First: Is that accurate? Is that how most "better" cubers do it?

<R, U, y> is the dominant movegroup for f2l, with the occasional <r, R, U> or <R, F, U>

Second: Any suggestions on how to improve at that? It feels like re-learning everything I know about F2L! Practice, of course, but any tips?

You won't be re-learning, sometimes using <R, U, y> is just more appropriate (preserving EO etc). If I'm to use a more 'tricky' f2l slotting alg I'll use it for last slot (where influencing LL is easy and makes happy times).

Third: What's the common finger placement/tricks for F' U' F? When I end an algorithm (e.g., T-perm) with F', I push the right top corner to the left using my right index finger. That's easy for me, but doesn't seem to work for F' U F.

What you're doing is exactly right imo, when you come back with the F you can just use your right index again to drag back down on UFR/UF.

Look here for fun: http://cubefreak.net/speed/advancedf2l/
 
Cross or F2L Help?

Hey everyone,

I average about 14 seconds on 3x3 speed solving and am trying to solve the cross or create F2L pairs quicker but can't.

I know nearly all of the OLL algorithms and all of the PLL algorithms also.

This video is just a walkthrough solve video with 5 solves to show my thought process while solving and I would appreciate any tips or easier algorithms!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmZgv8E-80U&feature=plcp

**I'm not asking about how to get quicker, I'm just asking for tips or algorithms.
 
Nice camera!

You're good enough with your cross in terms of thinking through it and coming up with a full solution that you can learn a lot very quickly from jarcs. Just generate a scramble there do it on your cube, figure out your own cross, then click the Cross tab and "solve" on the left. Compare your solution to the ones jarcs found and learn some new tricks.

First solve, third pair: The orange/green edge at UF has orange on the top, and your F color matches (meaning is the same or opposite color), therefore it's solvable with just L/U/R moves. In other words it's correctly oriented and does not require cube rotations or F/B moves to solve. You did two rotations, when you could have just done L' U' L U' L' U' L.

First solve, fourth pair: Again, the top color of the edge matches your F color in that they're opposite colors, so you shouldn't need a rotation for it. You can look at the F2L link above for ways of solving this case without rotations, but the way I would have done it is U' R2 U2 R U R' U R2.

Second solve, when you talk about doing the cube rotation: During look ahead, you should be looking both for corner stickers of your cross color, and UL/UF/UR/UB/FL/FB edge stickers that match (same/opposite) your front color. Those are the edges of the pairs you should do first, because they will not require cube rotations. Mastering this extra bit of information during a speed solve was the main thing that got me sub-10 from ~12. I noticed right away when you inserted the second pair that you had two F2L edges on the top, UF and UB, that were the wrong orientation. I would have done a cube rotation right away even if I had no idea where the corners were, because it's the edges that dictate the rotations, and ended up solving the remaining pairs the same way you did, but without having to look ahead so much all at once.

Third solve cross: You could have done R' instead of R when moving the red to the back, which would have allowed for F R L2 to finish.

Third solve immediately after cross: Again, look for stickers that match F on top and at FL and FR. You have three that match on top UF, UR, and UB, and the FU and RU stickers are not yellow meaning they are F2L edges. You could have solved those two first without needing to do rotations at all. Also notice that the LF and LB edges are F2L edges (I don't expect all this recognition instantly during a speed solve, I'm just pointing it out for learning) are incorrectly oriented. That is, the FL and BL stickers do not match F.

The issue here is that when you have an F2L edge on the top, doing a cube rotation will toggle it's orientation. If the edge is in the E layer, doing a cube rotation does not affect it's orientation. If it's correctly oriented, it will stay that way, allowing you to do a rotation for another pair and not worry about having to rotation back to solve that edge. If it's incorrectly oriented, it will stay that way, meaning you should try to get it to the top during the insertion of another pair before rotating. I would have started this solve with L' U' L to create the blue/red pair at the back left, which also brings the FL edge to the top. Insert with R' U R, noticing the orange/green pair at front right. Now, I could do R (or R2 follow-through from last pair) U' R' U' L' U' L, but because I know that the BL edge is bad, I want to remove it. So, after inserting the red/blue pair, I instead do U2' L U' L' U L' U' L'. Now both remaining F2L edges are on top, and I can do one cube rotation (or d move) to fix both.

Next I made the blue/orange pair with d R' U2' R, and noticed the case forming at the back right. Just from experience I know that when I have a state like this I want to do U R' U2' R, and that will end up with a better case than U2' R' U R.

Third solve, last pair: How you did it is fine, but if you are okay with F moves I recommend U R' F R F' R U' R' (That's starting with the corner at UBL as it was when you finished the third pair).

I didn't look at the last two.
 
Cross or F2L Help?

Nice camera!

You're good enough with your cross in terms of thinking through it and coming up with a full solution that you can learn a lot very quickly from jarcs. Just generate a scramble there do it on your cube, figure out your own cross, then click the Cross tab and "solve" on the left. Compare your solution to the ones jarcs found and learn some new tricks.

First solve, third pair: The orange/green edge at UF has orange on the top, and your F color matches (meaning is the same or opposite color), therefore it's solvable with just L/U/R moves. In other words it's correctly oriented and does not require cube rotations or F/B moves to solve. You did two rotations, when you could have just done L' U' L U' L' U' L.

First solve, fourth pair: Again, the top color of the edge matches your F color in that they're opposite colors, so you shouldn't need a rotation for it. You can look at the F2L link above for ways of solving this case without rotations, but the way I would have done it is U' R2 U2 R U R' U R2.

Second solve, when you talk about doing the cube rotation: During look ahead, you should be looking both for corner stickers of your cross color, and UL/UF/UR/UB/FL/FB edge stickers that match (same/opposite) your front color. Those are the edges of the pairs you should do first, because they will not require cube rotations. Mastering this extra bit of information during a speed solve was the main thing that got me sub-10 from ~12. I noticed right away when you inserted the second pair that you had two F2L edges on the top, UF and UB, that were the wrong orientation. I would have done a cube rotation right away even if I had no idea where the corners were, because it's the edges that dictate the rotations, and ended up solving the remaining pairs the same way you did, but without having to look ahead so much all at once.

Third solve cross: You could have done R' instead of R when moving the red to the back, which would have allowed for F R L2 to finish.

Third solve immediately after cross: Again, look for stickers that match F on top and at FL and FR. You have three that match on top UF, UR, and UB, and the FU and RU stickers are not yellow meaning they are F2L edges. You could have solved those two first without needing to do rotations at all. Also notice that the LF and LB edges are F2L edges (I don't expect all this recognition instantly during a speed solve, I'm just pointing it out for learning) are incorrectly oriented. That is, the FL and BL stickers do not match F.

The issue here is that when you have an F2L edge on the top, doing a cube rotation will toggle it's orientation. If the edge is in the E layer, doing a cube rotation does not affect it's orientation. If it's correctly oriented, it will stay that way, allowing you to do a rotation for another pair and not worry about having to rotation back to solve that edge. If it's incorrectly oriented, it will stay that way, meaning you should try to get it to the top during the insertion of another pair before rotating. I would have started this solve with L' U' L to create the blue/red pair at the back left, which also brings the FL edge to the top. Insert with R' U R, noticing the orange/green pair at front right. Now, I could do R (or R2 follow-through from last pair) U' R' U' L' U' L, but because I know that the BL edge is bad, I want to remove it. So, after inserting the red/blue pair, I instead do U2' L U' L' U L' U' L'. Now both remaining F2L edges are on top, and I can do one cube rotation (or d move) to fix both.

Next I made the blue/orange pair with d R' U2' R, and noticed the case forming at the back right. Just from experience I know that when I have a state like this I want to do U R' U2' R, and that will end up with a better case than U2' R' U R.

Third solve, last pair: How you did it is fine, but if you are okay with F moves I recommend U R' F R F' R U' R' (That's starting with the corner at UBL as it was when you finished the third pair).

I didn't look at the last two.

Thanks for all your help! :D
 
F2L problem

Hi, I apologize if my English is not perfect but I'm Italian.
I've always done the F2L in the up face not in down face, I ask you a way to start doing it in down before December 9, 2012.
Thanks
 
[HELP] F2L : How to start the right way

Hi SpeedSolving community! I am new in the speedcubing world! I solve the rubiks cube in about 1 minute 30 seconds (sometimes less). It's been now 1 week that I have my rubik cube :o I've learned some PLL algorithms but nothing more. All the rest is by the badmephisto beginner's method. I would like to start the F2L. I have tried to follow some tutorials, but I couldn't understand. :confused: And I still don't understand how F2L works. If anyone could help me with a beginner friendly guide or tutorial, it would be really appreciated! ;)
Thanks for your time and of course, have a great day!
 
Instead of solving the corner and edge separately, you are solving them together.

When you solve a corner with the cross on the bottom, an edge ends up in the space above to it regardless of whether or not it's the correct edge. This is pretty obvious, because you simply can't have an empty space on the cube, but it's an important point. CFOP F2L in it's most basic form is just positioning the edge that matches the corner you're solving so that it ends up being the one that goes in the slot along with the corner. Look at these two ways of inserting a corner in three moves:

Corner insertion 1
Corner insertion 2

Click play on those and notice that although the corner is being solved, the wrong edge piece is going into the slot with it. Unlike edges, you can solve the corners without using rotations regardless of it's orientation.

Scramble your cube and solve your cross. With the cross on the bottom of the cube, solve all of the corners (don't worry about the edges) without rotating the cube, and only using U, L, and R face turns. Do this several times.

Now view these two:

Solving edge along with corner 1
Solving edge along with corner 2

Notice that it's the same three moves, but due to the different position of the edge, it ends up being solved along with the corner. Take note that in the first link, the top color of the edge and corner are the same, and in the second one they are different.

Now you can see that the goal is to place the corner and edge relative to one another in such a way that they will both be solved together. Watch the follow two cases to see this.

Setting up then solving edge along with corner 1
Setting up then solving edge along with corner 2

That's the basic idea, but many cases require more knowledge than this to solve with a small number of moves. There are many video and text resources for that which you should be able to understand more easily now.
 
Hey thanks alot for the answers guys! I'm getting into it! Will come back with the results!
 
I managed to learn F2L! Wouhouu ! :D Taught myself some tricks and now I successfuly do it. Problem is, I got slower on solving time. My problem: Spotting the corners and edges that belongs together. I need some tips to spot them faster! Anyone? :confused:
Thank you for your time and of course, have a great day! ;)
 
In first with: Practice.

Give it time, you will get better at recognising the patterns quickly, then you can look at making it more efficient by reducing rotations, developing lookahead etc etc. It won't be too long before you are back at your old times, and then you can really start to get it quicker.
 
I managed to learn F2L! Wouhouu ! :D Taught myself some tricks and now I successfuly do it. Problem is, I got slower on solving time. My problem: Spotting the corners and edges that belongs together. I need some tips to spot them faster! Anyone? :confused:
Thank you for your time and of course, have a great day! ;)

Trying to turn quickly will slow you down. Try to turn slow enough so that there are zero pauses throughout your f2l. And give the timer a rest.
 
When do you do an F2L rotation?

Rotations are obviously what really kills our times in f2l, so when is the right time to rotate the cube during f2l? When your inserting a pair on the back side? When you need to do an F or B, so you can do an R/L instead? Thanks for replying in advanced!
 
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