Addison Kopplin

String Art Maker

Turn a photo into string art: a single thread wound between nails around a circle. This tool computes the order in which to wind the thread, shows the result, and prints a nail template and the winding sequence.

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Photo

Drop a photo here

Drag the photo to position it inside the circle. Faces work best when they fill most of the circle.

Settings

The number of nails around the circle. More nails give finer detail.

The number of straight thread segments between nails.

How much each line darkens the image. Use a higher value for thick or dark thread.

Result

Choose a photo or use the sample photo, then select Make string art.

Build guide

The build guide has a nail template and the winding sequence. The template shows every nail position with its number at the diameter you choose.

The guide is available once the string art is finished.

How it works

Nails are spaced evenly around a circle placed over the photo. The thread starts at nail 0. At each step, the program tests a straight line from the current nail to every other nail. It picks the line that crosses the darkest part of the photo, lightens those pixels in its working copy of the photo, and moves to the chosen nail. It repeats this for the chosen number of lines.

Nails are numbered from 0, counter-clockwise, starting at the 3 o’clock position. Lines between nails that are close together are skipped, so the thread does not run along the edge of the circle.

Source code: github.com/addisonkopplin/string_art