crochet technique. |
| Filet chart | Open and filled mesh blocks for the stated rectangular 4-dc method. | Block totals are not stitch totals or foundation-chain calculations. |
| Kandi chart | Flat brick-stitch color placement, with alternating half-bead offsets and counted positions. | It does not establish a thread path, cuff join, wrist fit or tubular pattern. |
Use a tool’s own downloadable example to inspect its file structure before starting a large project. A PNG preview cannot demonstrate whether workbook cells are editable or whether a craft layout is physically workable.
WHERE THE DIFFERENCES COME FROM
Pixel and spreadsheet conversion can group similar image colors into a smaller palette. The Perler tool instead maps to its selected bead palette; Kandi maps to eight editable colors. Tapestry conversion has its own color reduction.
These methods can choose different colors from the same source. A screen swatch is not a measurement of a real bead or yarn. Dithering, where available, spreads color differences across nearby positions and can add scattered details.
A transparent image pixel, an omitted Perler bead and an erased Kandi position are absent from their respective content or count. In a filet chart, an open block still represents mesh: it is not an instruction to leave out the fabric entirely.
Image backgrounds can also become actual cells or beads. That is why two exports of the same picture may have different totals even when their previews look similar.
A stitch is not necessarily square. Tapestry gauge changes the relationship between image width and height. A filet block covers more than a single stitch. Kandi’s brick layout moves alternate rows sideways.
A numbered PDF preserves the tool’s chart coordinates, but its printed boxes do not promise full-size material dimensions. Your materials, tension and printer settings still matter.
Fewer positions mean less detail to preserve. A larger grid may retain more of the source, but it also creates more cells, stitches or beads to work with. More detail is not automatically a more useful pattern.
THE SOURCE CAN TRAVEL; THE MEANING MAY CHANGE
Following a link directly from one tool to another can carry your source image and compatible settings. The receiving tool applies its own limits and layout. Kandi, for example, accepts up to 64 positions per side; the other tools can use larger grids.
If browser storage is unavailable, navigation still continues. You may need to choose the image again. This handoff is a convenience, not a saved project or backup.
Pixel and spreadsheet tools can preserve the current rendered pixel colors when the transferred dimensions match. The craft tools derive their own output from the source rather than interpreting another craft’s instructions.
Kandi transfers its source image and dimensions, not its bead edits or shifted geometry. A blank Kandi drawing has no source image to pass along. Download the current output before leaving if you need to keep it.
Opening this guide is different from switching tools: it does not save or receive a project. Download any output you need before leaving a tool. Refreshing or closing a tool page can also discard unsaved work.
FOLLOWING THE IMAGE THROUGH THE CURRENT TOOLS
Your browser opens the selected image and calculates the preview locally. The current tools do not upload the image or its filename for conversion, and do not create a public image page.
A temporary copy is placed in local browser storage for the handoff. It is deleted when read. Unclaimed transfers become unusable after one hour and are removed during the next transfer.
Your browser generates the output file and offers it as a download. The downloaded copy remains wherever your browser saves it; clearing a chart does not delete that file.
This describes the current image-processing flow. Local conversion alone is not a promise about every future advertising, analytics or cookie feature. Any such addition needs its own accurate disclosure.
A preview is not an autosave. Keep the original image and download the result you need. Some editing controls keep an undo history while the tool is open; that history is not an account-based project archive.
EVIDENCE, WITH ITS LIMITS
The existing checks cover browser conversion and downloads. Spreadsheet cell colors were compared with the preview in the workbook data; craft checks cover counts and chart output. Kandi has a shorter functional check covering edits, totals and PDF generation. Test coverage differs by tool; it is not a certification of every possible image or setting.
The XLSX files contain editable cells, but opening and visually reviewing them in the actual Excel and Google Sheets applications is still pending. Browser and file checks do not establish identical rendering in those applications.
Printed-chart and physical sample validation remain pending for the craft charts. Bead assembly and crochet swatches need review with the stated materials and technique. A correct digital count cannot prove color matching, finished size, stitchability or material strength.
The tool pages show project-created source artwork and actual generated outputs. The strawberry example is labeled as AI-generated; the vector examples are illustrations, not photographs of completed crafts. None of these images is presented as evidence that a physical sample has been made.
The purpose of these disclosures is to help you judge the output—not to imply that a sample test has already happened.
The method references below explain the underlying crafts. They do not certify this software or its generated files.