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How to use Puzzle Maker Pro - Picture Cryptograms

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This tutorial explains how to use Puzzle Maker Pro - Just Five Words

Puzzle Maker Pro - Picture Cryptograms

This tutorial applies to the Puzzle Maker Pro module Picture Cryptograms

The add-on "Time Saver for Word Puzzles" adds additional options for puzzle generation and Instant Puzzle Book layouts.

Picture Cryptograms Explained

The module Picture Cryptograms creates puzzles where words or phrases are displayed as a set of pictures or symbols. You can use your own images (jpg or png) for these symbols.

There are several ways to encode the words with pictures:

Randomized by word, word set, or fixed for all words
Alphabetic (fixed) based on the name of the images you use
You can display all the letters and symbols in the key table, to create puzzles for children
You can add clues to make it easier to solve the puzzles

Additionally, you can display a full key table for the alphabet, or only show the letters that are used in the words or phrases. The order of the letters in the key table will be randomised, unless you use the Alphabetic option. We'll discuss all these options below.

Picture Cryptograms Overview

To use Picture Cryptograms, 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/h1MY02x2g0/Picture%20Cryptograms%20-%2001%20Overview.png (Picture Cryptograms - 01 Overview (1).png)

When you select this puzzle type for the first time, a default list of words is shown, and the preview shows an puzzle with the first word or words, this is also the puzzle image that will be saved and/or used in an instant puzzle book. (What you see is what you get). You can (and should) replace the word list with your own words, and you can (and should) replace the default images with your own pictures or symbols.

There are several options to customize the puzzle and the styling of Picture Cryptograms:

Word List: you can add additional text to the word list. In the example you can see "word:description", additional options can be found here: Word List Format for Word Puzzles;
Use your own images,
Choose to use Alphabet images, and set the code variation (Algorithm)
Settings: Configure the puzzle options, including word list settings
Styling: Styling options are covered below;
Image: In addition to the 'standard' puzzle output, you can also create images/memes for social media or activity books. This is described in a separate tutorial: How to create Images/Memes for Word Puzzles;

Generating Picture Cryptograms Puzzles

You can set the total number of puzzles you need, or generate puzzles for the entire word list. The quantity is the number of puzzle files that are generated. For example when you use 5 words per puzzle (as in the previous screenshot), a quantity of 7 will result in 7 jpg or png files, with a total of 35 words or phrases (if the word list is long enough).

The puzzles will always be generated as a JPG/PNG image. To add a title and/or watermark (url) to the image, see How to create Images

Images

On the "Images" tab you can add your own images (aka pictures / symbols / pictograms).

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/Lr3XCe2LlQ/Picture%20Cryptograms%20-%2002%20Images.png (Picture Cryptograms - 02 Images)

You can either click one of the image panels (which are now filled with these colored square images), or drag and drop 1 or more files on these image panels. By dragging a list of files from File Explorer to the top left image, these files will be set for all the other image panels as well.

You can click "Reset" to revert to the default images.

It's possible to add more than 26 images. This enables you to create puzzles for other languages, or just to add a larger set of images, from which random images are selected for each puzzle.

Algorithm (Algo)

On the Algorithm tab you can choose how the words will be encoded.

With the "Use Alphabet Images" setting, you can use 'fixed' pictures for each letter of the alphabet. For example apple.jpg for the letter "A". These puzzles can be used as a spelling / writing exercise.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/Dy6PDkJkRm/Picture%20Cryptograms%20-%2003%20Alphabet.png (Picture Cryptograms - 03 Alphabet)

(The images in the screenshot are just an example, and not included with the software).

Additionally, you can control how words are encoded: a single encoding for all words, or per set of words, or even per word. In the latter case only one word or phrase is printed on each image.

Options

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/sFbdHetUGx/Picture%20Cryptograms%20-%2004%20Options.png (Picture Cryptograms - 04 Options)

The options on the "Options" tab are those that are not directly related to styling or key table.

You can set how many words will be printed on each image. In the screenshot you see 5 words plus a key table
You can choose to print the description on top of each word, e.g. the text "Brain Teasers" in the screenshot. These descriptions can be supplied in the word list file, like this: "word:description", or "puzzles:Brain Teasers".
You can also set the line distance, to create more space in the image, and optionally set the code on top of the puzzle, or at the bottom
You can add Clues to the puzzle, random or fixed. In the screenshot, the letters D, I and M are added as clues
You can randomise the order in which the word list is processed, to create a different set of puzzle images each time you use the same word list.

Styling

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/ZcX28Ti1qS/Picture%20Cryptograms%20-%2005%20Styling.png (Picture Cryptograms - 05 Styling)

You can set your own style for Picture Cryptograms puzzles:

Font Styling - Select the font, positioning and relative size of the font
The placeholders for the letters - use an underscore, period or a custom letter, or even a square box for each letter in a custom color
Puzzle Alignment - place the words left or right, and aligned to top or bottom
Padding - add a bit of padding between the letters and images. This is in addition to the line distance setting
Image Styling - This can be set on the Image tab (see also: How to create Images Word Puzzles) - This is to create ready-to-use images with a title and watermark on each image.
Instant Puzzle Books - additional Styling and layout options for Instant Puzzle Books can be customized using the Time Saver options. If you don't have the Time Saver, default options will be used.

Key (Key Table)

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/K1wBxdPRK2/Picture%20Cryptograms%20-%2006%20Key.png (Picture Cryptograms - 06 Key)

The key table for cryptogram puzzles shows all the letters and images matched together.

When you use Alphabet images, you can choose not to print the key table, since the images are already the key. For example a Bear for B
When you print the key table, you can set the number of lines and the position. In the example we've set it to use 3 lines and print at the top.
Key Table Alphabet - add all the letters that can be used for the key table. By default this is the English Alphabet
Print All Hints - this will print all the images and letters for the puzzle. This way there is no real guesswork involved, but it can still be challenging to find the right letters for the words (for children)
Only Print Used Letters - this is shown in the screenshot above. Instead of printing all the available symbols, only the symbols used in the different words are printed.

Here's an example that shows all the hints in the puzzle:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/YRJYLfW4SS/Picture%20Cryptograms%20-%2007%20Key%20All%20Letters.png (Picture Cryptograms - 07 Key All Letters)

Image

Using the "Use Image Settings" on the "Output Settings" tab, you can automatically add a title, description and watermark to each puzzle.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/lSHqK97Nt3/Picture%20Cryptograms%20-%2008%20Image%20Settings.png (Picture Cryptograms - 08 Image Settings)

In the example we've added a description "Find the encoded words" as an instruction for the puzzle. You can change the layout, colors, fonts, and the watermark (the url at the bottom).

Puzzle Maker Pro - Just Five Words

This tutorial applies to the Puzzle Maker Pro module Just Five Words

The add-on "Time Saver for Word Puzzles" adds additional options for puzzle generation and Instant Puzzle Book layouts.

Just Five Words Explained

Just Five Words is our name for this puzzle, you may find it with another name in newspapers and elsewhere.

The puzzle consists of five words.
For each word, a crossword-style description is provided.
Additionally, all the letters for the five words are placed together in a list, in alphabetical order.
The goal is to find the five words, using the descriptions and the letters.
Each letter in the list can be used only once, and each letter must be used exactly once. There will be no letters left when the puzzle is solved.

Of course, with our software, you can choose to create puzzles with 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7 words, but 5 seems to be the magical number here.

Just Five Words Overview

To use Just Five Words, 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/cgZPzz4TY0/Just%20Five%20Words%20-%20Overview%20Tut.png (Just Five Words - Overview Tut)

When you select this puzzle type for the first time, a default list of words is shown, and the preview shows an image using the first word. What you see here is a good first draft of your puzzle. You can replace the list of words with your own, or select a word list (txt) file with the words.

You can customize the Just Five Words puzzles in several ways:

Word List: you can add additional text to the word list. In the example you can see "word:description", additional options can be found here: Word List Format for Word Puzzles;
Settings: Configure the puzzle options, including word list settings
Styling: Styling options are covered below;
Image: In addition to the 'standard' puzzle output, you can also create images/memes for social media or activity books. This is described in a separate tutorial: How to create Images/Memes for Word Puzzles;

Generating Just Five Words Puzzles

The total number of Just Five Words puzzles can be set ("Quantity"), but most of the time you'll want to generate puzzles for the entire word list ("Entire List"). Make sure that the total number of words in the word list is a multiple of the number of words per image. For example, with the default 5 words per image, you'll want 45 or 50 words in the word list. With only 47 words in the word list, the final puzzle would have only 2 words.

The puzzles will always be generated as a JPG/PNG image. To add a title and/or watermark (url) to the image, see How to create Images

Settings

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/NxytuaOn3z/Just%20Five%20Words%20-%20Settings.png (Just Five Words - Settings (1).png)

Puzzle Settings: The number of words for each puzzle. This has a limited range because this puzzle type doesn't work well with too many words
Word List Randomisation: Randomise the order in which the words are placed in the puzzles, or the way in which different sets of words are processed. This way you can get many different puzzles from a single word list

Styling

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/gv3nMKIk7q/Just%20Five%20Words%20-%20Styling.png (Just Five Words - Styling (1).png)

You can set your own style for Just Five Words puzzles:

Font Styling - Select the font, positioning and relative size of the font
The placeholders for the letters - use an underscore, period or a custom letter, or even a square box for each letter in a custom color
Puzzle Alignment - place the words left or right, and aligned to top or bottom
Image Styling - This can be set on the Images tab (see also: How to create Images Word Puzzles)
Instant Puzzle Books - additional Styling and layout options for Instant Puzzle Books can be customized using the Time Saver options. If you don't have the Time Saver, default options will be used.

Letters

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/G2UnEe12XP/Just%20Five%20Words%20-%20Letters.png (Just Five Words - Letters)

You can select how many lines of letters you want - this way you can customise the styling if you have very short words or very long words. For most 5-word puzzles, 4 will be a good layout option.

You can also choose to have the letters aligned to the top of the image, and set the percentage of space for the letters. By default this is set to 25% of the total area for the puzzle.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/sNGsieO0Nj/Just%20Five%20Words%20-%20Letters%202.png (Just Five Words - Letters 2)

Image

Using the "Use Image Settings" on the "Output Settings" tab, you can automatically add a title, description and watermark to each puzzle.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/NnkjFncDvT/Just%20Five%20Words%20-%20Image.png (Just Five Words - Image)

In the example we've added a description "You must use all the letters" as an instruction for the puzzle. You can change the layout, colors, fonts, and the watermark (the url at the bottom).

Creating Images/Memes

In addition to the text output that's used for Instant Puzzle Books, there's also an option to directly create Images for your puzzle words. To do this, select the "Images/Memes" tab.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/S1GQqhqTLa/Images-Memes.png (Images-Memes)

This is an easy way to create simple puzzle images that can be used on social media or elsewhere. (For more advanced images, use the CSV output and your favorite editing software).

The options you have here:

Click "Create Images" to automatically generated these images when you create puzzles.
The Description or Title can be printed at the top. You can switch this off. If there's a description for the word, that will be used. Otherwise, the title for the set of words will be used. If neither is available, the Description will be left blank.
You can select the background color or keep it transparent. If the background color is transparent, you can layer it with other images in your favorite editing software, or use the background images feature in Puzzle Maker Pro: Output Settings -> Background Images tab).
You can set the border width and color.
For social media posts, you can add your own watermark text. if you don't need this, switch it off. (Unless you want to print "www.BookPublisherTools.com" on all your images.

The settings from this tab will also be used for the puzzle preview image when you click "Next Preview".

Puzzle Maker Pro - Word Guess

This tutorial applies to Word Guess

The add-on "Time Saver for Word Puzzles" adds additional options for puzzle generation and Instant Puzzle Book layout.

Word Guess Explained

Word Guess, also known as Guess the Word, is a word puzzle where some letters of the word are shown as clues. The other letters have to be guessed. This format is known to be used in tv quizzes, but it's also apparent in crossword puzzles, where some letters of a word have already been solved.

In Puzzle Maker Pro - Word Guess, there are some basic rules that are applied for encoding words and phrases:

Letters in a word are changed by placeholders, except for a number of clues. For example: Sudoku may result in _ U _ _ _ U,
Each word in a phrase is changed separately,
Spaces, punctuation marks and other special characters are not scrambled,

Word Guess puzzles require a description or category to be available for each word, which is an additional clue.

Word Guess Overview

To use Word Guess, 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/Ipq26ikqB4/Word%20Guess%20Overview.png (Word Guess Overview)

When you select this puzzle type for the first time, a default list of words is shown, and the preview shows an image using the first word.

In addition to the 'basic' word guess functionality this module has quite a few options:

Word List: you can add additional text to the word list. In the example you can see "word:description", additional options can be found here: Word List Format for Word Puzzles;
Algorithm: You can specify how many and which letters are hidden (see below)
Styling: Styling options are covered below;
Image Output: In addition to the 'standard' text output, you can also create images/memes for social media or activity books. This is described in a separate tutorial: How to create Images/Memes for Word Puzzles;

Generating Word Guess Puzzles

The total number of Word Guess puzzles can be set ("Quantity"), or you can use the entire word list ("Entire List").

When generating Word Guess Puzzles, and when generating a new preview (click Next Preview), a meme style image is shown as a preview. You can configure and style these images using the Images/Meme tab.

Hoewever, for Instant Puzzle Books, the images are not used, but instead the text output is used. That means you do not need to create the image output for your Instant Puzzle Books.

The text output consists of a TXT file and a CSV file, see also "Text Output for Word Puzzles". The CSV file can (for example) be used in Canva Pro to quickly generate images (in addition to the built-in Images/Memes option).

A default layout for Instant Puzzle Books will be used (just click "Create" to see this). With the Time Saver add-on, you can adjust the layout, using columns and customize other layout options.

Algorithm

You can control how many and which letters are hidden:

Select the Number of Clues - 1/2 means every 1 out of 2 letters will be hidden. The labels Easy, Normal and Tough are just a rule of thumb, not a fixed rule;
You can configure which letters will always be hidden. In other words: which letters will noet be used as clues. To do this, click the 'Do Not Show Vowels as Clues" option. (Note: even though it says "Vowels", you can choose any set of letters you want.

Styling

Styling the puzzles and puzzle books for Word Guess can be configured in several places:

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.

For the Instant Puzzle Books you can set the exact font size.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/umTwRURKAG/Fixed%20Font%20Size.png (Fixed Font Size)

For Images/Memes the font size is determined automatically, since this will vary depending on the image size (the number of pixels).

Letter Replacement

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/1ezyojtN5L/Word%20Guess%20Styling.png (Word Guess Styling)

How to use Puzzle Maker Pro - Picture Cryptograms

How to use Puzzle Maker Pro - Just Five Words

How to use Puzzle Maker Pro - Secret Word Grid (Video Tutorial)

Creating Images for Word Puzzles

How to Create Word Guess puzzles with Puzzle Maker Pro