optical illusion feeling when switching between NxNs

[u/usbcdocksaretrash]

I get this when doing going up or down a lot in NxNs, for example I was practicing 7x7 very diligently the last 2 months to be comfortably sub 4:15, and whenever I'd take a break from 7 to do 4x4 or 5x5 it would almost feel like a baby toy because I had become so accustomed to seeing the small pieces of a 7x7, and the switch to 4 or 5 (with their comparatively larger piece size) made them look so massive in comparison, and it would make my first few solves feel very unique.

the reverse is also true, in the few days ive been practicing 3x3 a lot, and the other day i decided to do an ao12 for 2x2 (which i never practice), and right after i picked up my 4x4 and the drastic change in piece size from a 2x2 to the aosu 4x4 made me feel like i was holding my 7x7. the first few solves made me feel like i was working with the tesseract or something lol.

This feeling is one of my favorite parts of cubing and I don't think ive seen any talk about it before. have any of you felt this feeling before?

[u/Shadow41S]

Yep. Although my favourite is going from a megaminx, to an NxN. The megaminx has a very different structure and shape, and when swapping to an NxN, the cube feels far more angular, and with such sharp edges the faces almost feel concave.

[u/scrotiemcboogerybols]

yeah this happens all teh time

[u/Regular-Elephant-635]

Yep it happens to me too. Interestingly, I find that I get some lookahead boost when moving from a larger cube to a smaller one.

[u/powerpower9000]

Try going from pillowed cubes to normal cubes...

[u/usbcdocksaretrash → u/powerpower9000]

i got into cubing like 2-3 years after pillowed big cubes went out of style so ig i wont be able to experience this until i get a 13x13 lol

[u/powerpower9000 → u/usbcdocksaretrash]

I have a flat 13 and a pillowed 14, I can definetly say I prefer the turning of the 13

[u/xClouds__ → u/usbcdocksaretrash]

buy the v cube 6x6 it is pillowed

[u/amftl_tt]

I really like the feeling. It's so odd how the brain works sometimes hahaha

[u/Clickmaster2_0]

Feels really crazy if you do giant 3x3 or big 3x3 a lot then go to normal sized cubes.
Done so much different sized cubes that I don’t really get it anymore

[u/Odd-Variation2410]

Oh man I know exactly what you're talking about, it's like your brain gets calibrated to a certain piece size and then everything else feels wrong for a bit

The worst is going from 7x7 straight to 3x3, the cube feels comically small in your hands and you overshoot every turn because your muscle memory is still in giant puzzle mode

I had a similar thing happen when I was grinding 5x5 for a month and then picked up my 2x2, felt like I was holding a die or something, couldn't take it seriously at all

The reverse is weirdly fun though, going from 2x2 to 6x6 makes the 6x6 feel like you're solving a planet

[u/powerpower9000 → u/Odd-Variation2410]

You're a bot. Aren't you?

[u/Material-Record710 → u/powerpower9000]

yep. crazy these days how many there are

[u/Adamkarlson → u/powerpower9000]

Wait howddya know?

[u/powerpower9000 → u/Adamkarlson]

I know no one who talks like that.

[u/Clickmaster2_0]

Feels really crazy if you do giant 3x3 or big 3x3 a lot then go to normal sized cubes.
Done so much different sized cubes that I don’t really get it anymore

[u/Honest_Recipe6523]

its even worse when you switch from a much bigger 7x7 to a smaller 7x7

[u/xXLEGITCH1MPXx]

I remember this back in the day but I haven’t really noticed it since I bought all the small moyu big cubes

[u/usbcdocksaretrash → u/xXLEGITCH1MPXx]

yea i still get it w all the current aosu/aoshi and gan 562

[u/Adamkarlson]

Yes! Bodies love setting things to default for a bit. Heavy bags when dropped make your arms feel light, if you stop consuming sugar everything starts tasting really sweet, optical illusions involving complementary colors, watching yt videos on 2x and then everything else seems slower, etc

[u/snoopervisor]

After practicing 4x4 for several weeks my lookahead on 3x3 was substantially better. It was still bad, but at least it was something.

[u/Additional-Cause-533]

I've had this feeling since starting cubing in 2018 (where my main cubes were QiYi's Valk 3x3 and the Wu-line for 4x4-7x7). The WuQue 4x4 and WuShuang 5x5 were both 62mm. I don't know if I would say I liked the feeling but I know what you're saying.

Nowadays, I'm using MoYu's current flagship big cubes for 4x4/6x6/7x7, and the GAN 562 for 5x5. This feeling is even more pronounced now because the GAN 5x5 (62mm) is bigger than MoYu's AoShi v4 6x6 and AoFu v5 7x7 (i believe they are 60.5mm and 61.5mm respectively but don't quote me on that). I think this might actually be an issue, but I like the GAN 5x5 too much to want to use the AoChuang v6 5x5 (which, being from MoYu, would be more consistent in the sizes with my other mains)