cRubik

Warning

This software is unfinished. Keep your expectations low.

Sources:

• https://www.raylib.com/examples.html

• https://www.raylib.com/cheatsheet/cheatsheet.html

• https://www.dil.univ-mrs.fr/~regis/c-sys/index.html

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spherical_coordinate_system

• https://ruwix.com/the-rubiks-cube/notation/

• https://www.javatpoint.com/rotate-matrix-by-90-degrees-in-java

• https://www.worldcubeassociation.org/regulations/#article-4-scrambling

• https://www.worldcubeassociation.org/regulations/#9f8

• https://en.cppreference.com/w/c/io/fprintf

• https://en.cppreference.com/w/c/string/byte/strcpy

• https://en.cppreference.com/w/c/experimental/dynamic/strdup

• https://www.speedsolving.com/wiki/index.php/Scrambling

• https://github.com/hkociemba/CubeExplorer

• https://github.com/hishamcse/Rubiks-Cube-Solver

• https://ruwix.com/the-rubiks-cube/rubiks-cube-patterns-algorithms/

• https://github.com/DaveGamble/cJSON

Current functionalities:

• 3D cube visualization (any NxNxN size up to 9x9x9):
  • Face, slice, and whole-cube rotations.
  • Reset to solved state.
  • Configurable rotation animation speed.
  • Camera orbit / zoom.
• Scramble generation for any cube size.
• WCA-style timer:
  • Hold space to arm (turns green), release to start, any key to stop.
  • Average of 5 (Ao5) computed over the most recent solves.
  • Per-cube-size history (times/3.time, times/4.time, ...).
  • Mark past solves as +2 or DNF from the time list.
• Kociemba two-phase solver (3x3x3 only, ~100ms per solve, typically 20–22 moves).
  • Solution displayed as a move list, with an Apply button to animate it on the cube.
  • Two output modes: re-orient cube to canonical, or preserve current view.
• Patterns screen: apply named visual patterns (Superflip, Cube in a Cube, …) as animated playbacks.
• Options screen:
  • Rebind every rotation key (works on AZERTY/QWERTY).
  • Change rotation animation speed.
  • Choose solver output mode.
  • Persisted to options.json.

Controls

Defaults: every rotation key is rebindable in the Options screen.

Cube manipulation

Key	Action
R / L / U / D / F / B	Face turn (clockwise)
M / E / S	Slice turn (clockwise)
X / Y / Z	Whole-cube rotation (clockwise)
Alt + any of above	Counter-clockwise variant

Timing & solving

Key	Action
Enter	Generate a new scramble
Space (hold ≥ 0.3s, then release)	Start the timer (WCA-style)
Any key while timer runs	Stop timer, save the solve, generate next scramble
K	Launch Kociemba solver (3x3x3 only)
+ / Page Up	Increase cube size
- / Page Down	Decrease cube size

Mouse

Action	Effect
Drag left button	Orbit the camera
Wheel	Zoom
Middle button	Reset camera
Right button	Reset cube to solved

Screens

Key	Action
H	Toggle help screen
O	Toggle options (saves on exit)
P	Toggle patterns screen
End	Toggle debug axes overlay
Esc	Open quit confirmation dialog

Project structure

.
├── main.c                 app entry point + UI orchestration
├── bench.c                standalone benchmark (./bench)
├── core/                  domain model + cube/cubie draw primitives
│   ├── cube, cublet       NxNxN cube state + per-cubie draw
│   ├── scramble           move generator
│   ├── queue              opaque move queue (consumed by the cube animator)
│   ├── patterns           named pattern table (Superflip, ...)
│   ├── playback           in-progress move-sequence replay state
│   ├── average            solve history (per cube size, JSON-backed)
│   ├── timer              mm:ss:mmm stopwatch
│   ├── keybindings        layout-aware key labels (AZERTY/QWERTY)
│   ├── time_consts.h      shared MS/NS constants
│   └── utils              ARRAY_LEN, color helpers, etc...
├── solver/
│   ├── solver.{c,h}       worker-thread wrapper around Kociemba
│   └── kociemba/          Kociemba two-phase solver
├── ui/                    raylib/raygui-coupled rendering & input
│   ├── camera             orbit/zoom camera + mouse handling
│   ├── options            settings screen + options.json persistence
│   ├── ui_cube            3D cube draw call
│   ├── ui_help            help screen
│   ├── ui_loading         "LOADING..." spinner shown during startup
│   ├── ui_moves           token-list renderer (scrambles, solutions)
│   └── ui_patterns        patterns picker
├── vendor/                third-party libraries (raylib, raygui, cJSON)
├── times/                 runtime: per-size solve history (3.time, 4.time, ...)
└── build/                 build artefacts

Usage

Because we are using Raylib and RayGui, make sure the following libraries are installed:

libx11-dev libxrandr-dev libxi-dev libgl1-mesa-dev libglu1-mesa-dev libxcursor-dev libxinerama-dev libwayland-dev libxkbcommon-dev

Run the following command to compile and run the project:

make && ./cRubik

or

make run