Question 1

How to create a 'Simple Shapes' style pattern with POD Graphics Maker

Accepted Answer

This Youtube tutorial shows how to create Simple Shapes style patterns with POD Graphics Maker.

Pattern 04-2 - Simple Shapes is part of POD Graphics Maker XL Edition and Expansion Pack 04

Warning: When you open this pattern, it may seem as if it's not working - the pattern depends on color settings, and will default to white if colors are not set.

Question 2

How to Limit the number of words in a Word Search puzzle

Accepted Answer

Welcome to the tutorial on how to limit the amount of words in Puzzle Maker Pro Word Search.

These options are available in all versions of Word Search.

Limiting the Amount of Words

By default Word Search will try to fit as many words as possible in a grid.

However, it is possible to limit the amount of words, so there is more 'noise', and fewer words in a puzzle.

Puzzle Maker Pro – Word Search will allow you to set the number of words to unlimited (so, as many as possible), or to a certain limit.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/HSoTjmrD85/Word%20Search%20Limiting%20the%20amount%20of%20words.jpg (Word Search Limiting the amount of words)

Please be aware that this is a maximum number. Depending on the grid size, number of words, and word length, it may occur that fewer words end up in the puzzle.

Create Isometric Mazes with Mazes 2D Tiles

In this tutorial we’ll show you how to create isometric mazes with Puzzle Maker Pro – Mazes 2D Tiles. We recommend you start by reading Getting Started with Mazes 2D tiles, so you understand the basics of this program.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/HvD7TPK5AE/Mazes-2D-Tiles-Isometric-Mazes-Steps.jpg (Mazes-2D-Tiles-Isometric-Mazes-Steps)

First Steps

To create an isometric maze, select “Isometric – Classic” from the Grid Type dropdown menu. You’ll see a preview of the maze, using the current settings (1)

To use your own tiles, click “Browse” (2). To select a folder, just select one of the images in that folder, and click “Open”. That will select the entire folder, not just the single image.

If the preview panel is not centered, you can do so by moving the mouse wheel when you hover over the image.

Isometric - Full Square

The diamond shaped maze is what we call the ‘Classic’ variation of isometric. This is the isometric style you often see in video games. However, we also offer the option to fill the entire canvas with isometric squares. This option is called "Isometric - Full Square". This will add more cells to create a square maze, as seen in the picture below. We also recommend this option if you want to work with masks. Below is an example of a maze generated with the Isometric Full Square option selected.

Creating and Using your own tiles

It is possible to use your own tiles for Mazes 2D Tiles. You can find this information at Mazes 2D Tile Format and Naming Conventions.

Making isometric tiles yourself sounds more difficult than it really is. There are multiple ways you can go about it:

You can use regular square tiles, and our Tile Multiplier Add-On. With this method, you will only really need 5 or 6 square tiles for the maze, and two additional images for a start and end point. This can even be done in powerpoint if you don't have Photoshop or equivalent. Here is a video on How to Create Square Tiles with MS Powerpoint. Do note that while the tile multiplier will rotate images for you, it does not add the suggested depth shown in the example images on this page.
You can draw the isometric tiles yourself. We have tutorials on how to do this in Adobe Illustrator, but this can be done in other graphic programs as well. A Video on making Isometric Tiles with Adobe Illustrator, The Text for making Isometric Tiles with Adobe Illustrator
Last but not least, you can find isometric tiles on the web. There are both free and paid options available, although most free sets seem to only be available in 32 or 64 pixels. Depending on your maze and your image settings, this could lead to a blurry final maze. An example of other tiles can be seen below:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/FaHK2YMRM4/Mazes-2D-Tiles-Kenney-Roads-example-1024x545.jpg (Mazes-2D-Tiles-Kenney-Roads-example-1024x545)

Isometric maze using public domain tiles (Tiles downloaded from https://opengameart.org/users/kenney)

As you can see in the image, there are some 'holes' in the maze. We have selected 10 Empty Cells, and because there is no '0' image, which would be an image with 0 connections to the tiles surrounding it, these are left empty. This can result in a 3D effect when you use isometric tiles.

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

Sudoku

Word Search

Generic FAQ's

Drag and Drop Images

Color and Font Selection

Mask Editor

Question 6

How to Use the Paths Add-On for Mazes 3D Isometric

Accepted Answer

With the Paths Add-On you can set the width of the path through the maze. By default the path width is 100% of the cell (cube) width, but setting it smaller (to 30-40%) will result in a maze that looks completely different.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/ymJ6nXgYQZ/Path%20Add-On%20Panel%20Screenshot.jpg (Path Add-On Panel Screenshot.jpg)

In the Path Options tab you can set the width of the path as a percentage of the width of each cell. You can also set the color of the path, and set additional colors for the path when it's on one of the vertical surfaces.

Some examples:

Flat Maze Path Examples

Flat maze with 100% path:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/EFvTcI6Fux/Flat%20Maze%20with%20100%20pct%20path.png (Flat Maze with 100 pct path.png)

Flat Maze with 30% path:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/MxvQpq2MsE/Flat%20Maze%20with%2030%20pct%20path.png (Flat Maze with 30 pct path.png)

White Random Maze Path Examples

Random Maze with 100% path:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/bEVcQaKVTC/Random%20Maze%20with%20100%20pct%20path.png (Random Maze with 100 pct path.png)

Random Maze with 30 pct path:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/enBrQjDPCl/Random%20Maze%20with%2030%20pct%20path.png (Random Maze with 30 pct path.png)

Colored Random Maze Path Examples

Gray Surface Gray path:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/xY5fvd56mk/Gray%20Surface%20White%20path.png (Gray Surface White path.png)

Blue Surface White Path:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/vHbFQtlEt6/Blue%20Surface%20White%20Path.png (Blue Surface White Path.png)

Mazes with Colored Path Examples

White Surface with Colored Path:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/8n5v2JsTwJ/White%20Surface%20blue%20path.png (White Surface blue path.png)

Colored Surface and Path:

Question 7

Creating Isometric Tiles with Adobe Illustrator (Video)

Accepted Answer

This video demonstrates how to transform a square tile into an isometric tile in Adobe Illustrator. Of course there are many ways to do this, and you can do this in most drawing and image editing programs.

When you use the Tile Multiplier, you only need to draw some square tiles. However, if you create your own isometric tiles, you’ll be able to add unique features, such as building or symbols that stick out at the top of the tile, overlapping with other tiles. Mazes 2D Tiles makes it easy and fun to experiment, creating a tile at a time and check how it looks in a maze.

Question 8

Getting Started with Puzzle Maker Pro - Sudoku

Accepted Answer

This tutorial will show a quick overview of what you can do with Puzzle Maker Pro - Sudoku. The information here applies to the following versions of sudoku:

What is a Sudoku

Of course, if you're here, you probably already know what a Sudoku is. In case you're not familiar, a standard sudoku is done on a 9x9 grid. The goal is to fill in the numbers 1-9, so they only appear once in each row, column, and 3x3 grid.

Simple, right?

In our Sudoku module, we have different difficulty levels. It goes from level 1, Very Easy, all the way to level 7, Extreme. These are the most commonly used difficulties for sudokus. We also have a separate tutorial explaining how sudoku difficulty levels work.

And, as you could see above, sudokus do exist in different sizes and variations too. Some variations have overlapping sudokus, so you have to solve two or more at the same time. Some are smaller, like our Kids Edition that only uses 4x4 and 6x6 squares.

If that sounds like a lot, don't worry, the software will do most of the work for you. So let's see how the software actually works.

How to use Puzzle Maker Pro - Sudoku

After you've opened the software and validated your licence, you will see the following screen:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/0i6k678oPL/Sudoku%20Basics.jpg (Sudoku Basics)

Let's go over the options you see here.

The preview window. Here you will always see one preview of a sudoku with the selected settings.
"What to Generate?". Depending on the sudoku modules you own, several options appear here. You can choose the size of the sudoku, from a size as small as 4x4, to the maximum of 25x25. You can select the variation. If you only own the standard sudoku licence, that's all you'll have, but above you can see a list of all the variations we have. You can also select the difficulty, anywhere between level 1 and level 7, and you can select the amount of sudokus that have to be generated.
The Styling options. You can select a font to use, the colour for the solution and the puzzle (as you'll usually print in black and white, both are on a grayscale as standard option), the canvas colours, line width and colour... basically everything you need to make a sudoku look unique to you.
The create button. Press here to generate the sudokus you have set up.

Introduction

Crossword Variations is our collection of all puzzles based on the crosswords format. There are many types of crossword variations:

Words placed in a grid or free format, that have to be guessed from given clues
Secret Word puzzles, which have additional hints and/or secret words
Cryptic puzzles where the clues are cryptic instead of straightforward

This tutorial provides an overview of all the options and features in the Crossword Variations module, that you can use to create unique puzzles that attract attention and stand out. (Or even boring, run-of-the-mill puzzles, if you desire).

There are additional tutorials for the specific puzzle types as well, that build on this main overview.

Criss Cross
Secret Word Column
Secret Word Grid
Secret Word Criss Cross

Crossword Variations Overview

When you select CrossWord Variations in the main menu, you'll see a window like this:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/Vi6dajW6uc/Crossword-Variations-Overview.png (Crossword-Variations-Overview)

Select Puzzle Type "Crossword Variations", or select any of the crossword variations in the "Word Puzzles" menu
There are many different options for Crossword Variations puzzles. You can click on each button to show additional settings
The word list that is currently used
A preview of the most recently generated puzzle
Buttons to create (and save) a new puzzle, or generate a new preview with the current puzzle settings
Switch between puzzle and solution preview. By default it's set to Preview Solution

Note: for all puzzle types, the shape and layout of the puzzle will be heavily influenced by your word list. A mix of very long and very short words will usually result in oddly shaped and irregular puzzles.

Words

With Crossword Variations you can and have to use your own word lists. When you start this module the first time, a short word list is shown, to make it easier for you to play with the settings and get some fast results.

You can choose to provide a complete word list with clues (word descriptions) and other information, or to provide only a list of words without any other information, and use the integrated dictionary and editing system to add missing information.

Word Lists

A word list can be anything from just a list of words, to a list of words with word descriptions (used as clues) and other information. A full description and specification of the word list options can be found here: Word Lists for Crossword Variations

Word List Summary

Word : Clue - On each line, type a word and add the clue (description) separated by a colon ":". You can type multiple clues for each word, the generator will select a random clues for each puzzle
#title:title - you can add a title for the puzzle. This can appear in the puzzle book (depending on your settings) or in the puzzle image
#description:description
#secret:word:clue - use the tag "#secret" to specify the secret word for your puzzle

Word Settings

You can control how your word list is used to create puzzles on the "Settings" tab:

Word List Control: Use the word list only once, reset the word list for each new puzzle, or reset the word list only after all words have been used. Each puzzle will use randomly chosen words from the word list, even with a word list of only 20 or 30 words, you can create almost unlimited puzzles.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/zB0dWZ76G9/Crossword-Variations-Word-Settings.png (Crossword-Variations-Word-Settings)

Automatically remove characters / letters from your words. For example, you may want to remove all the spaces or hyphens from the words. For example, if the word list contains the word "word search", the puzzle would use "wordsearch". This setting is now available on the main Dictionary tab (to ensure consistency for all puzzles).

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/Z0hP14XzUQ/Puzzle%20Maker%20Pro%20-%20Letter%20Settings.png (Puzzle Maker Pro - Letter Settings)

You can also set the minimum and maximum number of words for a puzzle. When there are less than the minimum number of words in your word list, no puzzle will be created. For some crossword variations this option may have a slightly different function (which is detailed in the corresponding tutorials). For some puzzles you can "Minimize Word Count" or "Maximize Word Count", this will use as few or many words possible to cover the secret word and use the available grid space.

Dictionary

You can use the integrated dictionary to speed up your puzzle creation, and inspire your creativity as well. This dictionary is mostly AI generated, for the English language. That means it can really speed up your workflow, but it's also best to always verify the results that are provided. You can enable this dictionary on the main "Dictionary" tab.

Additionally you can use your own word list / dictionary file and even add a custom word list to save all the changes you make.

Letter Hints Options

There are two tabs in the puzzle settings that are used for some puzzles only:

Hints - These settings are used for secret word and letter hints puzzles only (e.g. not for the regular Criss Cross or Word Spiral puzzles)
Variation - This tab can contain custom settings for specific puzzles (e.g. Secret Word Grid). Otherwise a message "No Additional Settings for this puzzle type" is shown.

Hints tab

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/JyFzJe2f9s/Crossword-Variations-Hints-tab.png (Crossword-Variations-Hints-tab)

Choose between Secret Word or Alphabet hints. You cannot use both at the same time.
The secret word or phrase will be shown at the bottom of the puzzle (2)
You can specify which secret word to use by using the "#secret" tag in the word list, e.g. "#secret: orange : color". The other option is to randomly select a word from your word list to use as the secret word.
Minimum Matching Letters: You can choose to add only words that have 2 or more letters in common with the secret word or phrase. By setting this to '1', only one matching letter is needed. This value influences the number of hints that can be shown in the puzzle. This option is only applied when you use a secret word.
You can customise how many hints are shown for each letter. For example, if you set this to 3, the first letter of a secret word will only have 3 hints, the second letter will also have 3 hints (if possible). When you use Letter Hints, each letter (e.g. "A", "B" or "C") will only get 3 hints. This settings influences the difficulty of the puzzle.

Grid Settings

In Puzzle Maker Pro, puzzle images are generated with a consistent size, to make sure the puzzles can easily be used together in a puzzle book. In some cases this may seem counterintuitive.

Especially for crossword variations generated from your own word lists, which differently sized words, randomly generated puzzles, and optionally secret words or phrases that can have different lengths, it takes some steps to guarantee that the puzzles in your puzzle books will have consistent font sizes. Therefore we've added the "Fixed / Maximum Grid Settings". You can (and should) customise these settings to get the exact output you need. (And, honestly, it's best to just play with these settings and preview the puzzles to see what works best for your current project).

Crossword Variations - Criss Cross Grid 1

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/ZcSxJMBEvl/Crossword%20Variations%20-%20Criss%20Cross%20Grid%201.png (Crossword Variations - Criss Cross Grid 20x20)

Set the maximum grid size you need. If this is fixed, it will also determine the font size. Padding may occur, since crossword puzzles are created randomly and the exact size and shape depends on your word list
Dynamic size - The grid size will be used as a maximum size, and empty rows and columns will be removed before printing the puzzle.
Align the puzzle in the fixed grid. Especially with a fixed grid size, if the actual puzzle is smaller than the grid size, it can be aligned or centered horizontally or vertically.

The screenshot below shows a completely different grid size, used with the 'social media' image settings to add a title, description and watermark to the generated puzzle image:

Crossword Variations - Criss Cross Grid 10x25.png

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/MTM5yNKBuA/Crossword%20Variations%20-%20Criss%20Cross%20Grid%202.png (Crossword Variations - Criss Cross Grid 10x25)

Styling

The style options can be found on the Style 1 and Style 2 tabs. (The small size of the tabs is to accomodate users who work on a laptop).

Style 1 tab

The first Style tab includes the options for the main puzzle styling settings. In the screenshot you can see a custom font and blue'ish colors:

Crossword Variations - Style 1

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/qOrJ9P3wDZ/Crossword%20Variations%20-%20Style%201.png (Crossword Variations - Style 1 tab)

You can set the font, font color and other font settings, the cell colors, additional colors for accented cells (for example in Acrostic Column), and the lines between cells and the outer border lines.

Style 2 tab

The second style tab has the style settings for the puzzle numbers:

Crossword Variations - Style 2

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/WgAfN0cAWf/Crossword%20Variations%20-%20Style%202.png (Crossword Variations - Style 2)

Here you can choose between small word numbers in each cell, or separate word numbers as an additional square in the puzzle (as in the screenshot). You can also choose to use letters instead of numbers, and of course you can set the font and font color for the word numbers.

Clues Settings

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/5fv86ppDeT/AC%20-%20Clues%20tab.png (AC - Clues tab)

You can choose to use the classic clue output, which will be printed only in the Instant Puzzle Books (PDF or Powerpoint) or the new 'In Image' output, which is shown in the screenshot.
When you print the clues in the image, you can set the position and number of columns. Additionally you can set how much space the puzzle should take. The best value for this space allocation depends on the words you are using, it's best to play with this value, and the number of Clue Columns, and generate previews to see what looks best.
Two additional Clue Style options are available: "Word Fill" - A list of words is added, instead of the hints. The goal is to find the right positions for the words. "Word Scramble" - Instead of the clues, a random scramble of the words will be shown
For Acrostic puzzles, the Clue Headings are only used for "Word Fill", in which case the "Word Fill Title" can be set

Image and Output Options

In addition to 'clean' images that only contain the puzzles or solutions, you can also create images that have a title, description and watermark. These images can easily be used on social media, for advertising or as printables.

A full tutorial can be found here: (Social Media) Image Settings

How to create a 'Simple Shapes' style pattern with POD Graphics Maker

How to Limit the number of words in a Word Search puzzle

Getting started with Puzzle Maker Pro - Connect the Dots

Create Isometric Mazes with Mazes 2D Tiles

Puzzle Maker Pro - Tutorial Overview

How to Use the Paths Add-On for Mazes 3D Isometric

Creating Isometric Tiles with Adobe Illustrator (Video)

Getting Started with Puzzle Maker Pro - Sudoku

How to create Crossword Variations with Puzzle Maker Pro

Generate Isometric Tiles from your Square Tiles (Video)