Question 1

How to Create Word Guess puzzles with Puzzle Maker Pro

Accepted Answer

This tutorial shows how to Create Word Guess puzzles with Puzzle Maker Pro - Word Guess

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 - The selected font will be used for the Images/Memes and for Instant Puzzle Books (see below),
Letter Replacement - How to display the hidden letters (see below),
Image/Meme Styling - This can be set on the Images/Memes tab (see also: How to create Images/Memes for Word Puzzles)
Instant Puzzle Books - 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.

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)

Puzzle Maker Pro - Word Scramble

This tutorial applies to Word Scramble

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

Word Scramble Explained

Word Scramble is a word puzzle, where the letters of each words are randomly switched. It's also known as Anagrams.

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

Letters in a word are switched, but all the letters will be used. For example: Sudoku may result in UUOKDS,
Each word in a phrase is scrambled separately, the letters of the different words are not mixed,
Spaces, punctuation marks and other special characters are not scrambled,
Currently the module works with the standard English alphabet (A to Z).

Word Scramble Overview

To use Word Scramble, select the puzzle type in the drop down menu, or in the regular menu.

Word Scramble Overview

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/k7jaTSc3Th/Word%20Scramble%20Overview.png (Word Scramble 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 scramble 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;
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 Scrambles

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

When generating Word Scrambles, 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.

Styling

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

Font Styling - The selected font will be used for the Images/Memes and for Instant Puzzle Books.
Image/Meme Styling - this can be set on the Images/Memes tab (see also: How to create Images/Memes for Word Puzzles)
Instant Puzzle Books - 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.

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).

Getting Started

When you open up the software, you see the following screen.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/UTQkgTSBUf/Wordsearch%20starting%20screen.jpg (Wordsearch starting screen)

This already describes the basic work flow.

On the left of the screen we see all the options for creating puzzles. Some of the options may be greyed out or not appear, depending on the version you're using. For example, Masks only work if you have the Mask Add-On for Standard Word Search, or one of the two bundles.

Following the Work Flow, we can first change our Word Search Grid Size. This can go up to 100x100. A fair warning: as your puzzle gets bigger, it also gets generated more slowly. On most sizes this won't matter, but if you decide that you really want a 100x100 puzzle, this will take a while to generate.

Additionally, something like 100x100 may not fit on a standard sheet of paper.

So for now, let's keep the puzzle at 15x15.

For the second step, we can select our word list. It's possible to find lists of words online, but you can also create your own list. There are two possible inputs for this: You can either type in your word list, or you can load in a .txt file with the word list. For the sake of the example, we have found a list of colours on the internet, and typed in those colours. Next, we selected "Next Preview" found on the bottom of the screen.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/ux6ZLrLhBH/WordSearch%20Basic%20Puzzle.jpg (WordSearch Basic Puzzle)

We immediately see a few problems with the puzzle.

First of all, there are some empty spaces in the middle, because the words we used have spaces. There are two ways to solve this problem.

Remove Spaces

We can manually remove the spaces from the word list. This is possible because our list isn't too long, but if you load a .txt file or use a longer word list, this may become problematic.
We go to the Advanced Tab for a moment, and select "Remove Spaces". This will automatically remove the spaces for us.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/Rk2So6v9KC/Word%20Search%20remove%20spaces.jpg (Word Search remove spaces)

If we click "Next Preview" now, the spaces will be gone.

And that's how we create a simple Word Search. Now, you've probably seen two more options on the "Puzzle" tab, namely "Diagonal" and "Backwards". These can make the puzzles more difficult. Feel free to turn one or both of them on, and see what the results are.

It's also possible to fine-tune these options, but for now, let's leave it at this. You can select "Save Preview" to export the puzzle and the word list, as well as a solution.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/zC7uAhusM1/Word%20Search%20basic%20puzzle.jpg (Word Search basic puzzle)

You can see added diagonals, and some words are backwards.

How to use the Batch Function

The Batch function can be found on the bottom right of the screen.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/fMSvLDC8Y3/nonogram%20where%20is%20the%20batch%20button.jpg (nonogram where is the batch button)

Using the batch option has its pros and its cons.

On the upside, you can generate many puzzles in one go.

On the downside, you do not get to manually edit all your puzzles.

This allows for a faster workflow, but many puzzles that could be discarded.

Then why would you use the batch option? There are two things you can do with this. But first, let's check out the screen.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/IEi20shRxz/Nonogram%20batch%20screen.jpg (Nonogram batch screen)

The Source and Output Folders. You can select the folder where all your templates are, and the area where the program should drop all of the puzzle results.
The Puzzle Sizes. Very similar to what you've already seen in the normal screen, and we'll get back to this later.
The Source Files. After you've selected a Source Folder in step 1, you'll see a list of all the pictures in that Folder here. Right now we have a folder with a lot of fish images selected.

From here multiple options are possible. First, just below the Output Folder button, you see multiple options on where you want your hints to show up, what the separator is, zeroes and empty rows... If you're curious about what these buttons do, you can find the information in our Getting Started with Nonograms tutorial.

Now, first things first. Let's grab one picture, and select multiple Puzzle Sizes.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/Pm1vJDGkZS/Batch%20option%201.jpg (Batch option 1)

Now, if we select "Go", the software will automatically generate all the puzzles we have selected.

As you can see, we haven't selected any options to remove white space, so a lot of empty rows appear in the puzzles.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/HIDyyzSzNH/A%20lot%20of%20fish.jpg (A lot of fish)

From this, we can select whichever puzzle(s) we like best, and keep those. Everything else we can discard, or choose to use later. However, as they're output as PNG files, we can no longer edit these puzzles.

There's a second option available too. We can select many puzzles, and only one size.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/Yey09KroKQ/Batch%20option%202.jpg (Batch option 2)

Let's see what happens if we output with these settings.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/B9IZ007nqg/Many%20different%20fish.jpg (Many different fish)

A lot of 40x40 puzzles have been generated, one from each image in the Source Folder. Again, we can quickly select the puzzles that work, and discard the ones that don't. If you need many puzzles of the same size for a puzzle book, this is a quick and easy option to create them.

Finally, let's combine both options. Multiple puzzles, and multiple sizes.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/MC19pVBgTI/Even%20more%20fish.jpg (Even more fish)

You can see that all fish have different sizes where they work better, and if we discard everything else, we have the beginnings of a fish-themed nonogram puzzle book. Now all that's left is to combine them all into a book, for example by using our Easy Puzzle Books Powerpoint Plugin.

Creating a text nonogram

Welcome to the tutorial on how to create Nonograms with letters or words. This is possible with Puzzle Maker Nonogram Text.

You can use these techniques with Nonogram Complete, or Nonogram Text.

Creating a nonogram with text in it is rather easy, if you have this software. First, select the "text" button at the bottom of the program.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/4YY9vIUlAc/puzzle%20maker%20nonogram%20text%20option.jpg (puzzle maker nonogram text option)

The red square shows the Text button

If you click on this button, a screen will pop up. This screen has multiple options.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/vw1ZJpF2pY/Puzzle%20maker%20nonogram%20text%20options.jpg (Puzzle maker nonogram text options (1).jpg)

This is the standard screen you see if you're using Nonogram complete. Text will have a slightly different interface, but the same options should still be there.

the preview window. Here you can see what the font will look like with your current text.
the "your text" field. This is where you type the text you want in your puzzle. When you boot the software up, the standard word it says is LOVE.
all the fonts you can select. Most of these come pre-installed with Windows. The standard option is Arial. We have a separate tutorial on fonts, and if you're allowed to use a font in your puzzle book.
the font browser. If you have a custom font and you don't see it in the list, click here to tell the program where the information for this font is, so you can use it.

You can look through the fonts you have installed, and select one that you like. Here's the settings we've used.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/n2EKn5S0eo/Puzzle%20maker%20nonogram%20text%20selected.jpg (Puzzle maker nonogram text selected)

Bold fonts work better than thinner and more graceful fonts, because of how Puzzle Maker Nonogram generates puzzles.

The program automatically removes all padding as well, so the letters show up more clearly.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/eSMtsIwV8X/Puzzle%20maker%20nonogram%20text%20hello%20there.jpg (Puzzle maker nonogram text hello there)

You can turn this off, but there is a chance it'll become text in a large blank square. You can also fine-tune the puzzle a bit more manually. For information on how to do that, check out our tutorial on how to use the advanced and edit tabs for Puzzle Maker Nonogram

Frequent errors

There are a few things that can go wrong with creating nonograms from fonts.

No text appears, or very incomplete text appears

There are two possible causes for it. First, the Nonogram size you chose is just too small. Try out a different puzzle format. Below you see what happens if we make the puzzle in 20x20 instead of 40x40. There simply isn't enough space for all the letters to show up properly.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/7g9uDIC2kg/Hello%20there%2020x20%20nonogram%20puzzle%20maker.jpg (Hello there 20x20 nonogram puzzle maker)

The other option is that the font you chose is simply too thin. The same solution can be used here. Try a different size, and that should fix it most of the times. Sometimes it's also possible that the font is simply too thin to be picked up properly by the nonogram algorithm, in which case choosing a different font is the best solution. You can see that below.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/1N9C3SIKzP/hello%20there%2090x90%20font%20doesnt%20work%20nonogram.jpg (hello there 90x90 font doesnt work nonogram)

The font selected here simply doesn't work well because the lines are too thin. Even at 90x90 it barely works.

I can't find the font I want to use

For this we recommend you try manually adding the font through the font browser, as described above. Again, not all fonts will work equally well with the program, for reasons described above.

I want a nonogram with a non-western script

This is possible! You have to make sure the language is installed on your computer for non-western scripts. You can do this by going to the Language options in your computer, and adding a preferred language.

One problem you may run into is that not all fonts support your language. In the example below we have used Japanese, which doesn't have many different fonts.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/ZeQ6abwVec/Japanese%20font%20Puzzle%20maker%20nonogram.jpg (Japanese font Puzzle maker nonogram)

Introduction

In the getting started tutorial, we discussed easy ways to quickly make a nonogram puzzle. In this tutorial, we'll be looking into how to edit your nonogram to make it fit your requirements.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/uLKz4TkItx/Nonogram%20Basic%20result.jpg (Nonogram Basic result)

Where we left off last time

Advanced Options

For this tutorial we're using the same reference as before, but you're free to pick another image if you want. The first thing we can do is go to the Advanced Tab.

Here you'll see multiple options.

First of all, you can manually change the amount of rows and columns (cols) for the puzzle.

Below that, is a checkbox for small squares. This is great if you have large nonograms, so they can still fit on a page without you having to resize.

There's also the option for fixed dimensions. Let's select this option. This option will force the amount of rows and columns you have selected earlier. For this example, we have it at 30 rows, and 30 columns. We can also change this option for a bigger or smaller puzzle. Say you have a rectangular image, then maybe you want to change it to 30 by 40.

Below the fixed dimensions checkbox is also the choice for the image position. If you select center, additional empty rows will be created. If you select stretch, the image will get stretched so it fills in the puzzle properly. Below you can see the results for both options.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/O8I7lrQYpa/Stretch%20vs%20center.jpg (Stretch vs center)

This can lead to some very funny results if you force a square puzzle into a rectangular box, or the other way around. An example below.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/SpzFZD9YnS/Stretched%20out%20puppy.jpg (Stretched out puppy)

Since this isn't the result we want, no matter how funny it can be, let's reset to 30 by 30, and stretched position.

Edit Options

Time to go to the Edit tab to see what we can do for our puppy here.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/arx1aJWoiu/edit%20screen.jpg (Edit Options)

Right now, we can't do much. But once we select "Edit Mode", a world of possibilities opens up.

First, we can add rows and columns on basically every side of the puzzle. These rows and columns will be blank when we add them, and if you select "remove padding", all empty rows will be removed. It basically does the same as the "remove padding" on the left of the screen.

So why is it important that we can add and remove rows?

Because another possibility opened up when we selected Edit Mode.

We can now click on squares to add them to the puzzle, or remove them, to further finetune the result.

Try it yourself. Click on a square that is black, and it'll become white. The numbers in the rows and columns will also automatically be changed.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/fEXYqr4y78/Nonogram%20creating%20a%20puzzle%20from%20scratch.jpg (Nonogram creating a puzzle from scratch)

In the example above we opened a blank screen (essentially, we loaded a picture that had nothing on it), and manually clicked some tiles on to create a very rudimentary flower.

Now, Puzzle Maker Nonogram has no click and drag option to mass select squares, so it's probably best for your sanity if you work from a png, and don't try to create a massive nonogram by hand.

But this means we can finetune our nonogram more, to make it perfect for our purposes. One thing that is very unsatisfying about the nonogram we've been working with so far is the eyes. They aren't symmetrical and stand out a lot. So let's fix that first, and maybe change a few other small details too.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/lmlQ5IZqN7/Nonogram%20final%20doggy.jpg (Nonogram final doggy)

And there's the final appearance for our doggy. If we save the puzzle, both the puzzle and the solution get saved in the map we have selected.

Mazes 3D Isometric Overview

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/yg0o4t9V2y/Mazes%203D%20Isometric%20Overview%20Screenshot.jpg (Mazes 3D Isometric Overview Screenshot)

After selecting “Mazes 3D Isometric” in the drop-down menu at the top, you’ll see a view like this:

Every Puzzle Maker Pro module consists of several parts:

The puzzle settings at the left, a puzzle preview (6) at the right, buttons to create puzzles or previews at the bottom (5) and the option to display the puzzle preview or the solution preview (7).

For Mazes 3D Isometric you’ll see the following options:

The best thing you can do, is to change colors, move sliders, and change other options, click Preview, and see what happens.

Maze Generator

The Maze Generator can be configured by you in several ways: by changing the maze generator algorithm, and by controlling the start and end points.

Maze Generator Algorithm

The maze generator is a mix of several algorithms. You can control the mix, using the “Solution Complexity” slider. Setting it to 0 (zero) will result in fairly long straight paths, while a setting of 100 will create a chaotic meandering maze. To get an idea of the results, here are two mazes with the extreme settings:

Mazes 3D Iso Complexity 0 Example

Mazes 3D Iso Complexity 100 Example

Besides the difference in solution complexity, for 3D Isometric mazes, the effect on the 3D look and feel is also different.

Start and End Point Options

There are several options to set the Start and End points:

Default: This will create a maze from Top to Bottom. The exact end-points will depend on the maze type and settings
Random: Create a path from one (randomly selected border) to the one across it
Longest Path: This will generate a maze first, and then find the longest possible path in the maze, and set the Start and End points accordingly
Manual: You can select the Start and End points, by right-clicking on the maze, and then select Start or End point from the popup menu. Please be aware that the maze, the paths in maze, the cell connections, will change every time a maze is generated.

Grid Types

The current version of Mazes 3D Isometric has several built-in 3D maps, along with a Random Map and the Custom Height Maps (requires the Height Map Editor Add-On).

The Flat map is a simple, flat map in isometric style. You can set the size using the “Rows” setting.

Mazes 3D Isometric Cubes

Mazes 3D Isometric Tower Example

Mazes 3D Isometric Colosseum Example

Mazes 3D Isometric Staircase Example

Mazes 3D Isometric Random Example

Style Options for Mazes 3D Isometric

Fill Colors

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/2Hlf0jNKNW/Mazes%203D%20Isometric%20Style%20Fill%20Colors%20Screenshot.jpg (Mazes 3D Isometric Style Fill Colors Screenshot)

The Fill Colors are the main surface colors. You can set:

Canvas (1): The background for your maze. With the 3D Isometric view, there will always be the four corners of the image that are not part of the maze. You can choose a color or set it to transparent
Cell / Plane colors: there are three colors, for the top plane (2), the right front plane(3) and the left front plane (4)
For the two ‘vertical’ planes, you can choose to set a fixed color, or to set the color relative to the Top Plane Color. The percentage you enter is calculated in the RGB color space for 24 bit color: Each color (Red, Green and Blue) has a value of 0 to 255. The percentage is take from the maximum value of 255. That means 10% is 25.5. If the top plane has an R (Red) value of 17, a relative value of 10% will set the plane R value to 42.5.

Line Style

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/amd7Dxcd5R/Mazes%203D%20Isometric%20Style%20Line%20Style%20Screenshot.jpg (Mazes 3D Isometric Style Line Style Screenshot)

There are three different lines to style, as you can see in the screenshot:

Outer Border: a border when there’s no maze cell at the other side
Cell Border: These are in fact the maze lines, indicating which cells are connected, and which paths can be followed
Plane Edge: The line between the top and vertical planes and between the two vertical planes. Usually this distinction is clear by the cell shading, but it’s here when you need it.

Solution Path Style

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/qcIr48XXDR/Mazes%203D%20Isometric%20Style%20Solution%20Line%20Screenshot.jpg (Mazes 3D Isometric Style Solution Line Screenshot)

For the Solution Path you can set the width and color, and choose whether the line should be curved and/or dotted.

Start and End Point Style

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/k8nJULYBti/Mazes%203D%20Isometric%20Style%20Start%20End%20Screenshot.jpg (Mazes 3D Isometric Style Start End Screenshot)

You can choose to use either Text or Images for the Start and End point. By default the text option is used, with the letters S and E for Start and End. You can also use control codes (Alt + number) instead of regular letters.

To use Images, you can either click on the white panels to select an image, or drag and drop an image on it.

Add-Ons

There are three add-ons for Mazes 3D Isometric:

The Paths Add-on has options to create smaller paths inside the squares (instead of using the entire square / cell as the path)
The Height Map Add-on lets you create your own 3D Maps, either from scratch, or starting with one of the built-in maps or the random map
The Time Saver Add-On helps you create your puzzles and puzzle books faster, with advanced layout options for the puzzle books.

You can find more tutorials on the Mazes 3D Isometric tutorials page. Video tutorials can be found in the Mazes 3D Isometric Playlist.

Question 9

Troubleshooting Mazes 2D Tiles

Accepted Answer

There are some problems you can run into when using Puzzle Maker Pro - Mazes 2D Tiles. Below we have shown the most common problems you can run into, and how to solve them.

Isometric Tiles

The Isometric Tiles are too small.
I see Square Tiles in my Isometric Maze
The Tiles in my Isometric Maze are not properly aligned

Masks Add-On - How do I fix Empty Cells in my Maze?

There are several possible reasons why empty cells appear in your maze:

Missing Tiles – If you don’t specify the tiles for each variation (e.g. 1, 12, 13, 123, etc), the maze generator will leave that space empty
Masks – If you use a mask or a quick mask, you’ll get empty (unused) cells
Empty Cells – If you specify a number of empty cells, these will be randomly selected in the grid. If you don’t have a “0” tile, these cells will be left empty. The “0” tile is for cells with no connections

Tile Multiplier

WARNING: Missing Tiles! Unable to complement all tile variations

Creating Isometric Tiles with Adobe Illustrator

In this tutorial we'll teach you how to create an isometric tile from a square tile, so you can use it in Puzzle Maker Pro - Mazes 2D Tiles.

You can use these same techniques in other drawing programs as well, such as Photoshop, Affinity, Canva, et cetera.

Step 1: Rotate the Image

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/HSIlqrXVM7/Create%20Isometric%20Tiles%20Step%201%20Copy%20and%20Rotate%20a%20Square%20Tile.jpg (Create Isometric Tiles Step 1 Copy and Rotate a Square Tile)

Create Isometric Tiles - Step 1 - Copy and Rotate a square tile

In this tutorial we'll be using separate artboards in Adobe Illustrator, so you can see the before and after images. When you create tiles yourself, it's not necessary to keep track of every step.

For Step One, make sure you rotate the image exactly 45 degrees clockwise. Otherwise you'll get unpredictable results in Mazes 2D Tiles.

In the examples we use a square around the tile, which is clearly visible in the rotated image. There are two reasons we do this:

The lines make it easier to rotate and scale the image, allowing you to better see what you're doing. If you don't want these lines in the final image, you can always remove them.
For isometric tiles, especially when you want to add depth to the tile, it can be a stylistic choice to keep these lines in the final image.

Step 2: Scale Down

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/lug90weVzx/Create%20isometric%20tiles%20step%202.jpg (Create isometric tiles step 2)

Create Isometric Tiles - Step 2 - Scale Down to fit the tile

In this tutorial we assume that the new tile size will be based on the size of the square tile you were using. If the square tile was 200x200 pixels, you'll want to scale the rotated image down, so the width is exactly 200 pixels. In the image you can see it's scaled down to fit the artboard.

Step 3: Scale Vertically

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/WHNvOdqN80/Step%203%20Scale%20vertically.jpg (Step 3 Scale vertically)

Create Isometric Tiles – Step 3 – Scale Down Vertically (Flatten the image)

The next step is to flatten the tile. This is done by reducing the height by 50%, while keeping the width at 100% (which means there should be no change in the width). Depending on your program, you may need to unlink horizontal and vertical scaling to enable this.

You can tell from the picture that it already looks very close to isometric.

Step 4: Reposition the Tile

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/KeE42IxIze/Step%204%20reposition%20the%20tile.jpg (Step 4 reposition the tile)

Create Isometric Tiles – Step 4 – Reposition the tile

The final step is to reposition the tile. It's also possible to resize your artboard or canvas to the correct height/width ratio. You can tell in the image that the new isometric tile covers exactly 50% of the square artboard.

Now you can save the image as a .png file. Make sure that all the areas that are not part of the tile (the parts between the diamond and red rectangle) are transparent, and not white.

But wait, there's more...

Step 5 (Optional): Add Depth

The result from step 4 is already a good result, and can be used in mazes 2D Tiles. However, in some cases you may want to add some suggested depth to the tiles, for an even better result.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/lChVd3XiFG/Step%205.jpg (Step 5)

Create Isometric Tiles – Step 5 – Add Suggested Depth

In this step you can add two slightly skewed rectangles, or even just lines, to suggest a sense of depth. The exact way to do this depends on the tools you're using. Adobe Illustrator offers advanced options to move or add individual points to a path, or to move just one side of a rectangle, to create the skewed appearance.

After adding the skewed rectangles to the image, you can give them each a different colour. In the example we've used two shades of grey, suggesting a light source that comes from the right, and a bit more shadow at the left. This increases the 3D look and feel of the tile.

There are many styles and options here:

The example shows a 3D cube, used in games like minecraft. It is completely up to you to choose how much depth you want to add. You could go from a thin line, to as long as a cube or even longer.

In the example, the top layer stops at the edges. It's also possible to copy those colours to the top 5% or top 10% of the depth. In a colour maze, you could make it look like the top is grass, the top 5% of the depth would also be grass, and below that could be brown for dirt.

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Overview of all Mazes 2D Tiles Tutorials

Getting Started with Mazes 3D Isometric

Troubleshooting Mazes 2D Tiles

How to Create Isometric Tiles with Adobe Illustrator