[Help Thread] CFOP Discussion

[Lefthander]

I'm new here!

Title.

I live in Brazil and I started to solve 3x3x3 Rubix Cubes a few weeks.
In this week I started to learn the CFOP (Jessica Fridrich method) and everything seems to be decorated.
Some tips to me improve my time? (44 ~ 60 sec)
And, OLL skip cases, I think it would be very useful to improve my time for some scrambles.

Sorry 4 the bad english.
And Thanks for read this.

@edit What is the better cube for speedsolving?

 

[CubeWizard23]

I'm guessing that you are a lefty? Welcome to the club try to be hand neutral for f2l it will greatly help for OH and for 2H

 

[Lefthander]

Yes CubeWizard23, I'm left handed
My algorithms are performed better with my left hand. But I use the right too!

 

[NickE]

You slow down to learn how to go faster!

An analogy is sprinting. You don't just run the 100 over and over again to get faster at the 100 - that would not make you fast. You need to step back and lift weights, work on flexibility, and everything else. Doing slow solves is the equivalent of lifting weights in 3x3. Yes, it will make individual solves slower, but that's because you're going slowly! Don't time your slow solves. Just solve it slowly and with thought rather than going on autopilot. In addition you can do your whole blind pairs, blind cross stuff, and work on TPS of algs when you're perhaps sub20.

So slow down when practicing, Does this mean at Comps go fast or should I still go slow

 

[Praetorian]

So slow down when practicing, Does this mean at Comps go fast or should I still go slow

what "slowing down" means is slowing the speed at which you turn the cube, allowing you to have less pauses and lookahead easier. If you turn too quickly, you're not letting yourself look at any other pair, forcing you to do something like look around and the cube and rotate to try and find another. you start out turning slower, and progressively get faster only when you can lookahead fast enough. having fast TPS is most valuable in last layer, where all that is, is just recognition and performing algorithms after recognizing the case. there can be other factors in last layer but you're not quite there yet so don't worry about that for now. cross and F2L are the most essential component of your solves, work on those first

 

[NickE]

what "slowing down" means is slowing the speed at which you turn the cube, allowing you to have less pauses and lookahead easier. If you turn too quickly, you're not letting yourself look at any other pair, forcing you to do something like look around and the cube and rotate to try and find another. you start out turning slower, and progressively get faster only when you can lookahead fast enough. having fast TPS is most valuable in last layer, where all that is, is just recognition and performing algorithms after recognizing the case. there can be other factors in last layer but you're not quite there yet so don't worry about that for now. cross and F2L are the most essential component of your solves, work on those first

So slow down at comps

 

[Praetorian]

So slow down at comps

practice whenever, and sure do it at comps, breaking bad habits is a good thing, I still have a good amount to break and am currently in the process of doing so

 

[Hypocrism]

So slow down when practicing, Does this mean at Comps go fast or should I still go slow

As already said by others, slowing down will teach you skills that you can apply when you're doing speedsolves.

Try metronome solving for some measurable progress.

 

[NickE]

As already said by others, slowing down will teach you skills that you can apply when you're doing speedsolves.

Try metronome solving for some measurable progress.

What's metronome solving

 

[shadowslice e]

What's metronome solving

You set a metronome to a specific speed and turn at that speed for the whole solve. Over time you very, very slowly and gradually speed up the metronome. I would recommend starting at 60-80. You will eventually be able to speed up by maybe 10 bpm per month if you practise a fair bit. I wouldn't recommend going any faster than around 130 bpm though because without a huge amount of practise your efficiency will begin to break down.

 

[Raiscube]

New to cubing, need advice though

Hey guys. I apologize ahead of time for the long message.

anyway, about a year and a half ago i bought a standard store bought rubix cube and memorized the algorithims in the instructions untill i could beat it. Then i quit for a while untill recently about a month ago. I picked the cube up and had forgotten all the algorithims, but i relearned them much faster the second time around.

Actually, i have memorized them all except the left hand version of u r u' r' u' f' u. i did however learn a new algorithim that helps with f2l which was r u u r' u r u u r' u f' u' f, which i learned when i ordered a yulong off of ebay and it was in the japanese instructions.

anyway thats not really my question.

I was googling and youtubing speedcube techniques and notice people who are quite fast tend to solve the cross on the bottom rather than on top and then flipping the cube over to finish the f2l. Among other things.

I was wondering if i should be learning to solve the cube in a different way or should i just practice the standard way untill i master it? It seems like even if i master the standard way, i will just have to relearn a new way, so why not start with the new way?

Basically my goal is to eventually be really good at the cube, at least sub 1min. Right now my record was 2 min 30 sec.

What should i be doing right now? Idk just want some advice

 

[MoyuFTW]

You can easily get sub 1 with beginners method. You just need practice and finger tricks

 

[Praetorian]

remember that notation is in capital letters for regular moves, R instead of r

r means double layer turn as well as u

as for what you should be doing now, I assume you want to pursue CFOP, I recommend watching some F2L videos by collinbxyz (Collin Burns) or badmephistos videos on cross, F2L (old videos but still really good), cyotheking (Chris Olson) is the guy who helped me learn my PLLs and fingertricking them, so he's also a good source for information, he also posts a miscellaneous alg every week or so, and his website contains loads of algorithms and stuff

https://www.youtube.com/user/cyotheking - Chris Olson
https://www.youtube.com/user/collinbxyz - Collin Burns
https://www.youtube.com/user/badmephisto - badmephisto
http://www.cyotheking.com/ - Chris's website

 

[qwertycuber]

Just learn the new way, because why not just start learning the better way first? Try to learn fingertricks, if you don't. If you are finding it hard to transitioning to the more faster way, try finding a tutorial on youtube. But the most important thing is to practice. In my case, I averaged 30 seconds with beginner's method, and when I transitioned to the more advanced method, I was sub 18 sec in 3 months. Hope that helps.

 

[Raiscube]

I am not entirely sure what you mean praetor. First off, i am not too familiar with rubik cube lingo, so i dont know what cfop is and also is the R and r thing you said something to do with the new algorithims ill be learning?

And i will continue to practice but im just worried i may get stuck because i learbed the standard way. Unless as you get better it gets simpler to do whatever you want? I heard there were 52 algs for the pll? Man thats alot! I am sure they come in handy.

How many times should i solve a day? I do it about 10-20 so far

I have been practicing finger tricks but just r u r' u'. I am not sure how to incorporate the finger tricks into my solving. I think i need to master the algorithims a little more.


Are there any algorithims i should know that are basic and incredibly helpful?

 

[CubeWizard23]

if you learn 2 look oll/pll or 4ll its only ~10 algs, several are from beginners method

 

[Praetorian]

I am not entirely sure what you mean praetor. First off, i am not too familiar with rubik cube lingo, so i dont know what cfop is and also is the R and r thing you said something to do with the new algorithims ill be learning?

And i will continue to practice but im just worried i may get stuck because i learbed the standard way. Unless as you get better it gets simpler to do whatever you want? I heard there were 52 algs for the pll? Man thats alot! I am sure they come in handy.

How many times should i solve a day? I do it about 10-20 so far

I have been practicing finger tricks but just r u r' u'. I am not sure how to incorporate the finger tricks into my solving. I think i need to master the algorithims a little more.


Are there any algorithims i should know that are basic and incredibly helpful?

it's called notation, it's the way you turn the cube, in an algorithm, the specific layer you turn in order, capital letters are normal turns, R, so you turn the right side of the cube 90 degrees clockwise, if there's a ' next to it, R', it's 90 degrees counterclockwise, and so the same for every layer

if it's a lowercase letter, r, (as opposed to R), it indicates a double layer turn, turning both R and M (the middle slice between L and R)

as for what CFOP stands for, it stands for Cross, F2L, OLL, and PLL

Cross is the first step, it's 4 edge pieces solved (usually) on the bottom face (D)

F2L is First 2 Layers, pairing up corners and edges and inserting them into slots

OLL is Orienting Last Layer, which has 57 algorithms, it basically makes the opposite face of what you started on the whole same color

PLL is Permuting Last Layer, which has 21 algorithms and moves all the remaining pieces where they need to be, either by using a cycle or by other means


and yes, R U R' U' (which is called sexy move), R' F R F' (which is called sledgehammer) and the inverses of those, U R U' R' (which is doing sexy move backwards)

badmephisto, the channel I linked earlier explains much better than I do at what CFOP is, you should look to him for further reference, there is also tons of other resources online for this particular method

ParadoxCubing also has great tutorials along with an introduction to what it actually is and how it works https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwvGWNfcgs8

 

[Raiscube]

That was actually quite informative. I am interested in cfop and am going to look into it tomorrow after work. I like the idea of starting the cross on bottom instead of top because that way you dont have to rotate the cube as much to find your next piece (i think) but that means i have to completely abandon my knowledge of standard solving.

Is cfop worth the effort to learn right off the bat or do you think i should play with standard for a little while longer? And whos tosay i cant remember both methods? I am sure many people know many different ways of solving the cube and choose to do their favorite.

I am going to memorize that one last alg i havent learned yet and then practice untill i am at least a 1 min 30 seconds. I wrote down all of the info u have told me.

Do you think cfop is easier once you have learned most of the algs?

 

[Praetorian]

That was actually quite informative. I am interested in cfop and am going to look into it tomorrow after work. I like the idea of starting the cross on bottom instead of top because that way you dont have to rotate the cube as much to find your next piece (i think) but that means i have to completely abandon my knowledge of standard solving.

Is cfop worth the effort to learn right off the bat or do you think i should play with standard for a little while longer? And whos tosay i cant remember both methods? I am sure many people know many different ways of solving the cube and choose to do their favorite.

I am going to memorize that one last alg i havent learned yet and then practice untill i am at least a 1 min 30 seconds. I wrote down all of the info u have told me.

Do you think cfop is easier once you have learned most of the algs?

CFOP is sortof like an enhanced beginners method, as it shares similar properties, all it basically does is combine steps and introduces different approaches, beginners method will definitely help you transition into CFOP

the way I see it there's no wrong time to start learning it, the second step is very different (F2L) than first layer and edges in beginners method, so if you want to commit to CFOP, you should get the hang of pairing up corners and edges rather than first layer and then an edge

CFOP is definitely more effective when you know all of the standard algorithms for the last layer, for now to save you the trouble of learning 78 last layer algorithms, you should look into "2 Look OLL" and "2 Look PLL", and then you can learn the rest of the algorithms whenever you want to, or choose not to at all

the knowledge you have right now of the beginners method will help you transition into CFOP as it builds onto it, so don't worry about that, the only real differences is cross on bottom and the pairing in F2L, and doing OLL and PLL in one algorithm

I feel like I talked way too much so sorry about that

 

[peedoo72]

That was actually quite informative. I am interested in cfop and am going to look into it tomorrow after work. I like the idea of starting the cross on bottom instead of top because that way you dont have to rotate the cube as much to find your next piece (i think) but that means i have to completely abandon my knowledge of standard solving.

Is cfop worth the effort to learn right off the bat or do you think i should play with standard for a little while longer? And whos tosay i cant remember both methods? I am sure many people know many different ways of solving the cube and choose to do their favorite.

I am going to memorize that one last alg i havent learned yet and then practice untill i am at least a 1 min 30 seconds. I wrote down all of the info u have told me.

Do you think cfop is easier once you have learned most of the algs?

OK, so first things first. Use your Yulong instead of the Rubik's store bought. Next Practice beginner method with 2 look OLL and PLL until your down to about 45 secs. Don't focus on learning lots of methods, just focus on learning the cube and how it works. Practice cross on top and don't worry about CFOP. You said that you can remember both methods, but you only need CFOP because it's a more advanced method of the beginners. Don't watch youtube videos until your down to 30 secs, it will just confuse you and it wastes your time when you could be practicing and getting faster. Lastly you need the will to want to get faster and you need to put effort into it. If you want to run a mile under 6 min, you need to have the want to, and you need to put effort. I will make a thread about sub x, but for now just practice, practice, practice, and did I mention practice? Just because someone calls you slow doesn't mean you are. You'll get faster one day I promise Happy cubing and welcome to the community!!!

If you have any questions just contact me on Skype: King_teddy72


Edit: contact me on Skype, not a suggestion, but a strong suggestion. Don't worry I'm not a stalker

All of the things that they are telling is fine, but some things are just too advanced for you.

Practice about 20-30 solves a day. Carry it around with you.

Use this to time yourself http://cstimer.net/timer.php?lang=en