Question 1

Using the Mask Editor for Mazes 2D Tiles

Accepted Answer

With the Masks Add-On for Mazes 2D Tiles you can create mazes in any shape you want.

This add-on supports three separate styles of mask creation:

Quick Masks
Creating Masks using a silhouette
Creating Masks Manually

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/Qfqz8VYNDP/Masks%20add-on%20tab%20page.jpg (Masks add-on tab page)

To use a mask, the first step is to select the "Use Mask" checkbox. This will let the software know that you want to use a mask. It's also possible to unckeck this, to turn off a mask you've set up.

Whenever you switch the Grid Type, the masks will reset. You can't use square masks on isometric grids and vice versa.

Quick Masks

The easiest and quickest option to create a mask is the aptly named Quick Mask option.

To use this, you'll need to select an image. Either by clicking the white panel below the "use quick mask" checkbox, or by dragging your image onto that panel.

Next, click the "Use Quick Mask" button, and click "Next Preview".

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/lRJ9wYlVhi/masks%20add-on%20quick%20masks.jpg (masks add-on quick masks)

When you do this, several outcomes are possible:

you get a shaped maze, as shown in the example above.
Nothing happens.
You get a result, but the result is... underwhelming.

After the Quick Mask is generated, the "use Quick Mask" checkbox will be unchecked automatically. Generating a mask from a bitmap takes time, and you may not want to generate the same mask over and over while you're adjusting style settings or selecting different tiles to use.

However, if you want to create a new mask with the Quick Mask feature, because you've changed the grid size or the image, you can check this checkbox again.

Nothing happens

The Quick Mask option will try to generate a mask using the grid settings and the image you have selected. It will do so by analyzing the silhouette image, and varying the "Mask Sensitivity" until a 'Connected Mask' is created:

Mask Sensitivity: The threshold for background pixels in each cell (square or isometric). If there are more background pixels than that threshold, it will be excluded. If there are fewer background pixels, it will be included in the mask. The Mask Sensitivity starts at 50%, so 50% of all pixels have to be foreground, and will go up in little steps to 80% foreground.
Connected Mask: To create a maze, all the cells in the grid must be connected. When you use a mask that results in groups of cells that are not connected, it will not create a valid mask.

If there is no connected mask at the highest mask sensitivity (so 80%), the Quick Mask generator will give up, and there will be no mask.

Underwhelming Quick Mask results

In many cases, especially when you're new to creating masks with the Mask Add-On, the result may be a bit underwhelming, or not look how you expected it to. An example of this can be seen below.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/fKxwXRAlTI/masks%20add-on%20unexpected%20results.jpg (masks add-on unexpected results)

Even though we started with the silhouette of a car, and a mask was generated, the resulting image and the maze don't really resemble a car. This is not a bug: the mask generator did what it was supposed to do - each cell that has enough coloured (in this case black) pixels has been added to the maze.

What happened here is that the grid is too small for the image used. The top of the car has thin lines, and in a 12 row puzzle, they're too thin to fill up more than 50% of a tile. As a result, the roof of the car, and the top of the headlights, did not become part of the mask.

To avoid these situations, we recommend changing the numbers of rows for the grid. This should create a better mask.

Creating Masks using a Silhouette

To create a mask from an image, you'll need an image that can work as a silhouette: you can set which background colour(s) aren't part of the mask, and all other colours will be part of the mask. The masks feature won't work well with images that are only line-art.

When you click "Edit Mask" you'll see the mask editor.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/R6fhC4Y9dq/masks%20add-on%20editor.jpg (masks add-on editor)

The mask. If you already had a mask selected, it will be shown here. Otherwise, all cells will be part of the mask.
The image selection panel. You can click here to select an image, or drag and drop an image onto the white panel.
Depending on the image you're using, you may need to adjust the background colour.
Status of your puzzle. If it's green "Cells are connected", it's a valid mask for a puzzle. If there's a red warning, that means not all cells are connected to each other.
After selecting an image, you can change the Mask Sensitivity to create a better result. This is the same setting that Quick Masks uses.
After changing the grid size or Mask Sensitivity, you can click the "Scan Image" button to create a new mask from the current image (in 2.). This will overwrite all manual changes you may have made.

You can toggle each square (or tile) in the mask by clicking on it, or by using advanced editing options:

Setting the Background Colour

For regular silhouette images, the background will be either white or transparent. You can select a different colour, or even switch the foreground and background for a silhouette. There are checkboxes for white, transparent, and a custom colour, so you can exclude up to three colours from your mask.

Changing the Mask Sensitivity

The mask sensitivity is the threshold for background pixels in each cell. If there are more background pixels than that threshold, it will be excluded from the mask. If there are less, it will be included. You can manually adjust the threshold to create slight differences in the mask.

Below are three examples of different Mask Sensitivity settings:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/Y9t21Bn1HS/Mask%20sensitivity%2020.jpg (Mask sensitivity 20)

Mask Sensitivity 20

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/IcElgFjqAB/Mask%20sensitivity%2050.jpg (Mask sensitivity 50)

Mask Sensitivity 50

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/tOBV6WxmHY/Mask%20sensitivity%2080.jpg (Mask sensitivity 80)

Mask Sensitivity 80

Editing your Silhouette Image

Prepare your image before you use it as a mask. Photo editing software and drawing software are great tools to do some pre-processing of the silhouette images:

Reduce the number of colours, especially if the background is not one single colour. In Adobe software, there is an option called "Posterise" to do this.
Trim black or transparent borders from your image, because these will result in unused rows/columns of cells in the mask and the maze.

Creating Masks Manually

Clicking on the "Manual Editing" tab reveals the advanced editing options:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/e7tUdAwLSa/advanced%20editing%20options.jpg (advanced editing options)

Action: Toggle will switch the colour from black to white and vice versa. This will include or exclude the cell or range from the mask. Copy color will copy the colour of the clicked cell to all the cells in the range.
Range type: When you click on a single cell (Tile) you can select if your actions will affect the cell, the row, or the column.
Range Size: Adjust 1, 3, or 5 cells, rows, or columns at a time.

The screenshot shows the result after two mouse-clicks:

Click on a cell with action "toggle", range type "row", and range size "3"
Click on a different cell with action "toggle", range type "column" and range size "3"

You can see that by using Toggle, some of the white cells in the row have turned black again. By using "Copy Color" you can prevent this from happening.

Note: Clicking the cells for editing is somewhat sensitive. If you move the mouse while clicking, the software won't know if you want to move or click. If you're zoomed in, you can also click and drag the image, to have a closer look at the part you want to edit.

Masks for Isometric Mazes

You can also use the Mask Editor for Isometric Mazes. It will work the same way, but the tiles will have a different shape.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/FRzwrbhPpW/Masks%20add%20on%20isometric%20grid%20mask.jpg (Masks add on isometric grid mask)

When you create masks for isometric grids, there are some unique features to pay attention to:

The classic Isometric grid has a diamond shape. That means that any part of the silhouette that's in the corners of the image will not be used.
The full square isometirc grid type was created to prevent that problem. However, by nature it's a rectangle, which means it will work best with rectangular silhouette images. In the screenshot above you can see a lot of unused cells at the left and right side of the mask. This doesn't have to be a problem for your maze, but it's something to keep in mind.

Passage Settings

By default the passages are fully open. However, you can change that. Use the slider to set the passage to a percentage of the cell size. (A percentage instead of a fixed number of pixels will preserve settings when you use a different image size or resolution).

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/kI3Ss9XXLE/21%20Mazes%202D%20-%20Passage%20Width.png (21 Mazes 2D - Passage Width.png)

By setting the Passage Width to approx 50% you get a different type of maze, it will seem to be more complex, even though it has the same number of cells as the first screenshot on this page.

Using very small values for Passage Width may interfere with the Wall Thickness and Colors settings - in some cases the passage will be drawn as closed because the walls are too thick. Always check the results of your settings visually before creating a large number of mazes.

Randomize Passage Position

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/B9kHdIV5Ca/22%20Mazes%202D%20-%20Randomize%20Passage%20Position.png (22 Mazes 2D - Randomize Passage Position.png)

As you can see in the screenshot, randomizing the passage position will move it slightly to the left or right, creating a more complex maze. This option will have no effect when the passages are fully open.

Randomize Passage Width and Position

Randomizing the Passage Width will randomly add or subtract up to 50% of the Passage Width, creating a more chaotic maze.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/gIo9ImI8LV/23%20Mazes%202D%20-%20Randomize%20Passage%20Width%20and%20Position.png (23 Mazes 2D - Randomize Passage Width and Position.png)

In the screenshot we've randomized both the Width and the Position, you can also randomize either of them separately.

Wall Settings

The Wall Thickness has a huge impact on the look and feel of a maze, even without changing the colors.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/0wAIJpwJCd/24%20Mazes%202D%20-%20Wall%20Thickness.png (24 Mazes 2D - Wall Thickness.png)

Just like the Passage Width, the Wall Thickness is also set as a percentage of the cell size.

Randomize Wall Thickness

You can randomize the Wall Thickness, this add or subtract up to 50% of the Wall Thickness. This will make it look quite chaotic.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/CWMYcjulwL/25%20Mazes%202D%20-%20Random%20Wall%20Thickness.png (25 Mazes 2D - Random Wall Thickness.png)

The randomization will be done on a cell by cell basis. This means that all walls of a cell will have the same weight (thickness), unless a neighboring cell has even thicker walls. You can see in the screenshot that this results in an organic look and feel of the maze.

If you use a low value for the Wall Thickness, combined with randomization, the result may look a bit like a hand-drawn maze.

Solution Line Settings

The Solution Line is the line through the maze that connects the Start and End points.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/P43YQOdQ6J/26%20Mazes%202D%20-%20Solution%20Line.png (26 Mazes 2D - Solution Line.png)

First of all, you can change the width (weight, thickness), again as a percentage of the average cell size.

Curved Solution Path

If you don't like the more angular style of the default solution line, you can change it to Curved:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/xCmQ9kZMIl/27%20Mazes%20-%20Solution%20Line%20Curved.png (27 Mazes - Solution Line Curved.png)

Curved solution paths look more smooth and natural, the way someone would manually draw the path in a maze.

Dashed Solution Path

Finally you can change the continuous line into a dashed (dotted) path:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/xifqUhEviK/28%20Mazes%202D%20-%20Solution%20Line%20Curved%20Dotted.png (28 Mazes 2D - Solution Line Curved Dotted.png)

This will make it look more like footsteps or breadcrumbs in your maze.

Warning

Especially at more extreme settings (small passage width, large wall thickness, large solution line thickness, and randomization) you'll have to really visually check if the mazes look good, using the colors you selected. There are many customization options allowing you to create beautiful mazes, but they will also allow you to create mazes that are less esthetically pleasing.

Question 3

Using the Tile Multiplier for Mazes 2D Tiles

Accepted Answer

Using the Tile Multiplier for mazes 2D Tiles

The Tile Multiplier Add-On can be used to create extra tiles based on the base tiles you use as input. This add-on only works with Puzzle Maker Pro - Mazes 2D Tiles.

There are two main options:

Complement images if Missing - this is used for square mazes.
Convert Square Images to Isometric format - this is used for isometric mazes.

In addition to that, there's a slider you can use for troubleshooting.

Complement Images if Missing

Tile Multiplier will add tiles for you if you feed it a minimum set of five or six tiles. You don't have to buy Tile Multiplier to use Mazes 2D Tiles, you can also draw each tile yourself, or use options in File Explorer on Windows (or the Mac/Linux equivalent) to copy and rotate the images yourself.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/NZYEskvKhJ/Square%20Tile%20Minimum.jpg (Square Tile Minimum)

Minimum tiles required

The minimum set consists of a tile for each of the options above:

1: dead-end
12: top-right corner
13: Tom-bottom straight line
123: Top-right-bottom split
1234: crossing
0: This tile is optional, but would be used for tiles that have no connection at all. Empty tiles in isometric mazes are an optional setting.

Note: Don't forget to create images for the start (code: s-) and end (code: e-) tiles. THese are not processed by Tile Multiplier.

From the minimum tile set it will create a full set of tiles:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/6c7sgi35s4/Square%20Tiles%20Tile%20Multiplier.jpg (Square Tiles Tile Multiplier)

It will copy and rotate tile 1, to create tiles 2, 3, and 4. It will do the same with the other tiles that it was given.

Convert Square Images to Isometric Format

The Tile Multiplier can create isometric tiles from your square tiles. It can't create new isometric tiles from other isometric tiles.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/INGDEjNHem/tile%20multiplier%20for%20isometric.jpg (tile multiplier for isometric)

Complement images if missing: This will create a full set of square tiles out of the required set of 5 images.
Convert square images to isometric format: this will create isometric tiles for each available square tile (including the ones created with the complement option).
Advanced/scaling: In most cases the conversion will be perfect. In some cases, Tile Multiplier may misinterpret the exact size of the tile due to DPI differences. If this happens you can use the Scaling slider to adjust the tile size. For more info on this, see our separate tutorial: Troubleshooting Mazes 2D Tiles.

An example of the Tile Multiplier to create a full set of isometric tiles from a limited set of square tiles:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/4e6G2BYeBY/tile%20multiplier%20limited%20tile%20set.jpg (tile multiplier limited tile set)

Without the Tile Multiplier, this set of 7 tiles would result in the following maze:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/h8hHMNsNaz/Tile%20multiplier%20missing%20tiles.jpg (Tile multiplier missing tiles)

The Tile Multiplier can fix this, and add the other tiles, to create the following result:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/D9xaTiS1nC/Tile%20multiplier%20fix%20square%20tiles.jpg (Tile multiplier fix square tiles)

Something similar happens if you don't convert your tiles to isometric:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/owXO8fAdXE/isometric%20maze%20using%20square%20tiles.jpg (isometric maze using square tiles)

This maze does not look isometric at all, and the solution path is not connecting to any of the paths. After telling tile multiplier to convert the tiles to isometric, this would be the result:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/GurMzLm7Fw/Tile%20multiplier%20isometric.jpg (Tile multiplier isometric)

This looks a lot better.

Glossary of Shapes and Segments

Currently there are five different types of shapes in Geometric String Art Designer:

Squares
Circles
Lines
Triangles
Polygons (5 up to 10 sides)

Squares

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/Vv2X33qRqU/Geometric%20String%20Art%20Designer%20Square%20Segments.PNG (Geometric String Art Designer Square Segments.PNG)

For a square (or rectangle) shape, there are several options to define segments:

"Full" is the entire square, when you connect to this, the pins wil be placed on the entire contour of the square
Sides: Top, Left, Right and Bottom each are the full side of a square. Please pay attention when you rotate the square, because the position of these sides may change
Half Sides: The smallest segment are half sides, these are named Top 1, Top 2, etc, so you can easily see where a side is located. This will allow you to create connections between e.g. Top 2 and Bottom 2 of the same Square. The numbers of these segments are clockwise (Bottom 1 is at the right of Bottom 2)

Circles

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/LmXOquy3qz/Geometric%20String%20Art%20Designer%20Circle%20Segments.PNG (Geometric String Art Designer Circle Segments.PNG)

For Circles we use the same naming style as for squares:

"Full" - the entire circle
Quarters: Top, Left Right Bottom, each cover 1/4th (= 90 degrees or PI/2) of the circle
Eights: Each segment covers 1/8th (= 45 degrees or PI/4) of the circle. Just like for Squares, the numbering order is clockwise.

Lines

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/u69vFu5Dkv/Geometric%20String%20Art%20Designer%20Line%20Segments.PNG (Geometric String Art Designer Line Segments.PNG)

For Lines, we also use "Top" and "Bottom", even when the lines are horizontal or rotated. The top of the image shows vertical lines, the bottom of the images shows the segments for horizontal lines.

Triangles and Polygons

For Triangles and all polygons (5 up to 10 sides), we use different names.

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)

"Full" is the entire shape
"Side 1" is the name of a side of the polygon
"Side 1 Part 2" is the name of half the side of a polygon.

The screenshot shows the numbering for a decagon and also shows the list of all the available segments. In the example, you can see that "Side 4" and "Side 8" have been connected, resulting in the string pattern you can see.

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".

Font Styling

You can choose any (TrueType) font on your computer for the printed coordinates. Just click the white area that has the font name (by default "Arial", in this screenshot "Artless") and the Font Setup window will be shown, where you can configure and preview the font settings.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/1PQPuu1YAz/Jigsaw%20015%20-%20Font%20Styling.png (Jigsaw 015 - Font Styling.png)

Remember that not all fonts are free to use in commercial works. We have a separate tutorial to find out if you can legally use your font.

Line Width and Color

You can set the Line Width and Color for the puzzle and solution, and separately for the puzzle pieces. That way you can choose for thicker lines if the puzzle pieces are intended to be cut out.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/zGokAZ8tVW/Jigsaw%20016%20-%20Line%20Styling.png (Jigsaw 016 - Line Styling.png)

Help Lines

In addition to the puzzle piece border lines, you can also add Help Lines. These will help children (or adults) to draw parts of the puzzle piece in the right location. This can be especially helpful if you have puzzle pieces with lots of details. The next screenshot shows an example. The purple color for the Help Lines was chosen to contrast with the bright colors.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/XFp9E9y0aY/Jigsaw%20017%20-%20Help%20Lines.png (Jigsaw 017 - Help Lines.png)

Creating Square Tiles for Mazes 2D Tiles

Tiles for Mazes 2D Tiles have to be saved in a .png format.

Naming conventions

We've set up a simple standard, where each side of a tile gets a number. The code consists of the numbers for the sides that are connected. The name of the file (the image file for the tile) has to start with this code, followed by a dash ("-"). The dash is required to let the software know where the code ends.

For example, a tile with a corner that connects sides 1 and 2, has code 12. The filename for this image can be something like "12-top right corner.png" or "12-corner with tree.png". You can also have both names, the software will randomly pick one of them each time this type of tile is needed.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/pgaxGX167f/Square%20Tile%20Numbering%20convention.jpg (Square Tile Numbering convention)

There are 16 possible codes for square mazes:

0 – optional, empty square. You can use this for embellishments, like trees, your logo, etc

1, 2, 3, 4 – Dead end

12, 23, 34, 14 – Corners

13, 24 – Straight connection

1234 – Crossing (all sides connected)

123, 124, 134, 234 – Split / three-way connection

In addition to those 16 codes, you’ll need two additional images:

s – start image (this will be printed over the start tile)

e – end image (this will be printed over the finish tile)

Image Size

The image size (or canvas size) for your tiles depends on the size of the mazes you are going to generate:

If you’d be creating a maze of 40 by 40 on that canvas, each square would be just 50 by 50 pixels.

When the squares are printed on the canvas by Mazes 2D Tiles, they will be resized to fit.

The default tiles in Puzzle Maker Pro were created at 500×500 pixels.

Drawing the Tiles

Drawing the tiles is actually very easy. The important thing to do is make sure that the connections, at the edges of each square, are at the same place for each tile. Below is the template we used for Adobe Illustrator:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/xqzaVE3Tmn/Adobe%20Illustrator%20template.jpg (Adobe Illustrator template)

This template has several options for each tile. If you don't have the option to create multiple artobards, it's best to create a template that has all sides connected, and use that for all other tiles as well.

While we use Illustrator for the example, any editing software will do, such as Adobe Photoshop, Corel Paint, Affinity, Canva, or even the software that comes with your computer, such as MS Paint.

To summarise, you'll need 16+2 Tiles for your maze:

1-top.png
2-right.png
3-bottom.png
4-left.png
12-topright.png
23-rightbottom.png
34-bottomleft.png
14-topleft.png
123-toprightbottom.png
124-toprightleft.png
134-topbottomleft.png
234-rightbottomleft.png
13-topbottom.png
24-rightleft.png
1234-allsides.png
0-blank.png (optional)
S-Startsymbol.png
E-Endsymbol.png

For each of the files, the code at the start (the numbers plus the dash) have to be there. The rest of the filename can be omitted, or changed to something else if you want to. You can also create multiple tiles for the same code, for extra variation.

Creating Isometric Tiles for Mazes 2D Tiles

The standard naming convention for isometric tiles looks a lot like the square tiles: the code for each tile consists of the numbers for the sides that are connected. The tiles are just rotated 45 degrees.

1 – Top Right (instead of top)

2 – Bottom Right (instead of right)

3 – Bottom Left (instead of bottom)

4 – Top Left (instead of left)

Again, the name of the file has to start with that code, followed by a dash (“-“).

For example, a tile with a corner that connects sides 1 (top right) and 2 (bottom right) has code 12. The filename could be something like “12-simple corner.PNG”

For isometric mazes there are 16 possible codes as well:

0 – optional, empty square. You can use this for embellishments, like trees, your logo, etc

1, 2, 3, 4 – Dead end

12, 23, 34, 14 – Corners

13, 24 – Straight connection

1234 – Crossing (all sides connected)

123, 124, 134, 234 – Split / three-way connection

In addition to those 16 codes, you’ll need two additional images:

s – start image (this will be printed over the start tile)

e – end image (this will be printed over the finish tile)

(The list of files that are required for isometric mazes is identical to the list for square mazes, although the tiles look different.)

Drawing the Tiles

For Mazes 2D Tiles we follow the isometric ‘standard’ that is used by most game developers: For the basic tile, the width is twice the height. In addition to that, you can add depth to the tiles, by drawing ‘suggested’ depth below the tile.

It’s usually easiest – but not required – to start with square tiles, and then rotate and resize them. There are other options, depending on the tools you have. For example, in Photoshop you can use ‘smart objects’ to do the transformation for you (after you set it up just once).

The steps to transform a square tile into an isometric tile:

Rotate the tile 45 degrees clockwise
Scale the tile to fit onto the canvas – if you have a 200×200 pixel tile and rotate it, it will be approx 280 pixels wide, so scale it back to have a total width of 200 again
Re-scale the tile – Horizontally to 100%, vertically to 50%. Immediately you’ll see the isometric look of the tile.
You can save the tile as PNG image. If you started with a 200×200 pixel tile, the canvas should now be 200 (wide) x 100 (high).
Optionally add additional lines and colors to suggest depth.

For an in-depth tutorial on how to do this, you can look at our tutorial on how to create isometric tiles with Adobe Illustrator, where we go into detail on the creation of isometric tiles.

Image Size

The image size of the files for isometric tiles depends on the embellishments you use:

The size of the basic tile should have a 1:2 ratio for the height:width sizes. If the tile is 200 pixels wide, it should be 100 pixels high. (The proper working of Puzzle Maker Pro – Mazes 2D Tiles depends on this, otherwise the results will not look right)
If you have added depth to the tile, either by adding additional lines or shading at the bottom, or by placing objects on the tile that stick out on top (e.g. towers, persons, arrows), the tile size can be larger. If you add depth suggestion at the bottom, each tile should have the same additional depth!
Mazes 2D Tiles will use the height of the smallest tile to determine the depth of the tiles. and align the tiles according to that height
If you have objects sticking out on top, these should be drawn over the tiles behind it. Mazes 2D Tiles will take this into account when setting up the canvas dimensions and margins

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