DESKTOP APP · MACOS

From photo
to painting.

PaintByNumbers Studio turns any photo into a printable numbered painting guide: clean vector outlines, A4 tiled at the size you want, and automatic colour match against real acrylic palettes (Maimeri Polycolor, Maimeri Brera, Acrilico 200ml, your own palette...).

Tired of the same old kit subjects? Make your own custom paint by numbers from any photo: the subject you want, at the size you want, even life-size.

Buy licence — $4.99 Download free demo

Try it free before you buy · One-time · No subscription · Works offline · 1 Mac per licence

PaintByNumbers Studio

USE CASE

... even a life-size portrait,
printed on your home A4 printer.

PBN Studio splits the drawing into A4 sheets with registration marks and overlap guides. Print, tape together, trace onto canvas. Works for a 30 cm sketch and for full 1:1 human figures alike.

WHO'S BEHIND IT

A fellow hobbyist.

PaintByNumbers Studio started because I needed it. I paint acrylics on canvas in my spare time, and I built my own tools to go from photo to canvas without losing my mind. Once they actually worked, I made them available to anyone who shares the hobby.

Mysticman Productions it's simply the label under which I group my independent projects: I'm behind it, between programming and painting. It's not an "industrial" product; it's an independent project born from a personal passion and improved over time by those who actually use it. I still use it every time I want to transform a photo into a painting project.

Key features

Everything you need to go from photo to canvas. Nothing else.

01

Vector outline extraction

Three modes (outline / edges / combined) with controls over threshold, blur, Canny and Potrace. Live preview as you tweak.

02

A4 tiling at the size you want

Set the subject height in cm (or inches), the app computes the A4 grid or the format you prefer. Registration marks and overlap guides built in.

03

Real-acrylic palette match

K-means quantization in LAB space, matched against real tubes from Maimeri Polycolor (25), Maimeri Acrilico 200ml (98) or a generic palette with the colors you have available.

04

Palette editor + eyedropper

Build your own palette, sample colors directly from photos on your screen, save and reload across sessions.

05

Reference grid

Optional grid overlay (mm or inch) for classic cell-by-cell transfer onto canvas. Tone and colour adjustable.

06

Multi-page PDF export

Print-ready PDF with legend, region numbers and colour preview. Also SVG for editing in Illustrator/Inkscape.

How it works

1

Load the photo

PNG, JPG, BMP, TIFF, WebP. If necessary, crop the subject.

2

Tune the outlines

Real-time sliders balance how much detail to keep and how much noise to discard.

3

Set the subject size

From a 30 cm sketch to a 1:1 portrait — The app automatically calculates the number of A4 sheets (or whatever you decide)

4

If need extract colours

Number of tints, minimum region area, target palette.

5

Export the PDF

Print, tape, trace, paint.

System requirements

macOS build. (On Windows? There's a Windows 10/11 version, sold separately.)

Operating system

macOS 11 Big Sur or later

Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3/M4) or Intel 64-bit. Universal bundle.

Memory (RAM)

4 GB minimum · 8 GB recommended

8 GB if you work with high-resolution photos or life-size paintings.

Disk space

~500 MB

App + bundled libraries. Your files stay wherever you put them.

Display

1280 × 800 or higher

Retina and 4K/5K screens fully supported.

Printer

A4 (any model)

Inkjet or laser. A4 tiling is designed for home printers.

Internet

For activation only

One licence check roughly every 14 days. Between checks, 100% offline.

First time opening the demo

Three extra clicks, just once.

The app is signed but not Apple-notarized (the developer programme costs $99/year and for a hobby project I'd rather skip it). The first time you open it, macOS asks for confirmation. That's normal — it happens once.

  1. Open the downloaded .dmg and drag PaintByNumbers Studio into the Applications folder.
  2. In Applications, right-click the app icon → Open.
  3. In the "Developer cannot be verified" popup, click Open again.
  4. From there on the app starts normally with a double-click.

If you see "App is damaged and can't be opened", open Terminal and run: xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine "/Applications/PaintByNumbers Studio.app"

Free vs. paid

Try it for free with all the core features. PDF export and professional palettes unlock with a one-time licence.

DEMO

Free

$0

Forever

  • ✓ Vector outline extraction
  • ✓ A4 tiling and on-screen preview
  • ✓ PDF preview
  • ✓ Generic palette (30 colours)
  • ✓ In-session custom palette
  • — No PDF export
  • — No brand palettes (Maimeri)
  • — No palette saving to disk
Download demo

FULL

Pro

$4.99

One-time · No subscription

  • ✓ Everything in Free
  • ✓ Multi-page PDF export
  • ✓ Maimeri brand palettes (Polycolor + Acrilico 200ml)
  • ✓ Palette save/load
  • ✓ Import/export palette JSON
  • ✓ Future updates included
Buy now — $4.99

Payment handled by Creem.io (merchant of record). The licence is valid for 1 Mac. You can move it to another Mac at any time from inside the app.

By purchasing downloadable digital content you consent to immediate performance and waive the 14-day right of withdrawal (Art. 16(m) Dir. 2011/83/EU). Software provided "as is"; see the Licence Terms.

FAQ

Which systems does it run on?

This is the macOS build (Intel + Apple Silicon). There's also a Windows 10/11 version, sold separately with its own licence.

Do I need internet?

Only for the initial activation and a licence check roughly every 14 days. Between checks it runs 100% offline. Your photos never leave your Mac.

Can I move my licence to another Mac?

Yes. In the app, click "Activate license…" → "Deactivate this machine". The slot is freed and you can use the same key on the new Mac.

How many A4 sheets for a large painting?

Depends on the subject height. A 60 cm portrait fits in ~6 sheets; a life-size 170 cm portrait takes ~24-30 sheets depending on aspect. The app computes it in real time.