Question 1

Getting started with POD Graphics Maker

Accepted Answer

POD Graphics Maker is a quick and easy way to make (mostly geometric) images with only a few presses of a button.

There are multiple modules available:

The patterns are inspired on Zentangle Style drawings, Mosaics, and Quilting.

For the sake of this tutorial, we will only use the Tile patterns that are in the Starter Bundle. We have a separate tutorial for using Shapes, and using Full Patterns

Of course, the best way to explore this software is to just try out all the settings and see what they do, and what creates an end result that you like.

Getting Started

Upon starting the software, you'll see a screen similar to this:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/dSTZiNceLd/Graphics%20Maker%20Starting%20Screen.jpg (Graphics Maker Starting Screen)

Let's go over the options one by one.

The preview Screen
The options to change the appearance. We'll go over these tabs and what they can do one by one.
Fluidity. One of the more genius possibilities, this slider will turn the straight lines into rounded lines. Feel free to play around with this option to see how it impacts the result, it's different for every pattern.

Options

In the Options Screen (top right) you can also select some base settings. Let's get these set up first before we start playing with all the other options.

The options screen has two tabs: General, and Size and Tiling.

In General, you can change where the file is saved, what kind of file it saves (Transparent PNG is biggest, but if you want to use transparency options, this is the only format that supports it), and if you want to use a watermark.

In Size and Tiling, you can change the size of the file, and how you want it printed.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/Yf5wrQYKra/Graphics%20Maker%20Settings.jpg (Graphics Maker Settings)

If you want a simple repeating pattern, then Paper Style is the choice to make. However, if you want to make a background for powerpoint, or paper, then Paper Style allows you to finetune the sizing more. However, in Paper Style, you may not get a repeating pattern, and the squares on the right and bottom may be cut off halfway through.

For now we've put the canvas size at the standard 5000 pixels, and 4 tiles horizontal and vertical, so we can see what each option does.

Symbol Settings

The Symbol tab is different for every pattern, with unique options depending on what the pattern looks like. The one consistent option is the Fluidity slider.

Using the Labyrinth pattern as an example, let's see what the settings do.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/AkgbHoVD22/Paths%20And%20Box%20Size.jpg (Paths And Box Size)

We've used some arrows to hopefully make the impact of the settings clearer.

The red arrows show the box size. The box is the little square in the top left corner of each tile. By setting that on 3, that means that it is as big as 3 of the lines next to it. Both red squares are the same size, so you can see what this means in actuality.

The Paths option, with the purple arrow, shows how many paths there are next to the square.

We've also turned on the bounding box, which puts a neat line around each square. Not every pattern looks good with a bounding box, and not every pattern looks great without one, so feel free to test what you like.

Colour settings

In this screen you can change all colour settings, from the lines, to using transparency, to using multiple colours. You can also change how thick the lines are.

If you select "use fill colours", you can also change additional colours.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/wQ2TZ7S38V/Colours%20settings%201.jpg (Colours settings 1)

In the example below you can see we've changed the pen colour to a dark green, and changed the width to 20.

We've also set up a base colour of pink. You can also see that there is the possibility to set up a colour scheme. There are multiple ways of handling this. If you know your colour theory, you can set up custom colours.

If you're not the artistic type, don't worry! The software has multiple presets for the colours that tend to give a good result.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/AIDTYCxDHl/Colour%20presets.jpg (Colour presets)

Pattern Settings

Here you can rotate the squares. You can also rotate the entire canvas. The image below explains how the small and large squares work.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/JvzWpX32cM/Rotation.jpg (Rotation)

The red squares overlap with the Rotate Small option. They will rotate one quarter clockwise with each step.

The purple squares are for the rotate large option. This uses the clusters of 4 small squares, and rotates in the same way.

You can also rotate the canvas, if you don't like horizontal lines. Beware, if you use this option, it is possible the pattern is no longer repeating.

Mask and text overlay Settings

If you've used any of our software, you already know how masks work. You simply load in a PNG and it'll automatically become a mask.

However, this software also has a built-in mask option. For more information on how to use the built-in masks, check out the tutorial on using masks in Graphics Maker.

Question 2

Getting Started with Mazes 2D Tiles

Accepted Answer

Puzzle Maker Pro – Mazes 2D Tiles is a maze generator to create mazes with your own tiles. Tiles are PNG images with a set format and naming convention. (See also the tile format and conventions tutorial). We have included a default tile set with the software for both isometric and square mazes. However, we also encourage you to create (or buy) and use your own tilesets, to create mazes that are uniquely yours.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/mgGG8OB0gd/Overview%20Mazes%202D.jpg (Overview Mazes 2D)

Overview

The screenshot above shows several things:

The puzzle select screen. You can select the type of puzzle you want to make here.
Grid Type. You can choose between Squares, Isometric Classic, or Isometric Full Square. For the differences between the two isometric styles, we recommend you check out our tutorial: Create Isometric Mazes with Mazes 2D Tiles
The Image Folder is where you can select a folder, using the "browse" button. You can use this to import your own tilesets. Puzzle Maker Pro is installed software, so you don't need to upload your images to use them.
Maze generator settings, to control how the maze is generated, and where the Start and End points will be located.
Preview window. This is where you can see a preview for the maze you are currently generating.

You can also see 5 tabs for this puzzle type

Setting up your maze

Puzzle Size

You can select the number of rows (horizontal) and columns (vertical) for your maze. Both have a mazimum of 100. We chose this maximum because of multiple reasons:

We want to keep the appearance of your tiles intact. If you print too many tiles on a small surface, details could be lost.
Each tile image has to be 'printed' on the maze image. Using larger puzzles will take more time to generate.

However, if you really want larger puzzles, feel free to contact us, and we can see if a larger upper limit is possible.

Empty Cells

You can add empty cells to the maze. Depending on your tile set, these tiles will be actually empty, or you can add specific tiles for these empty cells. For example, if you create a maze with road style tiles, you could add houses or small lakes in the empty cells.

Quantity

Finally, there's an option to set the quantity. This is the number of mazes you want to generate when you click the "create" button. The puzzles will be saved in the location you set up using the Output settings in Puzzle Maker Pro

Selecting the Tiles Folder

To select the Tiles Folder, click the "browse" button, and navigate to the folder where you have stored your images. Select one of the images, and click "open". This will automatically select the entire folder of images.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/6bNZxAf1hA/Mazes%202D%20Tiles%20select%20tiles%20folder.jpg (Mazes 2D Tiles select tiles folder)

The pack shown here is a free Cartography Tiles Pack from Kenney. As you can see, we've renamed the files, with each file now starting with one or more numbers. The numbers indicate the sides of the square that are connected, with 0 having no connections, 12 meaning side 1 and 2 are connected, et cetera. For more information, you can always look at our tile format and naming conventions guide.

Note: The tiles used in this preview are only 64 by 64 pixels, meaning they have to be upscaled if you want to use them in a maze.

After selecting this set, and clicking the "preview" button, you'll see something like this:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/TedRrqgpv6/Mazes%202D%20Tiles%20using%20your%20own%20tile%20set.jpg (Mazes 2D Tiles using your own tile set)

The straight black solution line looks out of place in this maze style, so let's change that up a bit.

Style

The screenshot below shows the style settings for Mazes 2D Tiles

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/8N1WT532Nv/Mazes%202D%20Style%20Settings.jpg (Mazes 2D Style Settings)

Mazes 2D Tiles Style Settings

There are several options to customise the way the solution path is drawn:

You can change the width and colour of the solution path. Here we changed the width to 15. The width is a percentage of the square, so when a maze gets drawn the width of the solution path will now be 15%.
Curved line: This will uze Bezier curves (if you've used Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, or Affinity before, you may be familiar with these already), to make a curved line. The line will go through the center points of each tile.
Dotted Line: Instead of a single continuous line, you can also create a dotted line. We have chosen this style because it fits the general style of the puzzle more.

In addition to these options, you can also change the canvas colour. We haven't changed that setting here, because the tiles themselves have transparency as well.

Puzzle Maker Pro - Letter Dice Overview

This tutorial applies to Letter Dice

There is one add-on available for Letter Dice: Time Saver for Letter Dice

Letter Dice Explained

Letter Dice is a word puzzle, based on an existing tabletop game where a number of dice is being thrown, and you have to find as many words as possible by combining the letters on adjacent die faces. Usually 16 dice are thrown, which are then sorted in 4 rows of 4 dice.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/ebpePeS2Lk/English%204x4.png (Letter Dice - English 4x4)

Example of a Letter Dice puzzle for English words

The Letter Dice module can create these dice throws, and has some additional options:

Dice setups for several languages are provided, including French, Spanish, and German
Variations for 25 or 36 dice for English puzzles are included
You can create your own dice, just by typing the letters for each die on a single row
You can create additional fun innovative games, for example number games - place numbers on the dice, and the goal could be to add/subtract/multiple/divide numbers and get to 24 as many times as possible
You can create die faces with words on them, and create a game to find fun sentences or sentences with as many words as possible

Letter Dice Overview

To use Letter Dice, select the puzzle type in the drop down menu, or in the regular menu.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/Jyo7cLcqHE/Letter%20Dice%20Overview%20with%20Arrows.png (Letter Dice Overview with Arrows)

To create puzzles, you'll need to add the dice setup (as shown in the screenshot), and click Next Preview to generate a puzzle. Each click will result in a different puzzle.

There are no solutions (images or otherwise) for Letter Dice puzzles.

Dice Setup

By default an English set for 4x4 dice will be used. This is a set of dice - regular dice with 6 faces each - that was used for a popular letter dice game the past 30 years.

You can also select several other sets, like 5x5 or 6x6, and some other languages. Please be aware that the 6x6 English set contains some blank die faces, to increase the difficulty of the puzzle. This is not a printing error.

The letters on the die faces have been taken from public sources, however it's very easy to edit the sets yourself.

Set up your own dice

With Puzzle Maker Pro - Letter Dice you can completely customize your own letter dice game:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/ASJIFRpSYi/Letter%20Dice%20Overview%20Numbered.png (Letter Dice Overview Numbered)

Define the number of dice, printed in rows and columns. When a new puzzle is generated, the dice will be placed in random order, and for each die a random face is selected
Set up the Separator. If you have die faces that contain more than one letter, you need a separator between the letters. By default, the comma is used. You can use a dash or a dot or any other character that is best for you
Set up the Dice. Each die will be created from the letters on a single line. For example the top line in the example "A,A,E,E,G,N" defines a die with six faces. Without the separator you could just type "AAEEGN", but then you wouldn't be able to add "Qu" to a die face.
After editing the dice, click "Verify" to check if you have the right number of dice, and if each die has the same number of faces. (Since this is a computer generated puzzle, each die can have more or less than 6 faces). You don't have to have the same number of faces on each die, but the software will warn you, just to prevent mistakes. Missing dice will result in blanks in the puzzle
Create a new preview from your own dice

Tips and puzzle ideas

Don't forget to add / print puzzle rules in your puzzle book or printable, if you create your own puzzle types.

Word Dice - Create dice with full words on each face, optionally creating separate dice with nouns, verbs and adjectives. Goals could be to create the longest possible (valid) sentence, or to create many sentences
Syllable Dice
Math Dice - Create dice with numbers, e,g, 1 to 10, and operators (+, -). The goal could be to calculate a given number in as many ways as possible.

Font Styling

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/p1tWwFAooq/Letter%20Dice%20-%20Font%20Styling.png (Letter Dice - Font Styling)

You can customize the font by clicking the white panel (or the looking glass icon) in the Font Settings area. You can set both the font and the font color.

Please be aware that the lettercase is by default set to 'Unchanged', to make sure that "Qu" is printed correctly. If you change it to uppercase (the default setting for e.g. Word Search), it would be printed as "QU".

For some other languages, such as Czech and Finnish, you may need to set it to Uppercase, to make the letters print correctly.

Grid Styling

You can customize canvas and die face color, as well as the line color and width:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/ZvBhFPfq5n/Letter%20Dice%20-%20Grid%20Styling.png (Letter Dice - Grid Styling)

Time Saver for Letter Dice

The Time Saver for Letter Dice has two main functions:

Create a puzzle book from several Letter Dice presets - e.g. you can create presets for English 4x4, English 5x5 and English 6x6, or create Letter Dice, Word Dice and Number Dice presets
Flexible grid layouts for Instant Puzzle Books

Using Letter Dice Presets

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/gdqTsNoOlo/Letter%20Dice%20-%20Time%20Saver.png (Letter Dice - Time Saver)

First, you have to save your own presets. You can do this on the Puzzle Settings tab.

In the Time Saver, select the presets you want to use from the list on the left. (Click "Refresh List" if your presets are not showing).

Set the quantity for each presets. In the example, we set it to create 10 puzzles with the first preset, and 20 puzzles with the second preset.

Make sure the box "Use Time Saver to generate Puzzles is checked, then click the Create / Create (TS) button at the bottom left.

Flexible Grid Layouts

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/8sIkbEOyJm/Letter%20Dice%20-%20Time%20Saver%20Page%20Layout.png (Letter Dice - Time Saver Page Layout)

There are several ways to create Letter Dice puzzle books: Some books only have one puzzle per page, and include additional information, such as puzzle rules, score information and lines to write the found words. Other puzzle books have 4 or 6 puzzles on each page, and expect the puzzler to have a notebook available to write the solutions. (Hint: You can publish Letter Dice solution books / journals along with the puzzle books).

Adding Lines for the Words / Solutions

By clicking on the little gray squares in the Puzzle Layout (Instant Puzzle Books -> Page Layout -> General Layouts -> Puzzle Layout) you can also switch off some of the puzzle locations. In the example, only 3 puzzles will be printed per page. (This is a new feature in Puzzle Maker Pro v2022.14).

Puzzle Maker Pro does not print the solution lines for you. However, by switching off some of the puzzle locations, you can easily add lines or other information in Powerpoint or PDF. In Powerpoint you can use the Master Slides to set up the lines and other information just ones, and have it applied to all of the pages automatically.

Question 4

How to use Puzzle Maker Pro - Word Squares

Accepted Answer

Puzzle Maker Pro - Word Squares Overview

This tutorial applies to Word Squares

There is one add-on available for Word Squares: Time Saver for Word Squares

Word Squares Explained

Word Squares is a word puzzle.

Examples of a puzzle and solution:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/O5LDuxA3R0/Word%20Squares%20Example.jpg (Word Squares Example)

Word Squares Overview

To use Word Squares, select the puzzle type in the drop down menu, or in the regular menu.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/Ub4SnTkimr/Word%20Squares%201%20Overview.png (Word Squares 1 Overview)

To create puzzles, you'll need to add a word list (as shown in the screenshot), and click Next Preview to generate a puzzle. Each click will result in a different puzzle.

To see the words in the puzzle, toggle the "Preview Solution" option at the bottom right of the window:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/Ro4s3DMFEB/Word%20Squares%201%20Solution.png (Word Squares 1 Solution)

The first time you start this module, you'll see a list of 7 words displayed. These words are just for demo purposes, so you get a valid puzzle when you start the module.

Grid Sizes and Difficulty Levels

With Word Squares you get 7 grid sizes: 3x3, 4x4, 5x5, 6x6, 7x7, 8x8 and 9x9. The software will only use words from your list that:

Have the correct number of letters, for example 5 letters for x 5x5 grid, and
Have no duplicate letters. "Cobra" is valid, "agenda" is not, because it has two times the letter 'a'.

You can also use your existing word lists for word search or other software, and let the Word Squares software filter out all the words that should not be used.

There's a different set of difficulty levels for each size, similar to sudoku and latin squares puzzles:

Like our Wordoku software, the generated puzzles will always show all the letters of the word (no guess-work what the final letter should be). This is also known as well-formed puzzles.

Word List and Number of Puzzles

The word list is filtered before it's used, and only words with the correct number of letters and no duplicate letters will be used. That means that you can have a list of 10000 words, of which only 30 words can be used for Word Squares puzzles.

You can reuse word lists with formating for e.g. Zig Zag Word Search: The lines that start with #-characters and empty lines will be removed from the list of words.

The Quantity you set is actually the maximum quantity. There will be just 1 puzzle generated for each word. If the number of valid words is less than the required quantity, you'll get less puzzles. This is to make sure there are no duplicate words in your puzzle book.

If you specify Auto/Unlimited, it will use all the words from your word list.

For each word, you can add a colon and a description. For example "cat:mammal", or "Portugal:Country in Europe". The description can be used in the Instant Puzzle Books (see below). This means you can prepare word files that can also be used for Crosswords puzzles.

You can type the word list in the word list area (as shown in the screenshot above), or select a word list file. This file should be in plain text format, e.g. when you create it with Notepad on Windows. An example could be:

This word list would result in exactly 1 single puzzle for any grid size you select.

Word Styling

On the Word Styling tab, you can set the position for the solution word, and you can set the font, color, etc for the letters in the grid.

Solution Word Position

You can specify where you want the word to appear:

Horizontal on any row,
Vertical in any column,
Random - this means will randomly select Horizontal or Vertical and a random row/column number

Especially when you create multiple puzzles, the random option will create a greater variety of puzzles.

Font and Letter Color

You can click on the white font preview panel to change the font, font color and other settings. Additionally you can set the color for the solution letters, and you can set the color of the solution word cells (the default color is gray). For example, you can create the following result (depending on the fonts you have installed on your computer):

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/j1dfkv9tht/Word%20Squares%202%20Word%20Styling.png (Word Squares 2 Word Styling)

Grid Styling

Additionally you can customize the grid - the canvas and line colors and the line widths - to your own preferences.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/ZSYEM6CDV3/Word%20Squares%203%20Grid%20Styling.png (Word Squares 3 Grid Styling)

Puzzle Description

If you want to add a puzzle description for each puzzle in the Instant Puzzle Books, you'll need to add these descriptions to the words in the word list. This can be done by adding a colon after the word, and then add the description, e.g. "Portugal:Country in Europe". When you have a word list like this, you can enable the "Print Description" option on the Description tab:

Additionally you can set the font, and customize the space that's reserved for the description (by default it's 20%, that means that the actual puzzle will usually be made 20% smaller).

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/mg8NvDotED/Word%20Squares%204%20Description.png (Word Squares 4 Description (1).png)

The results in Powerpoint or PDF can look like this:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/RD0SnmCk7I/Word%20Squares%205%20Description%20Example.png (Word Squares 5 Description Example)

Time Saver for Word Squares

The Time Saver for Word Squares allows you to create puzzles for multiple word lists at once, with an option to use 'any' size grid (depending on each word) or use a fixed grid size and filter the word list.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/wQSd5muilR/Word%20Squares%20-%20Time%20Saver.png (Word Squares - Time Saver)

Select the grid size - 3x3 up to 9x9 or Any. You can also set the difficulty level. If the specified grid size does not support that difficulty level, the maximum level will be used
The maximum number of puzzles, or Auto/Unlimited (which means exactly one puzzle for each valid word in the list)
The word position
Add Word Lists. Click this button to select one or more word lists (.txt files). The settings specified for the first 3 bullets will be used, and each word list will add another row in the grid below
You can edit the settings for each row. The rows will be processed in order and the puzzles will be added to the puzzle book in this order (unless you specify otherwise)
Optionally Delete selected rows or all rows if you made a mistake (or if you want to set up another puzzle book)
Randomize the file order or the word order within each file. This makes sense if e.g. the words in the word file are sorted alphabetically

Make sure the boxes "Use Time Saver to generate Puzzles and "Use Time Saver - Fast" are checked, then click the Create / Create (TS) button at the bottom left

Optionally you can also use the Preset Puzzles option, using several presets that you've previously saved for Word Squares puzzles.

Question 5

How to use the Time Saver for Zig Zag Word Search

Accepted Answer

Puzzle Maker Pro - Time Saver for Zig Zag Word Search Introduction

The Time Saver for Zig Zag Word Search resembles the Time Saver for (regular) Word Search, but the way word lists are handled is a bit different.

This tutorial applies to:

The Time Saver for Zig Zag Word Search will work with the squares, diagonals, words snake and random shapes options.

Time Saver Overview

The Time Saver needs two ingredients to work correctly:

Word Lists
Jobs to do

You can set up the 'Jobs to do' on the Batch Creation tab. A job is a specific puzzle type and format, for example "Squares" 10x10 with Quantity 5. This will create 5 puzzles for each (!!!) word list. If you set up 3 word lists, with enough words in each, you will get 15 puzzles.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/6zXxjw2BoS/Time%20Saver%20Word%20Search%20Diagram.JPG (Time Saver Word Search Diagram.JPG)

Main Settings

There are a couple of layout settings that control some of the styling for Instant Puzzle Books, such as the puzzle alignment and the font size for the word lists.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/fmgnyGujJc/Zig%20Zag%20Word%20Search%20Time%20Saver%20Main%20Settings.png (Zig Zag Word Search Time Saver Main Settings)

Variable Font Size - the font size is calculated for each puzzle, based on the number of words and the word length. For puzzle books this may lead to different font sizes for each puzzle, especially if you use different sizes for the puzzle (a 10x10 puzzle will have fewer words than a 25x25 puzzle)
One Size Fits All - the font size is calculated after all word lists are set up, to make sure each page looks similar

Word Lists

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/T6UYyswPDI/Zig%20Zag%20Word%20Search%20Time%20Saver%20Word%20Lists.png (Zig Zag Word Search Time Saver Word Lists)

Selecting Word Lists

Each word list should be just a text file with a list of words, for example when you create a file with Notepad.

You can select as many files as you want, and it's best in general to make the wordlists larger than the strict minimum. For example, for a 10x10 grid, the combined length of the words should be at least 100. However, when you create a list of more words, with a combined length of say 500, you'll get a larger variety of puzzles from it.

Word List Control

Just like the regular Zig Zag Word Search, you can choose how the word list should be used:

Auto: This will try to create as many puzzles as the Quantity setting indicates. However, if it runs out of words in the list, it will stop.
Repeat: This will use all the words in the list, and then repeat the entire wordlist (again and again) to get to the number of puzzles in the quantity setting. Each puzzle will draw random words from the list, so each puzzle will be different
Reset: This will reset the entire word list after a puzzle is created, so every puzzle can use words from the entire word list.

Merging Word Lists

You can choose to Merge all lists, to create just 1 large list. This will basically just add all words to a single list.

You can also choose to use each word list separately, which would work like the diagram above (each 'job' will be executed for each of the word lists). In this case you can also use the file names as titles.

Segmented Word Lists

Segmented word lists are available as part of the Extras Add-On, but are also available automatically as part of the Time Saver Add-On. This will allow you to combine multiple short word lists into one larger list, while still keeping the words separate.

Basically, you can use a blank line to separate the lists:

Optionallly you can add a title to each list, which will be used for the Instant Puzzle Books

In the future there may be other options for these segmented word list, to exploit additional features of the Instant Puzzle Books

Batch Creation Settings

When you use the Time Saver, don't forget to select "Use Time Saver to generate Puzzles" and to select the options for Batch Creation you want to use (e.g. "Use Time Saver - Fast"). This will change the text of the "Create" button to "Create (TS)".

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/66Euj4Po0j/Zig%20Zag%20Word%20Search%20Time%20Saver%20Batch%20Creation.png (Zig Zag Word Search Time Saver Batch Creation)

Fast Mode

This options is called 'Fast' because it doesn't depend on you setting up specific puzzle presets, but simply select the Zig Zag Word Search variation you want to use, and set the rows, columns and quantity. Additionally you can set the Sort Order, this will control the order in which the puzzle appear in your puzzle book (and the order in which the files are listed in File Explorer, if you sort them by filename).

Preset Puzzles

With this option you can use your own presets (that you have saved on the Puzzle Settings tab for Zig Zag Word Search) to create an entire batch of puzzles.

Question 6

How to use Puzzle Maker Pro - Zig Zag Word Search

Accepted Answer

Puzzle Maker Pro - Zig Zag Word Search Overview

Zig Zag Word Search is an alternative Word Search puzzle, quite different from the regular Word Search. It's also known as Jigsaw and Tetris Word Search.

This tutorial applies to three different products:

Zig Zag Word Search, the standard / regular Zig Zag Word Search module
Zig Zag Word Search - Extras Add-On, an add-on module that adds different complexities and options to the regular Zig Zag Word Search
Zig Zag Word Search Random Shapes, this module can be purchased separately, and adds random shapes (random polygons) to make a completely different type of word search

Additionally there are some Add-Ons available for Zig Zag Word Search

This main tutorial uses the regular Zig Zag Word Search for examples. Paragraphs for the Extras Add-On and the Random Shapes will focus on the differences for these modules.

Zig Zag Word Search Explained

Zig Zag Word Search is a puzzle where you have to find words in a grid. Unlike with regular Word Search puzzles, the words are not placed in straight lines, but a zig-zagging line, where the words can have corners. For generating these we have set up some basic rules:

Letters of a word are connected to each other horizontally or vertically
In general, the words should have exactly the number of letters required for the squares in the grid. If you have a 10x10 grid, then all words together should have 100 letters
Words cannot overlap

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/U78JkEdbbn/Zig%20Zag%20Word%20Search%2010x10%20Grid.png (Zig Zag Word Search 10x10 Grid)

In this image you see an example of a solution for a Zig Zag Word Search puzzle. Words are positioned randomly in the grid.

Zig Zag Word Search Overview

To use Zig Zag Word Search, select the puzzle type in the drop down menu.

To see the solution in the preview screen, toggle the "Preview Solution" option at the bottom right of the window:

Note: You'll need words with at least 100 letters to create a 10x10 puzzle. It's better to use a longer list with more words than needed, and create one or more puzzles from that. This way you won't have to worry about counting the letters. (See "Advanced Options" for additional options.

In addition to the Word List, you can also select a Word List file. This has to be in plain text format (.txt). Pay attention to this when you export from MS Word or MS Excel.

Advanced Options

The Advanced tab has some options to control the word list use, the spelling of the words, and an option for filling the remaining squares with random letters, so the amount of letters doesn't have to be exactly the right amount.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/ofFn83RSUK/Zig%20Zag%20Word%20Search%20Advanced%20Options.png (Zig Zag Word Search Advanced Options)

1 Wordlist Control

For most puzzles you can control the amount of puzzles using the "Quantity" setting. For Zig Zag Word Search there are other options as well:

Auto: This will try to create as many puzzles as the Quantity setting indicates. However, if it runs out of words in the list, it will stop.
Repeat: This will use all the words in the list, and then repeat the entire wordlist (again and again) to get to the number of puzzles in the quantity setting. Each puzzle will draw random words from the list, so each puzzle will be different
Reset: This will reset the entire word list after a puzzle is created, so every puzzle can use words from the entire word list.

Note: This may work slightly different if you use the Extras Add-On.

2 Remove Characters

Your wordlist may contain characters that you don't want to see in the puzzle. These may be spaces, dashes, or other characters. You can use both checkboxes to filter these characters. The word list will be created from the original words!

Note: the letter count used for the puzzles is based on the 'clean' words, after the spaces etc have been removed.

3 Random Fills

While the words for a Zig Zag Word Search puzzle should have exactly the right number of letters, there's an option to add noise or fill letters as well. This should make it a bit easier for you to set up word lists (but please be aware that your customers may not expect this).

Style

On the Style tab you can change the font, canvas and cell colors and the line colors and weight. (Canvas color is only used for masks, without masks, the entire canvas will be covered by cell backgrounds).

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/AdD6AV04xS/Zig%20Zag%20Word%20Search%20Style.png (Zig Zag Word Search Style)

Click "Next Preview" after changing the settings to see the result.

Extras Add-On

The Extras add-on offers two additional features: Diagonal connections for the regular Zig Zag Word Search, and segmented word lists for all Zig Zag Word Search modules.

Diagonals

Choose "Squares Diagonals" in the Grid Type list, then click "Next Preview" to see an example of a Zig Zag Word Search puzzle with diagonal connections.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/icYNvsua2n/Zig%20Zag%20Word%20Search%20Diagonals.png (Zig Zag Word Search Diagonals)

As you can see, letters can be connected horizontally, vertically and diagonally, and the diagonal connections can cross each other.

Segmented Word Lists

We use the name "Segmented Word Lists" for word lists that are already divided in several lists of words.

You can do this by using a blank line between the words. Additionally, you can use #title:"title" to add a title, for example "#title:Vegetables"

When you load a word list (click the little looking glass button on the Word List tab), you'll get a status notification showing you how many words and letters are part of each section. (This will take into account that spaces and other characters may be removed).

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/9FCBZyPQ9y/Zig%20Zag%20Word%20Search%20Word%20Count.png (Zig Zag Word Search Word Count)

When you use the "Auto" setting for word list control (on the Advanced tab), only one puzzle will be created for each 'segment'.

Random Shapes

To use the Random Shapes variation of Zig Zag Word Search, select "Random Shapes" in the Grid Type list, and click preview. This will display a puzzle like the example below:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/m7FqP0n850/0-20221012105539--1-W-P.png (0-20221012105539--1-W-P)

Puzzle Maker Pro - Mazes 2D Overview

Mazes 2D is the 2022 update of our popular Mazes software (formerly Standard Mazes 2D/ Standard and Shaped Mazes 2D).

This option in Puzzle Maker Pro is the entry point for several current and new puzzle modules:

Standard Mazes 2D / Standard and Shaped Mazes 2D (if you have this module, the Mazes 2D Squares option will be available to you)
Mazes 2D Oblique - a Tangle / Doodle / Yayoi Kusama-style maze
Mazes 2D Other Shapes - Easy Octagons and Small Circles

Additionally there are some Add-Ons available for these mazes

The examples in this tutorial use the Mazes 2D Squares. It should be easy to use these options for the other shapes. For specifics, there are additional tutorials for each maze type.

Getting Started with Mazes 2D

Mazes 2D Squares Main Overview

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/TwQWXvoswn/Mazes%202D%20Squares%20Main.png (Mazes 2D Squares Main Overview)

Mazes 2D Squares Main Overview

Select Mazes 2D in the dropdown menu at the top. This will open the puzzle options for Mazes 2D
In the Puzzle Control section you can select the puzzle type, in this case Squares is selected. Here you can also set the number of puzzles (Quantity) and the puzzle size (rows and columns)
There are several tabs for the different maze and customization options. By default the Main tab is selected
On the Main tab you can control the maze generation options, such as the maze / solution complexity and the solution path (where the Start and End points will be chosen)
After changing the settings for the maze, click Next Preview to see a newly generated maze with the changed settings. (This is not done automatically, otherwise you may have to wait after each change)
The preview panel
By default the Solution is shown, use this switch to display the puzzle (without the solution path)

Info Tab

Solution Complexity

You can use the big red slider "Solution Complexity" to control how the maze is generated. There are several built-in algorithms that result in differently shaped mazes. These algorithms set some limits, within these limits the maze generation process is completely random.

To get an idea of the differences, here you see two extreme examples. It's best (and very easy) to experiment with this setting yourself.

Mazes 2D Squares - Complexity 0

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/UsISAYEcCc/Mazes%202D%20Squares%20-%20Complexity%200.png (Mazes 2D Squares - Complexity 0)

Mazes 2D Squares - Complexity 0

Mazes 2D Squares - Complexity 100

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/fCcKZpppAP/Mazes%202D%20Squares%20-%20Complexity%20100.png (Mazes 2D Squares - Complexity 100)

Mazes 2D Squares - Complexity 100

Solution Path

There are several options for the solution path (which is part of the maze generation process:

Default - Top Left to Bottom Right, this may be slightly different for certain maze types
Random - This will set a random starting point on one of the maze edges, and select an end point at an opposite edge
Longest Path - This will choose the longest possible path in a maze. Usually the Start and End points are not on the edges of the maze
Manual - you can manually select the Start and End points. To do this, right-click the preview panel on the maze cell (square/other shape) where you want the Start or End point, and select the appropriate option in the pop-up menu)

Mazes 2D Squares - Path Random

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

Mazes 2D Squares - Path Random

Mazes 2D Squares - Longest Path

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/b4rBaUYtAq/Mazes%202D%20Squares%20-%20Longest%20Path.png (Mazes 2D Squares - Longest Path)

Mazes 2D Squares - Longest Path

Mazes 2D Squares - Manual Start

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/k1md7DgoHv/Mazes%202D%20Squares%20-%20Manual%20Start.png (Mazes 2D Squares - Manual Start)

Mazes 2D Squares - Manual Start

Puzzle Maker Pro Tutorials

Welcome to the Puzzle Maker Pro - Tutorials page: This page lists the tutorials for Puzzle Maker Pro. Please use search if you don't see here what you're looking for.

Getting Started

Puzzle Maker Pro - Getting Started

Puzzle Maker Pro Tabs

Output Settings - Puzzle Files

Output Settings - Additional Output

Output Settings - Page format

Page Layout

Time Saver

Tools

Puzzle Specific Tutorials

Mazes

Word Star

Generic FAQ's

Drag and Drop Images

Color and Font Selection

Mask Editor

Question 9

Getting Started with Puzzle Maker Pro

Accepted Answer

Introduction to Puzzle Maker Pro

Welcome to Puzzle Maker Pro - the world's best puzzle maker. We've tried our best to make the software as easy and intuitive to use as possible. However, because we want you to be able to create something unique to you, we still offer a lot of options.

In this tutorial we'll show you the basics. Your first puzzle (or even puzzle book) is just one click away.

Puzzle Maker Pro - Main window.

When you start Puzzle Maker Pro, you'll see a window looking a lot like this:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/V3P2w4AK32/Puzzle%20Maker%20Pro%20Main%20Window.jpg (Puzzle Maker Pro Main Window)

It currently shows Sudoku, but if you purchased a different puzzle, it'll show that instead.

Puzzle Maker Pro is a framework for puzzle modules - some parts will be different for each puzzle, other parts are standard options available to all puzzles.

Let's start the tour:

Preview

Now go on and press preview, maybe change some of the settings, colors or numbers, and see what happens when you click preview again.

To find out where your puzzle files are saved, continue to Output Settings. For all other topics, go back to Tutorial Overview

Question 10

How can I get started with the FreeStyle module of Ultimate Planner Maker?

Accepted Answer

This video tutorial will get you started with Ultimate Planner Maker FreeStyle