[Help Thread] What is the best way to mix 3x3x3 cubes and make it look cool?

[ElenaL]

Hello, everybody,
I like how the pros just mix the 3x3x3 cube so freely.
The movements always look very cool. I would also like to be able to do that.
The movements / dynamics / haptics certainly feel good when the cube is moved so smoothly.
I've seen a lot of videos on YouTube.
But if I slow the video down to the lowest speed, I still don't recognize the notation.
The pros are just too fast.
Somehow they do the "sexy move" often one after the other and combine other movements.
Are there any other triggers/notations that are cool for mixing? Do you know any?
Thanks in advance for a tip.
Best regards,
Elena

 

[AbsoRuud]

It's hours and hours and hours of practice. I can spam sexy move fairly quickly, but that's about it. Just focus on doing the algorithms smoothly. You could always ask the video makers what algs they're doing that makes mixing the cube look so good.

 

[js5752]

If you ask the video makers you're watching I'd love to hear the answer. I agree I've seen some people scramble and it does look pretty slick. Personally I need to work on my smoothness with algs.

 

[SenorJuan]

I think you'll find most people just do it instictively, with muscle memory playing a significant part. So it will be hard to recall what turns they actually do.
Fast 'triggers' do play a part, including 'sexy move' variants. I definitely use sequences like:
(R U R' U') (R U R' U' U') (R U R' U' U' U')
amongst a typical scramble.
And to avoid cube rotations, many people use 'wide turns' , turning two layers together to move the centres around, r, r2, r' feature in my repertoire, along with R' l' R' l' R' l' ...... and u' U r' R u' U r' R .....
I also use partial algorithms, typically the first half.
It would be interesting to see what odd stuff others use.