i have the original of course, because i created that puzzel pic.

and i can rotate the bigger part of the puzzle back to that position that is fits in the border part of the puzzle.

the main problem is, that i am not a maya pro.
i`ve made a project for my studies 1 year ago. since than it is the first time for me using and working with maya.
for finishing my study i have to create a short animation as a part of my final project.
to finish that i only have 1 week left.
i got the idea with the animated puzzle yesterday. so at least i have to hurry up...

my first thought were:

1. greate a surface
2. texture the puzzlepic on it.
3. cut the surface along the lines of the puzzlepieces
4. animate the surface pieces.

problems:
1. how to cut the surface pieces exactly in the same size the pic has.
2. if i cut the surface, the texture still is one piece.
3. it took to long for me to create all those pieces, i hoped to find an easier way to manage it.


the suggest of mhcannon sounds good, but i don´t know how to make it.
i can create a surface and project the puzzle texture on it. ok...
then if have to cut the surface along the puzzlelines.
how can i do this? is there a possibility to cut the surface or the cube in a way like a knife or a laser going through the object?