Color Nonogram Generator: Turn Your Pictures Into Color Picross Puzzles
A black-and-white nonogram ends with a silhouette. A color nonogram ends with a painting. The solver fills the red runs and the yellow runs, crosses off the empty cells, and a mushroom, a parrot or a sunset comes up out of the grid in full color, one cell at a time.
Color Nonogram turns your pictures into color picross puzzles with matching answer keys, ready for print books, worksheets and your website. It runs inside Puzzle Maker Pro on Windows.
Here is the part that used to stop small publishers. In a color puzzle every clue carries a number and a color, and a single miscounted cell leaves the solver staring at an answer key that shows a different picture. Color Nonogram reads your picture cell by cell, matches every cell to your colors, writes the colored row and column clues, and draws the answer key from that same picture in the same pass. The picture in the back of the book is the picture in the grid.
Try the free demo with a picture of your own and watch it come back as a color puzzle with its answer key.
Why Color Picross Gets Picked Up
Flip through a puzzle book and most pages look alike: a grid of digits, a block of letters. The color nonogram is the page that turns into a picture, and that is the page people hold up to show someone.
The rules fit in a breath. Each number is a run of cells in the color it is printed in. Runs of the same color have a gap between them. Runs of different colors may sit right against each other. That one twist changes the logic: a red run can butt straight up against a yellow one, so solvers who have done a hundred classic nonograms still have something new to work out.
Puzzle-book buyers also notice two things fast: an answer key that does not match its puzzle, and puzzles they have already seen for free online. Build the book from your own pictures and you answer both.
Your Pictures In. Color Puzzles Out.
Drop in a folder of pictures and each one becomes a puzzle. Set the grid anywhere from 10 by 10 to 90 by 90, square or not, then choose how the colors are found.
Let each picture choose its colors. The module picks a palette from every image, so a tropical bird comes out green and orange and a sunset comes out red and gold. Raise or lower the color count, from 2 to 8, and you decide how bold or rich the puzzles feel.
Or lock in your own colors. Pick the swatches once and every picture in the run is matched to exactly those colors, so a whole book shares one palette: your brand colors, a seasonal set, or a set of strong mid and dark shades that keeps every clue easy to read on the page.
Flat artwork makes the cleanest puzzles: cartoons, icons, flags, logos and simple illustrations, saved as PNG files with a transparent background so the empty cells stay empty. No pictures to hand? Fifty built-in color pictures are ready on every edition, one puzzle each.
Leave Only uniquely solvable puzzles on and the module looks for a version of each picture with exactly one solution, adjusting the grid by a row or a column when that helps. Pictures with a few bold colors at grid sizes up to about 25 by 25 give the most dependable one-solution boards; the larger the grid, the more a clean, simple picture matters.
Words and Designs of Your Own (Creative and Up)
Not every puzzle needs a picture file. With Creative, type a word, pick the font, and the word itself becomes the picture, its letters taking your colors in turn: a child’s name for a birthday page, JOY for a holiday book, a spelling word for a classroom set.
Or draw the picture yourself. Creative’s grid editor lets you paint a design cell by cell in your colors, shows the clues as you draw, and tells you whether the design has one solution, so you can fix a cell until it does. Your own drawings become puzzles no other publisher has.
From One Puzzle to a Whole Book
One color nonogram is a page. A folder of pictures is a book.
Every edition builds books two ways. Instant Puzzle Books turns your set into a finished book PDF from the page settings you already have. Puzzle Book Studio lets you design that interior page by page. Either way, every book carries a title page, a table of contents, and a footer on each puzzle telling the reader which page holds its solution. Because the clues carry the colors, these are color-interior books, and that is their edge on a shelf full of black-and-white puzzles.
Productivity adds Time Saver: save one row per chapter, each with its own pictures, grid size and colors (animals at 20 by 20, flowers at 25 by 25, a festive chapter in red and gold), and regenerate the whole book in one run. Puzzle Book Studio Productivity then combines several collections into one book, your other Puzzle Maker Pro puzzle types included. Productivity also exports JSON, the puzzle data for your own apps and catalog tools.
Play It on the Web (Creative + Interactive and Productivity + Interactive)
Give your readers a free taste before they buy the book. With an Interactive edition you export HTML output plus a ZIP for the free BookPublisherTools WordPress plugin, publish the set on your site, and your readers solve in the browser: pick a color from the swatch bar, paint the cells, mark the empty ones, and press Check.
Show the set as a simple puzzle list, or as a leveled game where levels unlock in order and progress is saved in the visitor’s browser. You can end the free set with your own message and a button to get the full book, so a page of free puzzles becomes a reason to buy the printed one. Play Color Nonogram online.
Which Edition Should You Choose?
Every edition makes color nonograms from your pictures and the built-in ones, at any grid size from 10 by 10 to 90 by 90, with automatic or hand-picked colors and an answer key for every puzzle.
Color Nonogram is for the publisher with pictures ready to go: turn a folder of art into a finished color picross book with answer keys, in any size and palette, and lay it out with Instant Puzzle Books or Puzzle Book Studio.
Creative is for the publisher who wants puzzles from more than picture files: everything in Color Nonogram, plus puzzles from typed words and designs you draw yourself in the grid editor, along with quick random pictures.
Productivity is for the publisher who builds whole books and series: everything in Creative, plus Time Saver, multi-collection books, JSON export, and the right to sell or supply the generated puzzles to other publishers.
Creative + Interactive and Productivity + Interactive put a free set on your website that readers play in the browser, with an optional button to buy the full book at the end. Creative + Interactive is Creative plus web play; Time Saver and JSON come with Productivity.
| Color Nonogram | Creative | Productivity | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Color nonograms from your pictures and the 50 built-in pictures | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Grids from 10 by 10 to 90 by 90 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Colors picked from each picture, or your own 2 to 8 colors | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Answer key with every puzzle; PNG, JPG, SVG and PDF | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Instant Puzzle Books and Puzzle Book Studio | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Puzzles from typed words and hand-drawn designs | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Time Saver batch production | ✓ | ||
| Multi-collection books in Puzzle Book Studio Productivity | ✓ | ||
| JSON export | ✓ | ||
| Sell finished books, worksheets and packs to your own readers and customers | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Sell or supply generated puzzles to other publishers and sellers | ✓ | ||
| Interactive add-on: play on your own website | add-on | add-on |
Pick the edition that fits what you are making today. You can move up to any higher edition later, and add Interactive on top of Creative or Productivity.
Who This Is For
KDP and print-on-demand publishers who want a color puzzle book built from their own artwork or licensed pictures, with answer keys that match.
Seasonal and themed sellers. One folder of holiday art becomes a holiday book. Lock the palette and the whole title looks like a set.
Teachers and worksheet sellers. Print a class pack of color puzzles with their answer keys. With Creative, turn spelling words into puzzles; with an Interactive edition, put the set online for students to solve on screen.
Existing Puzzle Maker Pro customers. The same Creator window, Style and Layout tabs and presets you already use, now with a color picture puzzle. With Productivity it slots into your Time Saver rows and mixed Puzzle Book Studio books.
Try It Before You Buy
Pick a picture you love, choose a few colors, and see the puzzle and its answer key come out of the demo in a minute. Demo output is watermarked and one puzzle at a time; your paid files are clean.
Licensing and Commercial Use
Color Nonogram and Color Nonogram Creative both let you sell the finished books, worksheets and packs you make to your own readers and customers, on KDP, Etsy, Teachers Pay Teachers or your own store. One-time commercial-use licence. Watermark-free. Color Nonogram Productivity includes that, plus you may sell or supply the generated puzzles to other publishers and sellers. The Interactive editions carry the same rights as the edition they are built on.
The pictures you add yourself need to be yours, or licensed for the store you sell on.
Product Details
| Product | Color Nonogram |
| Editions | Color Nonogram, Creative, Creative + Interactive, Productivity, Productivity + Interactive |
| Platform | Windows desktop (a module that unlocks inside Puzzle Maker Pro) |
| Internet | Not needed to generate puzzles |
| Grid | 10 by 10 to 90 by 90, square or rectangular |
| Colors | Picked from each picture, or 2 to 8 colors you choose |
| Picture sources | Your images and 50 built-in pictures; typed words and hand-drawn designs from Creative up |
| Outputs | PNG, JPG, SVG and PDF, puzzle and answer key |
| Puzzle books | Instant Puzzle Books and Puzzle Book Studio on every edition; multi-collection books on Productivity |
| Time Saver and JSON export | Productivity |
| Play on the web | Interactive editions |
| Licence | Sell finished books, worksheets and packs to your own readers and customers; Productivity adds selling or supplying the generated puzzles to other publishers and sellers |
| Upgrades | Any edition upgrades to any higher edition after purchase |
| Free demo | Yes |
| Delivery | Immediate, in your member area |
Questions Before You Buy
Is there a free demo?
Yes. The free demo covers every module. It makes one watermarked puzzle at a time, so you can try Color Nonogram on your own pictures first.
What is a color nonogram?
A picture logic puzzle, also called color picross. Numbers beside each row and above each column, printed in color, tell the solver how many cells of each color to fill. Solve every clue and a color picture appears.
What do I need to run it?
Puzzle Maker Pro on Windows. Color Nonogram is a module that unlocks inside the app. New to Puzzle Maker Pro? The free demo download is the app itself, and your key switches the module on.
Which pictures work best?
Pictures with a few flat colors and clear shapes: cartoons, icons, flags and simple illustrations, saved as PNG files with a transparent background. Busy photographs make busy puzzles. Mid and dark colors give the clearest clue numbers.
How many puzzles do I get from one run?
One per picture: add twenty pictures and make twenty puzzles. Without your own pictures, the 50 built-in pictures give up to 50. With Creative, each typed word and each drawn design makes one puzzle too.
Does each puzzle have one solution?
Leave Only uniquely solvable puzzles on and the module looks for a one-solution version of each picture, adjusting the grid by a row or a column when that helps. Simple pictures with a few bold colors, at sizes up to about 25 by 25, give the most dependable results.
With Creative, typed words and drawn designs keep your layout exactly, and the grid editor shows whether a design has one solution while you draw it.
Do I need a color interior to print these?
Yes. The clue numbers carry the colors, so this is a color-interior book on KDP or any print-on-demand service, and the answer key prints as a finished picture readers want to keep.
Is Color Nonogram part of the Nonogram product?
No. Color Nonogram is its own product with its own editions, built for color from the first clue to the answer key. Owning one does not include the other.
Can I upgrade later?
Yes, to any higher edition. Move up the ladder, add Interactive on top of Creative or Productivity, or both. Starting with Color Nonogram is never a dead end.
Can I sell what I make?
Yes, on every edition. Sell the finished books, worksheets and packs you make to your own readers and customers. Productivity adds the right to sell or supply the puzzles themselves to other publishers and sellers.
Make the Picture Page of Your Next Book
Most puzzle pages end with a checked answer. A color nonogram ends with a picture the reader painted cell by cell, from art you chose. Download the free demo, make one from your own picture, then choose your edition at the top of this page.
