One of the most popular reasons for purchasing software for cross stitch is doing conversions of photographs into charts. Cross Stitch Professional for Windows is ideal for this purpose as we have spent several years developing algorithms to do this effectively.

A common problem with a lot of cross stitch software is that they use standard image processing routines which were designed to achieve the best results in reducing to 256 colours. In addition they assume that any colour is available and then match to the nearest thread colour at the end. Reducing colours is often done by poularity of the colour leading to loss of important detail.

Examples
Here are some examples of original photos and the resulting cross stitch designs. The despeckled versions require at least the Plus edition otherwise they can all be produced with all editions. We have tried to use a realistic number of colours and design size so ensure you use similar parameters if testing out other programs - massive designs in large numbers of colours are always going to look better ! Pictures have been compressed for faster viewing (jpg). All sizes approximate.
Original Picture	7"x8" 14 count in 31 Colours	Despeckled in Plus edition
Original Picture	7"x11.5" 14 count in 19 Colours	Despeckled in Plus Edition
Original Picture	7"x8" 14 count in 19 colours	Despeckled in Plus Edition
Original Picture	7"x10.5" 14 count in 29 colours	Despeckled in Plus Edition

 The despeckled versions have had single isolated stitches removed in the Plus edition of the program. This results in a design that is much easier to stitch because yoiu are never casting on just to make one stitch. The design is reduced in detail slightly but not too greatly. In practice, you would normally despeckle to a more severe level on the background and not at all in the most important areas. For the purpose of the examples, the level 1 despeckle has been used throughout.

Pictures on this page are copyright images from a photo clipart CD and are provided for informational purposes only. They may not be copied for use elsewhere as permission is limited to use by the original purchaser.