Bead Graphing Programs Comparison
Here are the graphs of the sparrow photo that Mary (Aunt Molly) picked out for this experiment. Basically, what we were attempting to do is compare the map into beads abilities of different bead graphing programs for PC's. Below is the original picture that Mary picked out for us to play with (we all agree this is a really hard picture to work with!)
The first two graphs are done by Linda Breyer (Morticia) on Stitch Painter.
Next is my attempt with BeadPlan. I did play with the pallette a bit, before mapping into beads, but the pattern is untouched from the map into bead function. If this were a pattern I was making for myself, the next step would be to manually add beads in places that I wanted to change. Of course, BeadPlan is no longer available to the public and only some of the versions that were released still work on today's computers, so the point is fairly moot.
Last, but not least, is Mary (Aunt Molly), our trained graphic artist (she teaches graphic arts), on Ed Hand's Beader. Mary says of these patterns: "Here are the sparrows I attempted. Both are 2 drop
peyote, 36 beads wide by 60 rows, charted for delicas.
Sparow5.gif (the one on the left) was cropped, reduced to 16 colors, then remapped to 5
colors, imported into Beader and automatically converted. No
retouch. Except I might have whitened the eye in Paint Shop Pro
first. Then I exported the chart as a .bmp file, and remapped the
colors again in PSP to give them a bit more contrast. It still uses
5 colors (4 bead colors)
Sparo8.gif (right) was also cropped, reduced to 16 colors, and imported
into Beader. Then, instead of doing the auto convert, I drew over
the image, which took about an hour.
It could still use more work
to clarify certain parts. I like the rhythm of the feathers a lot
better. The autoconvert would probably require nearly as much time,
which this particular image, unless I used a huge, detailed chart.
Anyway, I exported the chart as a .bmp file, and remapped the
colors again in PSP for clarity and contrast, reducing them to 8
colors (7 bead colors)
I think people think graphing software is gonna be a piece of cake,
which it's not!"
I've recently been introduced to a new bead graphing program, BeadTool, by programmer Christopher Litts. The program has only been on my computer for two days, but I'm already impressed and pleased with the versatility and ease of use. The program includes pattern making capability for brick, loom, peyote, and 2 and 3 drop peyote (no right angle weave...maybe next version?). There is a palette creation function, an 'assimilation' function (which creates patterns from pictures), and the print outs include the option to have word charts. All pretty straightforward and simple to master. Here's the result from BeadTool for the dreaded sparrow test: the pattern on the left was done with one of the pre-loaded palettes, and then I played around a bit adding more colors to the choices, that's on the right. Both patterns are totally fresh from the assimilation process...I didn't change any beads at all. If I were making the pattern for myself, I'd go on from here and tweak the pattern by adding highlights and changing some colors here and there. All in all I'm finding BeadTool to be a delightful program to use, and well worth the modest price of $24.95. The program was quick to download, easy to install and register. The end user's license agreement was written in understandable English, not legalese. The learning curve seems to be remarkably gentle, there are tips, and most of the functions seem very intuitive to me (computer savvy, but no geek). I'd recommend it to anyone interested in a basic bead pattern program, it looks like it would suit both beginner and advanced beaders in many ways. I'm offering a few free patterns made from BeadTool-none of the bells and whistles you get with the whole program, just the graph, but, heck they're free.
Wow! BeadTool 2.0 is now out, and what a fabulous improvement BeadTool, by programmer Christopher Litts.
Little sparrow pic above left was converted to peyote, using delica pallette, with 21 colors, and the transformation was fast, easy and more than acceptable! The right hand one is 15/0 bead pallette, totally untweaked after converting, I'd probably tweak it a bit if I was going to make the pattern, but it's oh, so close to great!
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