User Guide

Getting Started

Welcome to Bead-o — an online bead pattern editor. This guide will walk you through every step, from importing an image to exporting your finished pattern.

Importing an Image

You can import a source image in two ways:

• Choose image… — pick a file from your device.
• Open image URL… — paste a direct link to an image on the web.

Please note that sometimes due to restrictions on an external website (the so-called Same Origin Policy) the image may fail to load with a "Open image URL..." button. In this case try downloading the desired image with your browser and using the "Choose image…" option instead.

Board Selection

Select a pegboard that matches the brand you use (IKEA, Perler, Hama) or define a custom size. The board determines the grid dimensions of your pattern.

Selector

Once an image is loaded, a selection frame appears on top of it. Drag the frame to position it over the part of the image you want to convert into a bead pattern.

To scale the frame, grab any of the four corner grips and drag them inward or outward. The frame's aspect ratio follows the chosen board dimensions, so resizing always keeps the correct proportions. Use this to zoom into a detail or pull back to capture more of the image.

Palette

Pick the bead color palette that corresponds to your bead set. Click the brand name to open the color groups and color sets. Use checkboxes to select the groups, color sets or individual colors you want to use. The application will map the source image colors to the nearest available beads.

Editor

After clicking Edit board you enter the bead editor. Here you can refine each bead individually, swap colors, draw shapes, and more, as described below.

Editor Palette

The two overlapping squares indicate the current foreground and background colors. While editing the board, you can modify the drawing palette at any time. Select the desired colors using the drop-down menus and color checkboxes. The number of beads for each color is displayed right on the color sample.

Drawing Tools

With all drawing tools, the left mouse button is used for the foreground color, and the right mouse button for the background color.

Pencil (P)

Click to place a single bead. Hold Shift and click a second point to draw a straight line between the two positions.

Eraser (E)

Click on a bead to remove it. You can also temporarily switch to the Eraser from any other tool by holding Ctrl.

Replace All (A)

Click any bead on the board, and all beads of that color will be replaced with the current foreground or background color, depending on which mouse button you click. This is the fastest way to swap a color across the entire pattern at once.

Bucket Fill (B)

Click on a bead to flood-fill the contiguous area of the same color.

Select (S)

Click and drag to select a rectangular region on the board. The selection can then be copied, deleted, or transformed using the selection action buttons that appear when a selection is active:

• Mirror horizontally — flips the selected beads left-to-right.
• Mirror vertically — flips the selected beads top-to-bottom.
• Copy left half to the right — takes the left half of the selection and mirrors it onto the right half, useful for creating symmetrical patterns.

Move (M)

When a selection is active, drag to move the selected beads to a new position. If there is no selection, dragging moves the entire layer instead.

Line (L)

Click a starting point and drag to the end point to draw a straight line.

Rectangle (R)

Click and drag to draw a rectangle outline. Hold Shift to constrain it to a square.

Circle (C)

Click and drag to draw a circular outline. Hold Shift to constrain it to a perfect circle.

Color Picker (K)

Left click on any bead to pick its color and set it as the current foreground color. Right click sets the background color. You can also invoke the Color Picker temporarily from any other tool by holding Alt (Option on Mac).

Keyboard Shortcuts

Navigation

Editing

Quick Actions

Exporting

When your pattern is ready, use the buttons at the bottom of the editor:

• Save to My Gallery — store the pattern in your personal gallery (requires sign-in).
• Save image — download as a PNG file.
• Save as PDF — generate a printable PDF.
• Print — send the pattern straight to your printer.

Coming soon

Bead-o is under active development, new features are on the way. Some of them include:

• Lasso tool — allows to select arbitrary non-rectangle area.
• Shapes customization — allows to select the border width for lines, rectangles and circles.
• Layers — manage multiple image layers for complex designs.
• Palette customization — Add your own bead colors and organize them in sets.
• Gallery — Browse and manage your patterns in your private gallery.
• Share — Share your designs with others.

... also Color Themes, Image comparison, Template library and much, much more.

If you have any suggestions or feature requests, please don't hesitate to contact me.