Question 1

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

Accepted Answer

Adding Shapes

Adding and configuring shapes in Geometric String Art Designer is done in 4 steps:

Add the shape to the canvas
Set the size and position of the shape
Adjust the size and position of the shape with pixel-precision
Set up the Segments for the shape

Step 1 - Add the Shape

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/EgKN5ncEFk/String%20Art%20Designer%20Overview%20Shape%201.jpg (String Art Designer Overview Shape 1)

To add shapes to your design, go to the "Shape" tab (1) and click "New Shape" (3). This will display a pop-up menu where you can select the shape you want: Line, Circle, Triangle, Square or Polygon (5 to 10 edges). Click to select the shape you want.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/53aTUk3Hiu/String%20Art%20Designer%20-%20New%20Shape%20Options.jpg (String Art Designer - New Shape Options)

Note: to edit any of the shapes you've added, use the shape selection dropdown menu (2).

The shape will have standard size and position, but this is easy to change in step 2.

Step 2 - Set Size and Position

On the "Easy" tab (5) you can set the size of the position with just a few button clicks. You can separately set the height and width (6). The buttons indicate sizes based on the current canvas size and margins: "Full Width" means the maximum size within the margins.

You can also quickly set the position using the "Easy Position" buttons (7). In many cases, this is all you need to do to get the shape sized and positioned correctly. If you need more control, go to step 3.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/XItrzBUBj7/String%20Art%20Designer%20-%20New%20Shape%20Top%20Right.jpg (String Art Designer - New Shape Top Right)

The screenshot shows an example where the width and height have been set to one third of the maximal width and height, and the shape has been positioned in the top right of the canvas (within the margins).

Step 3 - Adjust Size and Position

On the "Main" tab you can find settings to further adjust the size and position.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/8SVsEt8PS0/String%20Art%20Designer%20-%20Shape%20Details.jpg (String Art Designer - Shape Details)

You can choose between centimeters, inches, pixels or a percentage, to set the position and size of the shape. This will apply to all the size and position settings in the software.
You can set the horizontal/vertical position in detail, as well as the width/height of the shape. Optionally you can lock the Aspect Ratio, which means that the relative height/width proportion of the shape will not change.
An additional option, is to drag the mouse over the canvas to set the size and position of the shape. Just click this checkbox, then click and drag the mouse over the canvas, and let go of the mouse-button. This will work just once (unless you click the checkbox again), the normal behaviour of the mouse-buttons and mouse-wheel is to zoom and drag the entire image.
You can also rotate the shapes. This will give an additional complexity to the strings that are drawn between separate shapes.

Note: You can also change these settings after you've set up one or more connections. This will let you see immediately what the effect of the changes is.

Step 4 - Set up the Segments

There are three options to add segments to the shapes. Segments are used to connect the different shapes. Read more in the Glossary of Shapes and Segments.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/OSan2Bfasr/String%20Art%20Designer%20Polygon%20Segments.jpg (String Art Designer Polygon Segments)

Use the "Segments" tab to choose which segments you want to use. Full, Quarters or Eights. It's best to only select the set you need - selecting the right one later on is easier when you have less clutter.

Pins

The string between two segments are connected to the pins of each segment. Pin 1 to pin 1, pin 2 to pin 2, etc. Therefore it's important to set the number of pins for each segment properly.

If the number of pins of both segments is not identical, the software will connect multiple pins from one segment to a single pin on the other segment.

You can also set the number of pins for a segment to 1 or 2, for special effects.

Cloning Shapes

If you have a shape set up just right, and want to create identical copies, use the "Clone" button at the bottom. This will create an identical shape, with a different name, and the same size, position and segment settings.

Deleting Shapes

To delete a shape, first select it on the "Shape" tab, then click the "Delete" button at the bottom

Geometric String Art Designer

Introduction

Geometric String Art Designer (GSAD) is a tool to help you design string art creations. You can use this to:

Create your own unique designs
Analyse existing designs, without having to re-create it with pins and string
Create drawing images or coloring images

Tutorial Overview

The tutorials for GSAD have been split into different topics:

Overview and Design Approach

For Geometric String Art Designer, or GSAD, we developed a specific approach that will allow for a lot of flexibility when creating your design:

You can add different "shapes" to the canvas, such as squares, circles, polygons and lines.

Each shape has a number of "Segments", e.g. for a square you have the top, left, bottom and right.

In most cases each segment is split into two further (smaller) segments.

To add a string, you can add a connection between two segments. The following screenshot illustrates this:

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

In this image a square shape is used ("Square (1)"). Of this shape, the segments "Top" and "Left" are connected, resulting in the purple lines (the 'connection'). At the right of the screenshot you can see how the connection can be found in the list (or dropdown menu): "Square (1) Top - Square (1) Left".

Creating a design with GSAD means you have to add shapes, and then select the scale and position of the shape, define the segments for each shape, and finally add connections. These steps will be explained in detail in separate tutorials.

If you prefer to learn by doing, instead of reading, you can also:

Click the "Demo" button and then look at the tabs for Shape and Connection, and make changes, or
Go to the Shape tab, and click "New Shape", and add one or more shapes.

You can also go to Glossary of Shapes and Segments and read more about the shapes and segments.

Preview and Export

The goal of creating a design in Geometric String Art Designer is to have an image of your design.

Canvas Size

On the "Settings" -> "Canvas Size" tab you can set the details for your canvas:

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

Trim Size: the size of your image in centimeters, inches or pixels (internally it will be calculated in pixels, because that's how the size of JPG and PNG images is determined).
DPI: Dots Per Inch. If you plan to use the images in books for KDP (or elsewhere) where commercial print settings are required, choose 300 DPI. Otherwise you can choose 72 DPI, which is still good for display and web use.
Margins - set margins that will be kept empty
"Check Page Boundaries" - this will always make sure that shapes are drawn within the margins. If you uncheck this, you can move shapes partly outside the canvas as well.

Save Project

Always save your project before exiting the software or resetting the design. This can be done at the top right (similar to the Preset options in Puzzle Maker Pro).

Just type the name, and click the "Save" icon.

Preview Options

Geometric String Art Designer has separate settings for the Preview and for Export. While previewing you'll probably want to see the shapes and margins, which you may not want to include in an export.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/rqFOXzv0J5/String%20Art%20Designer%20-%20Preview%20Settings.jpg (String Art Designer - Preview Settings)

You can set the preview options on the "Settings" -> "Preview" tab. Current options are:

Draw Shapes
Draw Pins
Draw Strings

The margin will always be shown in the preview.

Export Options

Select the "Export" tab to set the export options:

Include Shape Outlines - whether or not to print the shapes.
Include Pins - for string art designs you'll need to print the pins. However, if you want to print the image as geometric art, you don't need the pins
Include Margin Lines - Usually not needed, but it's available, just in case
Include Strings - Usually this will be included, but if you want to create 'pin art', you can omit the strings.
Project Name
File format - PNG, JPG or Transparent PNG

Export

To export your image, click the Export button at the bottom. This will use the current Export settings. You can select (or create) the folder where the file will be saved, and you can change the filename as well.

Scrunched display

For older plugins (or plugins by other developers) you may have seen a strange, "scrunched", display.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/TQP6uCGf7O/Add-In%20Scrunched%202.png (Add-In Scrunched 2.png)

The cause of this is the way Windows handles fonts – You can instruct windows to scale the display of fonts and apps. For example if you have small laptop display with a HD screen, you would have very small pixels, and all the text on that display would be tiny. Windows added an option to scale it up by e.g. 150%, making it easier to read.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/LO0paMdRKp/Add-In%20Windows%20Scaling.png (Add-In Windows Scaling.png)

The result after changing this 'scale' value:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/nyYLLZu6Cl/Add-In%20Scrunch%20Fixed%202.png (Add-In Scrunch Fixed 2.png)

Note: You can also change this setting when the plugin fields seem to be shown too wide (with too much space in between)

Setting it to 100% will fix the problem, although you may need to restart Powerpoint to make it work. In addition to that, please report it to your seller or to our helpdesk and we’ll fix it.

Not all parts of the plugin are visible

First of all, we've added scrollbars to all BookPublisherTools plugins. That should make sure you can reach all the fields vertically.

Horizontally, you can make the plugin panel larger or smaller: Move the mouse (without clicking) over the left edge of the plugin panel. At a certain point the mouse cursor should change into a double-headed arrow. At that point you can press the left mouse-button and drag the panel edge to the left or right, to change the size.

Question 7

How to use the Zoom function in POD Graphics Maker or Puzzle Maker Pro

Accepted Answer

This Youtube tutorial shows how to use the zoom function in the preview window in POD Graphics Maker.

The same options are available in the Puzzle Maker Pro preview window.

Question 8

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

Accepted Answer

With the Time Saver Add-On for Mazes 3D Isometric you can create your mazes faster, and you can use additional layout options for the Instant Puzzle Books.

Batch Creation of puzzles

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/QbLhIrYcvn/Mazes%203D%20Isometric%20Time%20Saver.jpg (Mazes 3D Isometric Time Saver)

Here you see the following options:

The row with all the options. If you select Time Saver, you'll see this screen.
"Use Time Saver to generate Puzzles". Make sure this checkbox is checked if you want to use the time saver. You can tell it's active if the bottom shows "Create (TS)".
The Time Saver menu. Add new categories of puzzles, different grid types, and change the cube sizes and amounts of cubes.
Add row. With this you can add more kinds of puzzles to be generated.

You can quickly add rows with your preferred settings by changing the values at the top of the "Grid Setup" area, and then click Add Row. This will add one row to the table with the settings you selected.

You can also edit the values in the table: For the Grid Type and Path Type columns, you can click the downward arrow to select a different type. For the number columns, just click the value you want to change, and you'll be able to edit it.

Note: To use the Custom Height Maps or the Manual Start/End points, you'll have to use the "Preset Puzzles" tab, these options cannot be set with the "Fast" option.

Question 9

How to create Basket Weave Mazes with Puzzle Maker Pro - Mazes 2D Bricks

Accepted Answer

How to create Basket Weave Mazes with Puzzle Maker Pro - Mazes 2D Bricks

This tutorial applies to Puzzle Maker Pro - Mazes 2D Patchwork Bricks.

The tutorial "How to use Mazes 2D Squares" describes how to use the generic options for Mazes 2D.

The module Mazes 2D Bricks for Puzzle Maker Pro contains two maze puzzle types:

Patchwork Bricks, and
Patchwork Basket Weave

This tutorial focuses on Patchwork Basket Weave

Mazes 2D Patchwork Basket Weave lets you design your own maze using the Basket Weave pattern. You can customize the size of the basket, and there are quite a few colorization options, resulting in a more playful (or artistically fulfilling) maze.

The module includes

1 Basket Weave pattern in 8 sizes (2 to 9 bricks/cells per tile)
5 colorization options, and color randomization control

In addition to the Basket Weave options, this module includes the 'standard' maze generation and style options in the Puzzle Maker Pro - Mazes 2D collection.

Note: The Masks Add-On is not available for this module.

Creating Patchwork Basket Weave mazes

Select Mazes 2D in the main Puzzle Type dropdown menu, then select Patchwork Basket Weave in the (maze) Type dropdown menu. Click "Next Preview" to quickly get a first impression. (Changing settings does not automatically create a new preview, because you may want to change multiple settings, and the mazes, especially at larger sizes, may take some time to generate).

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/InjoZEAcpz/Patchwork%20Basket%20Weave%20Overview.png (Patchwork Basket Weave Overview)

On the special Basket Weave tab, you can see four groups of settings

Select the size (number of bricks) for each tile,
Select the Color Style and Accent Color
Select the Accent Color for Color Style 1
Select the Randomization Style for Color Styles 2 and 4

Basket Weave Steps

The number of Steps determines the number of bricks in each 'tile'. You can select a number between 2 and 9, resulting in 2 to 9 bricks horizontally in the first tile, and 2 to 9 bricks vertically in the second tile, etc.

Please be aware that larger tiles (e.g. Steps 7,8,9) will result in mazes that take less steps to solve (because the cells are larger).

In the screenshot above you can see a 20 x 20 grid, using tiles with 3 bricks each. At the right side and at the bottom, you can see that some of the tiles are cut off. That's because 20 is not a multiple of 18. You'll see 6 full tiles and 2 thirds of the tiles at the right and at the bottom.

To prevent this, you can use the option "Full Tiles Only", that will use the largest number of tiles possible without cropping any of them.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/bUaHpvv7WJ/Patchwork%20Basket%20Weave%20Full%20Tiles%20Only.png (Patchwork Basket Weave Full Tiles Only)

Basket Weave Colorization

There are 5 colorization options for Basket Weave mazes:

None - no additional colors will be applied
Bricks - Color Range: A custom color range will be calculated (see below). Brick 1 in each tile gets Accent Color 1, the last brick gets Accent Color 2, and each brick in between gets a color 'between' the other two
Bricks - Random Colors: Each brick gets a random color, but bricks in the same position will get the same color
Tiles - Checkerboard: Every other tile will be colored with the Accent Color, creating a checkerboard pattern
Tiles - Random Colors: Each tile will get a randomized color. Some tiles may get the same color

Color Range

The Color Range option used the two colors Accent Color and Accent Color 2, and will calculate steps between the RGB values of these colors. Let's say Accent Color = RGB (255,20,0) and Accent Color 2 = RGB (255,162,154). When there are three bricks in each tile (Steps = 3), the middle tile will get the 'averaged' color RgB (255, 91, 77). 91 is exactly in the middle between 20 and 91, 77 if exactly in the middle between 0 and 154.

This brief explanation is just to get a feel for it. It's best to play with the colors and find results that appeal to you. This mechanisme will work with grayscale colors as well.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/sof2BqySIP/Patchwork%20Basket%20Weave%20Color%20Range.png (Patchwork Basket Weave Color Range)

Random Colors

For random colors, a new color is selected 'near' Accent Color. The "Randomization Range" slider determines the maximum percentage that the new color can be changed from the Accent Color. When you use bricks with random colors, Brick 1 in each tile will always get the same color, etc.

When you select Tiles with Random Colors, each tile (the bricks in each tile) will get a different random color.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/MBYGaDjcFI/Patchwork%20Basket%20Weave%20Random%20Colors.png (Patchwork Basket Weave Random Colors)

That's all... it's a Basket Weave is a simple pattern, that gets a unique look and feel with the colorization options.

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

How to get started with Geometric String Art Designer

How to Preview and Export in Geometric String Art Designer

How to create Lombart style patterns with POD Graphics Maker

How to create Squares patterns with POD Graphics Maker

How to fix display issues for Powerpoint plugins

How to use the Zoom function in POD Graphics Maker or Puzzle Maker Pro

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

How to create Basket Weave Mazes with Puzzle Maker Pro - Mazes 2D Bricks

How can I create Voronoi mazes with Puzzle Maker Pro - Mazes 2D Random Mazes?