AV Bros. Puzzle Pro 2.2 Tutorial - How to make a custom shaped knife?

AV Bros. Puzzle Pro 2.0 Tutorial

How to Make a Custom Shaped Knife?

Let's create, for instance, the shape of the knife (further: Shape), like we used in the example "Puppy's Dream".

Please be sure that you have read the "Shaper" part of the User Guide, so you know how to operate with Anchor Points, Smoothness slider, etc.

AV Bros. Puzzle Pro 2.0 Tutorial Image (Fig1)

It is a good idea to use the puppy as a source image to be stroked. You may need to prepare the source image: take the necessary part and rotate it taking into account the fact, that the orange line, which you use for creating the Shape (see User Guide, p34) is oriented vertically. In our case we just selected the part of the source image and copied the content of the selected area into the empty layer (Fig.1).
Start AV Bros. Puzzle Pro 2.0.
Remove all anchor points from the orange line in the Shaper (see User Guide, p34), so you will get the straight line.
Specify the number of Rows to 1; Columns to 2 and Splitter Thickness to 0 (see User Guide, p39).

Drag the Splitter of Columns (see User Guide, p10) to the position you are happy with for the future Shape. In our case we set it in the position that you can see on the image (Fig.2).

Note: Taking into account the fact that the plug-in takes the content of the layer and ignores the transparent area, there may be cases when the preview window of the Shaper is too small for creating the desired Shape. In such cases you can exit the plug-in and select the area in the layer that includes not only the content of the layer, but some transparent area as well. There is no strong recommendation of how big the selection should be. This is mostly a matter of your experience. You will try several times and eventually you will become an expert. :-)
In our case we found out that indeed we do not have enough space, so we followed our own instructions, selected a larger area and then started Puzzle Pro 2.0 again.

AV Bros. Puzzle Pro 2.0 Tutorial Image (Fig2)

Now you can stroke the image with the orange line by placing the anchor points in the appropriate places on the orange line (see User Guide, pp34; 35).
- In most cases it is a good idea to decrease the smoothness of the line to zero (0) (see User Guide, p35) while you are stroking the image. Then, you will change the smoothness in any anchor point, if necessary.

AV Bros. Puzzle Pro 2.0 Tutorial Image (Fig3)

Try to use as low a number of anchor points as possible (This will help you transform the Shape without loosing its quality afterwards.) In many cases adjusting the smoothness will provide you with the best result.
Once you have started stroking, place one of the anchor points (it is shown as selected on the Shaper preview on fig.3) at the farthest point of your image. This will help you to be sure that you have enough space for stroking.

When you finish stroking (Fig.4), you can save the created Shape (see User Guide, p35) or add it to presets (see User Guide, p36). In some cases you may want to scale the Shape down (see User Guide, p35).

Note: For our sample "Puppy Dream" (web site Gallery, A2) we also added a jaw to the pappy's muzzle.

AV Bros. Puzzle Pro 2.0 Tutorial Image (Fig4)