# Magic prediction with the Rubik's Cube! How?



## Cubemir (Mar 29, 2010)

Hello. My name is Mikhail Rostovikov. I'm from Russia 

Yesterday I invented an interesting trick with the Rubik's Cube. I haven't ever seen this trick before, and I decided to post it here.






I think, I can do this with 3 or even 5 cubes in a row. Enjoy! 



Added 05th April 2010:

Hello one more time! Excuse that long did not appear at a forum

Today I made a new film:






I considered all your remarks. Now it is 3 cubes in a row, and CCT timer. Next time I am going to do 4 or 5 cubes in a row. 

Enjoy!


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## Muesli (Mar 29, 2010)

0_o


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## dunpeal2064 (Mar 29, 2010)

Would this trick work on someone in person? or is it a video only magic trick? Or can you not give us this info?


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## PatrickJameson (Mar 29, 2010)

What timer program is that?

EDIT: How I think he did it:



Spoiler



The timer could be programmed to stop at predetermined times, so he just has to stop near the times and the timer will do the rest.



Buutttt, I'm probably wrong


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## Basel (Mar 29, 2010)

WTF!! AWESOME!!


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## Diniz (Mar 29, 2010)

Really nice =D


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## Feryll (Mar 29, 2010)

If the trick is anything else besides a non-legit timer, I think you deserve a cookie.


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## Olivér Perge (Mar 29, 2010)

Very nice! 



Cubemir said:


> *I think, I can do* this with 3 or even 5 cubes in a row. Enjoy!



This means your trick is not 100% sure. (Then I guess it has to do something with you predicting the time by the scramble.) Can you maybe do it with different order, like: first writing the time down, then scrambling and solving?


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## 4Chan (Mar 29, 2010)

How?!!!?!


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## jms_gears1 (Mar 29, 2010)

PatrickJameson said:


> What timer program is that?
> 
> EDIT: How I think he did it:
> 
> ...



Patrick got it.

if you watch the video time closely youll see that the time he stops the timer and the time that shows up is different. 
For the first solve about .2 seconds between pressing the spacebar, and the actual time.

also if you look at his last solve, he procrastinated just enough to get near the 16 second solve. With his PLL he rotated the cube at around 12, but the PLL took 4 seconds? 

no. What happened was he, for a split second, held the cube there not doing anything. Then did the alg.

or at least thats what ive observed.


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## cincyaviation (Mar 29, 2010)

and on the last one it seems to go from 16.0x directly to 16.11


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## Daniel Que (Mar 29, 2010)

Woahhh. That's great if you want to get a really good standard deviation. Will you tell us how you do this?


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## CubesOfTheWorld (Mar 29, 2010)

How did you do [email protected][email protected][email protected]#?!#[email protected]?!


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## jms_gears1 (Mar 29, 2010)

Daniel Que said:


> Woahhh. That's great if you want to get a really good standard deviation. Will you tell us how you do this?





CubesOfTheWorld said:


> How did you do [email protected][email protected][email protected]#?!#[email protected]?!



did you guys like not read my post at all?

Generally if you post in a thread you, i dont know, READ what other people have said......

EDIT: Although i guess its not 100% so i should give you the benefit of the doubt... but still...


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## Aksel B (Mar 29, 2010)

That would be cool to do in a competition.. Just tell the judge to write down "xx,xx" before you start solving


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## Kian (Mar 29, 2010)

This is impressive. The fun is in not knowing.


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## Zarxrax (Mar 29, 2010)

jms_gears1 said:


> if you watch the video time closely youll see that the time he stops the timer and the time that shows up is different.
> For the first solve about .2 seconds between pressing the spacebar, and the actual time.



If you watch the video closely, you'll see that the timer only updates every 3-4 frames or so. Each time it changes its like .1-.2 seconds different from the previous time. So the timer is doing nothing *visibly* strange when he stops it.


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## miniGOINGS (Mar 29, 2010)

What if he filmed the timer later, and did picture in a picture editing? It would be easy to slow or speed up the timer by a tiny amount.


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## jms_gears1 (Mar 29, 2010)

jms_gears1 said:


> Daniel Que said:
> 
> 
> > Woahhh. That's great if you want to get a really good standard deviation. Will you tell us how you do this?
> ...





Zarxrax said:


> jms_gears1 said:
> 
> 
> > if you watch the video time closely youll see that the time he stops the timer and the time that shows up is different.
> ...



ahh, hmm

Im still pretty sure that what patrik said was right.


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## tjyahl (Mar 29, 2010)

thats crazy haha, if theres no trick to it at all i will seriously mail you a cookie you desrerve it


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## TheMachanga (Mar 29, 2010)

He recorded his screen of him solving, then he played the video while solving. I think...


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## Zarxrax (Mar 29, 2010)

I'm pretty certain the timer is not cheating. After examining the video, the time that is reported is accurate to real time to within 1 video frame of accuracy. There is a different trick to this.


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## Forte (Mar 30, 2010)

It's definitely not the fact that the stopped time isn't the time that shows up, that happens to a lot of people >_>

It's because he's MAGIC! :O


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## Zarxrax (Mar 30, 2010)

Hmmm... maybe he's just THAT GOOD.


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## 4Chan (Mar 30, 2010)

TOKI WO TOMARE!

I really wish he would tell us, it is around April Fools time, y'know?


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## cubemaster13 (Mar 30, 2010)

Played backward?


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## Feryll (Mar 30, 2010)

cubemaster13 said:


> Played backward?



With a magic, ink erasing pen


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## whauk (Mar 30, 2010)

probably there are 2 videos. one with the computer screen and the clock next to it and one where he does the solving which is sped up/slowed down in a way the two videos fit perfectly. i dont think you can hear that the cube sounds more lightly when its sped up 10%.


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## miniGOINGS (Mar 30, 2010)

whauk said:


> probably there are 2 videos. one with the computer screen and the clock next to it and one where he does the solving which is sped up/slowed down in a way the two videos fit perfectly. i dont think you can hear that the cube sounds more lightly when its sped up 10%.



Ahhh, I thought the same thing, only with the timer sped up/slowed down. Good point!


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## Zane_C (Mar 30, 2010)

That was good.


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## jms_gears1 (Mar 30, 2010)

miniGOINGS said:


> whauk said:
> 
> 
> > probably there are 2 videos. one with the computer screen and the clock next to it and one where he does the solving which is sped up/slowed down in a way the two videos fit perfectly. i dont think you can hear that the cube sounds more lightly when its sped up 10%.
> ...



The timer wouldnt have been slowed down, it would have been to noticeable


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## miniGOINGS (Mar 30, 2010)

jms_gears1 said:


> The timer wouldnt have been slowed down, it would have been to noticeable



You totally missed the point.


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## ianini (Mar 30, 2010)

That'd the best video I've seen in along time! Great job!


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## Zarxrax (Mar 30, 2010)

whauk said:


> probably there are 2 videos. one with the computer screen and the clock next to it and one where he does the solving which is sped up/slowed down in a way the two videos fit perfectly. i dont think you can hear that the cube sounds more lightly when its sped up 10%.



But, if you look at the bottom of the clock, you can see some reflections happening while he solves. I also checked that the clock is keeping accurate time during the solve.


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## TemurAmir (Mar 30, 2010)

I think he's enjoying us guessing at what he did...


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## miniGOINGS (Mar 30, 2010)

TemurAmir said:


> I think he's enjoying us guessing at what he did...



I think he hasn't been online for 5 hours...


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## Diniz (Mar 30, 2010)

miniGOINGS said:


> TemurAmir said:
> 
> 
> > I think he's enjoying us guessing at what he did...
> ...



Its like 5am at Russia =P


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## Daniel Wu (Mar 30, 2010)

Maybe he's magical.


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## Stefan (Mar 30, 2010)

I think there's no trickery and that he really did it, the only "secret" being that he didn't show us all the unsuccessful attempts.


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## canadiancuber (Mar 30, 2010)

i am amazified


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## Daniel Wu (Mar 30, 2010)

StefanPochmann said:


> I think there's no trickery and that he really did it, the only "secret" being that he didn't show us all the unsuccessful attempts.


If that's true I give him points for patience. That would drive me crazy.


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## Zarxrax (Mar 30, 2010)

StefanPochmann said:


> I think there's no trickery and that he really did it, the only "secret" being that he didn't show us all the unsuccessful attempts.



I don't believe that is the answer. First of all, he said he thinks he can do it 3-5 times in a row. Who really has the ability to stop a timer with hundredths of seconds accuracy like that?
But maybe he was lying about that? Still doesn't make sense, because he writes the times down on a clean folder. This would mean that he had TONS of folders that he used for every single attempt. If he was attempting something like this many times, wouldn't he use plain, cheap paper?


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## jms_gears1 (Mar 30, 2010)

Zarxrax said:


> StefanPochmann said:
> 
> 
> > I think there's no trickery and that he really did it, the only "secret" being that he didn't show us all the unsuccessful attempts.
> ...



maybe it wasnt a continuous shot


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## Cyrus C. (Mar 30, 2010)

jms_gears1 said:


> maybe it wasnt a continuous shot



Clock.


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## Kian (Mar 30, 2010)

StefanPochmann said:


> I think there's no trickery and that he really did it, the only "secret" being that he didn't show us all the unsuccessful attempts.



That seems unlikely to me. I'd expect that to take many, many attempts. But it is certainly possible and I don't know how long he could have tried it for.


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## jms_gears1 (Mar 30, 2010)

Cyrus C. said:


> jms_gears1 said:
> 
> 
> > maybe it wasnt a continuous shot
> ...


that wouldnt be hard to set the time.


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## Cyrus C. (Mar 30, 2010)

jms_gears1 said:


> Cyrus C. said:
> 
> 
> > jms_gears1 said:
> ...



Yes it would.


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## jms_gears1 (Mar 30, 2010)

Cyrus C. said:


> jms_gears1 said:
> 
> 
> > Cyrus C. said:
> ...



no?


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## Zarxrax (Mar 30, 2010)

There are no signs of a cut in the video footage anywhere.


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## Cyrus C. (Mar 30, 2010)

jms_gears1 said:


> Cyrus C. said:
> 
> 
> > jms_gears1 said:
> ...



Have you ever tried to synchronize a watch? It takes a lot of work, & to make there not even be less than a second of pause is nearly impossible by a human.


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## kutuan (Mar 30, 2010)

my guess :

the timer is not legit, like Patrick said  
so he input the result he desire first... so let's say he want the timer to stop at 14.98, all he need to do is press the stop the timer before the time reach 14:98

and, to make sure he finished the cube at the time he desire, i believe the solution is available in the upper screen of the monitor where we can't see from the video


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## Olivér Perge (Mar 30, 2010)

StefanPochmann said:


> I think there's no trickery and that he really did it, the only "secret" being that he didn't show us all the unsuccessful attempts.



I was thinking the same for a second, but that would be ok for only one solve. In my opinion it is almost impossible to do this 2 in a row, predicting the time only by the cross. It would be very risky to try that and would take a lot of time.

Looking through his WCA profile these times seems to be good for him, so I don't think he "waited" to the timer (which I don't think was set before).

The bizarre thing for me that everything seems OK about the video, so I'm assuming the trick is actually quite simple, we just cannot see it. Yet.


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## dada222 (Mar 30, 2010)

What is this?


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## richardzhang (Mar 30, 2010)

If he didnt show us the unsuccesful attempts he must of wasted a of paper.


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## Dene (Mar 30, 2010)

Personally, I'm with Mr. Pochmann on this. I don't see how it can be so outrageous to roughly guess what the time will be, and then drag the solve out to the desired result. The rest is just luck.

Of course, it might just be a pre-set timer.


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## AndyRoo789 (Mar 30, 2010)

I'm not sure buttt...

I think it has something to do with the crappy timer making it easier to guess the right time.


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## Zarxrax (Mar 30, 2010)

AndyRoo789 said:


> I'm not sure buttt...
> 
> I think it has something to do with the crappy timer making it easier to guess the right time.



I was thinking this same thing, because the timer only seems to update every few frames, but then I checked it again, I noticed that although the timer updates slowly, it still keeps time at a full hundredths of seconds.
For instance on the first solve, we can see on the timer:
0.02, 0.12, 0.24, 0.34, 0.45
And then on the 2nd solve, it displays:
0.03, 0.14, 0.25, 0.36, 0.47

So, we can take this to mean that the timer has FULL accuracy, and isn't making it any easier on him.

One thing that I do find to be very fishy, is that if I measure the time elapsed in the video, the time of the first solve (displayed in a video editing application) is EXACTLY 14.98, and the time of the 2nd solve is EXACTLY 16.11. 
What does this mean? I have no idea. I'm 95% certain that the timer wasn't created digitally after the fact. So its probably just a weird coincidence.


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## goatseforever (Mar 30, 2010)

OP is a master troll, 10/10.


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## dannyz0r (Mar 30, 2010)

He's actually Dialga and he's manipulating time.


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## Johan444 (Mar 30, 2010)

StefanPochmann said:


> I think there's no trickery and that he really did it, the only "secret" being that he didn't show us all the unsuccessful attempts.



He spends 20 seconds just showing the clock and opening the web browser before the scramble + writing down the time. Doing that before every solve until he got a streak of two would be too time consuming.

And to everyone who thinks there is no trick to it, try to stop the timer yourself, two times in a row at a specific time to realise how unlikely that is.

Not only that, he's solving a cube in the meantime and he would probably need to throw away one paper each time he did not succeed.

I'm surprised that people actually thinks he did this by chance.


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## Owen (Mar 30, 2010)

Maybe he's just really really really constant.


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## ben1996123 (Mar 30, 2010)

dannyz0r said:


> He's actually Dialga and he's manipulating time.


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## Zarxrax (Mar 30, 2010)

Johan444 said:


> StefanPochmann said:
> 
> 
> > I think there's no trickery and that he really did it, the only "secret" being that he didn't show us all the unsuccessful attempts.
> ...



Yea, I was trying to stop it even ONCE at a specific time, and I couldn't get it within 20 tries (though i was off by a hundredth of a second a few times). And that was while I had my mind 100% focused on getting the timer perfect. If the guy is sitting there solving a cube, there is just no way he could do it twice in a row.


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## Rune (Mar 30, 2010)

He is very anxious to get white in top and green in front; apparantly he has the scrambles on the left of the screen , executed many, many times. With a crappy timer, who knows after a some trials?


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## Muesli (Mar 30, 2010)

Rune said:


> He is very anxious to get white in top and green in front; apparantly he has the scrambles on the left of the screen , executed many, many times. With a crappy timer, who knows after a some trials?


I hope you realised that white top/green facing is the default orientation for scrambling the cube?


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## ben1996123 (Mar 30, 2010)

Musli4brekkies said:


> Rune said:
> 
> 
> > He is very anxious to get white in top and green in front; apparantly he has the scrambles on the left of the screen , executed many, many times. With a crappy timer, who knows after a some trials?
> ...



I never do white top green front, well, only when the cube is already oriented like that.


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## Diniz (Mar 30, 2010)

> 4d)	Cube puzzles must be scrambled with the white (or the lightest colour by default) face on top and green (or the darkest adjacent face by default) on the front.


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## Rune (Mar 30, 2010)

Musli4brekkies said:


> Rune said:
> 
> 
> > He is very anxious to get white in top and green in front; apparantly he has the scrambles on the left of the screen , executed many, many times. With a crappy timer, who knows after a some trials?
> ...


Yes?


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## Mike Hughey (Mar 30, 2010)

ben1996123 said:


> Musli4brekkies said:
> 
> 
> > Rune said:
> ...



I always do white top green front, and I'm constantly surprised when I find out other people don't. If I start scrambling and realize I didn't have white top green front, I'll solve it and restart the scramble, since I consider it invalid.

I'm funny that way, I guess.

By the way, to the OP, I think this is a great illusion, and I really hope I eventually find out how you did it. It's brilliantly done.


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## PatrickJameson (Mar 30, 2010)

Dene said:


> Personally, I'm with Mr. Pochmann on this. I don't see how it can be so outrageous to roughly guess what the time will be, and then drag the solve out to the desired result. The rest is just luck.





Cubemir said:


> I invented an interesting *trick*


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## ben1996123 (Mar 30, 2010)

Diniz said:


> > 4d)	Cube puzzles must be scrambled with the white (or the lightest colour by default) face on top and green (or the darkest adjacent face by default) on the front.



I know... 

But it dosent affect my solve times because I'm fully colour neutral.


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## Stefan (Mar 30, 2010)

PatrickJameson said:


> Dene said:
> 
> 
> > Personally, I'm with Mr. Pochmann on this. I don't see how it can be so outrageous to roughly guess what the time will be, and then drag the solve out to the desired result. The rest is just luck.
> ...



trick - the art or knack of doing something skillfully


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## PatrickJameson (Mar 30, 2010)

StefanPochmann said:


> trick - the art or knack of doing something skillfully



Going all the way down to the 6th definition, eh?


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## dbax0999 (Mar 30, 2010)

StefanPochmann said:


> PatrickJameson said:
> 
> 
> > Dene said:
> ...



trick - a prostitute's customer.


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## Aksel B (Mar 30, 2010)

Listen to the sound.. There is some background noise - but it disappears just as he stops the timer. Just for a second 

Don't know, if someone noticed this already


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## Zarxrax (Mar 30, 2010)

Aksel B said:


> Listen to the sound.. There is some background noise - but it disappears just as he stops the timer. Just for a second
> 
> Don't know, if someone noticed this already



I think this is his camera trying to normalize the volume levels. When he hits the spacebar to stop the timer, this is the loudest moment of the video, so the camera compensates by lowering the volume, and then it gradually comes back up in the absence of any other loud sounds.


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## whauk (Mar 30, 2010)

i just tried out stopping exactly 2.00 on qqtimer. i took me 38 tries to get it. so consiedering i am bad and you can do it after 20 times the chance to get 2 in a row is 1 in 400 (i know its a really bad calculation)
but that just sounds impossible.


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## Dene (Mar 30, 2010)

Since when did 1 in 400 become impossible?


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## Stefan (Mar 30, 2010)

PatrickJameson said:


> StefanPochmann said:
> 
> 
> > trick - the art or knack of doing something skillfully
> ...


Some earlier ones would've fit as well, but this one was nice and short. And the point was just that that word doesn't _necessarily_ imply some sort of cheating. And him probably not being a native English speaker adds to it.

That said, I admit that a fake timer certainly is the easiest way and thus most likely explanation.



Zarxrax said:


> Aksel B said:
> 
> 
> > Listen to the sound.. There is some background noise - but it disappears just as he stops the timer. Just for a second
> ...



Yeah, my camera does that, too. I did notice it but right away thought it's the volume normalizer.


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## ben1996123 (Mar 30, 2010)

whauk said:


> i just tried out stopping exactly 2.00 on qqtimer. i took me 38 tries to get it. so consiedering i am bad and you can do it after 20 times the chance to get 2 in a row is 1 in 400 (i know its a really bad calculation)
> but that just sounds impossible.



I just tried stopping 1.86 on my stackmat, and got it in 7 tries. 1 in 49 dosent seem to be anywhere near impossible, and thats more likely than getting a 3x3 PLL skip (1 in 72).


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## PatrickJameson (Mar 30, 2010)

ben1996123 said:


> whauk said:
> 
> 
> > i just tried out stopping exactly 2.00 on qqtimer. i took me 38 tries to get it. so consiedering i am bad and you can do it after 20 times the chance to get 2 in a row is 1 in 400 (i know its a really bad calculation)
> ...



Now try doing that while turning a cube and trying to finish(a pll if, you're actually going to test this) semi-close to a specific time.


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## Johan444 (Mar 30, 2010)

ben1996123 said:


> whauk said:
> 
> 
> > i just tried out stopping exactly 2.00 on qqtimer. i took me 38 tries to get it. so consiedering i am bad and you can do it after 20 times the chance to get 2 in a row is 1 in 400 (i know its a really bad calculation)
> ...



Do 20 tries and see how many you get. I'll be surprised if you get more than 1.


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## Daniel Que (Mar 30, 2010)

jms_gears1 said:


> Daniel Que said:
> 
> 
> > Woahhh. That's great if you want to get a really good standard deviation. Will you tell us how you do this?
> ...



jms_gears1, your first post about your *speculation* on how the trick was done expressed a sense of uncertainty, especially because it was a speculation and you had no way to tell for sure. I was asking Cubemir whether or not *he* will tell us how it was done so I could know without doubt, and not for suggestions that have no evidence to based upon, by other people who don't know any more than I do about this trick. Of course I read the posts of other people because there weren't many replies at the time, but people can't be expected to always read every other post in longer threads.

Not seeing other people's faces doesn't justify being rude to them.


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## ben1996123 (Mar 30, 2010)

Johan444 said:


> ben1996123 said:
> 
> 
> > whauk said:
> ...



Got it on...

3rd try, 10th try, 14th try, 16th try, and 17th try.

Thats 1 in 4...


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## Daniel Wu (Mar 30, 2010)

But you have to predict the time, solve the cube, and stop the timer at the right time. Solving the cube adds another element into that because you could write down 15 or something and get an 18.


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## Dene (Mar 31, 2010)

rickcube said:


> But you have to predict the time, solve the cube, and stop the timer at the right time. Solving the cube adds another element into that because you could write down 15 or something and get an 18.



Well obviously you wouldn't show that one on camera, now would you?
Also, you would have a good idea of what time you will roughly get because you will have done the solve probably 10+ times already.


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## Zarxrax (Mar 31, 2010)

Even assuming he did somehow manage to do it because he's just that good...
He sat that for hours and hours trying to capture it for the video...
That still doesn't explain the fact that he claims to be able to do this 3-5 times in a row. Doing it twice is extremely difficult. Doing it 5 times would be nigh on impossible.


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## Neo63 (Mar 31, 2010)

wow this is so cool..


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## That70sShowDude (Mar 31, 2010)

ben1996123 said:


> Johan444 said:
> 
> 
> > ben1996123 said:
> ...



Yea, I got 1.86 5 times.


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## Stefan (Mar 31, 2010)

That70sShowDude said:


> ben1996123 said:
> 
> 
> > Johan444 said:
> ...


I only got it three times


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## miniGOINGS (Mar 31, 2010)

Did Stefan edit 70's post!

I really think that he just tried the scrambles over and over, and only showed his succesful tries.


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## Zarxrax (Mar 31, 2010)

If it's so possible to do this twice in a row with an actual cube, I would like to see someone else do it just once. Just once, that shouldn't be so hard, right? And be sure to count how many tries it takes you


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## Rune (Mar 31, 2010)

StefanPochmann said:


> That70sShowDude said:
> 
> 
> > ben1996123 said:
> ...


Do you remember that, Stefan?
But three 0.203 in a row looks suspicious. 

Yes, the timer isn't quite accurate. I started with 0.4xy because I expected a yellow light before the green, and then I got 0.203 four times in a row.


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## amostay2004 (Mar 31, 2010)

May I request the thread starter to post another video showing 3 or more successful tries? For all we know he could be lying

(Of course, it's also an excuse to further analyse his attempts )


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## coinman (Mar 31, 2010)

Maybe there is a clue on his homepage? http://cubemir.ru/index.html


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## Rune (Mar 31, 2010)

coinman said:


> Maybe there is a clue on his homepage? http://cubemir.ru/index.html


No!


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## [email protected] (Mar 31, 2010)

IMBA!!!


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## CharlieCooper (Mar 31, 2010)

I love this


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## Tim Reynolds (Mar 31, 2010)

StefanPochmann said:


> PatrickJameson said:
> 
> 
> > Dene said:
> ...



A trick is something a whore does for money.

...or cocaine!

Anyway, this is quite an impressive illusion. I doubt that rehearsed scrambles alone could achieve this, similarly to how people don't get exactly the same magic time every attempt. Right now I'm leaning towards fake timer--as long as it stops within .03 of the correct time, it's not noticeable. That way, it's luck with a little buffer--it still will take a few attempts probably, but not too many. Actually, adding a rehearsed scramble to the mix means he has perfect lookahead, so he can focus on getting the right time instead of worrying about the solve. So yeah, I'm leaning towards a fake timer, multiple attempts, and probably a rehearsed scramble.


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## Kian (Mar 31, 2010)

Tim Reynolds said:


> A trick is something a whore does for money.
> 
> ...or cocaine!



<3 Gob.


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## Mitch15 (Mar 31, 2010)

after reading through all said guesses, its a pretty impressive trick to get 10 pages of comments trying to speculate what he did and not coming up with anything immediately revealing


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## FatBoyXPC (Mar 31, 2010)

Mitch speaks the truth! I'm curious about his homepage now haha


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## Tim Major (Apr 1, 2010)

Dene said:


> Personally, I'm with Mr. Pochmann on this. I don't see how it can be so outrageous to roughly guess what the time will be, and then drag the solve out to the desired result. The rest is just luck.



This^ and a rigged timer, set to stop at those specific times. Try starting and timer, and stopping exactly on 5.83, then 6.29. Chances are, with a little skill, you can get one of them, but not both. Also, he stops the timer as he finishes the solve. Has to be a rigged timer (preset to those two times) and some skill of stretching out the solves. Maybe also practised scramble, as that would make it a lot easier, but doesn't have to be.


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## Rune (Apr 1, 2010)

fatboyxpc said:


> Mitch speaks the truth! I'm curious about his homepage now haha


http://speedcubing.ru/forum/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1269893785


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## Jebediah54 (Apr 1, 2010)

Now if only he could do it with a lucky solve, or even a pop... then we would know for sure that those aren't just guesses or an edited video.


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## Zarxrax (Apr 1, 2010)

Rune said:


> fatboyxpc said:
> 
> 
> > Mitch speaks the truth! I'm curious about his homepage now haha
> ...



Haha, they basically had pretty much the same conversation that we had here.

But it's April 1, I want some answers now


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## Mitch15 (Apr 3, 2010)

well this is disappointing.....


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## moka (Apr 3, 2010)

It's just incredible....


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## Rune (Apr 3, 2010)

Zarxrax said:


> Rune said:
> 
> 
> > fatboyxpc said:
> ...


Maybe here?
http://speedcubing.ru/forum/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1269893785/30#38
(The latest posts)


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## Mitch15 (Apr 4, 2010)

Can somebody translate? somebody produced a video doing the same thing but with a timer going to 1000ths of a second


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## amostay2004 (Apr 4, 2010)

Mitch15 said:


> Can somebody translate? somebody produced a video doing the same thing but with a timer going to 1000ths of a second



Link? And where did the thread starter go?


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## Stefan (Apr 4, 2010)

Mitch15 said:


> Can somebody translate? somebody produced a video doing the same thing but with a timer going to *1000ths of a second*


For *once* there's the opportunity to say "milliseconds" and actually be right...



amostay2004 said:


> Mitch15 said:
> 
> 
> > Can somebody translate? somebody produced a video doing the same thing but with a timer going to 1000ths of a second
> ...



In the post *right above his*.


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## Zarxrax (Apr 4, 2010)

Wow, now I'm really stumped.
The new video is nuts! The guy is about to stop the timer, notices the last layer isn't aligned fully, fixes it, then really stops the timer.


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## AndyK (Apr 4, 2010)

This vid has me stumped and while I read through a lot of this thread I didn't read through it all, so if this has already been talked about please just forget it. 

Has anyone mentioned the fact that he writes with his left hand but cubes in a right hand dominant way? I generally try and stay away from left-handed people because I think they are weird, so this may actually normal behavior for them, but I would think that a few more of his F2L pairs would be done with his left hand. I haven't figured out how this could reveal the secret to this trick, but it is odd enough that it may be something to think about..


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## Zarxrax (Apr 4, 2010)

AndyK said:


> This vid has me stumped and while I read through a lot of this thread I didn't read through it all, so if this has already been talked about please just forget it.
> 
> Has anyone mentioned the fact that he writes with his left hand but cubes in a right hand dominant way? I generally try and stay away from left-handed people because I think they are weird, so this may actually normal behavior for them, but I would think that a few more of his F2L pairs would be done with his left hand. I haven't figured out how this could reveal the secret to this trick, but it is odd enough that it may be something to think about..



I'm left handed and I can hardly do anything on a cube with my left hand.


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## Deleted member 2864 (Apr 4, 2010)

AndyK said:


> This vid has me stumped and while I read through a lot of this thread I didn't read through it all, so if this has already been talked about please just forget it.
> 
> Has anyone mentioned the fact that he writes with his left hand but cubes in a right hand dominant way? I generally try and stay away from left-handed people because I think they are weird, so this may actually normal behavior for them, but I would think that a few more of his F2L pairs would be done with his left hand. I haven't figured out how this could reveal the secret to this trick, but it is odd enough that it may be something to think about..



Mixed handedness perhaps.


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## Stefan (Apr 4, 2010)

AndyK said:


> Has anyone mentioned the fact that he writes with his left hand but cubes in a right hand dominant way? I generally try and stay away from left-handed people because I think they are weird, so this may actually normal behavior for them, but I would think that a few more of his F2L pairs would be done with his left hand. I haven't figured out how this could reveal the secret to this trick, but it is odd enough that it may be something to think about..



But does that explain anything?


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## Googlrr (Apr 4, 2010)

AndyK said:


> This vid has me stumped and while I read through a lot of this thread I didn't read through it all, so if this has already been talked about please just forget it.
> 
> Has anyone mentioned the fact that he writes with his left hand but cubes in a right hand dominant way? I generally try and stay away from left-handed people because I think they are weird, so this may actually normal behavior for them, but I would think that a few more of his F2L pairs would be done with his left hand. I haven't figured out how this could reveal the secret to this trick, but it is odd enough that it may be something to think about..



I'm left-handed, and I cube mainly with my right hand. Seems normal to me.

edit: In the newest video, what timer is that?


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## joey (Apr 4, 2010)

AndyK said:


> I generally try and stay away from left-handed people because I think they are weird, so this may actually normal behavior for them



Hahaha what.


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## DT546 (Apr 4, 2010)

can someone put the link to the other video on here, i can't seem to find it on the russian forum, and yes i have translated it and looked on other pages


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## vcuber13 (Apr 4, 2010)

[youtube]vH-jVzm--mo&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]


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## Cride5 (Apr 5, 2010)

Spoiler



He takes a clip of the timer (just the timer) counting up to a time he thinks is about right for his solve speed. He then takes a video where the computer screen is completely blank. Writes down the time from the timer clip, solves the cube as normal, pressing space to start and stop as normal (but with no timer, just a blank screen).

He then uses video editing software to slightly adjust the speed of the solve clip so that it matches the time on the timer clip and written on the pad. The clip of the timer is then superimposed onto the clip of him solving, replacing the blank screen. If the solve time is similar enough to the time on the timer app, then with good video editing software the speed change will not be noticeable.


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## Stefan (Apr 5, 2010)

Damn, Conrad, delete that. That's exactly how I wanted to repeat it


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## Zarxrax (Apr 5, 2010)

Cride5 said:


> Spoiler
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Seems almost reasonable, but then on the new clip made by the other guy, I highly doubt it, because things pass in front of the screen, and that would have been a HUGE pain to rotoscope properly. Also that 2nd guy claims that no editing was done.


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## Cubemir (Apr 5, 2010)

*3 cubes in a row with CCT*

Hello one more time! Excuse that long did not appear at a forum

Today I made a new film:






I considered all your remarks. Now it is 3 cubes in a row, and CCT timer. Next time I am going to do 4 or 5 cubes in a row. 

Enjoy!


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## PatrickJameson (Apr 5, 2010)

Zarxrax said:


> Also that 2nd guy claims that no editing was done.



The two videos could have used different methods.


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## Cyrus C. (Apr 5, 2010)

Cride5 said:


> Spoiler
> 
> 
> 
> ...



You can see the reflection of him.


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## Mitch15 (Apr 5, 2010)

id like to know if they can do it in person if he claims no editing was done


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## Zarxrax (Apr 5, 2010)

Tell us the secret!!!
PLEASSSSEEE!!

LOL its killing me


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## amostay2004 (Apr 5, 2010)

Thumbs up to this guy for coming up with a trick that even a forum with good intellects like this can't come up with a conclusion 

I'm putting my bet on him selling his soul/worshiping the devil/black magic/etc


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## AndyK (Apr 5, 2010)

amostay2004 said:


> Thumbs up to this guy for coming up with a trick that even a forum with good intellects like this can't come up with a conclusion
> 
> I'm putting my bet on him selling his soul/worshiping the devil/black magic/etc



Agreed, well done Mikhail. I say it is most fun to just keep on wondering how you did it.


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## dbax0999 (Apr 5, 2010)

Cyrus C. said:


> Cride5 said:
> 
> 
> > Spoiler
> ...



That proves nothing. He was obviously sitting in front of the timer when he recorded the timer portion.


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## AndyRoo789 (Apr 5, 2010)

vcuber13 said:


> Spoiler
> 
> 
> 
> [youtube]vH-jVzm--mo&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]



On the 2nd solve, he actually finishes at about 23.3 seconds, and he was about to stop the timer then, but he quickly did a U move and brought his hand back up, fixes the top layer, then stopped the timer.


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## mr. giggums (Apr 5, 2010)

dbax0999 said:


> Cyrus C. said:
> 
> 
> > Cride5 said:
> ...



But you can see him solve it in the reflection.


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## dbax0999 (Apr 5, 2010)

mr. giggums said:


> dbax0999 said:
> 
> 
> > Cyrus C. said:
> ...



Ok, after closer inspection, his reflection matches his solve perfectly. My guess is that he did the solves with a completely black screen on the computer and then super imposed the timer portion onto that video. Then played with transparencies to get the most realistic effect.


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## Tesseract (Apr 5, 2010)

Mitch15 said:


> Can somebody translate? somebody produced a video doing the same thing but with a timer going to 1000ths of a second


Yes. I`m from those russian forum. Mouse member repeated this focus, and record the video.

Today mr.Mikhail Rostikov record one more video with "3 attempts in a row", and with noncracked CCT-timer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1l_vyq_gDc

We do not know the answer to guess yet: how the focus done? The same, as conversation on this forum . David Blame know maybe...


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## richardzhang (Apr 5, 2010)

He should do it with a stackmat.


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## Jebediah54 (Apr 5, 2010)

Maybe some OH solves, while juggling, or BLD... and if he wants to be beastly, some magic solves!


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## Dene (Apr 5, 2010)

richardzhang said:


> He should do it with a stackmat.



Yes a geniune stackmat, with scrambles which have only just been delivered to him and no editing work.

However I suspect that if we set these conditions the trick would no longer work.

(btw I think it might sound like I'm mocking you, but I'm not).


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## qazefth (Apr 5, 2010)

Nice one.


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## ben1996123 (Apr 5, 2010)

Googlrr said:


> AndyK said:
> 
> 
> > This vid has me stumped and while I read through a lot of this thread I didn't read through it all, so if this has already been talked about please just forget it.
> ...



Hmm... I'm right handed, I turn (2H) mainly with my right hand (left hand is there just to hold the cube and do U' moves), but I also do OH in my right hand aswell.


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## Innocence (Apr 5, 2010)

I think people tend to gain proficiency in their right hand while cubing, as most of the algorithms one learns are right dominant. Personally, while I am a left handed, right cubing dominant cuber, I could be very fast left handed, but I'm not, as most of my algs are R(') dominant.

Too many big words maybe?


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## TheBB (Apr 5, 2010)

Innocence said:


> I think people tend to gain proficiency in their right hand while cubing, as most of the algorithms one learns are right dominant. Personally, while I am a left handed, *right cubing dominant cuber*, I could be very fast left handed, but I'm not, as most of my algs are R(') dominant.
> 
> *Too many big words maybe?*



Yeah. What's a right cubing dominant cuber?


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## oosit (Apr 5, 2010)

No more assumption on how cubemir did it?


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## Rune (Apr 5, 2010)

Zarxrax said:


> Tell us the secret!!!
> PLEASSSSEEE!!
> 
> LOL its killing me


Well, he wrote on another forum something like that (now deleted): "Maybe I´ll never show the secret, (the greatness of a trick lies in the fact that it´s never revealed)."


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## Innocence (Apr 6, 2010)

TheBB said:


> Innocence said:
> 
> 
> > I think people tend to gain proficiency in their right hand while cubing, as most of the algorithms one learns are right dominant. Personally, while I am a left handed, *right cubing dominant cuber*, I could be very fast left handed, but I'm not, as most of my algs are R(') dominant.
> ...



Someone who mostly uses their right hand is what I *meant.*

What came out is totally different.


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## Googlrr (Apr 6, 2010)

I'd like to see him write down an average of 5 before he does one.


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## mati rubik (Apr 6, 2010)

hmm, you should do it in a official competition


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## Ranzha (Apr 6, 2010)

The Russian forum says that he moved the mouse and pressed the spacebar. This may have something to do with it.

My theory with this is that either the spacebar or the mouse being moved activates a function which shows the "predicted" time.
Makes all sense in the world, too.


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## Stefan (Apr 6, 2010)

Ranzha V. Emodrach said:


> My theory with this is that either the spacebar or the mouse being moved activates a function which shows the "predicted" time.
> Makes all sense in the world, too.



Maybe that's why it was proposed on page 1 already.


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## chris410 (Apr 6, 2010)

My guess...

1. He wrote his own timer to present the scramble and stop at the predicted time (space bar is just for show *part of the last step*)
2. The algorithms are known since he wrote the program in advance
3. Since he is obviously fast enough to solve in the time period, he executed his solve and paced himself to match the timer.
4. The space bar was merely part of the trick, most likely did not do anything other than make the trick appear to be real.

That being said, the talent required to solve quickly (and his WCA profile proves it) should not be overlooked. Good trick!


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## Carrot (Apr 6, 2010)

chris410 said:


> My guess...
> 
> 1. He wrote his own timer to present the scramble and stop at the predicted time (space bar is just for show *part of the last step*)



He wrote CCT? O___o


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## adimare (Apr 6, 2010)

We need James Randi in here


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## ben1996123 (Apr 6, 2010)

I just guessed 2 solve times in a row correctly on my 4th attempt (18.99 and 17.32) using a stackmat. I didn't prepare the solves or anything, pretty easy.

I think it could actually be real.


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## Tesseract (Apr 20, 2010)

one more video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiJkdx3ihcs


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## TeddyKGB (Apr 20, 2010)

Tesseract said:


> one more video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiJkdx3ihcs



That takes skill!!! lol


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## Diniz (Apr 20, 2010)

Tesseract said:


> one more video:



hauhauahuauhuah, nice!


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## ben1996123 (Apr 20, 2010)

Diniz said:


> Tesseract said:
> 
> 
> > one more video:
> ...



F2L on the left FTW

HOW DID YOU DO THAT!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## RainbowBoy (Apr 22, 2010)

woah


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## Ranzha (Apr 24, 2010)

StefanPochmann said:


> Ranzha V. Emodrach said:
> 
> 
> > My theory with this is that either the spacebar or the mouse being moved activates a function which shows the "predicted" time.
> ...



Um, not to what I said.
The spacebar stops the timer. The mouse makes it the "predicted" time.


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## PatrickJameson (Apr 24, 2010)

Ranzha V. Emodrach said:


> Um, not to what I said.
> The spacebar stops the timer. The mouse makes it the "predicted" time.



That would be quite silly.


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## Toad (Jan 8, 2011)

I apologise that this is quite a large bump but it seems nobody ever worked this out despite it being massive news at the time.

I hope somebody has worked it out, if so please could it be shared?


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## Zarxrax (Jan 8, 2011)

Yes, I'm still dying to know the real answer :|


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## ~Adam~ (Jan 8, 2011)

I think it's just like the ping pong ball trick shots. Repeat it enough times and eventually you'll hit the mark.
Don't celebrate though because you'll ruin the clip.


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## Cool Frog (Jan 8, 2011)

cube-o-holic said:


> I think it's just like the ping pong ball trick shots. Repeat it enough times and eventually you'll hit the mark.
> Don't celebrate though because you'll ruin the clip.


 
Read the "bulk" of the thread...


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## ~Adam~ (Jan 8, 2011)

I read the 1st 3 the middle 3 and the end 3. Sorry for posting an opinion.


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## ElectricDoodie (Jan 8, 2011)

I just read this entire thread, and some of the Russian forum. Nothing...
I'm tearing my face off, trying to figure this out.


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## kutuan (Jan 10, 2011)

this trick gonna be legend.... *wait for it...* ary....


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## Godmil (Jan 10, 2011)

If I were to do this, I'd pretend to write the time (using small pen movements) and then add the writing in afterwards in after effects. However this clearly isn't what he does cause you can see what he's writing. Really like this trick.


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