Practice and learn skewb algs, first layer and more!
I will be using my new page from now
on (and you should be, too)!
This page will remain, but will sooner or later be outdated, and only contain
old versions of SkewbSkills.
This is due to the fact that my new page will not only contain the SkewbSkills
application, but some more content and better design. So I created a new repository
on github, where you will find all
data and files required for the website only, while the old repo
will serve as a place to store mostly python files for the offline version.
Practice and learn skewb algs, first layer and more!
This description intends to show you how to use SkewbSkills and give a quick
overview on the development process.
SkewbSkills is now available as a webpage
and can be downloaded as a .zip folder,
containing an .exe. Read more about installation below.
SkewbSkills is free to use for all skewbers out there (!) and has been created
by Annika Stein (also known as HugaCuba on social media such as
YouTube or
Instagram) to
Happy new year to all skewbers!
Finally you can use the major improvements also in SkewbSkills .exe, we’ve
got WCA scrambles, a button to hide or show the scramble image and some minor
design updates and bugfixes. Be sure to check out the new version by downloading
the corresponding .zip-archive here!
Maybe you already noticed (using github) that I am working on a rebuild of my
website, and it is already accessible under this link.
The page you are using now will remain most likely as an archive of old versions,
and serve as a redirecting page to the new one.
I recommend switching to the new website, where I will not only host
SkewbSkills (Web, offline etc.), but also include other topics related to
improving at skewb, algorithms, practicing techniques… there’s a lot to come!
You can now use a nice feature of SkewbSkillsWeb (and also SkewbSkills .exe in the future):
WCA notation scrambles instead of Rubiksskewb notation for the Last 2 Layer Trainer!
I wrote a python module that transforms Rubiksskewb to WCA notation, given that the
initial scramble consists of the moves like the ones in
this document
(credits: Elias Malomgré and Carter Cucala).
Although I already used it
for both SkewbSkillsWeb (.js) and the .py version, its source code is also
available
here on my Github repository, as usual. You can of course also use it as a standalone notation converter,
but right now it lacks a grafical user interface. So it is just for those of you familiar
with either .js or .py files and such. But as I said before, you don’t have to do this
on your own to use SkewbSkills, it’s already implemented for all the LL cases that were
included already.
Actually, this was the most difficult part on my programming journey so far, not
because programming is complicated, but because even solving this problem on paper was sort
of impossible for me at the beginning of my thought process.
Now I’m wishing you all nice holidays and I’m looking forward to publishing a new .exe
bundle soon for those of you that want to use SkewbSkills offline.
And as always: feel free to comment any bugs, ideas, feature requests, experiences…
… I added some buttons (for each case!) that make you select exactly
the cases you want to practice. Also, the possibility to select groups
of algs is still there, so using both approaches, you can at least
increase the probability to receive certain cases up to a factor of 2.
Another minor improvement is a simple button that lets you show or hide
the scramble image as has been requested some time ago in the
FB group “Cyoubx’s Friends” and / or “Skewbers”. Thank you all for
your ideas and critique, it helped a lot! Sorry that it took longer
than expected, physics is time consuming. ;)
You can now use a stopwatch on SkewbSkillsWeb, on any mobile device
or on a laptop / computer / whatever! The responsive design of the jekyll
theme allows us to adjust the size and appearance of buttons and content,
giving us a nice layout everywhere.
And if you improve your best time for each L2L case, a prompt
is going to tell you that you got a PB!
You might not be able to change / adjust the scrambles atm, but the
feature mentioned above is SkewbSkiilsWeb-only and kind of a
compensation. ;)
Hopefully, someday more statistics will be implemented to get
detailed insight in your improvement.
Yes, you’ve heard correctly, SkewbSkills is now available as a webpage! This very first
web-based release might look a little ugly and lack a stopwatch, but it WORKS, apart
from that! :)
Believe me or not, getting everything done in JavaScript was a bit of a mess as a
complete .js newbie, but using my python scripts saved me a lot of time. Tbh, it took me
not more than three days (the last time using anything like html / css must have
been several years ago).
Seems like learning new languages is much easier than learning your first one. ;) (yOu DOn’T sAY?!)
Download v1.2 as a .zip-folder here.
Download v1.1 as a .zip-folder here.
You can now download and use version 1.1 of SkewbSkills! Browse through
the source code on github or
simply run the executable and have fun! More info on how to install your
own copy of SkewbSkills down below.
Download v1.0 as a .zip-folder here.
You don’t need to worry about downloading or installing anything, you can access
SkewbSkills now directly from the web, as a webbased application!
If you want to, grab yourself a browser that is able to store websites (save all data
required, e.g. by pressing Ctrl + S) and use SkewbSkills offline, as well!
Download the zip-file, containing the .exe, some pictures and .txt files.
Do not move the .txt-files out of the directory, they contain the scrambles.
Actually, using my pictures is not necessary, but they are included for
design purposes.
To open the program, extract the zip-folder and open “SkewbSkills.exe”
(v1.1 and up) or “MainWindow.exe” (v1.0), either by using the executable
itself, by defining a shortcut (which is pretty nice if you want to put the
program on your desktop or the taskbar). What you can also do is run the
MainWindow.py-code (for those of you that have a python interpreter set up).
For the latter, you would have to download the sources in the repository and
make sure all packages are installed. Therefore, this option is only recommended
for more experienced users, because you might have to get PyQt5 etc. before you
can run the application.
Note: since the .exe is really new and not many people use it, you might
have to allow your computer to execute it. This also applies to antivirus
software if you use some.
At the moment, SkewbSkills is only available as an .exe-file. Therefore,
if you want to use SkewbSkills on a different platform than windows, you
might want to consider using a software called “Wine” (freeware, on macOS
or Linux for example).
Besides that, there is always the option to download the sources and run
“MainWindow.py” on your machine using Python 3.
If I’m informed correctly, it should already be possible for linux users to
run python files, but the package ‘PyQt5’ has to be installed.
Updating your version of SkewbSkills is pretty easy. Just download the newest
.zip-folder and remove the previous one. It’s also possible to use more than
one version on the same device, if you do not mix the files into one folder
or randomly copy/paste from one to another version.
If you have modified your scrambles and want to use them in your updated
version of SkewbSkills, download the newest version and only change each
scramble file you have overwritten with your own algs. In newer versions, the
files might be located in other folders, but they will be named the same way
as before.
After opening SkewbSkills, type “H” or choose Help from the menubar to get
(almost) the same instructions as below. You can close every window inside
SkewbSkills by pressing ESCAPE.
Choose any from the different practicing modes, by pressing the corresponding
button or key, respectively. A new window appears, the starting window closes.
Note: the First Layer Trainer might take some time to open, so be a little
patient (especially for v1.0 users).
There’s a slider to define the length of the scrambles, you can choose
between 1 and 7 moves. This can also be done with the keys 1 to 7 on your
keyboard, if you’re using v1.1 and up. If you want the scrambles to be
shuffled, use the checkbox “Shuffle scrambles” (shortcut: S).
The checkbox “Use all colours” (with its shortcut C)
allows SkewbSkills to show you various colours so that you can practice to
start the first layer with every color (to become CN).
When you’re ready with the customization, press “Generate Scramble + Colour”
(or RETURN). A new scramble appears, both as a label containing the scramble
sequence, and with a drawing.
If you want to time yourself solving the first layer, use the stopwatch with
its two buttons, Start (SPACE) / Pause (SPACE) and Reset (R).
Small warning, especially for v1.0: the more moves you select, the larger
the files are that contain the scrambles. Therefore, it might take a little
until the process is completed. In further versions such as v1.1 and up, this
should not be the case anymore.
Select all the alg sets that you’d like to practice. This can be done manually
by checking or unchecking them via mouseclicks, or by pressing “T” ((un-)select
all sets), “L” ((un-)select L4C, L5C), “I” ((un-)select all Pi cases) and “U”
((un-)select all Peanut cases).
SkewbSkills is going to shuffle (randomize) the order in which they appear.
Use the “Generate L2L Scramble” Button or press RETURN to generate a scramble.
A drawing of the scramble appears. All scrambles are performed with the
White/Red/Green Corner on top/front. Start the timer with the “Start” Button
or press SPACE. After starting the timer, you can stop it again by clicking
the same button (“Pause”) or pressing SPACE again. You can than reset the
timer to zero by using the “Reset” button (or press “R”).
You do not need to change anything on any file anymore once you’ve extracted
the folder. But: if you find that you’d like other scrambles to be displayed
than the current ones, open any of the .txt-docs and modify the scrambles to
your liking. If you want to keep track of which scrambles generate which case,
see this document
(credits: Elias Malomgré and Carter Cucala). I use the same terms for the
cases to indicate them, as well as the same order.
Keep in mind that you need to write scrambles, not solutions for the different
cases. You need to inverse your preferred solution to get the scramble you want.
I chose the not so common solutions as scrambles, because than you can’t see your
solution by staring at the scramble and simply reading it backwards. That way you
are forced to come up with a solution yourself. ;)
When modifying the scrambles in the .txt-Files, note that the very last
character of the file must be one space in the line of the last scramble.
So do not make any additional line break after the last scramble, but end
the line of the last scramble with a space.
In almost the same manner, do not use a space or anything else to end the
previous scrambles. All lines that are not the last line should only contain
the scramble itself, ending with the last move. If you do not apply the steps
above, your program might crash (because it can only read and use the
scrambles provided in the form mentioned earlier).
As I am just starting out Python (and PyQt5), I had a lot of input from
various online sources.
I learned a lot from this playlist
by Parwiz Forogh and also used this project
by enkore to get the stopwatch running. Also thanks to Mattheo de Wit, who
created a similar (but web-based) application!
This was a big influence on how the L2L-Trainer should work.
When reading the LICENSE
doc, you might find out that you are not only free to use the program, but
also the source code. This is to ensure everyone can learn something, of
course I appreciate every suggestion for improvement, as I might actually be
the one to learn something through this project! :)
If you want to get to know about my other activities, visit my
youtube channel: HugaCuba.
Feel free to write me an E-Mail
if you have further questions or want to suggest a new feature. Also, if you
detect some bugs or malfunctions, this might be the way to go. Another
possible way to ask something about SkewbSkills in any way is to
publicly comment on this Youtube Video.
Feel free to donate via PayPal, I’d be more than happy to learn
new techniques, make SkewbSkills available to other platforms
or do whatever I can to help you improve in the skewb event!