YourTool guide
From photo to pixel paint-by-numbers
A good numbered pixel painting starts with a readable source, not with the maximum number of cells. Conversion has two separate decisions: how much spatial detail to retain and how many colors to keep. Preview both before committing to a long painting session.
Choose a source with clear shapes
Look for a distinct subject, a simple background and visible separation between light and dark regions. A portrait with a tiny face in a crowded scene can lose its eyes before palette reduction even starts. Crop a copy externally if the subject needs more space; do not expect the studio to infer an intended crop.
Pixel Paint accepts static PNG, JPEG and WebP when the browser can decode them. Transparency is retained where possible; fully transparent background cells do not require painting. Animated images are not supported. Keep the original outside the project because the saved working source is a bounded sample, not the original photograph.
Balance resolution and palette separately
Target width controls the grid; height follows the source ratio, rounded to whole cells and bounded by the grid limit. A 1200×800 landscape at width 32 becomes 32×21, not 32×32. Uniform fitting avoids stretching; fractional edge coverage can produce partially transparent edge cells.
Start with Easy (width 16, up to 8 colors), inspect the silhouette and then increase detail if necessary. Medium uses 32/16; Hard uses 64/24. You can override those settings. Palette size is a maximum: simpler sources may use fewer colors.
Inspect the target before painting
Crisp sampling keeps nearest pixels; balanced sampling averages areas with alpha. Conservative cleanup can remove isolated low-contrast cells, while preserving strongly contrasting details. Check whether windows, eyes or a distant tree still matter before accepting the preview.
Starting the painting creates empty cells over the numbered target. Selecting a swatch highlights its unfinished matches. Correct-cell mode rejects the wrong number; optional free painting allows changes, but only exact target matches count toward completion. Erasing a correct cell reduces progress again.
- Zoom in when cells are too small for legible numbers.
- Use per-color counts to find the remaining cells.
- Fill the selected number only when you want to complete that color automatically.
Save a result and a resumable project
Artwork PNG exports painted cells; unpainted cells remain transparent. Logical-resolution PNG retains one image pixel per grid cell, while scaled export repeats pixels without smoothing. A reference PNG shows the complete target even before you finish painting.
For paper, export the blank numbered template and palette sheet; template export enforces at least 24 pixels per cell for readable labels. For later editing, save project JSON as well. IndexedDB autosave is useful on the same browser, but clearing site data removes it and PNG cannot restore numbered progress.