Introducing VisualCube - Dynamic Cube Images

[Cride5]

I've just finished work on a new script to dynamically generate cube images.
For details on the parameters which can be set and what they do have a look at:

http://cube.crider.co.uk/visualcube.php

Here are some examples of what it's capable of:

visualcube.png?bg=t&alg=M2S2E2&r=x25y34



visualcube.png?co=30&co=12&fo=50&alg=U&pzl=2



visualcube.png?bg=t&co=20&r=y25x-34&fd=tutuuututtrtrrrtrttftffftfttdtdddtdttltllltlttbtbbbtbt



visualcube.png?bg=t&co=40&cc=n&fd=uuuutuuuurrrrtrrrrfffftffffddddtddddlllltllllbbbbtbbbb&r=y30x20



visualcube.png?bg=005&cc=DDD&alg=RLUD&sch=FF0,F00,00F,005,650,0F0



visualcube.png?bg=w&pzl=3&sch=wddddd&stage=ll&view=plan&case=RUR'URU2R'



visualcube.png?bg=w&pzl=3&stage=ll&view=plan&case=R2U'R'U'RURURU'R


visualcube.gif?alg=S2M2E2&arw=U0U2-s7,U2U8-s7,U8U0,R6R2R0-s8-i5-yellow


Enjoy


EDIT: If you discover any bugs or have any feature requests, post them below and I'll do what I can to fix/implement your suggestion (within reason)...

 

[Daniel Wu]

Wow! This looks pretty cool. I'm going to play with this for a while.

 

[blade740]

Wow. Definitely the prettiest PHP image generator out there.

 

[shelley]

Wow, that's pretty awesome. Good work!

 

[KubeKid73]

I just saved all of the PLL algorithm pictures that I need to print onto flash cards so I can learn all of the PLLs. Thanks for this. It's really great and I was able to make it in my color scheme instead of the default that I would find if I just got the pictures from somewhere else.

 

[teller]

Wow, nice work! Do you authorize embedding on other sites, or...?

 

[dbax0999]

This looks pretty sweet! And it's easy to use.

 

[Cride5]

Cheers for the positive feedback

Wow, nice work! Do you authorize embedding on other sites, or...?

Yup, embedding on other sites is fine. I'll keep an eye on my bandwidth usage but don't expect it to max out any time soon. If you have control over uploads on your site though, I'd recommend saving the images locally your the server to prevent reliance on my hosting providers. After all, they haven't shown themselves to be the most reliable in recent times :rolleyes:

 

[Michiel van der Blonk]

I wrote a similar script, specifically for WordPress, but the PHP code can be used anywhere. Also, embedding can be done. It has different features from this one. The main extra it has is that it can either create an applet or an image, depending on parameters. Check out http://www.vanderblonk.com/tools/wordpress-rubik-plugin/

oh, and I like the transparency. Great. Is there source code available?

 

[Cride5]

Support for SVG output has been added, see:
http://cube.crider.co.uk/visualcube.php?fmt=svg

I wrote a similar script, specifically for WordPress, but the PHP code can be used anywhere. Also, embedding can be done. It has different features from this one. The main extra it has is that it can either create an applet or an image, depending on parameters. Check out http://www.vanderblonk.com/tools/wordpress-rubik-plugin/

oh, and I like the transparency. Great. Is there source code available?

The source is available under the GNU Lesser General Public License @ https://sourceforge.net/projects/vcube/

 

[AvGalen]

Wow, wow, wow. Great work there

It would be very helpful to edit the topicstart so you can see what parameters where used to generate those example images

 

[Escher]

Conrad, I love you. This is awesome, well done

 

[Cride5]

Wow, wow, wow. Great work there

It would be very helpful to edit the topicstart so you can see what parameters where used to generate those example images

Good idea, changed...

 

[LarsN]

Great work, I love it.

I wanted to display an f2l case for my beginners guide, so I used the "stage=f2l" variabel combined with the "case=" state definition. I was hoping that the mask on the last layer would follow the LL-pieces, but they didn't.

This is the f2l case with the corner in place and the edge in the last layer:

cube.crider.co.uk/visualcube.png?size=200&pzl=3&stage=f2l&case=R'U'R'U'R'URUR

I guess it wasn't meant to do as I hoped, but for my use it would be nice.

 

[Musturd]

Awesome!

 

[Cride5]

Great work, I love it.

I wanted to display an f2l case for my beginners guide, so I used the "stage=f2l" variabel combined with the "case=" state definition. I was hoping that the mask on the last layer would follow the LL-pieces, but they didn't.

This is the f2l case with the corner in place and the edge in the last layer:

cube.crider.co.uk/visualcube.png?size=200&pzl=3&stage=f2l&case=R'U'R'U'R'URUR

I guess it wasn't meant to do as I hoped, but for my use it would be nice.

Hi, thanks for the feedback.

It turned out to be an issue with the core of the cube model, and proved to be quite an interesting problem to fix

Anyway, it should work now. Basically, any facelet/face colour/mask definition you input is wrapped over the cube before the alg is applied, then the alg will permute the facelets/colours accordingly. See:
http://cube.crider.co.uk/visualcube.php?fmt=png&stage=f2l&case=RUR'
and (an example using a facelet definition)..
http://cube.crider.co.uk/visualcube...ttbbbbbbwwwwwwwwwtttooooootttgggggg&case=RUR'

The next planned features are:
(1) an option to draw arrows visualising permutations
(2) an new OLL plan view, specifically designed to highlight cubie orientations.

 

[Cyrus C.]

Could you make a way to mask specific pieces? I need an image for a 4x4x4 where you can only see a 3x3x3 block.

 

[joey]

Erm, you can do that with fd or fc.

 

[Cyrus C.]

Erm, you can do that with fd or fc.

Oh, I thought that meant you had to do the whole cube with those three colours.

 

[RubiksDude]

Yay! It's too awesome. I really needed something like this. It would also be helpful for beginners to learn intuitive F2L, cuz I really want to teach my friends with my style of teaching. Thanks! Oh, and I'll use Imagecube and/or Imagerevenge as backup, though I don't think I will need the back up.