This is a guide on how to interpret fmc reconstructions and how to use the fmc reconstruction notation yourself. This guide will assume you already know how wca notation works in general. As a reminder, xyz follow FUR, respectively. I recommend you to use that as a mnemonic if you need. Additionally, it's important to note that this is just how I do this, and some people end up using minor variations of this.
Fmc reconstructions will list the moves on each step of the solve in a seperate line. After the line, a commend is added, prefixed by a double slash ( // ). In this comment it will be included the name of the step, the ammount of moves it took, wether it canceled any moves and how many, and the total ammount of moves done so far.
Example:
R U F // EO [3/3]
F2 U L // 222 [3-1=2/5]
Note that here 222 was used to mean what others would describe as 2x2x2. I don't know how common this is, but I have seen it be done before. Other common step names include, for example but not limited to: EO (edge orientation), roux (1x2x3), cross, xcross, 223 (2x2x3), f2l-1 (all of f2l except for a single f2l pair), f2l, oll, pll, auf, dr (domino reduction), htr (half turn reduction), fr (floppy reduction), ls (leave slice), finish (solved)
When the solver uses NISS, parentheses are used to mark the part of the solution done in the inverse scramble/solution.
Example:
B2 (B2) // 223 [2/7]
Note that this would not cancel any moves, since the B2 outside of the parentheses is on the normal solution and the B2 inside the parentheses is in the inverse solution.
The next thing we will be talking about is skeletons, specifically how naming skeletons works. Skeletons are named after the type of cycles of pieces they leave, where c represents the word "corners" and e represents the word "edges".
Examples:
- A skeleton with 3 corners swapped in a cycle is called "3c".
- A skeleton with 2 corners swapped and 2 edges swapped may be either called "2e2c" or "2c2e".
- A skeleton with 2 corners twisted in place is called "1c1c", as corner twists and edge flips are considered 1-cycles.
Before I start explaining how insertions work, I think it's worth it to first explain how commutator and conjugate notation works. This is also used by blinders, specially by those learning 3 style.
The notation for a commutator is [A, B], where that represents A B A' B'. Example: [D, R U R'] means D R U R' D' R U' R'. The notation for a conjugate is [A: B] (note that this uses : instead of ,), where that represents A B A'. Example: [R: [D, R U R']] means R [D, R U R'] R', which would itself expand to R D R U R' D' R U' R' R' = R D R U R' D' R U' R2.
Now for insertions. Insertions are marked by using a symbol or emoji, and recalling it after the solution. Some people may write the whole skeleton linearly and put the symbol there, where other people may insert the symbol or emoji in the reconstruction itself.
Example:
R U @ R2 U' R' // 3c [5/12]
@ [D, R' U2 R] // finish [8-1=7/19]
Additional notes and clarifications:
- This was not a real scramble solution. I just made it up while writing this guide for examplification and demonstration pouposes.
- Some people may chose to, after the symbol, use an = or : sign to explicitly state that that's where the insertion beggins. So for this specific case it would look like @ = [D, R' U2 R] // finish [8-1=7/19].
- When using cfop or block building and finishing the solve using oll-pll or zbll, people usually call the last step auf instead of finish. Finish seems to be more used when solving an htr.
- Some people in the comment in the end of each line may use parentheses, (), intead of brackets, []. I also note that not everyone will keep track of both the ammount of moves that the current step took and the total ammount of moves so far.
- Usually, the scramble will be provided before the reconstruction, sometimes without further explanation, leaving it implicit that it is the scramble for said solution.
Fmc reconstructions will list the moves on each step of the solve in a seperate line. After the line, a commend is added, prefixed by a double slash ( // ). In this comment it will be included the name of the step, the ammount of moves it took, wether it canceled any moves and how many, and the total ammount of moves done so far.
Example:
R U F // EO [3/3]
F2 U L // 222 [3-1=2/5]
Note that here 222 was used to mean what others would describe as 2x2x2. I don't know how common this is, but I have seen it be done before. Other common step names include, for example but not limited to: EO (edge orientation), roux (1x2x3), cross, xcross, 223 (2x2x3), f2l-1 (all of f2l except for a single f2l pair), f2l, oll, pll, auf, dr (domino reduction), htr (half turn reduction), fr (floppy reduction), ls (leave slice), finish (solved)
When the solver uses NISS, parentheses are used to mark the part of the solution done in the inverse scramble/solution.
Example:
B2 (B2) // 223 [2/7]
Note that this would not cancel any moves, since the B2 outside of the parentheses is on the normal solution and the B2 inside the parentheses is in the inverse solution.
The next thing we will be talking about is skeletons, specifically how naming skeletons works. Skeletons are named after the type of cycles of pieces they leave, where c represents the word "corners" and e represents the word "edges".
Examples:
- A skeleton with 3 corners swapped in a cycle is called "3c".
- A skeleton with 2 corners swapped and 2 edges swapped may be either called "2e2c" or "2c2e".
- A skeleton with 2 corners twisted in place is called "1c1c", as corner twists and edge flips are considered 1-cycles.
Before I start explaining how insertions work, I think it's worth it to first explain how commutator and conjugate notation works. This is also used by blinders, specially by those learning 3 style.
The notation for a commutator is [A, B], where that represents A B A' B'. Example: [D, R U R'] means D R U R' D' R U' R'. The notation for a conjugate is [A: B] (note that this uses : instead of ,), where that represents A B A'. Example: [R: [D, R U R']] means R [D, R U R'] R', which would itself expand to R D R U R' D' R U' R' R' = R D R U R' D' R U' R2.
Now for insertions. Insertions are marked by using a symbol or emoji, and recalling it after the solution. Some people may write the whole skeleton linearly and put the symbol there, where other people may insert the symbol or emoji in the reconstruction itself.
Example:
R U @ R2 U' R' // 3c [5/12]
@ [D, R' U2 R] // finish [8-1=7/19]
Additional notes and clarifications:
- This was not a real scramble solution. I just made it up while writing this guide for examplification and demonstration pouposes.
- Some people may chose to, after the symbol, use an = or : sign to explicitly state that that's where the insertion beggins. So for this specific case it would look like @ = [D, R' U2 R] // finish [8-1=7/19].
- When using cfop or block building and finishing the solve using oll-pll or zbll, people usually call the last step auf instead of finish. Finish seems to be more used when solving an htr.
- Some people in the comment in the end of each line may use parentheses, (), intead of brackets, []. I also note that not everyone will keep track of both the ammount of moves that the current step took and the total ammount of moves so far.
- Usually, the scramble will be provided before the reconstruction, sometimes without further explanation, leaving it implicit that it is the scramble for said solution.
