Question 1

How do I use the advanced and edit tabs of Puzzle Maker Nonogram

Accepted Answer

This tutorial shows how to use the advanced and edit tabs of Puzzle Maker Nonogram Complete.

This tutorial applies to:

Puzzle Maker Nonogram Complete.

(The advanced and edit tabs are not available in Puzzle Maker Nonogram Standard.)

Introduction

In the getting started tutorial, we discussed easy ways to quickly make a nonogram puzzle. In this tutorial, we'll be looking into how to edit your nonogram to make it fit your requirements.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/uLKz4TkItx/Nonogram%20Basic%20result.jpg (Nonogram Basic result)

Where we left off last time

Advanced Options

For this tutorial we're using the same reference as before, but you're free to pick another image if you want. The first thing we can do is go to the Advanced Tab.

Here you'll see multiple options.

First of all, you can manually change the amount of rows and columns (cols) for the puzzle.

Below that, is a checkbox for small squares. This is great if you have large nonograms, so they can still fit on a page without you having to resize.

There's also the option for fixed dimensions. Let's select this option. This option will force the amount of rows and columns you have selected earlier. For this example, we have it at 30 rows, and 30 columns. We can also change this option for a bigger or smaller puzzle. Say you have a rectangular image, then maybe you want to change it to 30 by 40.

Below the fixed dimensions checkbox is also the choice for the image position. If you select center, additional empty rows will be created. If you select stretch, the image will get stretched so it fills in the puzzle properly. Below you can see the results for both options.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/O8I7lrQYpa/Stretch%20vs%20center.jpg (Stretch vs center)

This can lead to some very funny results if you force a square puzzle into a rectangular box, or the other way around. An example below.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/SpzFZD9YnS/Stretched%20out%20puppy.jpg (Stretched out puppy)

Since this isn't the result we want, no matter how funny it can be, let's reset to 30 by 30, and stretched position.

Edit Options

Time to go to the Edit tab to see what we can do for our puppy here.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/arx1aJWoiu/edit%20screen.jpg (Edit Options)

Right now, we can't do much. But once we select "Edit Mode", a world of possibilities opens up.

First, we can add rows and columns on basically every side of the puzzle. These rows and columns will be blank when we add them, and if you select "remove padding", all empty rows will be removed. It basically does the same as the "remove padding" on the left of the screen.

So why is it important that we can add and remove rows?

Because another possibility opened up when we selected Edit Mode.

We can now click on squares to add them to the puzzle, or remove them, to further finetune the result.

Try it yourself. Click on a square that is black, and it'll become white. The numbers in the rows and columns will also automatically be changed.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/fEXYqr4y78/Nonogram%20creating%20a%20puzzle%20from%20scratch.jpg (Nonogram creating a puzzle from scratch)

In the example above we opened a blank screen (essentially, we loaded a picture that had nothing on it), and manually clicked some tiles on to create a very rudimentary flower.

Now, Puzzle Maker Nonogram has no click and drag option to mass select squares, so it's probably best for your sanity if you work from a png, and don't try to create a massive nonogram by hand.

But this means we can finetune our nonogram more, to make it perfect for our purposes. One thing that is very unsatisfying about the nonogram we've been working with so far is the eyes. They aren't symmetrical and stand out a lot. So let's fix that first, and maybe change a few other small details too.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/lmlQ5IZqN7/Nonogram%20final%20doggy.jpg (Nonogram final doggy)

And there's the final appearance for our doggy. If we save the puzzle, both the puzzle and the solution get saved in the map we have selected.

Color Settings

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/Yrs6RV7i10/31%20Mazes%202D%20-%20Transparent%20Canvas.png (31 Mazes 2D - Transparent Canvas.png)

Canvas

The canvas is the background of the image, on which the maze will be drawn. For square or rectangular mazes this won't be visible. For other shape types, and with (future) add-ons like the Masks and the Crossings, it will have a major impact on your maze.

To create a Transparent canvas, as shown in the screenshot, you will need to select Transparent PNG is the file type (Output Settings --> Puzzle Files --> Puzzle Output Format). Otherwise the transparent background will be shown as black.

Floors

The floors, the contents of each cell in the maze, can be any color, or you can make them transparent. In which case the canvas color will be shown instead.

There is no limit to color combinations you can use. An example is the screenshot below, using black for the floors and white for the walls:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/0fOczbSr6x/32%20Mazes%202D%20-%20Reverse%20Colors.png (32 Mazes 2D - Reverse Colors.png)

Walls and Solution Path

The colors for the Walls and the Solution Path can also be set to any color. Depending on the colors you use, you may need to adjust the Wall Thickness or Solution Line Thickness on the Style tab.

Start / End Point Settings

In Puzzle Maker Pro - Geometric Mazes you can fully customize the Start and End point indicators. By default these will be printed as Text ("S" for Start, "E" for End) in black, using the Arial Font style. You can change the font by clicking the font preview panel (which shows "Arial" in the screenshot below, or by clicking the small looking glass on top of the panel).

Outside Passage Open

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/TYNEdjuza9/33%20Mazes%202D%20-%20Start%20End%20Points.png (33 Mazes 2D - Start End Points.png)

You can set the "Outside Passage Open" to enable make it possible to actually enter and leave the maze.

Using Images

You can also use images instead of text, to indicate the Start and End points for the maze.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/vcbdxwYKcP/34%20Mazes%202D%20-%20Start%20End%20Images.png (34 Mazes 2D - Start End Images.png)

First click the option "Images". This will display the two white panels where you can select the images you want to use. You can either click each panel and select an image (on your computer), or drag and drop an image onto the panel. (You can also drag and drop two images at once, dropping them on the left panel).

You can use images for any shape type, here's an example of a hexagons maze with the same images:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/nJc1FBSaeB/35%20Mazes%202D%20-%20Hex%20Start%20End%20Images.png (35 Mazes 2D - Hex Start End Images.png)

Controlling the type of path

In addition to the maze generator algorithm, you can also choose how you want the path to run through the maze, by setting the start and end points. By default it runs from top left to bottom right, or in the case of circles, from top to bottom.

Random Path

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/r8Le03N96R/11%20Mazes%202D%20-%20Solution%20Path%20Style%20Random.png (11 Mazes 2D - Solution Path Style Random.png)

The "Random" Path option will randomly set the start and end points at opposite sides of the maze, as can be seen in the screenshot.

Longest Path

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/1mUrVzte4o/12%20Mazes%202D%20-%20Longest%20Path.png (12 Mazes 2D - Longest Path.png)

The "Longest Path" option will look over the generated maze, and find two points that have the longest distance to each other (the highest number of intermediate cells to pass), and choose them as start and end points. In most cases the start and end points will be somewhere in the middle of the maze.

Passage Settings

By default the passages are fully open. However, you can change that. Use the slider to set the passage to a percentage of the cell size. (A percentage instead of a fixed number of pixels will preserve settings when you use a different image size or resolution).

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/kI3Ss9XXLE/21%20Mazes%202D%20-%20Passage%20Width.png (21 Mazes 2D - Passage Width.png)

By setting the Passage Width to approx 50% you get a different type of maze, it will seem to be more complex, even though it has the same number of cells as the first screenshot on this page.

Using very small values for Passage Width may interfere with the Wall Thickness and Colors settings - in some cases the passage will be drawn as closed because the walls are too thick. Always check the results of your settings visually before creating a large number of mazes.

Randomize Passage Position

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/B9kHdIV5Ca/22%20Mazes%202D%20-%20Randomize%20Passage%20Position.png (22 Mazes 2D - Randomize Passage Position.png)

As you can see in the screenshot, randomizing the passage position will move it slightly to the left or right, creating a more complex maze. This option will have no effect when the passages are fully open.

Randomize Passage Width and Position

Randomizing the Passage Width will randomly add or subtract up to 50% of the Passage Width, creating a more chaotic maze.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/gIo9ImI8LV/23%20Mazes%202D%20-%20Randomize%20Passage%20Width%20and%20Position.png (23 Mazes 2D - Randomize Passage Width and Position.png)

In the screenshot we've randomized both the Width and the Position, you can also randomize either of them separately.

Wall Settings

The Wall Thickness has a huge impact on the look and feel of a maze, even without changing the colors.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/0wAIJpwJCd/24%20Mazes%202D%20-%20Wall%20Thickness.png (24 Mazes 2D - Wall Thickness.png)

Just like the Passage Width, the Wall Thickness is also set as a percentage of the cell size.

Randomize Wall Thickness

You can randomize the Wall Thickness, this add or subtract up to 50% of the Wall Thickness. This will make it look quite chaotic.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/CWMYcjulwL/25%20Mazes%202D%20-%20Random%20Wall%20Thickness.png (25 Mazes 2D - Random Wall Thickness.png)

The randomization will be done on a cell by cell basis. This means that all walls of a cell will have the same weight (thickness), unless a neighboring cell has even thicker walls. You can see in the screenshot that this results in an organic look and feel of the maze.

If you use a low value for the Wall Thickness, combined with randomization, the result may look a bit like a hand-drawn maze.

Solution Line Settings

The Solution Line is the line through the maze that connects the Start and End points.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/P43YQOdQ6J/26%20Mazes%202D%20-%20Solution%20Line.png (26 Mazes 2D - Solution Line.png)

First of all, you can change the width (weight, thickness), again as a percentage of the average cell size.

Curved Solution Path

If you don't like the more angular style of the default solution line, you can change it to Curved:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/xCmQ9kZMIl/27%20Mazes%20-%20Solution%20Line%20Curved.png (27 Mazes - Solution Line Curved.png)

Curved solution paths look more smooth and natural, the way someone would manually draw the path in a maze.

Dashed Solution Path

Finally you can change the continuous line into a dashed (dotted) path:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/xifqUhEviK/28%20Mazes%202D%20-%20Solution%20Line%20Curved%20Dotted.png (28 Mazes 2D - Solution Line Curved Dotted.png)

This will make it look more like footsteps or breadcrumbs in your maze.

Warning

Especially at more extreme settings (small passage width, large wall thickness, large solution line thickness, and randomization) you'll have to really visually check if the mazes look good, using the colors you selected. There are many customization options allowing you to create beautiful mazes, but they will also allow you to create mazes that are less esthetically pleasing.

Question 5

How do I use the Sudoku Time-Saver

Accepted Answer

Welcome to the short tutorial on how to use the Time Saver Module for Puzzle Maker Pro - Sudoku.

Beware that this module only works as an add-on to the normal Sudokus, so you need to own at least one other sudoku module to actually use the time-saver.

Now, when you first see this module in the store, you may think to yourself "but why would I want that?". Well, the time-saver does exactly what it says on the box. It saves you time. A lot of time, if you know how to use it.

Normally, Puzzle Maker Pro generates one puzzle at a time. And no matter how easy it is to use, it still takes time to keep pressing that generate button and adjust your settings depending on how many puzzles you want of each difficulty. That's what the time-saver is for. It does that for you, so you can generate an entire puzzle book by simply pressing a button.

Well, you do have to set it up first. So let's get started with the Time Saver.

Getting Started

First off, let's find ourselves that Time Saver tab.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/PEaQMF9FRO/Getting%20started%20with%20the%20time%20saver.jpg (Getting started with the time saver (1).jpg)

After you click on the time-saver tab, you'll see the above screen. Let's quickly go through it.

First, there is the option to use the Time Saver to generate puzzles. if you want to use the Time Saver, you should have this selected.

Then, there's presets. Let's assume you have no presets set up. If it's your first time using Time Saver, you won't have any presets, and even if you have used it before, you may want something different.

Below that are the puzzle settings. This is where you'll be doing most of your work in the Time Saver module. And we'll go in-depth on how this works later.

To the right are the difficulty settings. What do those do? Well, if you want to call your difficulties something different, you can adjust that here. You can see that the level 1-7 are currently named what we call them, but if you want to change it to 1-7 stars, that's possible.

So let's get started.

Adding Puzzles to generate

First things first, in order for the Time Saver to generate puzzles, it needs to know what it needs to generate. So let's add some puzzles.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/yoC9U4BgVm/Time%20Saver%20puzzles%20added.jpg (Time Saver puzzles added)

So as you can see, I've added some puzzles. I've set the "Quantity" to 20, and selected some puzzles and variations.

Immediately you see in the table what it'll generate. Because I've set the Quantity to 20, it'll generate 20 of each difficulty level for each of the puzzles I selected.

An exception is made for the 4x4 sudokus, because those can only be generated up to difficulty level 3.

Now, that's a large amount of sudokus it's generating, and perhaps you don't quite want that. Or you want to fine-tune a bit more. So let's do that. Simply click on the square you want to change, and change the number.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/EwEY9l4RKB/Time%20Saver%20customised%20amounts.jpg (Time Saver customised amounts (1).jpg)

You can see that I've changed some settings now.

So in theory, this would be good enough to export, and a ton of puzzles would appear now.

But, we can do one more thing before we generate all of this.

See, on the bottom right is the "Show Layout Options" button. We haven't discussed this one yet.

So let's click that, and see what we can change.

Things are getting interesting now. If you click the "Edit Layout" button that now appears just above the table of puzzles, you can do something very fun.

You can set multiple puzzles to a singular page.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/VDUPnRhcEt/Time%20Saver%20Layout%20Setup.jpg (Time Saver Layout Setup)

As you can see, I've manually set the amount of puzzles that can go on one page to 12. 4 rows, 3 columns.

This won't work with all puzzles, and it won't look good with all puzzles. especially if you have the larger puzzles, such as the multidokus or the 25x25, you'd really want fewer sudokus on a page.

But if you have only 4x4 sudokus? Well, it would be a waste of space if you didn't add a few more sudokus to a page. If you add the Collate option, you can set up 2 layouts, one for the puzzles, and one for the solutions.

It's probably a better idea to keep those two the same for now. But if you've ever looked through puzzle books, you can see that the solutions in the back tend to have smaller solutions, so more fit on a page, and only the last few pages are solutions, instead of the latter half of the puzzle book.

You can also set up a new page for every time you move to a new section, so puzzles and solutions don't end up on the same page.

Well, with that being said, let's click "Create (TS)" in the bottom left, and have Puzzle Maker Pro generate all of this for us.

A small popup should appear showing it's done generating, and in your files you now find all of your puzzles.

Basics

To use the Time Saver for JigSaw, you need to select the "Time Saver" tab, and then check the box "Use Time Saver to generate Puzzles" at the top.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/nQFCAF35W4/Jigsaw%20040%20-%20Time%20Saver%20Overview.png (Jigsaw 040 - Time Saver Overview.png)

There are two ways to use this Time Saver, which can be combined:

Using Images (the "Fast" mode)
Using (JigSaw) Presets

In addition to the "Use Time Saver" option, you'll need to check the options you want to use, e.g. the "Use Time Saver - Fast" option in the screenshot.

Using Images

In the Fast Mode you can just select a number of images and adjust some of the settings for each image. (All the other settings will be copied from the 'Puzzle Settings' tab.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/XL3HqEShIN/Jigsaw%20041%20-%20Time%20Saver%20Fast%20Mode.png (Jigsaw 041 - Time Saver Fast Mode.png)

Add Images

At the bottom of the window ([1] in the screenshot), you can see a button "Add Images". This will allow you to select a number of images on your computer, that will be used for puzzles. These images will be added to the table.

Using the "Delete Rows" button you can remove rows that you have selected (by clicking on them), "Delete All" will remove all the rows from this table.

Set default values

You can set a couple of default values ([2] in the screenshot) for each set of images you import, such as the puzzle type, the number of rows and columns, "Perfect", and the connector type. This will allow you to very quickly create a list of puzzles to create.

Editing the table

For each image you can edit the settings in the table.

Once you're done, click "Create" to create your puzzles and/or puzzle book.

Note: "Next Preview" and "Save Preview" have no use for the Time Saver.

Using Presets

The other option for the Time Saver is using Presets. These are presets you have created for JigSaw.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/EDacC7DyTl/Jigsaw%20042%20-%20Puzzle%20Presets.png (Jigsaw 042 - Puzzle Presets.png)

In the Time Saver you can see all the presets you have created, and select the ones you want to use to create puzzles (for your puzzle book). Everytime you use a preset, it will create a new randomized puzzle, based on the preset settings.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/Zm6scty1QK/Jigsaw%20043%20-%20Time%20Saver%20with%20Presets.png (Jigsaw 043 - Time Saver with Presets.png)

Grading and Difficulty Levels

There are several different Sudoku puzzle variations available in Puzzle Maker Pro:

Our Wordoku puzzles are graded with the same rules:

One of the important things when solving, publishing and creating sudoku puzzles, is to set the difficulty level. In other words: Grading the puzzle.

When you look at sudoku puzzles from different sources, such as magazines or puzzle books from mainstream or independent publishers, websites, or apps, you'll find that a 3 star or medium sudoku puzzle does not always have the same characteristics.

You may notice that sometimes you can easily solve a 6 star (very tough) sudoku puzzle, while you might get stuck at a 3 or 4 star puzzle in another puzzle book, or even in the same puzzle book.

2022 Changes

In earlier versions of Puzzle Maker Pro, we've used various websites to 'calibrate' our sudoku algorithms. At the start of 2022 we've released an update of Puzzle Maker Pro that has a brand new sudoku generation engine.

To help you, as a puzzle (book) publisher, we disclose the rules by which our sudoku puzzles are graded. We've determined these rules by examining puzzles from various sources, and we've tried to set up a balanced grading approach, that can also be logically explained.

Sudoku 9x9 Grading

First of all: Sudoku is a logic puzzle, not a math puzzle. Sudoku grading is based on the logical operations that are required to solve the puzzle.

Note: Some vendors use the number of clues (a.k.a. the number of digits in the puzzle when you start solving it) to grade the puzzle. Please be aware that this is very wrong: There are sudoku puzzles with only 17 clues that would be graded as Easy by all sophisticated grading systems.

Logical Operations

Although this article is not a Sudoku tutorial, if you want to understand difficulty levels, you'll need to understand the types of logical operations that can be used:

Naked Single: Only one number is possible in a given cell (square), all other numbers have been eliminated
Hidden Single: Even though there are several numbers in a given cell, that cell is the only location (in a row, column or box) where the number can be placed
Naked Pair, Naked Triple, Naked Quad: 2, 3, or 4 numbers that are the only possibilities for 2, 3 or 4 cells
Hidden Pair, Hidden Triple, Hidden Quad: Just like the Hidden Single, there are other numbers in the 2, 3 or 4 cells, but the 2, 3 or 4 numbers that form the Pair, Triple or Quad, can only be placed in these cells and not elsewhere.

In general, for Sudokus up to 5 star level (which is called very hard, in Puzzle Maker Pro), you can find Naked Singles, Hidden Singles, Naked Pairs, Naked Triples and Hidden Pairs.

Other operations can found on several websites and in sudoku books, such as X-Wing, Y-Wing, (Simple) Coloring, Tracing, Overlay Reduction (also called Pointing Pair / Line Box Reduction), etc etc. These operations can be needed for 6 * and up.

Difficulty Levels

Level 1: Only a 'few' Naked Singles and Removing Options (if a '7' is already present in a row, column or box, you can remove it from each cell in that row, column or box)
Level 2: Many Naked Singles
Level 3: Level 2 plus a few Hidden Singles
Level 4: Level 3 plus many Hidden Singles and possibly a Naked Pair or Naked Triple
Level 5: Level 4 plus more Hidden Singles and several Naked Pairs or Naked Triples
Level 6: Level 5 plus more Naked Pairs / Triples and possibly a 'Very Hard' technique (e.g. Hidden Triple or Overlay Reduction)
Level 7: Level 6 plus more 'Very Hard' techiques and possibly a 'Tough' technique (e.g. X-Wing, Coloring)

Is this a big change compared to the old sudoku puzzles?

No, but as part of the new (2022) sudoku 'engine', I decided to make the grading rules more explicit and to offer transparency about them.

Grading of other Sudoku Variations

For regular 9x9 Sudoku puzzles, there are quite a few websites and apps that can be used to solve and/or grade the puzzles. For other formats, ranging from 4x4 to 25x25 sudokus, and for the variations such as Twins, Triathlon, Marathon, Samurai and 3D sudoku, there is no such thing. (And, as far as I know, nobody else is transparent about their grading system. If there's any standard to be found anywhere, I'll be happy to use that for Puzzle Maker Pro)

The approach that's used in Puzzle Maker Pro is easy to use, but there are some caveats, which I'll explain after describing the main approach.

Main Approach

A 9x9 sudoku has 81 squares, while a 10x10 sudoku has 100 squares and a 16x16 sudoku has 256 squares. Sudoku variations have more squares as well. For example, a Triathlon sudoku has 189 squares and a Samurai sudoku has 360 squares.

The approach chosen for Puzzle Maker Pro is to scale the difficulty level thresholds proportionally: When a 9x9 sudoku needs 7 hidden singles to be considered Level 3, a 10x10 sudoku would need 9 or 10, a 16x16 sudoku would need 22 and a Samurai Sudoku would need 32 hidden singles to be Level 3.

Small Sudokus 4x4 and 6x6

For the smaller sudokus, there are fewer difficulty levels, since certain options (quads) cannot occur, and even in Hard 6x6 sudokus, triples will be very rare.

Caveat

However, the occurence these patterns, such as naked or hidden triples or quads, does not increase proportionally, at least not linearly, but faster than that.

For example, when you have a 9x9 sudoku, where in a given row, 5 clues are given. In that case there are 4 squares empty, which 4 possible numbers for these squares. The chances that there is a (naked or hidden) triple or quad are very small. But if you compare this to a 25x25 sudoku, where 5/9 or around 60% of the clues are given, the result is very different. You'd have 15 clues and 10 empty squares. The odds of having triples or quads are still small, but a lot bigger than for a 9x9 sudoku.

Currently, Puzzle Maker Pro does not compensate for this additional complexity.

Like the older version, the difficulty levels 3 and 4 will be reasonably easy to solve, level 5 will be comparable to regular 9x9 level 5 difficulty, but levels 6 and 7 can be relatively much harder to solve. Of course this all depends on the actual puzzle format and variation.

Question 9

How to add background images to my puzzles in Puzzle Maker Pro?

Accepted Answer

This tutorial describes how to add background images to your puzzles in Puzzle Maker Pro. This feature is only available when you have the Time Saver Add-on for the puzzle type you're creating.

Choosing Background Images

You can find the Background Images setup on the "Output Settings" tab, then look for the "Background Images" tab.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/hoFkzwiNiV/Background%20Images%20Overview.png (Background Images Overview)

Click "Select Files" to select one or more files on your computer. Click "Clear List" to start over. A list of selected images be shown at the right
If the image is too large or too small for your puzzle size, you can choose to Zoom the image to a fitting size
If the image does not have the same proportions (relative width and height) as the puzzle size, you can change the alignment settings as well
Set the transparency for the image

The result can look like this:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/97i6pargNi/Background%20Image%20Zoom%20Gray.png (Background Image Zoom Gray)

Puzzle Settings

Depending on the puzzle type, you may need to change the color settings. For example, with Mazes, if you have set a fill color (or floor color) for the cells or squares, these will print over the background image. Set these fill colors to Transparent to show the background images.

Zoom and Alignment

If the image is larger or has different proportions than your puzzle type, you may need to check the Zoom option.

For example, if the result looks like this:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/OJl9T5mNTo/Background%20Image%20No%20Zoom%20Black.png (Background Image No Zoom Black)

For abstract images it may be fine to show only a part of the image though (that's why the Zoom is an option)

If the image has different proportions than the puzzle, for example the puzzle is 1000x1000 pixels and the image is 1500x500, you can use the alignment options to choose where the image will be printed.

Transparency

With the transparency option, you can use colorful or black images and make them look a bit softer. For example, an image like this would ruin the puzzle, because you cannot write numbers in the squares that are completely black.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/OfFWGCfPnz/Background%20Image%20Zoom%20Black.png (Background Image Zoom Black)

By making the image more transparent (e.g. 70-80% transparent), it creates the illusion of a shadow, creating a better looking puzzle:

Question 10

How to add Connections to your design in Geometric String Art Designer

Accepted Answer

Connections

This tutorial will show you how to add connections (the strings/wires) between shapes in Geometric String Art Designer

Introduction

Please check the Glossary of Shapes and Segments to learn more about the use of 'Segments' in Geometric String Art Designer.

A "Connection" connects two different segments, and will draw the strings between both segments.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/100NCVrsI1/Geometric%20String%20Art%20Designer%20Shapes%20Segments%20Connections.PNG (Geometric String Art Designer Shapes Segments Connections.PNG)

In the example you can see a connection between Square (1) Left and Square (1) Top. "Left" and "Top" are two segments of Square (1). You can choose to rename the shapes; otherwise the "(1)" helps to identify the shape if you have multiple squares in your design.

The number of strings between both wires, depend on the 'Pin' settings for both segments.

Add a Connection

To edit a connection, go to the "Connection" tab and click the "New Connection" button.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/ZaeovuODoT/String%20Art%20Designer%20-%20New%20Connection.jpg (String Art Designer - New Connection)

This will open the edit panel just below the button, where you can select the shapes and segments that need to be connected. First select a shape in the dropdown menu "Shape 1", then you can select a segment for shape 1. Repeat for Shape 2.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/AbnUMCsCWG/String%20Art%20Designer%20-%20Connection%20Segments.jpg (String Art Designer - Connection Segments)

If the pins of the segments are connected in the wrong order, select "Reverse" to reverse the order of the pins.

Edit a Connection

To Edit a connection, select the connection in the dropdown menu at the left of the New Connection button. The name for each connection is made up from the names of the shapes and the segments.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/hutEcDgQDg/String%20Art%20Designer%20-%20Edit%20Connection.jpg (String Art Designer - Edit Connection)

You can change the shapes, or just the segments, or only the color and/or gauge. Click "Save" to save the changed color and gauge. (The other options will be saved right away).

Edit Multiple Connections

You can edit the color and gauge for multiple connections at once, making it easy for you to make sure the same settings are applied to different connections.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/wLBCOsv8Kh/String%20Art%20Designer%20-%20Multiple%20Connections.jpg (String Art Designer - Multiple Connections)

Open the "All Connections" tab, and you'll see a list of all connections in your current design. You can use the "Refresh List" button if not all connections are shown.

Now select one or more connections in the list, select a new color and/or gauge, and click Apply.

FAQs directory

How do I use the advanced and edit tabs of Puzzle Maker Nonogram

How do I use the Colors options for Puzzle Maker Pro - Geometric Mazes?

How do I use the different Maze Generator options for Puzzle Maker Pro - Geometric Mazes?

How do I use the Style options for Puzzle Maker Pro - Geometric Mazes?

How do I use the Sudoku Time-Saver

How do I use the Time Saver for Geometric Mazes? (Video Tutorial)

How do I use the Time Saver for JigSaw?

How do the difficulty levels for Sudoku and Wordoku work?

How to add background images to my puzzles in Puzzle Maker Pro?

How to add Connections to your design in Geometric String Art Designer