I like to first re-size the photo using pixlr.com. It lets me re-size by pixel size. Pixel size is what I use when I import a photo to my cross stitch software. The number of pixels wide by the number of pixels high is what I put in for the number of stitches wide I want by the number of stitches high. If you just put in whatever photo you already have without resizing its probably going to be huge. You want a nice balance between detail and size.
I am going to walk you through the basics of making a simple photo into a chart with a free program called KG-Chart which you can download for free here. You will want the LE version as the Pro version is not free.
We are going to be using this photo which I found on the interwebs. Its a picture of a little elf from the video game Harvest Moon.. Not tons of detail but also not a simple 8-bit sprite either. Oh and if possible .png is the best file format to use as its crisper and clearer then the other formats.
When you go to pixlr you will want to open the photo editor and open a photo. My photos usually come from my computer so I choose that option, browse my computer for the photo and click open.
After the file has opened go to image at the top and go to image size. A window will pop up and you want constrain proportions to be checked so make sure it is and then put in whatever number you want in one of the boxes, the other one will change automatically because you have constrained proportions checked. I choose a width of 100 pixels.
For this image the background is transparent and that's why the background is checkered. I decided to pick a teal color that wasn't found in the photo and fill it in. I just used the paint bucket tool. The reason I did this is because if I don't the background will be black when put into the photo editor and that makes it hard to eliminate it later because the edges of the image are black also.
That's really all I do to the photo, but that's mainly because I am no good at photo-shopping things. So after that I save it to my computer in the format of .png again and now were ready to open it in KG-Chart.
Go to file and under Data Exchange click on Import.
This window will pop up and if you are following along exactly type in and check what I have filled in. If your not following along exactly then where it says Org. Width. that's the number you want to have in the Width(ct.). After you have everything filled in click OK. Oh I did change the Colors to 25 so I didn't get a crazy amount you can make it higher or lower at your discretion. For this picture it could probably be lower.
First before anything else I want to delete the teal background I put in. So to do that I zoom in so I know what symbol represents the teal and over in the section where it shows all the colors I click on Selected and scroll down until I find that symbol and then i right click it and click delete and voila its gone.
After that its pretty much manually cleaning it up which can be time consuming depending on the image you have used. This one all I would really do is erase the white around the outside of the image and check the colors against my actual floss. Maybe get rid of some colors if I feel that they are to close to each other to matter. To easily get rid of colors re-import it using a smaller number in the colors box, just do this before you do any work to it or you will have done it all for nothing.
I know that there is way more to actually do to photos before you put them into the charting software but as I said I am horrible at photo-shopping things. By all means though play around and have fun, that and the interwebs is how I learn after all.
I am going to walk you through the basics of making a simple photo into a chart with a free program called KG-Chart which you can download for free here. You will want the LE version as the Pro version is not free.
We are going to be using this photo which I found on the interwebs. Its a picture of a little elf from the video game Harvest Moon.. Not tons of detail but also not a simple 8-bit sprite either. Oh and if possible .png is the best file format to use as its crisper and clearer then the other formats.When you go to pixlr you will want to open the photo editor and open a photo. My photos usually come from my computer so I choose that option, browse my computer for the photo and click open.
For this image the background is transparent and that's why the background is checkered. I decided to pick a teal color that wasn't found in the photo and fill it in. I just used the paint bucket tool. The reason I did this is because if I don't the background will be black when put into the photo editor and that makes it hard to eliminate it later because the edges of the image are black also.That's really all I do to the photo, but that's mainly because I am no good at photo-shopping things. So after that I save it to my computer in the format of .png again and now were ready to open it in KG-Chart.
This window will pop up and if you are following along exactly type in and check what I have filled in. If your not following along exactly then where it says Org. Width. that's the number you want to have in the Width(ct.). After you have everything filled in click OK. Oh I did change the Colors to 25 so I didn't get a crazy amount you can make it higher or lower at your discretion. For this picture it could probably be lower.
First before anything else I want to delete the teal background I put in. So to do that I zoom in so I know what symbol represents the teal and over in the section where it shows all the colors I click on Selected and scroll down until I find that symbol and then i right click it and click delete and voila its gone.After that its pretty much manually cleaning it up which can be time consuming depending on the image you have used. This one all I would really do is erase the white around the outside of the image and check the colors against my actual floss. Maybe get rid of some colors if I feel that they are to close to each other to matter. To easily get rid of colors re-import it using a smaller number in the colors box, just do this before you do any work to it or you will have done it all for nothing.
I know that there is way more to actually do to photos before you put them into the charting software but as I said I am horrible at photo-shopping things. By all means though play around and have fun, that and the interwebs is how I learn after all.
