AV Bros. Puzzle Pro 1.2

Puzzle Pro 1.2 is a Windows (95/98/NT4/2000) plug-in that automatically creates jigsaw puzzles from RGB, CMYK, and Grayscale bitmap images, allowing nearly complete customization of the final image. While Corel users have long had the ability to create jigsaw puzzles manually using Powerclips and/or clip masks, that is a tedious process for more than a few simple puzzle shapes. If you've ever wanted an easier way, Puzzle Pro is the answer!

From the moment the Puzzle Pro install screen (below) appeared on my desktop, I knew it would be one of the most unique plug-ins I've seen in some time. Not only is Puzzle Pro fun and easy to use, it's actually nice to just look at.

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The Puzzle Pro installation is a breeze, allowing the user to install to their Photo-Paint (or other Photoshop plug-in compatible bitmap editor) Plugins folder, or any other folder of your choice. The total install is just over 1.7 MB, which includes the 8BF plug-in file, a helpful PDF manual, and a license text file.

Once installed, Puzzle Pro is called directly from within Photo-Paint, and opens a creative yet highly intuitive 2-part user interface. The first layer of the interface is the Cutter dialog below.

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The Cutter is for setting the number of rows and columns of puzzle pieces and for editing the shape of the puzzle pieces themselves. Puzzle Pro comes with a number of interesting preset puzzle piece shapes and gives you the option to save your own custom presets as well. The Cutter settings can be edited interactively using the sliders, or you can type directly into the number boxes. Both methods of editing are immediately reflected in the live preview windows.

Once you have finalized the shape and number of puzzle pieces for the image, click OK and the Cutter dialog closes to reveal the main Puzzle Pro dialog.

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It is from the main dialog that you select which pieces of your puzzle to show or hide in the final image using standard Windows clicks and Shift + clicks on the puzzle pieces in the preview window. A green overlay helps you keep track of the current selection.

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Other adjustments can also be made before the final puzzle is created. Bevel, blur, and opacity settings for the puzzle pieces are all customized using an interactive pop-up dialog as shown below. All adjustments can be applied to select or all puzzle pieces and can be previewed live on the preview image and the dialog's default image. If your image is especially processor intensive, you can opt to turn off the automatic live preview and use the default preview as a guide. You can then manually preview your actual image when you wish. In addition, the preview image can be zoomed and panned using the controls at the top right of the dialog.

Each of the bevel, blur, and opacity settings can be accessed on the pop-up dialogs by clicking the Others button so you never have to leave the adjustment dialogs until the settings are just right.

Once your adjustments have been finalized, you can save them as custom presets from the main dialog. This is especially handy if you want to use the same settings across a series of images. In addition to saving your own presets, Puzzle Pro includes presets with popular layout grids from 4- to 1,000-piece puzzles and a Smart Layout tool to generate a custom layout grid.

The real beauty of this plug-in shines when it's time to apply your settings to the final image. You can simply click the Apply button to generate a flat image as shown below …

… or you can click the Save button to save the puzzle pieces as separate named and numbered layers in a PSD file so that the puzzle pieces can be repositioned and edited individually.

The image above was saved as PSD file from Puzzle Pro. I then opened it in Photo-Paint, moved and rotated some of the pieces, and created drop shadows for them. The whole process took about 5 minutes!

In addition to creating puzzles, Puzzle Pro also generates interesting mosiacs and texture effects. The images below started as the same image shown throughout this review, but the puzzle piece shape, blur, and bevel settings were modified.

The only real negative about Puzzle Pro I could find is that as a Photoshop standard plug-in, it is limited by Photoshop itself when saving as a PSD file. Photoshop files cannot contain more than 100 layers, a limitation that Photo-Paint does not share. This means that if you want to create a puzzle with more than 100 pieces, you'll have to divide your image and run Puzzle Pro separately for each section. I'd like to see an update to overcome this problem which allows the user to save in a format that supports more than 100 layers.

That current limitation aside (and easily worked around), I highly recommend this neat little plug-in. Puzzle Pro is available as free downloadable demo which can be unlocked upon registration. The registration fee is $39.95, and discounts are available for previous AV Bros customers and select user groups. See the AV Bros website for more details.

--Deborah J. Cook