Question 1

How to use the Styling options for Puzzle Maker Pro - Mazes 2D

Accepted Answer

How to use the Styling options for Puzzle Maker Pro - Mazes 2D

This tutorial applies to:

There are five different sections for styling, which are combined on 3 tabs, that can be found on the Style tab

Passage / Door Styling (Line Style tab)
Wall / Border Styling (Line Style tab)
Colors (Colors tab)
Solution Path Styling (Colors tab)
Start/End Settings (Start/End tab)

Line Style tab

Passages / Doors

The Passage / Doors settings control how large the openings between the different squares, circles or other shapes are. The maximum is 100% (completely open).

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/8A1ihjmN47/Mazes%202D%20-%20Styling%20-%20Passage.png (Mazes 2D - Styling - Passage)

As you can see in the screenshot, changing the passages setting will create a different 'atmosphere' for the maze.

In addition to the Passage Width setting, you can also randomize the Passage Width and/or the Passage Position, resulting in a more chaotic looking maze:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/Sh92ULE9XL/Mazes%202D%20-%20Styling%20-%20Passage%20Random.png (Mazes 2D - Styling - Passage Random)

Note: This setting is not used for the Small Circles mazes.

Borders / Walls

The Borders / Walls settings control the width (weight) of the lines between te squares, octagons or other shapes. The current maximum is 20% (of the square width).

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/K7PzfLysWo/Mazes%202D%20-%20Styling%20-%20Walls.png (Mazes 2D - Styling - Walls)

As you can see in the screenshot, this setting makes the walls much more pronounced.

Additionally you can randomize the wall thickness (or width / weight). This will determine a different line width for each cell (square, octagon, circle, etc) and draw all lines around the shape with that line width, resulting in a more hand-drawn, stylish look.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/XgCnQZEk0C/Mazes%202D%20-%20Styling%20-%20Walls%20Random.png (Mazes 2D - Styling - Walls Random)

Colors tab

There are five different places to set the colors for Mazes 2D:

The (Wall) Line color (Line Style tab)
The Font color for Start and End symbols (Start/End tab)
The Canvas and Cell 'Floor' color (see below)
The Solution line color (see below)

Canvas / Background Colors

The canvas and 'Floors' colors are two ways to fill the background of an image with color. The canvas is shown everywhere where there is no cell (square or other shape), the Floor color is shown for every cell.

The example below shows an extreme coloring scheme:

In this example we chose the Easy Octagons shape to illustrate the use of colors. All the purple areas are not covered by octagons, the yellow areas are octagons.

For square or oblique mazes, the canvas color will be shown when you use a mask to define the maze contours, otherwise it will not be visible.

Solution Line Style

You can customize the look and feel of the solution path (which will only be shown in the maze solutions!):

You can set the color (for puzzle books printed in grayscale you can select a contrasting gray color)
You can set the width (weight / thickness) of the path, this is a percentage of the cell width
You can choose a dashed path
You can choose a curved path (which often looks better for non-square shapes)

Below you can see two examples with the dashed and the curved path.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/5ohsZv5pa6/Mazes%202D%20-%20Styling%20-%20Solution%20Dashed.png (Mazes 2D - Styling - Solution Dashed)

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/AwBt1nYFRm/Mazes%202D%20-%20Styling%20-%20Solution%20Curved.png (Mazes 2D - Styling - Solution Curved)

Start/End tab

There are several options to customize the Start and End points in Mazes 2D:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/8JR1teg1iE/Mazes%202D%20Squares%20-%20StartEnd%20Options.png (Mazes 2D Squares - StartEnd Options)

You can choose to let the outside passage / wall open. This is shown in the green circle, where the left and top edges of the square are left blank
You can set the font and font color for the Start and End letters - just click the font preview panel that says Arial to change the font and other settings
You can change the letters to be used
You can use images instead of letters.

Using images for Start and End

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/JvF1MxnEjt/Mazes%202D%20Squares%20-%20Start%20End%20Images.png (Mazes 2D Squares - Start End Images)

To use images for Start and End, you can drag and drop images on the two white panels (the Start/End Image Settings), or click the panels and select an image).

How to set the Puzzle Output Format for transparency

To create mazes with a transparent background, the first step is to select the right image format.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/sbq7ZGtzxy/PMP%20-%20Puzzle%20Output%20Format.png (How to set the Puzzle Output Format in Puzzle Maker Pro)

"Transparent PNG" is the only format that allows transparency, JPG and regular PNG do not.

Note: Regular JPG and PNG are 24 bit formats. That means 24 bits (0's or 1's) for each pixel, using RGB colors (Red, Green Blue). Transparent PNG is a 32 bit format: 24 bits RGB plus 8 bits for transparency. Each pixel can have one of 256 grades of transparency.

How to set the Maze Colors for transparency

The next step is to set the specific Maze colors on the Puzzle Settings / Colors tab.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/UvjQraf8bB/PMP%20-%20Mazes%20-%20Transparency.png (Creating a transparent background for your maze.)

There are two different options here:

Canvas - this is the background on which the maze is printed. For square and rectangular mazes, the entire canvas will be covered by the maze itself. For shaped mazes, there will be a part of the canvas that is not covered by the maze, and you'll probably want this to be transparent or white;
Floors - this is the content of each square, for lack of a better name. In this image the floors are set to transparent. You can see in the oval at the bottom, that the background color of the maze is identical to the background of the Puzzle Maker Pro window itself. There is no fill added.

For shaped mazes, where you want to print the shape underneath the maze, you'll want to choose a non-transparent setting for the floors, e.g. white, otherwise you may not be able to see the maze. You can see the result of this in the image below.

Note: the shape image will be printed 'as is' on the puzzle canvas. If the shape image is not transparent, there will be no transparency in the resulting puzzle image.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/XehL4Zjiqe/PMP%20-%20Mazes%20-%20Transparency%20Shaped%20Puzzle.png (Create a solid floor color for your shaped maze)

How will transparency affect my Puzzle Book?

Puzzles with transparent backgrounds will be 'printed' on the pages in your puzzle book. Depending on the puzzle book settings, the effects will be different:

JPG/PNG: If you create page images as additional output, you can only use non-transparent JPG and PNG formats. Because commercial printers don't like transparency, the option is not added here.
PDF and Powerpoint: The transparent puzzle images will be imported into the PDF or Powerpoint file. The background image or page colors you use in the PDF or Powerpoint file will be visible wherever your puzzle image is transparent.

How to use the Styling options for Puzzle Maker Pro - Mazes 2D

How to get a Transparent background for my maze

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