Image Center
What It Does
Image Center converts photographs, drawings, logos, and other images into weaving patterns. You load an image, adjust how it's interpreted, and then paste the result into your draft — either as a liftplan, a tie-up, or directly into the drawdown.
The conversion works by turning each area of the image into either a filled cell (warp up) or an empty cell (weft up), creating a black-and-white grid that represents your weaving structure. You control the size of the grid, how light or dark areas are interpreted, and you can crop, rotate, or remove backgrounds before converting.
Opening Image Center
Ribbon: Tools tab > Image Center button
Image Center opens as a separate window so you can work with it alongside your draft.
The Image Center Window
The window is divided into three areas:
Left Panel — Library
This is where you organize and browse your images. It has three sections:
Albums Collections you create to group related images. For example, you might have albums for "Logos," "Nature Photos," or "Geometric Shapes."
Folders Directories on your computer that Image Center watches for images. Click + Add Folder to add a new watched folder. Any images in that folder (PNG, JPG, BMP, GIF, WEBP) appear automatically.
TempoWeave includes a set of sample images to get you started — these appear in the Folders section when you first open Image Center.
Working Set A temporary collection for images you've opened individually (via the Open Image button) without adding them to an album or folder. These persist between sessions.
Center Panel — Workspace
This is where you load, manipulate, and convert your image. It has a toolbar at the top, two side-by-side views in the middle, and controls at the bottom.
Right Panel — Thumbnail Gallery
Shows thumbnails of all images in the currently selected album or folder. Click any thumbnail to load it into the workspace. You can zoom the thumbnails larger or smaller with the + and - buttons at the bottom.
The Workspace in Detail
Toolbar
The toolbar provides image manipulation tools:
Open Image
Load an image file from your computer
Rotate CW / CCW
Rotate the image 90° clockwise or counter-clockwise
Flip H / Flip V
Mirror the image horizontally or vertically
Crop
Draw a rectangle on the image to use only that portion
Reset Crop
Remove the crop and use the full image again
Magic Wand
Click on a background color to remove it from the conversion
Tolerance
Controls how similar colors need to be for the Magic Wand (0 = exact match, higher = more inclusive)
Clear Mask
Remove the Magic Wand selection
The Two Views
Original Image (left) — Shows your loaded image with any crop region or Magic Wand selection overlaid. The crop area is shown as a green rectangle, and Magic Wand selections appear as a red overlay.
Preview Grid (right) — Shows the converted weaving pattern in real time. Black cells represent filled squares (warp up), white cells represent empty squares (weft up). This preview updates instantly as you change the threshold, grid size, or crop.
You can click individual cells in the preview grid to manually toggle them — useful for fine-tuning details after the automatic conversion.
Bottom Controls
Grid Size
Rows — How many picks (weft rows) the pattern will have (4–256)
Cols — How many ends (warp threads) the pattern will have (4–256)
Threshold A slider (0–255) that controls where the line falls between "filled" and "empty." Lower values mean only very dark areas become filled cells. Higher values mean lighter areas are included too.
When you first load an image, TempoWeave automatically calculates a good starting threshold using a statistical method that analyzes the image's brightness distribution. You can then adjust it up or down to get the look you want.
Save Tuning Saves your current threshold, rows, and columns settings for this specific image. Next time you select this image, your settings are restored automatically.
Copy Buttons Three buttons for exporting the pattern to your draft:
Copy to Weft — For pasting into the liftplan area (requires liftplan mode)
Copy to Tie-up — For pasting into the tie-up matrix
Copy to Drawdown — For pasting directly into the cloth
How to Use It
Basic Workflow
Open Image Center from the Tools tab
Load an image — either click Open Image or select a thumbnail from the gallery
Set the Rows and Cols to match the size you want in your draft
Adjust the Threshold slider until the preview grid looks right
Click one of the Copy buttons
Switch to your draft, select the Select tool, position your cursor where you want the pattern
Press Ctrl+V (Cmd+V) to paste
Choosing a Copy Destination
Copy to Drawdown is the most direct option — it pastes the pattern straight into the cloth. Use this when you want to place a motif or image directly in your fabric.
Copy to Weft (Liftplan) pastes the pattern into the liftplan area, where it becomes the shaft-lifting sequence for each pick. Your draft must be in liftplan mode to use this. This is useful when the image represents a treadling structure you want to apply.
Copy to Tie-up pastes into the shaft-to-treadle connection matrix. This is useful for small images (up to the size of your tie-up) that define a structural unit.
Working with the Magic Wand
The Magic Wand helps you remove backgrounds from images so only the subject converts to a weaving pattern.
Click the Magic Wand button in the toolbar
Click on the background color in your image
The selected area appears as a red overlay — these pixels will be treated as empty (white) in the grid
Adjust the Tolerance slider if too much or too little was selected
Lower tolerance = stricter color matching (selects less)
Higher tolerance = looser matching (selects more)
Click additional areas to add them to the selection
Use Clear Mask to start over
The Magic Wand works well for images with solid or near-solid backgrounds — product photos, logos on white backgrounds, simple line art with a colored background.
Working with Crop
Crop lets you focus on just part of an image.
Click the Crop button in the toolbar
Click and drag on the image to draw a rectangle around the area you want
The preview grid immediately updates to show only the cropped portion
Use Reset Crop to go back to the full image
Cropping is especially useful for photographs where you only want a small detail, or when an image has borders or margins you want to exclude.
Step-by-Step Example: Converting a Logo
You have a logo or other image and want to weave it into a towel:
Open Image Center from the Tools tab
Click Open Image and select the logo file
Set Rows to 40 and Cols to 40 (adjust based on your desired size)
The logo appears in the preview grid, but the background is showing as filled cells
Click the Magic Wand button and click on the logo's background color
The background turns red in the original view and disappears from the preview
Adjust the Threshold until the logo details look crisp in the preview
Click individual cells in the preview to clean up any stray dots
Click Save Tuning to remember these settings
Click Copy to Drawdown
Switch to your towel draft, select the Select tool
Position the cursor where you want the logo
Press Ctrl+V to paste
Step-by-Step Example: Converting a Nature Photo
You want to create a pictorial weaving from a photograph of a tree:
Open Image Center and load the photo
Use Crop to frame just the tree, excluding the sky and ground
Set Rows to 80 and Cols to 60 (or whatever suits your draft size)
Start with the auto-calculated threshold and adjust up or down:
Move the slider left (lower) if too much detail is showing — the pattern will be sparser
Move the slider right (higher) if too little detail is showing — the pattern will be denser
Click Copy to Drawdown and paste into your draft
For photographs, you may need to experiment with different threshold values to find the right balance between detail and simplicity. Remember that weaving has limited resolution — a 60×80 grid can suggest a tree's shape but won't capture every leaf.
Organizing Your Image Library
Adding Folders
If you have a directory of images you use frequently:
In the left panel, click + Add Folder
Navigate to the directory and select it
All supported images in that folder appear in the thumbnail gallery
Using the Working Set
Images you open with the Open Image button are automatically added to the Working Set. This keeps them accessible without needing to remember where the file is on disk.
Browsing
Click any album, folder, or "Show Working Set" in the left panel to view its images as thumbnails in the right panel. Click a thumbnail to load it into the workspace.
Tips
Start with simple, high-contrast images — Bold logos, silhouettes, and line drawings convert cleanly. Photographs with subtle gradients require more threshold adjustment.
Smaller grids = simpler patterns — A 16×16 grid is easy to weave but won't show much detail. A 100×100 grid captures more detail but creates a much larger pattern area.
Use the preview grid for fine-tuning — Click individual cells to toggle them. This is great for cleaning up stray dots or filling in gaps that the threshold missed.
Save your tuning — If you've spent time getting the threshold and grid size just right, click Save Tuning so you don't have to redo it next time.
Threshold direction — Lower threshold = only dark areas become filled (sparser pattern). Higher threshold = lighter areas also become filled (denser pattern). Think of it as "how light does a pixel need to be before it counts as background?"
Crop before adjusting threshold — If you only want part of the image, crop first. The threshold calculation works better when it's analyzing just the area you care about.
Undo after pasting — If the pasted pattern doesn't look right in your draft, Ctrl+Z (Cmd+Z) removes it. Go back to Image Center, adjust, and try again.
Magic Wand + Crop are exclusive — You can use one or the other at a time. Enabling the Wand disables Crop mode, and vice versa.
Rotations don't affect the file — All manipulations (rotate, flip, crop, Magic Wand) are non-destructive. Your original image file is never modified.
Quick Reference
Grid Rows
16
4–256
Grid Columns
16
4–256
Threshold
Auto-calculated
0–255
Magic Wand Tolerance
32
0–255
Thumbnail Size
100px
60–200px
Copy to Drawdown
Main cloth area
None
Copy to Weft
Liftplan area
Must be in liftplan mode
Copy to Tie-up
Tie-up matrix
None
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