Advanced auto-digitize
Use Advanced auto-digitize when a picture needs to be redrawn before it can be stitched: as pixel art, as single-line redwork, or as flat color shapes. New in v1.3.0, these three methods run on Boldbobbin's servers rather than on your computer, so they need an account, a connection, and credits. The credits pay for the result, so you can export it without Pro (see Pro and advanced auto-digitize for the one exception).
| Method | What you get | Where it goes next |
|---|---|---|
| Pixel art | A picture redrawn as a low-resolution pixel grid | Straight into your design as a sprite, with the pixel editor open on it |
| Line art & Redwork | A picture redrawn as single-line outlines | A review step where you size it and route it into as few thread stops as possible |
| Vector stylization | A picture redrawn as flat color shapes | Auto-Trace, opened on its trace step |
For the methods that run on your own computer (Photostitch, Cross-stitch, and Auto-Trace), see Auto-digitize a photo.
- For a cross-stitch patch, pick Pixel art (60 credits at the time of writing) at the Small size.
- For a redwork tea towel, pick Line art & Redwork (100 credits). You then size and route the drawing for free, as often as you like.
- For a bold patch, pick Vector stylization (100 credits) with Bold outlines. It opens in Auto-Trace to become fills.
If a job fails, its credits come back automatically.
Two entry points, not one chooser
Auto-digitize and Advanced auto-digitize are separate entries in the tool rail's Automation group, in File → Import, and in the canvas right-click menu.
- Auto-digitize holds Photostitch, Cross-stitch, and Auto-Trace. Its own heading says it: "Everything here runs on this device, and your images never leave it."
- Advanced auto-digitize holds the three methods above. Its heading says they run on servers and therefore cost credits.
So you decide whether a picture leaves your computer before you pick a method, not in a notice you meet after you have already chosen.
An advanced method uploads your picture to Boldbobbin's servers to be processed. Before it leaves your machine, Boldbobbin resizes it, applies the rotation your camera recorded, and removes its metadata, location included. The preview in the panel is the prepared picture, with the size it is sent at, so what is shown is what is sent.
The Boldbobbin privacy policy names the third parties involved and describes how long anything is kept.
Credits
Advanced methods are paid for in credits, not by your plan. The chooser shows your balance above the cards, and every card shows what that method costs.
- The price on the card is the current price. At the time of writing, Pixel art is 60 credits and the other two are 100 each.
- The button says the price: "Digitize for 60 credits".
- A failed or cancelled job is refunded automatically, and the panel says so when it happens. You are never charged for a result you did not get.
- Nothing is charged until the picture has uploaded and the job has been accepted. If the upload fails, nothing was made and nothing was spent.
Buying credits
Buy credits in the chooser opens boldbobbin.com/dashboard/credits in your browser, which carries your balance, your history, and the credit packs. This is a different place from the Pro pricing page: credits and a subscription are separate purchases, and a subscription is not a way to buy credits.
Your balance also appears in the account menu, under your plan.
Earning credits with the survey
From v1.3.1, the home screen may show a card, Help shape Boldbobbin: six quick questions, about a minute, and the card names the credits you get for answering. It never pops up and never appears in the editor. See the FAQ for when it shows and what happens to the answers.
Pay with
If your plan comes from an organization's seat (Business or Max), the job spends that organization's pool by default, and a Pay with choice lets you spend your own personal credits instead. With only one pool to pay from there is nothing to choose and the control does not appear.
As of v1.3.1, Pay with sits on the chooser's balance banner as well as on each method's last step, and the banner leads with the pool that will pay. What you pick there carries into the panel and into the next ones, for as long as the app stays open. Reloading the page, restarting the app, or signing in as someone else starts again from your plan's pool.
For example, a shop owner on a Business seat who wants a personal project kept off the shop's pool picks their own credits under Pay with once, and every job that session is paid from them.
See Plans and credits.
If it will not start
| What you see | What it means |
|---|---|
| "You do not have enough credits for this" | Buy a pack. The message names how many you are short. |
| A spend cap message | Your organization's administrator set a monthly limit for members. Buying a pack does not help; ask the administrator. |
| "This organization's subscription has ended, so its credits are paused" | The credits are safe, not lost. An administrator restores the subscription and they come back. Credits cannot be added to that pool meanwhile. |
| "Your balance is unavailable right now" | Boldbobbin could not read your balance. Digitizing is still offered: whether you can pay is checked when you start. |
| "Sign in to see your credit balance", and Sign in to use on each card | You are signed out. The cards stay visible so you can see what each method costs, but they cannot be clicked until you sign in. (Before v1.3.1 they read "Unavailable", and could flicker.) |
| "This photo is too large" | Export the picture smaller and try again. |
The balance on screen is for information, not a gate: the button stays clickable even when the number reads low or cannot be read. Whether you can pay is checked when the job starts, and if you can't, you are told and nothing is charged.
While it runs
Digitizing happens on a server, so the panel reports the job's state rather than a progress bar you can rely on:
- Queued: accepted, waiting to start.
- Waiting for a machine: your job is waiting for a server to be free. An elapsed counter runs, and the panel warns that "The first run in a while has to warm one up, which can take a few minutes." This is its own state, not a bar sitting at zero.
- Digitizing: Pixel art shows a real percentage here. Line art and Vector stylization cannot report progress, so they show a working indicator.
Closing the panel does not cancel the job. It finishes (or is refunded) while you are away, and you find it in Previous digitizations next time.
Previous digitizations
Previous digitizations in the Advanced chooser lists everything you have made this way, newest first, kept for as long as your account is. Each finished row shows a preview, plus:
- Open: brings the result into the current design. Pixel art lands as a sprite. Line art opens its review so you can choose the size again, since the size is what decides the routing. Vector stylization opens Auto-Trace on its trace step.
- Download: saves the artwork as a file and changes nothing in your design. Pixel art saves a PNG of the grid, each pixel drawn as a 4 x 4 square; Vector stylization saves its PNG; and Line art saves its SVG.
As of v1.3.2 the list holds results only, plus anything still running: a job that failed or was cancelled is no longer listed (it was refunded, and there is nothing to open). A result made by a newer version of Boldbobbin than the one you are running is marked Needs a newer version rather than failing on a click.
Opening a row does not take over the window the way the panel does, so you can open several results to compare them.
Pro and advanced auto-digitize
Exporting a design made with an advanced method does not need Pro. The credits were the payment, so the result is yours to export and publish.
There is one boundary, on Pixel art: the sprite exports free, as cross-stitch or mini-satin, for as long as its pixels are the ones you paid for. Repaint or erase cells, or change the grid's size, and it is gated like a sprite you painted yourself. Undo the edit and it is free again; changing a thread's color does not count as an edit. See Turn a picture into pixel art.
This is the one place where advanced and local auto-digitize differ: exporting a design that contains Photostitch, Cross-stitch, or Auto-Trace output does need Pro. See Plans and what they include.
Opening a result from boldbobbin.com
When you digitize on the Boldbobbin website, its Modify in Boldbobbin button opens the result in the web app, in a new tab. New in v1.3.1.
- Signed out, the app asks you to sign in first: "Sign in to open the design you made on boldbobbin.com." The result waits in that tab until you do.
- Signed in, it opens on a fresh design (your current one is left alone if it has edits) and lands exactly as it would from Previous digitizations: Pixel art as a sprite with the pixel editor open, Line art on its review, Vector stylization in Auto-Trace.
- The result belongs to the account that made it. Signed in as someone else, the app says it is not in this account.
Nothing is charged again: opening a result never starts a new job. The design is saved to your cloud designs like any other web design, once you make the first change (placing the sprite, or confirming the review or the trace).
Desktop and web
All three methods work the same on the desktop app and at app.boldbobbin.com. Both need you to be signed in and online, and the panel says so instead of offering a form you cannot complete.