Puzzles Help Index

Copyrights

Introduction

Collection of Puzzles

The program interface

Start

Get an image

Play a saved puzzle

Continue a saved game

Solve a puzzle on the screen

Arrange tiles (Jigsaw, Balls)

Boxes (Jigsaw)

Cheat

View

Print, Save, and Share puzzle

Send puzzle by E-mail

Save game and puzzle

Print

Restart or Exit

Commands

Start menu

Edit menu

Game menu

Tiles menu

Boxes (Jigsaw only) menu

Cheat menu

View menu

Finish menu

Help menu


Copyrights

Copyright © 1999 ScanWare International. Original design by ScanWare International. Image processing technologies by STOIK Software Ltd.

Copyright information to keep in line with other programs

Copyright © FastTrak Software Publishing 1999

The use and copying of this product is subject to the Software License Agreement. Any other use is prohibited. No part of this publication and/or databases may be reproduced, transmitted, transcribed, stored in a retrieval system or translated into any language in any form by any means without the prior express written permissions. Information in this manual and/or databases is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment on the part of the vendor.


Collection of Puzzles

Welcome to the collection of puzzles!

Create from your favourite pictures a puzzle game. Just scan a photo, use your digital camera, open an image or video file, and the software will turn it into a popular puzzle – Jigsaw Puzzle, Balls, Switch, or Mosaic.

Jigsaw

Prepare and play a Jigsaw game made of your own favourite photo. Choose your desired number of pieces and shuffling method. Drag-n-drop pieces to fetch them together.

Balls

Prepare and play a Balls game. Your task is to put the ‘Balls’ into their holes.

Switch

Prepare and play a Switch game. Your task is to put the puzzle in order by swapping tile pairs. To swap a pair of ties first clicks one tile (it will be outlined) then click another to swap the two.

Mosaic

This program creates the analogue of a famous ‘fifteen’ puzzle made of your own favourite digital photo. Your task is to slide tiles so that to restore the right order of tiles. Click a tile to move it to the empty cell.


The Program Interface

The program has two types of interfaces:

Graphical Interface

The graphical interface guides you through the process of puzzle creation and is designed in such a way that also non-computer-experts can have hours of fun; playing puzzle. The top-bar is called “Toolbar” while the left-bar is called the “Taskbar”. At the bottom of the screen you can see the “Status bar”. The gives all kind of information about the status of the program.

Windows Interface

Besides the Graphical interface the program also provides a standard Windows alike menu structure which is shown on top of the Graphical interface.

You can use the program options button in the Status bar (“o”) to change the appearance of the program.

NOTE: some of the options available under the Windows Interface do not appear in the Graphical interface.


Get an Image

There are different ways of starting:

-	you can scan an image;
use saved images;
open a video file;
open a puzzle file;
or continue with a saved (unfinished) game.

Scanner, Camera, or TWAIN commands under Start will start the scanning or download process.

This is done through the driver program that was supplied with your camera or scanner. Once the picture is acquired you will see it on the program desktop and the program will switch to the Game screen.

Click Options to set the number of puzzle tiles: by fixed number of tiles or by any (custom) number of tiles

You can make it more difficult by choosing the option to enter a time limit in minutes to solve the puzzle and rotate tiles in random directions.

If you made a puzzle from a scanned image then at the end of your game you have to save the puzzle in order to play the same game later. If you don't save it, you have to scan the image again.

For your convenience we have added some image editing functionality to the program. This enables you to change the image appearance without having to switch to another program for getting the best results (see also: Edit menu commands).


Making a puzzle of an existing image
Make a puzzle of existing image files

Using Image files:

The option Image under Start will show all image files in the current directory. Select an image and you can start creating a puzzle of that image.

Using Video files:

The option Video under Start will show all video (AVI) files in the current directory. Select a video and you will see a video preview where you can select a frame for creation of a new puzzle. After you have solved the puzzle a playback of the initial video is shown.


Playing a saved puzzle

Using a Saved Puzzle:

The option Puzzle under Start will show the compatible puzzle files in the current directory. Select a puzzle and simply start playing.

Using a Saved Game:

The option Games under Start will show the saved games in the current directory. Select a game and continue playing where you left it.


Arrange tiles
Arrange tiles (Jigsaw, Balls)

Under the Tiles menu you have the following options:

Align

In order to get an overview of all tiles you can arrange them in a grid using the command.

Move aside

Arranges all tiles at the edge of the playing field to clear the centre for the puzzle.

Unlock

Once two tiles fit together, they are 'locked'. To separate them you can unlock them.

Send to back

If tiles lie on top of each other, you can send tiles 'to the back' in order to look at the tiles underneath.

Turn left, Turn right, Turn upside

You can turn the tiles one by one to the left, right or upside down, in order to get them in the right position. You can rotate tiles using context menu command or manually with mouse. When you click near the centre of a tile, you can drag it. When you click near the edge of the tile, you can rotate it (note that manual rotation is only possible when the “Pure Randomly” rotation option is selected under the Game options).


Use Boxes
Boxes (Jigsaw)

While playing a jigsaw with a large number of tiles, you have the option to sort the tiles in boxes using the following commands of Boxes menu:

Create

You can store all or part of the tiles in a box. Create one or more boxes, give them a name, and drag tiles into the box. A maximum of 10 boxes can be created.

Show all

Brings to view all boxes you have created.

Hide all

Hides (minimises) all boxes.

Empty

Empties the contents of a selected box by putting the tiles on your desktop.

Delete

Deletes a selected box and places the tiles on your desktop.


Use Cheat

The Cheat menu helps you to solve the puzzle much easier:

Show Neighbour(Jigsaw), Hole (Balls), Pair (Switch)

Indicates a matching pair of puzzle elements.

Fetch (Jigsaw, Balls) or Switch pair (Switch)

Matches the selected piece, or switches a matching pair of pieces (Switch).

Upright

If you have chosen the option to rotate tiles randomly, and you cannot figure out what the right angle is for the selected tile, use this command to rotate the tile correctly. Use Upright All to rotate all pieces correctly.

Peek

Press this button to view the completed puzzle. Press again and it will disappear.

Numbers

Show/hide numbers on puzzle pieces to help you finding the right piece position in complex puzzles. Pieces are numerated from left to right and from top to bottom with the first piece in the upper left corner.

Auto solve (Jigsaw, Balls, Switch)

This solves automatically the puzzle. During the process you can alter the speed or stop it and continue solving the puzzle manually.

NOTE: Select a tile and press the mouse-right-button to get some of the cheat options also.


Change View

The View menu enables you to do the following:

Background

Changing the background colour of the playing field can be useful to get a better contrast of the picture.

Sketch

A greyscale template of the complete puzzle is shown as a background model to help you to put the tiles on the right place.

Preview

This command creates a preview of the image. You can leave it on your desktop as an example while solving the puzzle.

Zoom in

This command zooms in the puzzle, making it larger.

Zoom out

This command zooms out the puzzle, making it smaller.

Fit to window

Adjusts zoom ratio to make all puzzle tiles visible in the program window.

Timer

This command shows or hides the timer on the status bar (only available if the timer is selected under Game - Options)


Send puzzle by e-mail

E-mail command prepares a runtime version of the puzzle and sends by e-mail using the e-mail program installed on your computer. If you don’t have an e-mail, you can run Runtime in the Finish menu (Windows text menu only) to save a runtime-version on your hard disk to send it later. Runtime allows playing the puzzle you created but cannot be used for making new puzzles. Runtime can be freely redistributed.


Save Game and Puzzle

Save game under Finish saves the game in the state, as it is to continue solving it later (cannot be used if the puzzle is already solved).

Save puzzle stores the puzzle for replay.


Print

Print under Finish prints the created puzzle. (see the inbox material for further instructions).


Restart and Exit

Restart the puzzle using Restart under Finish.

Exit will to close program. If you have not finished the game, you can save it first.


Start menu commands

Puzzle	Opens a previously saved puzzle.
Games	Opens an existing game.
Image	Loads a picture from disk.
Video	Loads an AVI file from disk.
Scanner	Uses a scanner to load a new picture.
Camera	Uses a digital camera to load a new picture.
TWAIN	Uses a TWAIN device to load a new picture.
Select source	Connects a scanner (or another TWAIN device, digital camera for example) to the corresponding options.
Clipboard	Loads a picture stored at the Windows Clipboard.


Edit menu commands

Edit Image	Enter image editing mode
Undo	Undo the last editing action.
Redo	Redo the last editing action
Select	Selects the image region for editing. (See more)
Select All	Selects whole image.
Select None	Removes all selections.
Select Invert	Inverts the current selection.
Rotate – Left 90	Rotates the image 90 degrees counter clockwise.
Rotate – Right 90	Rotates the image 90 degrees clockwise.
Rotate –Degrees	Free rotation.
Rotate – Flip Horizontal	Flips the image horizontally.
Rotate – Flip Vertical	Flips the image vertically.
Rotate – Flip Both	Flips the image both horizontally and vertically.
Filter – Smart Tune	Set the optimal brightness and contrast.
Filter – Lighter	Lighter the image.
Filter – Darker	Darker the image.
Filter – More Contrast	Increase the image contrast.
Filter – Less Contrast	Decrease the image contrast.
Filter – Sharpen	Sharps the image.
Filter – Smooth	Smoothes the image.
Size – Resize	Sets new image size.
Size – Crop	Crops the image to selection.
Reset	Undoes all image-editing changes.
Finish editing	Exits the image-editing mode.


Game menu commands

User	Selects current user, deletes an existing user or adds a new one.
Score	Show the best scores for the game.
Options	Sets user options for the new game.
Start	Builds a new game from the loaded picture using the current user options.


Tiles menu commands

Turn left	Rotates the selected tiles left by 45 degrees.
Turn right	Rotates the selected tiles right by 45 degrees.
Turn upside	Rotates the selected tiles by 180 degrees.
Face up	Flips the selected tiles upside down.
Unlock (Jigsaw, Balls)	Separates the merged tiles.
Send to back (Jigsaw, Balls)	Sends the selected tiles to back.
Size	Changes the tile size.
Move aside (Jigsaw, Balls)	Arranges all tiles at the edge of the playing field.
Align (Jigsaw, Balls)	Arranges all tiles in the grid over the playing field.


Boxes menu commands

The Boxes menu offers the following commands (Jigsaw only):

Create	Creates a new temporary sorting box.
Show all	Show all sorting boxes.
Hide all	Hides all open sorting boxes.
Empty	Empties contents of the selected box.
Delete	Deletes the selected box.


Cheat menu commands

Neighbour (Jigsaw), Hole (Balls), Pair (Switch)	Indicates a matching pair of puzzle elements.
Fetch (Jigsaw, Balls) or Switch Pair (Switch)	Puts selected piece into matching place (Jigsaw, Balls) or switch a matching pair of pieces (Switch).
Upright	Turns the selected tile rightway up.
Upright all	Rightway up all tiles.
Face up	Turns all tiles face up.
Peek	Shows the solved puzzle.
Numbers	Shows numbers on tiles.
Auto solve (Jigsaw, Balls, Switch)	Solves the puzzle for you automatically.


View menu commands

Background	Changes the background appearance.
Sketch	Shows or hides a grey scale template.
Preview	Shows or hides a preview window.
Zoom in	Zooms in the view.
Fit to window	Sets the view scale to fit the picture to the main window.
Zoom out	Zooms out the view.
Timer	Shows/hides the game timer.
Options	Shows the interface options dialog.


Finish menu commands

E-mail	Prepare the puzzle you have created for e-mail sending.
Runtime	Prepare the puzzle you have created as stand alone application.
Save puzzle	Saves the initial game state.
Save game	Saves the current game state.
Print	Prints the current puzzle as a picture of solved puzzle.
Restart	Replay the game.
Exit	Exits the program.

NOTE: The Runtime command is only available in the Windows text Menu.


Help menu commands

Help Topics	Offers you an index to topics on which you can get help.
About	Displays version and copyright information.


Edit Select command
Select command

Use this command to select a part of the image. The following options will appear:

 – Rectangle. Press this button to select a rectangle as an active area for processing. Position the mouse pointer at the top left corner of your rectangle, press the left mouse button and move the pointer to the right bottom corner. Release mouse button. You will see the highlighted rectangle on your image.

 – Ellipse. Press this button to select ellipse as an active area for processing. Move mouse pointer to the top left corner of the bounding rectangle for the ellipse to be selected (the ellipse will be inserted in this rectangle) and move mouse pointer to the bottom right corner of the rectangle keeping left mouse button pressed. Release mouse button. You will see selected ellipse highlighted on the screen.

 – Polygon. Press this button to select polygon as an active area for processing. Point where you want to begin the selection. Click left mouse button where you want to insert first polygon node. Moves mouse cursor to the next node place and click... Double mouse click fixes the selection.

  – Lasso. Press this button to select freehand active area for processing. Point where you want to begin the selection. Presses left mouse button and drag around as if you were drawing with a pencil. Release button to fix the selection.

 – Move selection. Click this button. Click the cursor into selected area. Press and drag selection to new location.

You can combine multiple selections using New, Add, or Subtract:

 - New. New selection replaces the previously selected area.

 - Add. New selection adds to the previously selected area.

 - Subtract. New selection subtracts from the previously selected area.

For rectangle and ellipse selection tools you can check the Square option. In this case horizontal and vertical sizes are the same. Check Size to set manually the horizontal and vertical sizes of the selected area.


General options dialog

Use animation	Use or don't use the Tool bar and Task bar animations while task switching.

Use sound	Use or don't use sounds while task switching and tiles operations.

Show menu	Use or don't use the Windows style menu.

Use graphics	Use or don't use the Task bar and Tool bar.

Outline tiles	Use or don't use the puzzle tiles outline.

Buttonize tiles	Use or don't use the puzzle tiles buttonize effect.

Apply	Press this button to apply the current options immediately.


Puzzle options dialog

The number of tiles can be selected using:

Easy	The new game will be started with a small number of tiles.

Moderate	The new game will be started with a medium number of tiles.

Difficult	The new game will be started with a large number of tiles.

Custom	You can set any number of tiles from given range.

Optionally the following rotation options are available:

None	Don't rotate the tiles.

45 degrees randomly (Jigsaw, Balls)	Rotate the tiles randomly under 45 degrees.

Pure randomly (Jigsaw, Balls)	Rotate the tiles pure randomly.

And make it even more difficult by selecting the following:

Playtime	Sets the play time hours and minutes.

Face up/down	Flips the tiles randomly up side down.