Import Settings Explained
Understand colour reduction, dithering, matching, and fabric settings in simple terms.
The import dialog controls how your final pattern is generated.
Maximum colours (colour reduction)
This limits how many colours the app can use.
- Fewer colours: cleaner, easier, less detail.
- More colours: richer detail, more complexity.
Start with 30 to 50 for photo-based patterns.
Quantisation (palette selection)
This controls how the app picks the final colour set.
You can think of it as different strategies for choosing the best reduced palette.
If unsure, keep the default and compare only when needed.
Colour matching
After reducing colours, each image colour is matched to nearest available thread colour.
If colours feel off, try another matching option and compare preview results.
Dithering
Dithering blends colour transitions by placing tiny colour patterns.
- With dithering: smoother transitions, but slightly grainier look.
- Without dithering: cleaner blocks and often simpler stitching.
Portraits often benefit from testing both options.
Fabric and stitch settings (cross-stitch)
These settings affect real-world output:
- Fabric count changes final physical size.
- Strands per stitch changes coverage and material usage.
- Fabric type/count also affects thread estimates in exports.
ROI (focus areas)
ROI lets you prioritise important zones (like faces or text).
Use ROI when one part of the photo must keep more detail than the background.