Message #277

From: Doug Lee <d_funny007@yahoo.com>
Subject: Suggusted Improvements to the MC5D
Date: Wed, 14 Jun 2006 20:20:58 -0000

I have been working on solving the 3^5 for the past week or so, and am
coming pretty close. So far I have noticed several things that could
be improved.

I’m sure a few of these points have already been sugguested.

It would be nice to have a zooming feature, that just zooms the 2D
prespective distance.

When the Sticker type is turned off, it shows up dark grey and is
still selectable when holding down <Shift>, I am not sure why this is
the useful. It would probably be best that when a piece type is "off"
it is not present whatsoever and there is no way of selecting it. The
puzzle is quite cluttered as it is. There should be a way of undoing
the entire macro. There could be a way of doing the inverse of a macro.

Some way of putting some distance between stickers that lie on top of
each other in the 3D perspective would be nice too. Distance them by
differing the sizing a lot more. Having some sort of "progress bar"
would help too, that way I would notice if I’ve veered of course after
doign something if previously solved pieces are no longer in solved
position. This is especially useful if those pieces are currently
hidden and I didn’t want to bother checking each time I perform a
sequence of moves.

A toggle that allows me to lock myself in to a certain "3D quadrant"
would be nice too, you have it default that it is impossible to 3d
revolve/orbit in such a way as to have +Z on bottom and -Z on top, so
why not go one step further? Also having a toggle that places the face
name (axis name) on the screen might be helpful.

How about some why of querying a particular piece and then showing a
pop up of it’s current location on the puzzle and/or it’s
target/solved location.

Also it would be nice to see a column in the "Macros Tab" that shows
the turn count for that macro. There could also be a box somewehre
that keeps track of the number of turns used… for people going for
fewer turns.

A few more pre-defined "display parameters" beyond the defualt would
be nice. Like having one where either -U or -V would be mroe eaily
viewable would be great.

Actually now that I think about it, just have a progress bar be a list
of 4 numbers, for how many of a certain piece type registeres in
solved position. Elegant and simple :).

BTW, I had noticed a pop up saying that I solved the cube while I was
just playing around near solved state, doing and undoing moves… this
seems to be an undesirable feature.

-Doug