Abstract: Methods and apparatus for generating mosaics from a given image. The method and apparatus comprise scanning the image into a computerized form, optionally marking guidelines on the image, and generating a mosaic description from the image. The mosaic description comprises tiles placed along the guidelines in directions tangent to the guidelines. A user can edit and make changes to the mosaic description. The mosaic description is optionally split to sheets, and transferred to a placing machine, preferably pick and place machine such as an SMT machine for generating a mosaic from the mosaic description.