What's new in TraceWorks

Every update is free if you're within your 12 months of updates — see the pricing details. Already own TraceWorks? Re-download the latest version from your original Lemon Squeezy order email, or contact support if you can't find it.

Latest releases

Desktop

2.3.5

October 12, 2026

Print opens the standard print dialog. Choose the printer, number of copies, paper size and print quality on both Mac and Windows. Patterns print at their true size. To make a PDF from the dialog, use its PDF menu on a Mac or choose Microsoft Print to PDF on Windows; Save as PDF is unchanged.
SuperSize Studio 1.2 gets the same print dialog. Tiles print at true size, and landscape tiles turn the paper automatically. Download the new version from your SuperSize Studio order page.
Transparent PNGs open properly. A trace saved with the Transparent background used to open as a black screen; its clear areas are now shown as white.

Web

TraceWorks Web 2.3.6

October 12, 2026

Transparent PNGs open properly. A trace saved with Transparent PNG background used to load as a black image; its clear areas are now shown as white.

Trial

TraceWorks Web Trial 1.3.8

October 12, 2026

Transparent PNGs open properly, the same fix as TraceWorks Web 2.3.6.

Earlier releases

2.3.4 Desktop October 10, 2026

Send to SuperSize Studio works on Windows. TraceWorks now finds SuperSize Studio wherever its installer put it, including the usual per-user location, and opens the pattern in it directly, as it already did on the Mac.
Windows users also need SuperSize Studio 1.1. Earlier Windows versions of SuperSize Studio open but ignore the pattern TraceWorks sends. Download the current installer from your SuperSize Studio order page and install it over the old one.
A clearer message when SuperSize Studio is missing. If it is not installed, TraceWorks now shows where the PNG was saved instead of only a line in the status bar.

2.3.3 Desktop October 6, 2026

Keep the complete scene in Wood Burning. Mountains, grasses and other deliberate scenery are now kept even when they continue outside the main subject. TraceWorks no longer treats those parts of the composition as background clutter just because they sit beyond the subject's outline.
Adjust how dark your extracted burn marks look. The new Burn contrast slider works with Burn marks only (free). Move it toward Stronger for darker marks or Softer for lighter ones; the middle keeps the previous result.
Faint marks and Burn contrast do different jobs. Faint marks decides which light scorch work survives. Burn contrast changes the darkness of the marks that remain. Stronger settings can also bring out more photographed wood grain, so start in the middle and adjust only if the transfer needs it.

2.3.2 Desktop September 28, 2026

Keep the burn marks without making them heavier. In Wood Burning, choose Burn marks only (free). TraceWorks removes the photographed wood while keeping the original range of light and dark scorch work, at the same size and in the same position.
Choose how many faint marks to keep. Fewer is the clean default; Balanced and More keep progressively lighter scorch marks and may also keep more wood grain. It runs on your computer, uses no Gemini generation and does not spend API credit.
Save the marks on a transparent background. Choose Transparent under Save & Print for a PNG you can layer or edit. PDF, Print and SuperSize Studio continue to use a solid background.

TraceWorks Web 2.3.4 Web September 28, 2026

Burn marks now keep their original tone. Choose Burn marks only (free) after creating a Wood Burning image. TraceWorks Web removes the photographed wood without turning the light scorch work into heavy black marks.
Fewer, Balanced and More let you choose how many faint marks to keep. The work happens on your device, so it is instant and uses no Gemini generation or API credit.
A transparent PNG is now available. Leave Transparent PNG background checked to save just the burn marks for layering or editing. PDF, Print and SuperSize Studio continue to use a solid background.

TraceWorks Web Trial 1.3.6 Trial September 28, 2026

Burn marks now keep their original range of tones. The free local option no longer makes light scorch work look heavier than it did on the generated board. Choose Fewer, Balanced or More to control how many faint marks are kept.
This still uses no Gemini generation and no API credit. Trial previews and the one small PNG download remain watermarked; clean and transparent PNG files remain available in the full version.

2.3.1 Desktop September 28, 2026

Lift the burn marks you already have. After you create a Wood Burning image, choose Lift burn marks (free) in Trace to Pattern. TraceWorks copies the scorch work from the finished board onto a same-size white transfer sheet, so it stays aligned instead of being redrawn.
It is instant, local and free. No Gemini call is made and no API credit is used. Start with Light for the cleanest transfer; Balanced and Bold keep progressively fainter marks, but may also keep more of the wood grain.
The two redraw choices are still there. Use Tonal transfer guide when you want AI to reinterpret the shading, or Simple outline when you only want the main boundaries.
Replaced by 2.3.2. This first version could make light scorch work look too heavy. Version 2.3.2 keeps the original range of burn tones instead.

TraceWorks Web 2.3.3 Web September 28, 2026

Wood-burning transfers can now use the burn itself. Choose Lift burn marks (free) after generating a Wood Burning image and TraceWorks Web places those marks on a same-size white sheet without asking AI to draw them again.
Because the work happens on your device, it is instant and uses no generation. Light, Balanced and Bold let you decide how many faint marks to keep. The existing Tonal transfer guide and Simple outline choices remain available when a redraw is more useful.

TraceWorks Web Trial 1.3.5 Trial September 28, 2026

The free trial now includes Lift burn marks. It works locally and does not use one of your generations. The result remains a trial preview: the watermark is drawn into the image and the only download is the small watermarked PNG.
Choose Light, Balanced or Bold, or use either of the existing AI redraw choices when you want a Tonal transfer guide or Simple outline instead.

2.3.0 Desktop September 27, 2026

Wood-burning patterns now keep the tone that helps you burn. Trace to Pattern now starts with a Tonal transfer guide, not a bare outline. It keeps controlled shading and natural dark areas where they define the subject, while leaving highlights and open wood clear.
You decide how that tone is drawn. Choose Light, Balanced or Rich tonal density; Hatching, Stippling or Mixed marks; and Conservative, Natural or Dramatic dark areas. Simple outline is still there when a clean boundary drawing is the better starting point. Your choices are also kept when you save a TraceWorks project.
Quilt Collage controls are easier to read. The Pattern shaping sliders now use the full sidebar width, with the complete value and explanation below each one instead of clipped labels.
Mac tab switching is more reliable. Changing crafts no longer occasionally leaves a blank sidebar, and the user guide now explains what is shared between tabs and what each craft keeps separately.

TraceWorks Web 2.3 Web September 2026

Trace to Pattern for Wood Burning and Stained Glass comes to TraceWorks Web at traceworks.blazingconcepts.co/app. Generate your wood burning or stained glass picture, then click Trace to Pattern to get the line-work version in the Pattern view, with the same line-colour exports as the other crafts. The same page works in the free trial.
Wood Burning now includes the tonal transfer controls. Choose a Tonal transfer guide or Simple outline, then control tonal density, mark style and dark-area strength. Shading stays on the subject, the board stays clean, and useful dark masses are kept without turning the pattern into uncontrolled black blobs.
Portrait and square photos now fit the preview properly. The full imported image stays visible before generation, matching the saved image and Compare view instead of appearing cropped on screen.

TraceWorks Web Trial Trial September 2026

Try it free for seven days. A trial edition of TraceWorks Web at traceworks.blazingconcepts.co/trial: all six crafts with the full controls, in your browser on iPad or any computer. No credit card and no subscription — you verify an email address and the seven days begin. Your first few generations are free, with no Google account or key to set up; after that it uses your own Gemini API key, like the full version.
Previews carry a TraceWorks Trial watermark and the one download is a small watermarked PNG; clean exports, PDF, printing, the collage and rug image saves and SuperSize Studio stay in the full version. Your trial work is saved on your device as you go.
When you're ready for your own Gemini key, the trial has a step-by-step page and the video. Ready to buy? The $47 CAD one-time purchase unlocks TraceWorks Web and the Mac and Windows apps with one key.

2.2.1 Desktop September 2026

Wood Burning: the board stays clean. With Add tonal shading on, the shading now belongs to your subject only. The wood around it stays untouched and any lettering is burned crisp, instead of the whole board coming out scorched and smoky.
Trace to Pattern for Wood Burning draws strokes, not blobs. Scorch tone is treated as tone, so shaded areas no longer turn into solid black regions in the pattern. Fur, feathers, bark and grain come through as short single strokes in the direction of growth — line work a pyrographer can actually follow. If a trace does pick up shading as solid black, those areas are cleared automatically and the status line suggests tracing again.
Update: Mac and Windows installers are on your Lemon Squeezy order page. Check for Updates in the app will tell 2.2.0 users this one is ready.

2.2.0 Desktop September 2026

Save your project, not just your picture. New in the File menu: Save Project, Save Project As and Open Project. A project file (.twproj) keeps the photo, every result you've generated, the full V1/V2/V3… history and every setting on every craft tab. Close TraceWorks, reboot, come back next week — open the project and you're exactly where you left off, on the same tab. The AI never draws the same picture twice; now it never has to.
Autosave and crash recovery. Every 5 minutes (your choice of 2, 5, 10 or 15 in Settings, or off), TraceWorks quietly writes a recovery copy. If the app closes without a normal quit — a crash, a power cut, a forced restart — the next launch asks Restore your last session? and brings back your photo, results and history. Quitting normally now offers to save first.
Line thickness now works properly on generated traces. Preview, Save as PNG, PDF, Print and Trace to Pattern all use the thickness you picked. The default is now 5 px, which gives a clearer, more useful pattern for most photos.
Project files never contain your API key or license, so they're safe to copy to another computer or hand to a friend who also owns TraceWorks.

TraceWorks Web 2.2 Web September 2026

Your work saves itself. TraceWorks Web at traceworks.blazingconcepts.co/app now keeps your photo, every result in every craft and every setting on your device after each change. If Safari drops the tab on your iPad, the session comes straight back on its own; on your next visit, a Restore your last session? bar offers to put everything back. The AI never draws the same picture twice — now a closed tab doesn't cost you a generation.
On by default; Autosave my session on this device in ⚙ Settings turns it off (and clears the saved copy). Your API key and license are never part of the saved session.
The web user guide (in the app) has a new Autosave section.

TraceWorks Web 2.1 Web August 2026

Every craft, now in the browser. TraceWorks Web at traceworks.blazingconcepts.co/app gains Stained Glass, Wood Burning and Puzzle (including the cuttable overlay with its free, exact cutting template) alongside Tracing, Quilt Collage and Rug Hooking — the same six crafts as the desktop app, on your iPad, tablet, Chromebook or any computer, with the same license key.
A front door. The app opens on What are you making today? — pick a craft and go. Your photo and results stay put when you switch crafts.
Colour palettes — six saved sets of twelve colours in ⚙ Settings, the same ones the desktop app uses. Export and import them as a file to keep both in step.
The web app has its own user guide (in the app), and the tracing, quilt and rug generations use the same improved prompts as TraceWorks 2.1. iPad fix: your Gemini key no longer vanishes mid-session in Safari.

2.1.0 Desktop August 2026

Trace over your photo. Every craft's Save & Print card gains a Background option: Colour classic (as always), Transparent lines only (a PNG with see-through background — recolour it, layer it, cut vinyl from it), or Over original photo with a Line strength slider — your pattern printed right on top of the photo, made for overlay tracing.
Quilt Collage got a lot better. Faces and fur now get the full fabric treatment instead of staying photographic — and with two or more pets, every one of them gets it. New “Source is artwork” option: starting from a painting or drawing? It first recreates the artwork as a photo, then collages that — no more brushstrokes sneaking into your fabric.
Collage backgrounds behave. The fabric background now fully replaces the photo's setting (no more surprise benches or scenery), and ⑩ Trace This Collage follows your background choice — a calm or white background no longer comes back with invented patchwork squares. Dark pets trace as clean outlines, not grey fills, and the pattern faithfully matches YOUR collage.
Rug Hooking: fur is finally fur. Fluffy coats are now built from loops that follow the fur's direction — at default settings, no tricks needed. And yarn loop sizes now go finer than the smallest cloth cut (below a #3), for fine-yarn hookers.
Blend Versions improved — versions auto-align before blending (no more ghost outlines when the subject shifted slightly), plus a background-only mode: keep your subject, take the other version's background.
Small fixes: ↩ Use current image now shows the photo on the canvas when you switch crafts, and a mis-pasted API key gives a plain-language message instead of a cryptic error.

2.0.1 Desktop August 2026

TraceWorks 2.0 — one app, every craft. Five craft tabs: Tracing, Quilt Collage, Rug Hooking, Stained Glass and Wood Burning — plus Puzzle, Special Effects and a Settings tab. Rug Hook Studio is now part of TraceWorks 2.0, living on as the Rug Hooking tab with every feature intact. Free upgrade: your TraceWorks or Rug Hook Studio license unlocks it.
🪄 Adjust Photo edits the photo itself before crafting (“remove the rock”, “add a wolf cub”) — the change carries into every craft. ✨ Refine the Result changes one thing and keeps everything else.
Special Effects — Mandala, Kaleidoscope, Seamless tile, Henna, One-line drawing, Celtic knotwork, Papercut, Printmaking, Decorative fill and Border builder, stackable, each with its own controls. Symmetry Lab — exact mirrors, rosettes and pinwheels, computed on your computer, free.
Colour palettes — six saved sets of twelve colours, editable in Settings, enforced in every colour craft. Version history — your 16 most recent results as V1/V2/V3… chips with Undo/Redo, plus Blend Versions: mix any two results with a slider, free.
Puzzle — your photo as a jigsaw in two looks: Photographed (classic), or Cuttable overlay, where Trace to Pattern returns the exact cutting template instantly and free — made for scroll saw, laser and CNC puzzle makers.
Installs alongside TraceWorks 1 and Rug Hook Studio — nothing is replaced, and your existing apps keep working.

1.2.5 Desktop August 2026

Fixes license activation on Mac. A certificate issue could prevent the app from reaching the license server on some Macs (a “network error” or “secure connection” message during activation). Activation now works reliably on every Mac. If you hit this, just download 1.2.5 from your order link and activate again.
User guide updated: Google's current billing model explained — image generation requires billing on your Gemini API key (there is no free tier for image models; new accounts pre-purchase a minimum of US $10 in credits).

1.2.4 Desktop August 2026

More reliable license activation. Activation now retries automatically and allows more time on slow connections. If it still can't connect, the message explains exactly what went wrong (slow connection, network filtering, VPN interference) and how to fix it — instead of a generic “Network error.”

TraceWorks Web 1.0 Web July 2026

TraceWorks now runs in your browser — included free with every license. Open traceworks.blazingconcepts.co/app on your iPad, iPhone, Android tablet, Chromebook, or any computer, enter the same license key from your purchase email, and everything is there: the sliders, Collage Quilt, colours, saving, and printing.
iPad tip: in Safari, tap Share → Add to Home Screen and TraceWorks Web gets its own icon, like a real app.

1.2.3 Desktop July 21, 2026

Regenerate Background Only now follows your Collage instructions text, so you can ask for a specific change (like "replace every square, don't leave any of the current ones") and it will actually be used.
Regenerate Background Only more reliably swaps out the whole background instead of just a few squares.

1.2.2 Desktop July 20, 2026

New: "No dominant subject" option for Collage Quilt — for busy, edge-to-edge photos with no single focal point (like a frame full of overlapping leaves), so every element gets the fabric-collage treatment, not just the largest or most central ones.
New: "Regenerate Background Only" — happy with the collage subject but not the background squares? Re-roll just the background without touching the subject.
The sidebar can now be dragged to scroll, not just the narrow scrollbar handle.
Help → Check for Updates now also checks for a new TraceWorks version, not just the AI model list.
The Windows installer now reliably comes to the front when it opens.

1.2.1 Desktop July 18, 2026

The About window now shows the correct version number.
✨ Enhance instructions is more reliable: it keeps every detail you ask for, in your own words, and no longer invents scene elements that aren't in your notes.
The user guide now has page numbers.

1.2 Desktop July 2026

Wording now says "trace" instead of "hook" throughout — TraceWorks works just as well for embroidery, punch needle, and any craft where you trace a pattern by hand, not rug hooking alone.
Two separate instruction boxes: Trace instructions shapes the photo outline; Collage instructions shapes the Collage Quilt generation.
The sidebar was reorganized to read top-to-bottom in the order you work; your API key moved to its own section at the very top of the sidebar; the cost now shows right above the Generate button.
The license key box now accepts right-click → Paste.
Detail, Simplify, and Line thickness now also shape the Collage Quilt trace step.