Glossary

Color Quantization

Also called: color reduction, palette reduction

In plain English: Reducing millions of colors in a photo down to a small number of colors that match real beads you can buy.

A digital photo can contain over 16 million unique colors. Bead brands like Miyuki Delica offer a few hundred. Color quantization is the process of picking the best small set of colors to represent the original image. The software groups similar colors together, picks one representative color for each group, and repaints the image with only those colors. Fewer colors means a simpler pattern with fewer bead types to buy; more colors preserves detail but adds complexity.

In Krazy Stitcher: You control this with the "Max Colors" slider when importing a photo. 12–20 colors is a good starting point for most patterns.

Learn more: Wikipedia: Quantization (image processing) Cloudinary: What is Color Quantization

Confetti

Also called: stray beads, isolated beads, noise

In plain English: Single beads of one color surrounded by a completely different color — like sprinkles that ended up where they don't belong.

When converting a photo to a pattern, the color-matching process sometimes places a single bead of a different color in the middle of an area that should be uniform. These isolated beads are called "confetti" because they look scattered and random. They make the pattern harder to stitch (lots of thread changes) and rarely improve the look. Most experienced beaders clean them up before stitching.

In Krazy Stitcher: The "Confetti Cleanup" tool automatically finds and removes stray beads, replacing them with the dominant color of their neighborhood. Available in Pro and Studio editions.

Dithering

Also called: color blending, smooth blend (in Krazy Stitcher)

In plain English: Scattering different-colored beads in a pattern to trick your eye into seeing colors that aren't actually there — like how a TV screen uses tiny red, green, and blue dots to make every color.

Dithering is a technique borrowed from printing and digital imaging. When you can't use the exact color you want (because it doesn't exist as a bead), dithering places nearby colors next to each other so that from a normal viewing distance, your eye blends them together. The result looks more like the original photo than simply picking the single closest color for each spot. The term comes from the old English word meaning "to tremble" — the colors tremble between two options rather than committing to one.

In Krazy Stitcher: This is the "Smooth Blend" option in the photo import tool. It works best for photographic images, landscapes, and portraits where smooth transitions matter.

Learn more: The Complete Guide to Dithering Dithering Algorithms Explained

Error Diffusion

In plain English: When the software can't find a perfect bead color match, it spreads the "leftover" color difference to neighboring beads so the overall area still looks right.

Imagine you need a bead that's halfway between blue and green, but that exact shade doesn't exist. The software picks the closest blue bead for this spot, then "remembers" that it owes the pattern a little green. It adds that green debt to the next bead's calculation, making it slightly more likely to come out green. Over many beads, the blues and greens average out to the right shade. This is the core idea behind Floyd-Steinberg dithering and other smooth-blend techniques.

In Krazy Stitcher: Error diffusion powers the "Smooth Blend" option. You don't need to configure it — it runs automatically when you select that mode.

Learn more: Wikipedia: Floyd–Steinberg Dithering

Floyd-Steinberg Dithering

Called "Smooth Blend" in Krazy Stitcher

In plain English: A specific recipe for scattering bead colors that was invented in 1976 and is still considered one of the best ways to make a limited-color image look like the original photo.

Named after Robert Floyd and Louis Steinberg, this algorithm works through an image one bead at a time, left to right, top to bottom. For each bead, it picks the closest available color. Then it takes the difference between the color it wanted and the color it got, and spreads that difference to the four nearest unprocessed neighbors using specific proportions (7/16 right, 5/16 below, 3/16 below-left, 1/16 below-right). The result is an organic, grain-like texture that looks remarkably natural — much better than simple rounding to the nearest color.

In Krazy Stitcher: This is what happens when you choose "Smooth Blend" in the photo import tool. Best for photographs, portraits, and images with gradual color changes.

Learn more: Wikipedia: Floyd–Steinberg Dithering Floyd–Steinberg: A Gentle Introduction SciPython: Floyd-Steinberg Dithering

Hex Value

Also called: hex code, hex color, color code

In plain English: A six-character code that describes an exact color. The code #FF0000 is pure red, #0000FF is pure blue, #FFFFFF is white.

Hex (short for hexadecimal) is a number system that uses 16 digits (0-9 plus A-F) instead of the usual 10. A hex color code like #8B6F47 tells a computer exactly how much red (8B), green (6F), and blue (47) to mix. Web designers and software use hex codes because they're precise and universal — every device interprets #8B6F47 as the same warm brown.

In Krazy Stitcher: The Color Palette Tool lets you search for beads by hex value, so you can find the bead color closest to any color you see on screen.

K-Means Clustering

Called "Clean Color" in Krazy Stitcher

In plain English: A method that looks at all the colors in your photo, groups similar ones together, and picks one representative bead color for each group — like sorting a pile of beads into cups by color family.

K-Means is a mathematical technique that divides data into "K" groups (you choose the number). For photos, it treats each color as a point in 3D space (red, green, blue axes) and finds the best K clusters. The center of each cluster becomes one color in your reduced palette. Unlike dithering, K-Means doesn't scatter colors — it makes a clean decision for each bead. The result has crisp edges and solid color areas, which works beautifully for geometric patterns, logos, and designs with flat color blocks.

In Krazy Stitcher: This is the "Clean Color" option in the photo import tool. Best for geometric designs, logos, text, and anything with bold flat areas.

Learn more: Scikit-Learn: Color Quantization Using K-Means Towards Data Science: Colour Image Quantization

Palette Remapping

Also called: brand matching, color matching

In plain English: Taking the colors in your pattern and swapping each one for the closest real bead color from a specific brand — so you know exactly which Miyuki, Toho, or Preciosa beads to buy.

Different bead brands have different color ranges. Miyuki Delica #DB-0010 is a specific black, Toho TR-11-49 is a slightly different black. Palette remapping compares every color in your pattern against a brand's full color catalog and finds the closest match. This means you get an accurate shopping list before you stitch a single bead, and you won't be surprised by colors that look different in person than on screen.

In Krazy Stitcher: Click the palette icon and choose your brand. The entire pattern remaps instantly. Available in Pro and Studio editions.

Pixel Font

Also called: bitmap font, grid font

In plain English: Tiny letters designed to look good at very small sizes on a grid — perfect for stamping names, dates, or messages onto a bead pattern.

Regular computer fonts use smooth curves that look great at large sizes but become blurry or unreadable when shrunk to a bead grid. Pixel fonts are designed the opposite way — each letter is drawn dot-by-dot on a small grid, so it stays crisp and readable even at tiny sizes. This is the same approach used by early video games and LED signs.

In Krazy Stitcher: The Text Overlay tool uses pixel fonts so your text stays readable on the bead grid. Available in Pro and Studio editions.

SVG

Stands for: Scalable Vector Graphics

In plain English: An image format that stays sharp no matter how much you zoom in — unlike a regular photo, which gets blurry.

Most images (JPG, PNG) are made of tiny colored squares called pixels. Zoom in and you see the squares. SVG images are made of mathematical instructions ("draw a circle here, a line there"), so the computer redraws them perfectly at any size. SVG is useful for pattern exports because you can zoom into a single bead or zoom out to see the whole design without losing quality.

In Krazy Stitcher: SVG export is available in the Pro and Studio editions for high-quality pattern sharing and printing.