My Hanjie Process IV

If you have visited my Mental Exercise blog, you are probably aware of the fact that I have been making hanjie/nongram/griddler/crosspic/piccross/edel/Japanese puzzles for years. I have decided to show my process from start to finish on how I actually put these together including development of the image, preparing the numbers, testing, and conversion to PDF.


Last time, I manipulated my gull picture so that is would match a 40x20 grid. My next step is to figure out which specific cells should be black and which ones should be white. As a quick note, it's better to err on the side of more black than more white.

I open up my picture in Paint.Net. Next, I add a layer. I recommend using the Layer window for this kind of project. If it's not already open, look at the upper-right corner of the program. There are four icons (version 4) to toggle the visibility of windows. The one with overlapping squares needs to be selected. Click on the square with a plus at the lower left hand corner of the Layers window. This will add the new layer.

From here, I switch to the pencil tool. This allows me to edit one pixel at a time. I also zoom in as far as I can before I would have to scroll. The zoom slider can be found at the lower right corner of the program. You can also hold Control and use the mouse wheel.

For the white parts of the gull, I want an outline. I want the darker areas to be solid black. I have already decided that the back and wings will be black. With the new layer selected in the Layer window, I pencil in each pixel that fits an outline and all dark cells that appear to be part of the gull. During this process, I have the original picture open to help distinguish what specifically I'm looking at.

If outline cells only connect through diagonals, I run the risk of making an impossible puzzle. This is why I usually include a solid line with connections up, down, left, and right. To divide the bill from the body, I have made a single exception.

The darker areas are a bit more straightforward. Dark areas in the original picture include the bill, eyes, and back. The darker pixels in these areas are penciled in. I have decided to take another liberty here. The outline could potentially be confused with part of the wings, so I left an unshaded gap in the bottom row.

I don't mark the white cells at all. While I could change the pencil color to white, this would obscure the picture in the lower layer. I find that it helps to see as much of the picture during this process. If you want to see the puzzle that is emerging without the distractions of the background layer, simply turn off the background layer by unchecking the box next to it in the Layers window.

Also note that Paint.Net includes a thumbnail at the top of the screen to the right of the toolbar. These puzzles are frequently easier to make out when you look at a distance. If the puzzle is working out properly, you should be able to tell what it is in the thumbnail.

Two versions of this image have been provided below. The version on the left is the gull with the background layer. The version on the right is with the background layer turned off.

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