How to Use

1. Open the Settings panel to configure your puzzle parameters

2. Click Generate Puzzle to create your puzzle

3. Adjust Styling options - the preview updates automatically

4. Open the Download panel to save your puzzle

Settings Panel

Changes here require clicking Generate Puzzle to apply.

• Puzzle Type: Choose Rectangular, Hexagonal, or Concentric
• Grid/Rings: Controls piece count
• Size/Diameter: Physical dimensions in millimeters
• Fuse Pieces: Create meta-pieces using PILES notation (see below)
• Layout Algorithm: Grid (regular spacing) or Repel (prevents overlap for fused pieces)

PILES Notation (Fusion Groups)

PILES (Puzzle Input Line Entry System) is a concise notation for specifying piece fusions.

Keywords are case-insensitive: all , ALL , and All are equivalent.

• 1-2 - Fuse pieces 1 and 2
• 1-2-3 - Fuse pieces 1, 2, and 3 in a chain
• 1-2,3-4 - Create two fusion groups: (1,2) and (3,4)
• 1:6 - Fuse consecutive pieces 1 through 6
• all - Fuse ALL pieces into one meta-piece
• R1 - Fuse entire row 1 (rectangular only)
• C2 - Fuse entire column 2 (rectangular only)
• ring1 - Fuse all pieces in ring 1 (hexagonal/concentric)
• center - Center piece (hexagonal/concentric)
• boundary - All boundary/edge pieces
• inner - All non-boundary pieces
• ALL-5 - Fuse all pieces except piece 5
• !1!7 - Fuse all pieces except pieces 1 and 7

Legacy format (1,2),(3,4) is also supported.

Styling Panel

Changes in this panel update the preview automatically - no need to regenerate!

• Tab Size: Size of interlocking tabs (15-25% recommended)
• Jitter: Randomness in piece shapes (2-6% recommended)
• Piece Separation: Gap between pieces (0 = complete, >0 = separated)
• Piece Fill: None, solid, palette, gradient, or noise
• Internal Edges: Style of edges between fused pieces (hidden/dashed/solid)
• Stroke Color: None, solid color, or palette
• Line Width: For laser cutting use 0.5mm
• Opacity: Transparency of puzzle pieces
• Labels: Show piece ID numbers
• Background: None, solid color, gradient, or noise

Noise Fills

Create procedural textures for backgrounds and pieces using noise algorithms:

• Perlin: Smooth, natural-looking gradients
• Simplex: Similar to Perlin but faster and less artifacts
• Worley: Cellular/voronoi patterns
• Cubic: Smooth interpolated value noise
• Value: Basic interpolated random values

Noise fills available

Download Options

• Complete Puzzle: All pieces at original positions (offset=0, SVG)
• Current View (SVG): Exactly what you see as vector format
• Current View (PNG): Raster image (2000px), ideal for presentations
• Individual Pieces: Each piece as a separate SVG file

Note: PNG requires 'rsvg' or 'magick' package. Install with: install.packages(c('rsvg', 'magick'))

Tips for Laser Cutting

• Use separation of 3-5mm for rectangular, 5-10mm for hexagonal/concentric
• Black color with 0.5mm line width works best
• Consider material thickness when setting tab size
• Test with small puzzles first