Photo to Diamond Painting: Drill Spacing and Finished Size

A photo-based diamond painting chart needs a grid that matches the material you will use. In the diamond painting tool, canvas dimensions and drill spacing determine the number of cells and the actual finished size.

Set shape and spacing separately

Round or square changes how drills appear in the preview. It does not automatically change spacing. Spacing is the center-to-center distance between adjacent cells; use the grid specification from your material supplier.

The default is 2.5mm. Check your drills or printed canvas before entering a value. Drill diameter alone may not equal the grid spacing.

Compare cell counts for the same canvas

For a 30 × 40cm canvas, the tool rounds down to complete cells that fit within the selected dimensions.

Drill spacing	Columns × rows	Actual chart size
2.5mm	120 × 160	30 × 40cm
2.8mm	107 × 142	29.96 × 39.76cm

A small difference between the selected canvas size and actual chart size comes from using whole cells. Review the final crop after adjusting spacing and framing.

Review colors and drill counts

Upload the photo and choose a color count to get a DMC-coded palette and counts per color. Fewer colors make preparation simpler but can flatten faces or shading, so inspect important details at a larger preview scale.

Each color count represents the cells assigned to that color. For purchasing, allow for losses or defective drills and your supplier’s pack sizes. Actual colors can differ between materials and suppliers even when the numbers match.

Check printing scale separately

The symbol PDF is a reading chart. A chart split or scaled to fit A4 is not automatically a full-size adhesive canvas template. For canvas production, verify the physical grid spacing and print scale separately.

Floss-based cross stitch uses fabric count to determine size. See photo to cross stitch patterns for that workflow.