Documentation
Common workflows
- Glitch an image without converting to any thread palette or reducing colours
The raw glitched image is stored in the adjacent "NO_EDIT" folder. It is called corrupt.jpg and it overwritten at each glitch. If you get a nice glitch, copy this image to a different folder before pressing "Glitch" again.
- Convert an image for cross-stitching without glitching it
Just set the "Glitch Level" slider on the "Glitch" tab to 0 (zero). This will ensure the image is neither glitched nor compressed when the "Glitch" button is pressed.
- Test what the same glitched image will look like with a different colour palette / less or more dynamic colours / different dithering algorithm / different floss brand(s)
Make use of the "Update" button rather than the "Glitch" button. Make your changes (changes to the "Glitch Level" slider will have no effect) and press "Update". This feature is covered in this video.
- Use Stitch'n'Glitch to create a pattern from my large image file
If your image is large in terms of pixels dimensions (more than 500,000 pixels when measured width x height) or file size (greater than ~80kB), you should make it smaller before using it in Stitch'n'Glitch. Dimensions can be reduced by altering the "Image size" property in Preview (OSX) or Paint (MS). File size can be compressed by using the Smush It online tool.
FAQs
- What types of images does Stitch'n'Glitch accept?
Gif (.gif) and jpeg (.jpg, .jpeg) files. Please note that any Jpeg should be in the RGB colourspace rather than CMYK (which you might have used for printing).
- How do I know my image is small enough to create a pattern?
When you first load the image into Stitch'n'Glitch the message bar at the bottom of the "Glitch tab" will say "This image is small enough to create a .pdf pattern" if it is small enough or "This image is too large to fully Stitch'n'Glitch" otherwise.
- Why won't Stitch'n'Glitch load the file I have selected? It just asks me for another.
Either the file selected is does is not an image, an image not of the correct type (see above), or your image is too big to even load at all.
- Stitch'n'Glitch has frozen. What do I do?
Although relatively rare, this can happen when working with very large images. Quit the application and choose a smaller image.
- I can see the options to export black and white patterns but no colour ones. Why?
Colour pattern export is limited to images with 100 colours or less. Use the 'Dynamic Colours' slider (set <= 100) or one of the 'Preset' palettes, Glitch/Update, and now you should have colour pattern options for that image.
- How do I resize the image frame?
This can only be done as long as the "Export" tab is not open (as clicking will have a different effect). When the image frame is in focus, click inside and drag outside - releasing to the size you'd like the image to be expanded. Or release inside the image to make it smaller. Pressing the ALT key has the special effect of resizing the image frame to the image's actual pixel size - useful for remedying the distortion that occurs when viewing a large, dithered image at a smaller size.
- How many colours are in my image?
This can be seen in the message bar of the "Glitch" tab every time an image is glitched / updated. It will say something like "22 colours given this mode". This is referring to the brand mode. Change this and see how the number of colours changes.
- How come there are less colours in my image that the preset palette size / 'Dynamic' slider amount?
This is down to the fact that the floss brands operate in a much smaller colourspace than digital images (even ones with indexed palettes). What this means is that sometimes similar (dynamically assigned) colours are mapped to the same floss colour because they have the same closest match. In preset palettes, sometimes not every colour in the palette is present in the image or the same mapping issue can occur.
This happens less the more flosses the conversion can choose from (i.e. the more brands are selected from the 'Mode' checkboxes on the "Glitch" tab). If there is an exact number of colours you want in the converted image, you may find you have to set the "Dynamic" slider exponentially higher. This is why the slider is labelled "Max. colours". - How is the image broken up for the multipage patterns?
On the first page of the multipage pattern there is an image of the entire image divided with blue lines. The pages numbers are assigned in a left-to-right, top-to-bottom fashion as illustrated below.
- Why can I not see any pattern export options for my selected image?
If your image is not too big, make sure you have selected at least one brand from the "Mode" checkboxes on the "Glitch" tab. Otherwise Stitch'n'Glitch will assume you do not want to make a cross-stitch pattern.
- Where are my files saved when I press 'Export'?
All exported files will be written in a folder inside the "exports" folder. If you have chosen a name for the folder, these exported files they will be written in a folder of the same name. Otherwise, if you have previously chosen a name in this session they will be written in the most recent folder. If you have yet to choose a name in this session, they will be written in a folder called "default".
All files are given a standard name according to their type as well as a timestamp to facilitate grouping and avoid overwrites.