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Diamond Painting
Converter

Make and edit your diamond painting pattern

Turn a photo into a diamond painting pattern and edit it yourself: pick the size, the number of colors, and swap any DMC color. Free to use - you only pay for the PDF download.

Previewing and editing are free. The printable PDF pattern costs € 8,95.

Upload your photo

JPG, PNG or HEIC. The pattern appears right away - nothing is uploaded yet.

Rather watch than read?

Forty seconds: from photo to an editable DMC chart, and why the PDF matches what you see.

What is in the €8.95 PDF?

A real example, generated by the same code that builds your PDF: a cover with the full pattern, numbered grid pages with a symbol in every cell, and a DMC legend with the drill count per color.

Example PDF grid page: the whole pattern on one sheet with a symbol in every cell
The grid page you work from · one symbol per drill, rows and columns numbered, bold lines every 10 drills
Example PDF page 1: cover with the complete diamond painting pattern
Page 1 - Cover · your full pattern, size and drill type
Example PDF final page: DMC legend with the number of drills per color
Legend · every DMC color with its symbol and drill count

Most patterns fit on a single sheet: the chart picks portrait or landscape and the cell size so the whole thing lands on one page. Only really large patterns are split, and then the cover shows a numbered map of how the sheets fit together.

Tap an image to see it full size. Printable on A4, instant download after payment - this example is a 30 x 22.5 cm pattern with 40 colors.

Bought the PDF? You can also fetch it again later through ChatGPT. Pattern PDF in ChatGPT

How it works

1

Upload a photo

The conversion runs in your browser: every cell gets the closest match from 454 DMC colors. You see the real pattern in about a second.

2

Edit the colors

Too many close shades? Lower the color count. Wrong tone in a face or sky? Tap the color and pick a better DMC match. Undo if it gets worse.

3

Download the PDF

The chart you download is the pattern you edited - cell for cell. Cover, symbol grid pages and a DMC legend with drill counts, ready to print on A4.

What makes this different from a normal preview?

Most photo-to-diamond-painting tools show a stylized preview and generate the chart later, so what you buy is not what you saw. The Pattern Studio shows the actual chart: the same 454-color DMC matching that builds the PDF runs live in the editor.

That matters when you edit. Merging two nearly identical browns saves you a whole bag of drills; fixing a skin tone by hand makes a portrait work. Those choices carry over to the printed chart exactly.

Just want a quick impression with size advice instead? Use the preview maker - it recommends a size based on your photo before you decide.

A half-finished diamond painting canvas seen from above, with the protective film peeled back at one corner, a tray of pink drills, an applicator pen and a tin of wax beside it
The chart you print is what you place: one symbol per cell, one DMC colour per bag.

Where do you find free diamond painting patterns?

Search for free patterns and you land on Pinterest boards and image libraries. Those are pictures, not patterns: there is no symbol grid and no DMC list, so you still have to work out which drill goes where. That is the step this page does for you.

Eight free patterns to print

These eight are real patterns. Each PDF has a color preview, a DMC list with the drill count per code and a numbered symbol grid. They measure 20 x 20 cm on square 2.5 mm drills, 6,400 drills in total. No account needed.

The PDF shows where each drill goes. How to place them step by step is in the diamond painting guide.

Here is what costs nothing and what does not, so you can decide before you start:

  • Free: uploading a photo, the conversion, the size and drill settings, swapping DMC colors by hand, and the colour list with the drill count per code. No account.
  • €8.95: the printable A4 chart — cover, numbered symbol grid and DMC legend, matching the pattern you edited cell for cell.

If you only need the codes and not the print-out, the free DMC color chart lists all 454 shades with their number, name and colour.

More free sheets, each with its own instructions, are on the blog:

Want to start from your own photo instead? Make a diamond painting preview first.

The rest of the toolkit

DMC color chart

All 454 codes with name and colour, searchable and free to print.

Which size does my photo need?

Drill counts per canvas size, and why 30x40 often disappoints for a portrait.

Grid over your photo

See how much detail survives at drill scale before you pick a size.

Preview maker

A quick impression of your photo as a diamond painting, with size advice.

Step-by-step guide

Where to start on a canvas, and how to keep the film and glue clean.

Card kits

Ready-printed cards with drills, for when a full canvas is too much work.

Frequently asked questions

Is the Pattern Studio free?

Yes. Uploading, converting and editing your pattern is free, with no account. You only pay €8.95 when you download the printable PDF chart.

Which DMC colors does the pattern use?

Every cell is matched against the full chart of 454 DMC colors. You choose how many colors the final pattern uses (10 to 60) and you can replace any color by hand.

Need the full list up front? The DMC color chart shows all 454 codes and prints as a plain chart for free.

Which sizes and drills are supported?

Widths from 20 to 60 cm; the height follows your photo. Choose square 2.5 mm drills (4 per cm) or round 2.8 mm drills (3.57 per cm).

Can I convert an image to a diamond painting pattern online for free?

Converting is free and happens online in your browser: upload an image, and you get the real chart with DMC codes, the drill count per colour and a full-colour preview, without an account. The only thing you pay for is the printable A4 chart at €8.95.

Which app or program do I need?

None. The Pattern Studio runs in the browser, on a laptop as well as on Android and iPhone, and the conversion happens on your own device. There is nothing to install, no account, and your photo only leaves your device if you order the printable chart.

Can I make a diamond painting pattern myself?

That is what this page is: you upload a photo, the tool matches every cell to a DMC colour and you correct anything that looks wrong. What you cannot do by hand is keep 40 shades consistent across 20.000 cells - that part is worth letting a tool do.

Do I get the drill count per colour?

Yes, and before you pay. The colour list under the pattern shows every DMC code with how many drills it needs, so you can order the right bags whether or not you buy the chart.

Can I use up leftover drills with this?

Partly, and it is the most common question we get about leftovers. Lower the colour count until the pattern only uses codes you already have, then swap any remaining colour to a code from your own stock. What you can do with the rest of your drills depends on how many colours you kept: small, card-sized patterns are the realistic ones for leftover stones.

Can I print the pattern at home?

Yes. The PDF is built for A4 and most patterns land on a single sheet; only really large ones are split, and then the cover shows a numbered map of how the sheets fit together.

Does my photo get uploaded?

The conversion happens in your browser, so you can try photos without sending them anywhere. Only when you order the PDF is your photo stored with the order.

Diamond painting photo converter: four patterns

The same portrait produced 7,520 cells at 20 cm wide and 30,080 cells at 40 cm wide. Switching from 12 to 40 colours changed the palette, but it did not add a single cell at either width.

That is the distinction to check in a diamond painting photo converter: the number of places available for detail and the number of colours available to fill them are separate settings.

Four patterns from one unchanged photo

We used the full 517 × 606 pixel portrait of Grace Hopper and generated these four previews in Pattern Studio. The photo and framing stayed the same. Only the selected width and colour count changed.

Grace Hopper portrait converted at 20 cm wide with 12 DMC colours
20 cm wide · 12 colours · 80 × 94 cells
The same full portrait converted at 20 cm wide with 40 DMC colours
20 cm wide · 40 colours · 80 × 94 cells
The same full portrait converted at 40 cm wide with 12 DMC colours
40 cm wide · 12 colours · 160 × 188 cells
The same full portrait converted at 40 cm wide with 40 DMC colours
40 cm wide · 40 colours · 160 × 188 cells

Photo: James S. Davis / U.S. Navy, 20 January 1984, public-domain source on Wikimedia Commons. These are converter previews, not photographs of finished diamond paintings. Displayed image sizes are for comparison, not physical canvas scale.

Selected width Palette Grid Total cells
20 cm 12 colours 80 × 94 7,520
20 cm 40 colours 80 × 94 7,520
40 cm 12 colours 160 × 188 30,080
40 cm 40 colours 160 × 188 30,080

More colours cannot replace missing grid positions

At a fixed grid size, a cell still receives one colour. A larger palette can change which colour it receives. It cannot put two separate details into that same position.

We would compare the grid size before assuming that a larger colour count will fix a small portrait. In this example, doubling the width doubled both grid dimensions and gave four times as many cells. It also implies a much larger project. That is a tradeoff to see before choosing the pattern.

The diamond painting size calculator helps relate a selected size to the available grid. The DMC colour chart helps identify codes; it does not turn an on-screen preview into a physical colour sample.

We also executed the deployed photo-loader function with broken JPEG bytes and with the valid source photo. It rejected the broken file and loaded the real photo at 517 × 606 pixels. This tested the browser decoder function, not a new end-to-end upload or purchase.

One face does not settle the best palette

Our four runs do not prove that 40 colours are always better, that every portrait needs 40 cm, or that the physical drills will match your screen. We did not order a PDF, print a pattern or compare real drills.

Keep the framing fixed when you compare your own previews. Look specifically at the eyes, mouth and the space between nearby features. Then change either size or palette, one setting at a time. If you change the crop as well, you are comparing a different portrait composition.

Before committing to the larger project, compare the chosen preview at its intended display size. The useful question is whether the face reads the way you want at that size, not whether the settings panel contains the biggest number.