Software.

Q: I would like to know if is there any specific software for beadcraft design.

A: I'm a software engineer (still have another year in school), and would be interested in what you would be looking for in a software tool for your use. My wife has recently tried her hand at making jewelry with beads, and now thinks this is what she wants to do with her life. Anyway, you and anyone else out there looking for this type of software, E-mail me with a wish list, and I'll see if I can come up with something if it looks promising. By all means, go for it...but you should know that there are a few programs already on the market. http://www.mcs.net/~simone/beadnet.html has a link that can point you in their direction. Look at 'software' under the 'misc information' section. Just my opinion, of course, but I for one wouldn't use such a program. It's far too easy, using a beading board with curved grooves in it, to simply lay the actual beads out in front of me and see what they look like, and very easy to rearrange them over and over to try different ideas. I frequently design multiple-strand necklaces this way, and have never been disappointed with how the results after stringing compare with the way the beads were laid out on the board. It would take just as long to click the mouse as to move the actual beads. Since in stringing, it is easy to SEE a close approximation of the finished result, there's no need here. Another problem - if you have looked at the software available, you see that most have options for "size 11, size 12, 'Delicas', Czech" etc. There are a manageable number of choices here. Now, look at a catalog from 'Shipwreck' or 'Fire Mountain' and see how many choices there are - how many shapes/colors of beads will be in your "palette"? Any designer will tell you flat oval vs round oval, or pink w/gold vs pink w/black makes a world of difference. I think you are missing the point of beading jewelry...we like fiddling with our beads in the design phase. I know that it probably isn't what you had in mind, but if I was going to try to make software for bead/jewelry makers, I would look into creating business tracking software that would simplify the inventory and profit/loss tracking. That is the place where I find myself trying to minimize the time I spend.