Perler bead pattern maker

What this tool actually does

You drop a PNG, JPG, WebP, or GIF. The page downsamples that image onto a grid of boards, matches each cell to the nearest colour in the brand list you picked (CIEDE2000), optionally caps how many colours it uses, and can dither gradients. You get:

• An on-screen preview with a symbol in each bead and board boundary lines.
• A colour table with brand codes, names, and how many beads you need.
• A missing / short list if you have ticked the colours you own and typed quantities.
• A shopping list you can copy or download as .txt, and a colour-usage .csv.
• A free complete PDF: original grid, one A4 page per board, symbols, colour codes and bead counts, with no watermark.

It does not place beads for you, edit individual cells by hand, convert counts into bags, or remap a finished Perler pattern onto Hama or Artkal. A pattern made for one brand does not map onto another.

Photo to Perler beads, step by step

1. Open the pattern maker. Everything stays on this device.
2. Drop your photo, or click Use a generated sample image if you only want to learn the controls. Crop the subject in another app first if the background is busy.
3. Under Fit, use Crop to fill the boards when you want every cell filled, or Fit whole image when you would rather keep the whole picture and accept empty margins.
4. Leave Treat white / transparent background as empty off if the photo has real white beads (eyes, clouds, text). Turn it on for a logo or icon on a white field, or those whites become holes.
5. Set Bead brand to Perler (5 mm standard). That list has 103 colours. Do not pick Hama or Artkal unless those are the beads you will iron.
6. Start small: 1 by 1 board, or keep the default 2 by 2 of 29 (58 by 58 beads). Count the pegs on your own board; 29 is the default, not a measured official size for every tray.
7. Leave Max colours at 20 for a first pass, or drop toward 8–16 if you want a simpler buy list. Dithering is off by default; turn it on only if a sky or skin tone looks like flat bands and you can live with speckles.
8. Read the preview. Hover a bead for its coordinates, board number, symbol, code, name, and count. If the subject is mush, add boards or crop tighter. If it is a noisy rainbow, lower max colours or saturation.
9. In My colours, tick what you own if you care about shopping. Only use colours I own limits the match to those ticks (you need at least two). The summary then lists missing colours and short quantities.
10. Download the free PDF and, if you need it, the shopping list. Multi-board pages and the colour list are included for free. Empty cells are holes, not white beads, unless a white palette colour was actually chosen.

A concrete worked example

Use the generated sample so this example matches what you see. Click Try a sample. A new visit starts at 1 by 1 board and 10 colours. For this larger example, set boards to 2 across and 2 down, board size 29, and max colours 20. Leave Fit on Crop to fill the boards, leave the white-background option off, brand on Perler, dithering off, contrast and saturation at 1.0.

That grid is 58 by 58. Every cell is filled, so the bead count is 3,364. The sample is a sunset gradient, a yellow sun, dark hills, a red heart, and a small white highlight. After the match you should be able to read those shapes in the preview: a warm sky, a yellow disc, a dark base, and a red heart. The page will use up to 20 Perler codes, not 103. Hover the heart and you should see a red or pink Perler code and how many of that colour the whole pattern needs.

Now change only Max colours to 8 and look again. The same 3,364 beads remain, but neighbouring oranges collapse together and the heart may share a red with the lower sky. That is the trade-off the slider is for: fewer bags, less detail. Turn dithering on at 8 colours and the sky picks up speckles of the neighbouring colours. Leave it off for a first iron.

Tick the colours used in the table as owned, type a quantity smaller than Need on one row, and the summary will list that colour as short by the difference. Copy shopping list writes those gaps. The PDF for this example is a cover plus four board pages (2 by 2) plus a usage table. The PDF is fitted to A4. Do not iron beads on the printout as if each square were 5 mm.

If you instead set Fit to Fit whole image on a wide photo of your own, you will see empty rows or columns where the picture does not cover the square grid. Those empties are intentional.

Perler bead pattern generator settings that change the result

People looking for a generator usually want the same four knobs:

Control	What it changes	Practical start
Board count and size	How many beads, and whether the plan fits your pegboard.	A new visit starts at 1 by 1 of 29. Try 2 by 2 (58 by 58) if the subject disappears.
Max colours (4–40, or no limit)	How many different Perler codes appear. Fewer is easier to sort and buy.	A new visit starts at 10. Stay near 8–12 on a small board, or try about 20 if detail disappears.
Dithering	Mixes neighbouring colours to imitate a gradient. Can look noisy on a small board.	Off for logos and text. On for a sky, then off again if it speckles.
Contrast / saturation	Applied before the palette match. Contrast 0.6–1.8, saturation 0.5–2.0, both start at 1.0.	Raise contrast if the subject melts into the background. Lower saturation if the match jumps to loud colours the photo only hints at.

Preview zoom (0.5x to 2.5x) only changes how large the plan looks on screen. It does not change the bead count. Switching from Perler to Hama or Artkal after you like a preview starts a new match; codes are not translated.

Tips that match this tool

• A phone snap of a face on a 14 by 14 board will not look like a portrait. Crop to one clear subject, then add boards.
• Use Perler only if those are the beads in your drawers. The 103-colour list is community data, not a current official catalogue.
• If you already own a small set, tick those colours and turn on Only use colours I own before you shop. If the preview then collapses, you need more colours or you should untick the limit to see what the picture wants.
• The shopping list is a bead count, not a bag count. Package sizes differ by shop, and this page does not invent them.
• Save my-colours.json if you want the same stock list in another browser. It stays on your device.
• Printed colour is a hint. The PDF prints a symbol next to each code so you can sort without trusting the ink.

Frequently asked questions

Does this perler bead pattern maker upload my photo?

No. Colour matching and the PDF run in your browser. The image is never sent to a server. Your list of owned colours stays in this browser. The site only counts anonymous events and stores a comment or email if you submit one.

Can I turn a photo into Perler beads?

Yes, that is what the tool does. Drop a PNG, JPG, WebP, or GIF, choose Perler (5 mm standard, 103 colours), set the board grid, and generate. A detailed photo on a small board will lose detail. Crop tight, then add boards if the shape is still hard to read. Colours on screen are approximate.

Is a perler bead pattern generator different from this maker?

No. This page and the tool are the same converter: image in, bead grid out. People search both phrases. There is no separate generator mode, no character library, and no automatic best settings. You choose the grid, max colours, and whether to dither.

Which Perler board sizes can I use?

Boards across and down are each 1 to 4. A new visit starts at 1 by 1. Board size is 29 by 29 (the default), 14 by 14, 16 by 16, or 25 by 25. Two by two boards of 29 is 58 by 58 beads. We have not measured every official pegboard, so count the pegs on the board you own.

How do I print the pattern?

Download the full PDF for free. It keeps the original grid and includes one A4 page per pegboard, symbols, colour codes and bead counts, without a watermark. No account or payment is needed. It is not a life-size 5 mm overlay. Match symbols to codes, then check the beads in your hand.

Are the Perler colours official?

No. The 103-colour list comes from a community dataset (maxcleme/beadcolors, MIT licence), not from Perler. Codes and on-screen hues can be out of date. Compare them with your beads before you buy or iron. The tool is unofficial and is not affiliated with Perler, Hama, or Artkal.

Make a pattern

Ready to try it on your own picture? Open the perler bead pattern maker. For a tour of every control, see how to make a fuse bead pattern.