Recently, Rubiks Cube puzzles are very popular. In the past, there were male engineers who were trying to solve the problem of the goddesss head, and later, there were the masters of proof who were trying to solve the problem of Einsteins head (Hey, something seems wrong). My girlfriend is celebrating her birthday recently, and as a self-proclaimed DIYer with Rubiks Cube soy sauce, lets do some puzzles too.
?DIYer:Core
Production time: several days for design and procurement and one night for production
Making difficulty:★★★☆☆
It is estimated that many Rubiks Cube enthusiasts have considered the idea of ????puzzling puzzles. However, generally, at least 500 Rubiks Cubes are needed to put together a portrait or something, which is a considerable expense, and then they gave up.
In fact, you don’t need to spend a lot of Rubik’s Cube and money, you can still make a satisfactory Rubik’s Cube puzzle.
Background introduction to the Rubiks Cube
The Rubiks Cube is called Rubiks Cube in English. It is a mechanical educational toy invented in 1974 by Hungarian architecture professor and sculptor Rubik Ern? The first one that appeared was the 3*3*3 third-order Rubiks Cube that we are most familiar with. Later, there were second-level Rubiks Cubes and high-level Rubiks Cubes such as 4,567 and so on. The highest level of Rubiks Cube that can currently be put into mass production is level 11. In addition to the traditional N-level Rubiks Cube, the more popular ones include the SQ series, pyramid, five-level Rubiks Cube, Zongzi and other special-shaped Rubiks Cubes.
Various shaped Rubiks Cubes
The Rubiks Cube became popular around the world in the 1980s. The establishment of the WCA (World Cube Association) in 2003 and the holding of various WCA Opens, Intercontinental Championships and World Championships brought the Rubiks Cube into everyones field of vision again. The official WCA competition items include speed twisting of various Rubiks cubes, blind twisting of third-, fourth- and fifth-level Rubiks cubes, and multiple blind twisting of third-level Rubiks cubes, foot twisting, one-hand twisting, minimum number of steps, etc. The current single world record for three-level Rubiks Cube speed twist is Mats Valks Zonhoven Open 2015.55s created on 3.
The most common introductory method of playing the third-level Rubiks Cube is the "layer-first method", or the "seven-step method". That is to restore a three-level Rubiks Cube layer by layer as a whole. The advantage is that there are fewer situations and formulas to remember, but more steps are required for restoration. The most widely used advanced method of playing the third-level Rubiks Cube is the CFOP method. This method simplifies the seven steps of the "layer first method" into four steps to complete, with a total of 119 situations. It takes a lot of practice to become proficient. High-level Rubiks Cubes are usually restored by merging the center block and edge blocks to "downgrade" them into a third-level Rubiks Cube.
Of course, the ways to play the Rubiks Cube are not limited to the above. For example, the Rubiks Cube puzzle we are going to make today is a very popular way of playing in recent years - Rubiks Cube Puzzle.
@proof_Einstein’s head puzzle made by Bart
This is the worlds largest Rubiks Cube puzzle, created by Josh Chalom on December 7, 2012 at One Plaza Macau. A total of 88,000 Rubiks cubes were used.
Material preparation
People who are familiar with the Rubik’s Cube
Feliks Zemdegs, the current world record holder for the average speed of a three-level Rubiks Cube. (Image source: wikipedia.org)
First of all, you need to have a certain degree of understanding of the Rubiks Cube. Of course, you don't need to be like Feliks... It is best to be able to restore the third-order Rubiks Cube. It’s okay if you don’t know anything, you can directly change the position of the sticker to get the graphics you want.
The purpose of the Rubiks Cube puzzle is to use only one of the six sides of the Rubiks Cube to obtain the required graphics, so we can ignore the status of the other five sides. Just spell out the graphics you need on the side facing up.
N number of Rubiks Cubes for the stall (in my case, 8*13 104), depending on your design
I really don’t have any requirements for Rubik’s Cube. Street stalls that are inferior to Variety Fantasy are the best choice. The price is generally between 1-3 yuan. You don’t need to care about the feel of the Rubik’s Cube, but you need to pay attention to whether the color of the sticker meets your requirements. Remember that there must be some redundancy so that replacements can be made in the event of an accident.
The standard Rubiks Cube size is 5.7cm, but this time I used a 3cm small Rubiks Cube, which sells for a little more than one yuan. Firstly, my sister and I had to work together to take the train with us when we were in a different place, so the small Rubiks Cube was assembled and easy to bring with us; secondly, considering that the small Rubiks Cube is cheap and low-cost (I am a big loser, actually the bigger one is not much more expensive). Another point is that the Rubiks Cube is smaller and has smaller pixels, so you don't have to be too far away to see good effects.
A tailor-made box
Used to fix the display after assembly. The ones I use here are modified from corrugated paper boxes. In fact, I think if I have enough time, it will be better to use acrylic board or wood board for processing. For most DIYers, this shouldn’t be too difficult. I forgot to take pictures when I was making the box.
Various tools
Utility knife, double-sided tape, transparent tape, etc. Will be used when renovating corrugated boxes.
Production process
Puzzle design
This step takes the most time. First choose what you want to spell, such as words or patterns. We consider low cost, so we try to choose some cartoon patterns that are easy to dot matrix. In this way, very good results can be achieved with a relatively small number of Rubiks cubes. And it has the feel of a retro eight-bit game console. What I chose here is my girlfriend’s Weibo avatar: Mario, the mushroom, and Mario...
1)Pattern
A simple principle is that you need to convert the image into a low-pixel bitmap.Each pixel corresponds to a piece on a Rubiks cube.
First convert the above image into a low-pixel dot matrix:
There are many methods for this. There is a conversion software called "Rubiks Cube Pattern Generator", but the effect is average when I use it. The effect can only be achieved when the number of Rubiks Cubes is particularly large.
This step is actually very easy to complete using photoshop, but since it is a birthday surprise, my girlfriend who studies design cannot take advantage of it at this time. Fortunately, as an engineering man who plays with microcontrollers, I also have a low-pixel tool - Image to LCD.
After the conversion, the effect is still not very good, so PS comes into play at this time! Is there an engineering male who knows how to PS, although his level is very low.
Open the bitmap you just converted in PS and modify it pixel by pixel until you are satisfied. (There will no longer be black art students in the future, they still have their existence and use value...…)
2) Adding text
Students who have played with microcontrollers all know that to display English characters completely, just use a 5*7 or 8*8 dot matrix. If you want to display Chinese, it must be at least 16*16. This can be converted using relevant software. Simple English. Just try it yourself and it will come out. I have a little bit of Rubiks Cube here, even 5*7 can't fit in it, so I had to draw it myself.
3) Adjust the overall design drawing
Import both patterns and text into PS and adjust their positions. Achieve satisfactory results. You can modify the pixel values ??of pictures and text according to your expected number of Rubiks cubes. Finally, determine the size and required magic
4) Add grid lines
This step is also very important. Because when you are doing the puzzle, you need to know clearly which piece of Rubiks Cube corresponds to which piece of graphics. The pixel grid of PS is obviously not enough. I don’t remember how to do PS at this time... You can use the method you are familiar with to add grid lines to your design drawings. Here I solved the problem by importing the pictures into AutoCAD.
Save the designed bitmap screenshot (do not save it by pixels), open AutoCAD, and adjust the background color to white. Insert - Raster Image Reference - Picture. Then use the Array Shenma tool to mark the thick and thin grid lines and coordinates. The thick grid lines represent the dividing lines between different Rubiks cubes. In this way, the overall renderings have come out.Just save the picture and print it.
The puzzle design has now been completed.
Start puzzle
After opening CAD just now, I easily created a grid. This is the standard size of the puzzle, and the length of each square is equivalent to the length of the Rubiks Cube you use. As a base for placing puzzles.
When doing the puzzle, compare the color renderings and put them together one by one. Theres really no skill to this. Just make sure the front side is correct. It doesn't matter what the side surface looks like. I believe that this will not be a problem for those who can play a three-level Rubiks Cube. As mentioned before, if you really have zero foundation, you can scrape off the sticker and re-attach it to get the pattern you need. In fact, if you fight, the process is very fast. After all, you only need to spell out one side.
It is easy to make mistakes when spelling, just correct it. If you, like me, bought a very cheap Rubiks Cube from a street stall, please be gentle with your Rubiks Cube. When I was trying to put it together, one of the pieces flew apart (commonly known as "falling apart"), and the shaft was directly broken. Street stalls are indeed street stalls, so a certain amount of redundancy is necessary.
I fight, I fight, I fight, I fight. Done!
At this time, the box is also ready. Pack directly!
Postscript
This thing was done on the night of the 12th. Before that, I had kept it secret from my sister without revealing anything. The production process that night was done in a milk tea shop by a few friends from the Rubiks Cube Club under my coercion and the inducement of buying me a drink. The box was made by the president. The 13th is my sister’s birthday, and I can’t bring my things there for a few days. So I posted on Weibo at midnight that night, @girl. Then I called the girl and asked her to check Weibo.
The girl’s first reaction after seeing it was: “Why is it not my face but the Weibo avatar?”
(Limited funds...if you put a hundred Rubiks cubes into a human face, it will turn into a ghost)
After watching the girlHis second reaction was: "If you have the ability, don't tell me and let me do it myself!"
(I really have no ability)
The girl’s third reaction after reading this was: “How much does this Rubik’s Cube cost? You must not have bought it yourself! It was used by your club
Set up a street stall to bring in the goods!"
(Tiandi Liangliang bought it himself, although it is from Yiwu. Yes! You heard that right, you read that right, one yuan each, one yuan each. Don’t miss it if you pass by)
Of course, according to my interview afterwards, the girl was actually very happy.
