My Puzzle Technique

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My Puzzle Technique

Postby MG - Admin » Tue Dec 20, 2005 4:55 pm

I've received several e-mails asking for instructions on how to create the puzzle show I created for the holidays. The show can be seen here.

I'll try to explain it as best I can. If I need to explain anything further please let me know.

First, open the photo you want to use, and run it through a PhotoShop action called Puzzle Effects, which can be downloaded for free here. The photo will be cut up into 20, 30 or 56 pieces depending on how many you choose. The photo will also be placed onto a background image. To remove this background click on EDIT/STEP BACKWARD seven times until the background is gone and you only have the original photo cut up into puzzle pieces. If you can find an easier way to eliminate the background, great!

Now you should only have the photo cut up into pieces. If you look at your LAYERS palette you will notice that each puzzle piece is labeled a1, a2, a3 etc. as it's own layer. If you unclick the little eyeball in the palette next to each layer you will be turning off the layer so it is not visible. Do this until you have all the individual pieces/layers turned off. You will also want to turn off the canvas layer so you have a blank image. Now, go back and turn on each piece/layer one at a time so it's the only piece showing.

Example:

Image

Each time you do this save the layer as a PNG file. For example, turn on only the B4 layer so it's the only piece/layer showing and save it as B4.png. Do this for each piece.

Example:

Image

Once you have saved each piece as an individual file you need to turn off all the layers again so nothing is showing. Now you can start assembling the puzzle.

Whatever order you choose to put the pieces together is up to you, but choose the first piece/layer you want to start with and turn on that layer. Save the file as puzzle01.png. Now, keep that layer turned on and select the second piece/layer and turn it on. Save it as puzzle02.png. Be sure to write down the order of the pieces you are choosing because you'll have to create your show in this same order. Repeat this process until you have turned on all the pieces/layers and saved each step as a new PNG file.

Example:

Image

Now you can create the show.

Create a new show and choose a solid background color. You cannot use an image file for the background. You'll also want to make sure that every slide is set to have the image and background set to FIT TO SAFE ZONE. This is very important!

Start by dropping in the first image file for the first puzzle piece you selected to rebuild the puzzle with. This is why you needed to write down the files in the order you saved them. Copy and paste this slide so you have three consecutive slides with the same file. In the first slide you'll want to move the image around to a different location. Make sure that the starting and ending position of the image is the same. Now, in the second image, make sure the beginning position matches the previous slide, and the ending position is set to 0,0 at 100%. This is important! The third slide should be set to match the ending position of the second slide. Make sure the beginning and ending positions are set to 0,0 100%.

Example of second slide:

Image

Now, immediately after the third slide, insert a blank slide using the file puzzle01.png as a background image. Make sure you have this set to FILL TO SAFE ZONE. This completes the first puzzle piece being placed.

Now you're ready for the next puzzle piece. Repeat the above two steps following the same procedure. 3 consecutive slides for each piece separated by a background slide in sequence. Do this until you have all your pieces added. If you do this in the right order you will have a show with a puzzle being put together. Make sure you follow the order you wrote down.

Example:

Image

As for timing of the slides, I chose 3 seconds for the second slide with the motion and 0 seconds for the first and third slides. Make sure you have 0 set for the transition time, too. For the background image I chose a duration of .5 seconds with a .5 transition afterward only. Change to suit your taste.

That should do it. It's a very simple, but tedious process. Once you get the hang of it you'll see that it's much simpler than I made it sound. If I've totally lost you please let me know where you're hung up and I'll try to explain.

Good luck, and happy holidays!

Mike
Last edited by MG - Admin on Tue Dec 20, 2005 10:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Postby SandyB » Tue Dec 20, 2005 5:13 pm

Mike,
This is an amazing effort. Wow! Thanks for the details. I may just try it - after Christmas . . .
Thanks and Happy Holidays!
Smiles, Sandy

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Postby MG - Admin » Tue Dec 20, 2005 10:22 pm

I've added some screen shots to the above steps. Hope it helps.

Mike
Last edited by MG - Admin on Wed Dec 21, 2005 5:17 am, edited 1 time in total.

jvdv

Postby jvdv » Wed Dec 21, 2005 12:44 am

Thanks for taking the time to explain this in the way you did.
Happy holidays
John

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Postby briancbb » Wed Dec 21, 2005 1:53 am

Mike

Thank you for the explaination. I'll have to have a go at that for an operning sequence.

Brian

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Postby MG - Admin » Mon Jan 02, 2006 1:13 pm

I've received a few e-mails from different folks that are having trouble with this technique. In all but one case, the problem was due to using versions of ProShow Gold earlier than 2.6. You must have 2.6 installed to make this work because of the transparencies.

Happy New Year!

Mike

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Postby wildbil » Tue Jan 03, 2006 3:53 pm

Hi Mike,

Thanks for the awesome details.
What version of photoshop are you using? Please note that the puzzle effect does NOT work with photoshop elements 3. Maybe I should upgrade to .... what??? Any thoughts?
Thanks again,

wildbil

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Postby MG - Admin » Tue Jan 03, 2006 4:02 pm

I'm using CS2, the latest version of PhotoShop. I may be wrong, but I believe the author of the puzzle action said he may update the action to work with Elements 4.0 if he thinks it will work. I'm not sure what the upgrade cost is from 3.0 to 4.0, though. It may be worthwhile to pick up an earlier version of PhotoShop on eBay.

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Postby Chris » Sun Jan 22, 2006 1:49 pm

Mike

I am new to this group and I find this technique amazing. I am in the process of giving it a go.

Thanks for sharing

Chris

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Postby Chris » Mon Jan 23, 2006 8:46 am

This is my attempt with this technique


http://www.photodex.com/sharing/viewsho ... 1634&alb=0

It is quite long winded to do but I enjoyed it

Chris

jdc50

Postby jdc50 » Sat Oct 28, 2006 1:25 pm

:?: Ok I just created my first puzzle set using PanosFX and have a question. Using Proshow Gold is it possible to rotate the image as well as move it to a different part of the image? I tried several times to do this but couldn't seem to make it happen.

Any suggestions would be appreaciated.

dawnmurray

puzzle

Postby dawnmurray » Sat Dec 09, 2006 11:28 pm

hi mike
i thought i was doing really well! followed instructions to the letter,started to create show,
still doing well! than it all went wrong first puzzle fine ,second piece seems to be attached to number 1 and so on so i cant move individual pieces at show creation stage i think i may be doing something at saveing stage i hope you understand this explanationand can HELP!I SO WANT TO LEARN TO DO THIS. thanks dawn

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Postby gpsmikey » Sun Dec 10, 2006 8:23 am

Hi Dawn - I think you missed the part where after the first piece is done, it now
is replaced by a background that has that piece in the same place (that you created
in photoshop). You now have 1 as the background, and 2 moves into place. After
2 moves into place, the background (that only had 1 one it) is replaced with a
background that has both on it while you move the third into place. The backgrounds
with 1, 1&2, 1&2&3 etc were created in the first part of the directions in photoshop
and he called them puzzle_01, puzzle_02 etc. You can only have one piece moving -
the rest that are already placed are on the backgrounds you created (that was why
he indicated it was important to write the order down for placing the pieces).

hope that helps
mikey
You can't have too many gadgets or too much disk space !!
mikey (PSP6, Photoshop CS6, Vegas Pro 14, Acid 7, BluffTitler, Nikon D300s, D810)
Lots of PIC and Arduino microprocessor stuff too !!

mayva

Postby mayva » Sat Jan 06, 2007 5:22 pm

I am new to proshow gold and this forum and I am trying to do this puzzle effect without much success. My main problem seems to be with the slide that is put in immediately after slide three which if I followed the directions correctly should be puzzle01.png. The problem is that is will not stay visible throughout the rest of the slides it disappears. I made sure that I checked off the Fill to zone so I am not sure what I am doing wrong. Maybe this is just a tad advanced for me but I like to go where angels fear to tread..... :D

I hope I explained this clearly. Any and all help would be appreciated

Anna

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Postby gpsmikey » Tue Feb 13, 2007 9:30 pm

Anna - I think you missed the part where the first piece flies into place
then gets puzzle_01, then the second piece flies into place and gets
puzzle_02 (which has both the first and second pieces now on it), the
third will fly into place and end with puzzle_03 (which was saved with
3 pieces on it) etc. Puzzle_01 does not stay for the rest of the pieces.

Sorry I didn't see this post earlier :oops:

mikey
You can't have too many gadgets or too much disk space !!
mikey (PSP6, Photoshop CS6, Vegas Pro 14, Acid 7, BluffTitler, Nikon D300s, D810)
Lots of PIC and Arduino microprocessor stuff too !!

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