Message #1229

From: Roice Nelson <roice3@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [MC4D] Re: MHT633 v0.1 uploaded
Date: Thu, 28 Oct 2010 19:49:42 -0500

> To select position of the ball center use "Area center" slider. On the
>> left side it makes the area centered in the camera position (it’s good for
>> strong FishEye view and for frequent shift-left-drag movement) and on the
>> right side area is centered at the point of view (=rotation center). If you
>> have slider in this position, area will not be recalculatied during
>> left-drag rotations, because center remains the same.
>
>
> Thank you for the explanation of this slider. I had not understood what it
> was, and the program behavior makes perfect sense now. I find things more
> intuitive when the slider is set all the way at the left (on Cam), but
> that’s probably because I heavily use left-click drag.
>

After playing with things further to find sequences for cycling pieces, I
actually found my preference here reversed from what I initially thought it
would be. I like this slider best all the way to the right (on POV), even
with lots of left-click dragging, so I’m glad you have that as the default.

I’ve found 3-cycle sequences for 2C, 3C, and 4C pieces on the 8-cell
puzzle. It was not trivial to look at the puzzle and tell they were
actually 3-cycle sequences! And I had to build them a little differently
than I usually do, due to the puzzle cells being so coupled to each other.
The 3C and 4C sequences both uses 22 twists. Anyway, I think my usual
approach of solving "centers out" would not be too awful with those tools in
hand and using macros, though who knows what scenarios might show up along
the way! This puzzle is mind expanding for sure, and I can’t get over how
nicely the presentation ends up looking for these infinite sided cells.

After pulling my hair out a bit with the 8-cell sequences, I discovered that
simple variations of the sequences in the online MC4D solution *very
easily*work for the 12-cell puzzle (since it is less coupled). I
quickly made an 8
move sequence to 3-cycle 3C pieces. I’m betting the 12-colored puzzle will
be easier overall, despite its larger piece count.

A couple more usage things:

(1) Shift-right-clicking 2C, 3C, or 4C pieces also highlights some 1C
pieces (and in ways that were strange to me). Is this intended?

(2) A function to reset the view would be nice. It’d also be nice to reset
the state without resetting the view (I guess what I’m asking for is to
split these functions up).

(3) I also find a running timer distracting, and would prefer it be an
option, for when people want to speedsolve.

Best,
Roice