SVGSketch Plugin

Cube Puzzle plugin

Type a scramble or an algorithm and place the cube as editable vector artwork - in 3D, as an unfolded net, or as a single face ringed by its neighbours.

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Quick answer

The Cube Puzzle plugin turns standard cube notation into editable SVG diagrams. Type a scramble like R U R’ U’, or paste a facelet state, and place the result as an isometric 3D cube, an unfolded net of all six faces, or a single face with its adjacent stickers - the diagram style algorithm sheets use. It covers 2x2 through 7x7, can lay a sequence out as a captioned filmstrip, and can animate the turns as real three-dimensional rotations. It draws and animates cubes; it does not solve them.

Steps at a glance

  1. Enter a scramble

    Type or paste move notation, or a facelet state, in the Cube Puzzle plugin.

  2. Pick a view

    Choose the 3D cube, the unfolded net, or a single face with its neighbour ring.

  3. Place the diagram

    Click and drag on the canvas to place the cube at the size you want.

  4. Refine or re-edit

    Restyle the shapes directly, or select the diagram to change its notation.

From notation to editable shapes

Every move letter you would write on a scramble sheet works: the six face turns, prime and half-turn modifiers, wide turns written either way (Rw or r), layer-indexed wide turns for big cubes (3Rw), the M, E and S slices, and the x, y and z whole-cube rotations. Comments, move numbering and grouping brackets are stripped, and a sequence written without spaces reads the same as one with them.

You can also paste a state instead of a sequence. A facelet string of six times n-squared letters - face letters in the usual U R F D L B order, or colour letters - is recognised by its length and colour counts, so the plugin knows a 2x2 from a 7x7 without being told. Give it a state followed by moves and it plays those moves from that state.

What lands on the canvas is ordinary geometry: one path per sticker in the 3D view, one rectangle per sticker in the flat views. Restyle a single sticker, recolour a face, or pull the whole diagram into a larger illustration the same way you would with anything else you drew.

Three diagrams, because cube literature uses three

The isometric view is the iconic one: three faces visible, drawn from a real three-dimensional model rather than a stack of parallelograms. The net view unfolds all six faces into the standard cross, which is the unambiguous way to show a complete state. The face view shows one face straight on, optionally ringed by the edge stickers of its four neighbours - the diagram every OLL and PLL algorithm sheet is built from.

A sequence can be laid out as a filmstrip: a grid of diagrams, one per move or every Nth move, each captioned with the move that produced it. Colour schemes cover the standard Western scheme, the older Japanese scheme, a pastel set and a high-contrast print set, and every one of the six face colours can be overridden individually.

Turns that actually turn

The animated output rotates the layer in three dimensions. Each sticker is a four-point quad whose geometry is keyframed through the turn, so a face genuinely swings out and back rather than the colours flicking over a static cube, and stickers that rotate out of sight disappear at the silhouette instead of drawing through it.

The result is an ordinary SVG animation on the document timeline. You can scrub it, retime it, and export it as SMIL that plays in any browser - or open the tracks in the animation panel and edit them by hand.

Stays editable after placement

Placed diagrams remember their notation and every render option. Select one and the plugin panel lets you change the scramble, the view, the cube size or the colours and regenerate it in place, with a single undo step restoring the previous version.

Included workflows

Standard notation

Face, wide, slice and rotation moves, with a live preview as you type.

3D, net and face views

The isometric cube, the unfolded cross, and the algorithm-sheet diagram.

2x2 through 7x7

One engine covers every order, including layer-indexed wide turns.

Animated turns

Layers rotate in three dimensions on the document timeline.

FAQ

Can SVGSketch draw 3x3 cube puzzle diagrams?

Yes. The Cube Puzzle plugin draws 3x3 twisty-cube diagrams - and every order from 2x2 to 7x7 - from standard move notation, as editable SVG shapes: isometric 3D, an unfolded net of all six faces, or a single face with its adjacent stickers.

Does it solve the cube?

No. The plugin draws and animates any sequence you give it, but it does not compute solutions. A solver needs several seconds to build its lookup tables before the first solve, which is not a cost a diagramming tool should impose. If you already have a solution, paste it and the plugin will animate it.

Which cube sizes are supported?

Every order from 2x2 up to 7x7. Wide turns can be written the short way (Rw, r) or with an explicit layer count (3Rw) for the bigger cubes, and the M, E and S slices work on any odd-order cube.

Can it make OLL and PLL algorithm diagrams?

Yes. The face view draws one face straight on with the edge stickers of its four neighbours around it, which is the standard algorithm-sheet diagram. Pair it with the filmstrip output to show an algorithm step by step.

Are the animated turns real 3D rotations?

Yes. Each sticker is keyframed through the layer rotation as real geometry, so the layer swings out and back rather than the colours changing underneath a static cube. The animation lands on the document timeline and exports as standard SMIL.

Does it generate official competition scrambles?

No. Official WCA scrambles are random-state, which requires a solver. The plugin can produce a random-move scramble from a seed, which is reproducible and thorough enough for illustration but is not a competition scramble.

Open your SVG in SVGSketch

Start with a blank canvas, import an SVG, or use the editor as a conversion and cleanup step.

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