Message #1859

From: Melinda Green <melinda@superliminal.com>
Subject: Re: [MC4D] Re: Blindfolded hypersolving
Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2011 02:04:11 -0700

Let me be the first to congratulate you, Nan!

Now I have to figure out how to explain this to people. Looking at your
screen shot, part of my brain wants to say "that’s not blind!". But of
course it is. The visual gray stickers are just mental aids, or perhaps
the controls for an invisible puzzle. I suppose the way to explain it
would be in analogy to a 3D puzzle that you memorize, plan, cover with
gray stickers, and then solve. When finished, you peel them off to see
how you did.

Once you and Matt started discussing the practicalities I had a feeling
that one of you would solve a 4D cube very soon. From your email, I
sense that you are encouraging him to now attempt the first 3^4 blind
solve. If you are worried about feeling badly about rushing for the
first ever 4D solution, please do not. Everyone with the skills to
attempt this was perfectly able to decide for themselves how much effort
to put into the attempt, and you were the one with the most
determination to risk it. The 3^4 is the obvious next plum prize. I
encourage you to give it your best effort if it interests you, and I
wish to send the same message to everyone else as well.

This new category of 4D solutions definitely deserves a special section
in the records wiki. Please upload your solution there along with a
simplified screen shot just like for the other puzzles, just all in
gray. It doesn’t matter how you do it. We can always edit and move it
around later.

Regarding spoilers, please feel free to explain your methods and just
put the words *Spoiler Warning* or something like that somewhere in the
subject line.

Congratulations on your amazing feat, and thank you for opening up an
entirely new category of challenges that we have only dreamed about
until now.

-Melinda

On 8/11/2011 12:37 AM, schuma wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I just successfully solved 2^4 BLD with macros using MPUlt v1.06. A screenshot, the log file, and the macro-definition file can be found in this folder (I hope this link is permanent):
>
> http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/4D_Cubing/files/Nan%20Ma/BLD2_4/
>
> I used macros extensively. I even included the setup moves in macros to avoid clicking mistakes. As a result, once memo is done, the solving was very fast. The memo time was ~24 min and the solving time was ~2 min. I had two pitiful DNFs before the success. In the first attempt I didn’t memorize the orientation of a piece correctly. In the second attempt I clicked a re-orientation macro when I should click a permutation macro in the last step.
>
> I would like to thank Matt for his warning about the reorientation step. I’m sure you will make a BLD solve without macro very soon, if not already done one.
>
> I had a breakthrough on my understanding of reorientation when I talked to Raymond Zhao. His suggestion was inspiring. I’ll hold the trick to avoid spoiling.
>
> Nan
>
> — In 4D_Cubing@yahoogroups.com, "Matthew"<damienturtle@…> wrote:
>> Nan,
>>
>> Thanks :). That result was my personal best though, I’m still fairly new to multiBLD and I was fairly convinced I would mess up.
>>
>> I see, I thought when I read you post that you were more experienced at BLD, but since you seem to have such a talent for puzzles I’m sure you will advance quickly. I agree that it’s more fun to figure it out yourself first, and considering BLD in 4D was certainly one of the more interesting experiences I have had with these puzzles. Can you tell me what systems you use for solving and memorising? Using a very basic system for either will hinder your attempts at 4D BLD, but neither do you need an advanced system. Personally on 3x3x3, I use 3-cycles to solve (mostly BH, which is fairly easy if you know how to use commutators), and letter pair images/journeys for memorising.
>>
>> I just finished another attempt at the 2^4, and I’ll give a couple of minor pointers (no spoilers for methods) which could be useful to avoid the two silly mistakes I just made to cause a DNF. Firstly, make sure the twist speed is slow enough that you can easily follow the twists you make, and verify that every twist is what you intended. Secondly, if you need to reorient one or two pieces in place and think of doing it as CW or CCW from a certain viewpoint, make sure that its the same viewpoint you use for deciding which algorithm to use for the reorientation. I had 2 pieces left after placing all the pieces which were in place but misorientated with one sticker solved in each. I tried to rotate them the wrong way (I memorised and recalled correctly, but memorised it from the wrong viewpoint and therefore CW and CCW were switched), and then made a mistake in the algorithm by doing one of my twists in the wrong direction and didn’t notice. I guess I was out of practice
> a little, but that’s no excuse. Next attempt should be a success at last, unless I make any more silly errors.
>> Also, I encourage anyone else in this group who is interested in BLD to try this, it really is fun. And for those who aren’t interested in BLD: try it, it’s fun, interesting, and good for showing off to non-cubers ;-).
>>
>> Btw, would anyone like me to post my method here or upload a typed up tutorial? Should I wait until it has been discussed a little? Obviously if I posted it I would add a suitable spoiler warning for anyone wanting to try themselves first (which I recommend).
>>
>> Matt
>>
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