Hi everyone!

Here are two new puzzles, they are my firsts non shape-shifting designs and they share the same external shape. This shape is called « Tetrahedron 5-Compound » and it goes very well with the dodecahedral geometry, it gives a real new interest to these well know puzzles.

I named these puzzles Vega Minx and Vega Mate, relating to their inner mechanism and the star Vega, also know as Alpha Lyrae, the fifth brightest star in the sky.

The puzzles share the same measurements: edge lenght: 30mm (the distance between the end of two adjacents spikes), height: 68mm, distance between two opposite spikes: 85mm.

Vega Minx
You can see the video here.
And find it in the marketplace.





Vega Mate
You can see the video here.
And find it in the marketplace.





Size comparison with standard 57mm Rubik's cube.



I found 3 differents color schemes for the tetrahedron 5-compound shape:
-10 colors, the one I've done, each color is duplicated on opposite parallel faces.
-5 colors, one color by tetrahedron.
-12 colors, the « classic » dodecahedron color scheme.

---UPDATE---

Here are two pictures of these alternative color schemes, I also made a short video to show them.
Tell me which one is your favorite!

I am in love.
These are stunning!

These are some of the most gorgeous puzzles I have ever seen. Wow!

I absolutely love how these puzzles look, expecially the 5 colour variant.

Darn, I was beaten to it!
Oh well, looks as amazing as I'd expected it to. Congrats!

They look gorgeous!

Gorgeous! These are works of art.

As to which color scheme is preferred, I always like puzzles best without white in the mix.

Very nice. I personally like each tetrahedron to be a different colour but unlike David I would include a white one.

Thank you all Thanks for your compliments.

Proxy-Pie wrote:Darn, I was beaten to it!
Oh well, looks as amazing as I'd expected it to. Congrats!

What do you mean exactly? You had plan to make these designs?

David Pitcher wrote:I always like puzzles best without white in the mix.

Just to be precise, the "10 colors" has no white in it, it's true that it seems white on the pictures but it's light beige, in sunlight it's clearly not white

Wow!! These puzzles are absolutely beautiful and eye-dropping. Congratulations.

Wonderful.

Dave

leRAFs wrote:Thank you all Thanks for your compliments.

Proxy-Pie wrote:Darn, I was beaten to it!
Oh well, looks as amazing as I'd expected it to. Congrats!

What do you mean exactly? You had plan to make these designs?

I had noticed before that the geometry of the 5 Intersecting Tetrahedra lined up with the dodecahedral symmetry, and planned to make a megaminx mod in its shape. It was purely theoretical though as I never worked on a real version, the puzzle is yours

I could not resist these beauties and I have placed an order

As cool as this is, I'd love to hold this shape built around a geometry that doesn't preserve the shape. First thing that came to mind is building the other four tetrahedra on top of a pyramorphix followed quickly by a compound of 5 pyramorphixes, but the latter is getting dangerously close to Big Chop shapemod Territory.

Would 5-compounds of any of the common Tetrahedral puzzles allow parts to mix between the tetrahedra?

Jason's Radio Chop / Drewseph's Chopasaurus in this shape would be amazing

I think that puzzle would meet your criteria Jeffery as it is essentially 5 overlapping skewbs.

Wow, a very very beautiful puzzle!!!

I had been thinking these were all megaminx shape mods and I looked at it again just now and WAIT ITS A PENTULTIMATE WHAT

Awesome and beautiful. I will probably not resist too long before buying one...

I have an old story with the tetrahedron 5-compound, when I was a kid my parents bought me this beautiful wooden puzzle:

I disassembled it and tried to put it back in it's original shape, but I never succeed. There was just an incomprehensible explanatory note, and a picture with all the puzzles of this brand, and this one was something like 1cm tall on it. I gave up after many unsuccessful tries.
Years later, when I tried my first 3D modeling software (Ray Dream Designer 4, if someone knows) I decided to recreate this puzzle. Without gravity and with passing-through objects, that was way easier than in real life
This modeling helped me to see the exact entanglement of the sticks. And I finally succeeded to reassemble this puzzle!

I'm really happy that I made my own puzzles with that shape now


I give you my own opinion on the 3 different color schemes I propose.
-5 colors:

Maybe the most aesthetically pleasant of the 3. In a solving point of view, the corner pieces looses their visible orientation and have 4 different positions. Maybe it can make some kind of parity?

-12 colors:

My girlfriend's favorite! It's true that this one shows well the star pattern which gives their names to the puzzles. In a solving point of view, the spotting of the pieces is easier and the Vega Minx center pieces looses their visible orientation.

-10 colors:

My personal preference, because in a solving point of view each piece have an unique position and orientation, and the 4 colors edge pieces of the Vega Minx makes the solve really challenging. Plus, it is gorgeous when scrambled

These are gorgeous. I love how they look scrambled.

leRAFs wrote:The puzzles share the same measurements: edge lenght: 30mm (the distance between the end of two adjacents spikes), height: 68mm, distance between two opposite spikes: 85mm.

What more could I have asked for. Amazing.

Stunning! The 10-color stickering would confuse me to no end.

Today I received a parcel with a Vega Minx and Vega Mate. Both puzzles are of outstanding quality: Perfect movement and exactly attached beautiful stickers. Indeed some bright stars for every collection

And thanks also for the replacement stickers and the custom Raphaël Puzzle bags!!

Great job!!

Frank

I'm a bit late to chime in since I got my order at least a month ago but I have to echo what others have said: these things are amazing. The design and sticker quality is unmatched. They turn so well too.

Now this was not expected... Waking up to view those beauties!!!

Well done!




Pantazis

Wow guys!
I'm very touched by these very good comments and compliments...
Thank you very much, sincerely.

Wow, these are really top notch. I love them both, but especially the Vega Mate! Nice work.

Wow. This a great puzzle. I like the massive amount of star-tips it includes. That makes it even more confusing.

If you'd ask me which design I liked the most, I'd go for the 12 colour Vega Mate!

Some comments suggest that these puzzle were not really recognized when LeRafs made his post on November 28th last year

Here is my Vega Minx:


I can repeat only all the praise expressed by others:
A very beautiful puzzle, flawlessly made by LeRAFs!!!

I have chosen the 5-colour scheme, because I find it aesthetically pleasing how the five pyramids permeate each other.

Hello

I agree with everyone. These are beautiful looking puzzles. Bonus is, they turn excellent. Very well made and stickered.

I have been solving my 12 colour vega mate and have run into a problem. How do I rotate the centers?
Anyone have a pure alg?

AMC

i'm also a bit late to this party...have i missed the second batch?

I wonder how hard it would be to find five distinct textures of white vinyl to sticker a black version of these(or black vinyl on a white puzzle). Or to use five of the elements from the Jade Puzzles.

Hmmm... how would the shapeshifting of a Vegamorphix compare with the normal Pyramorphix/Megamorphix? There needs to be more puzzles in this shape and more polyhedral compounds in general, but there also need to be more monochrome shape shifters and more puzzles that utilize texture.

Thanks again everyone

crypticat wrote:i'm also a bit late to this party...have i missed the second batch?

I will open the orders for a new batch in about one week.

Jeffery Mewtamer wrote:I wonder how hard it would be to find five distinct textures of white vinyl to sticker a black version of these(or black vinyl on a white puzzle). Or to use five of the elements from the Jade Puzzles.

I don't know if these models are good candidates for that, some of the stickers are really small, I'm not sure it could be compatible with textured stickers or sculpted faces.

Jeffery Mewtamer wrote:how would the shapeshifting of a Vegamorphix compare with the normal Pyramorphix/Megamorphix?

Interesting ideas, I made a preview of these shape mods in my 3D software. Speaking only by shape, here are the results:

Pyramorphix (2x2x2): Same as a standard one: 2 kind of pieces, no orientation.
Mastermorphix (3x3x3): Same as a standard one: 1 kind of center piece, 2 orientations. 1 kind of edge piece, 2 orientations. 2 kind of corner pieces, no orientation.
Megamorphix (4x4x4): Same as a standard one: 2 kind of center pieces. 2 kind of wing edge pieces. 2 kind of corner pieces, no orientation.

Jeffery Mewtamer wrote:There needs to be more puzzles in this shape and more polyhedral compounds in general, but there also need to be more monochrome shape shifters and more puzzles that utilize texture.

You could be interested by the new design I will announce in a few days

I updated the first post, I replaced the renders of the different color schemes by real pictures and a video.

Konrad many thanks for that high res picture. It does more justice and allows a better examination
of this excellent puzzle.



Pantazis

Andreas Nortmann wrote:What more could I have asked for. Amazing.

Weight:
Vega Minx: 56g
Vega Mate: 76g

Usually I am happy when people give me the size and I assume they don't have a scale.
I guess I have to compare the museum with Frank's collection to find some other gaps to fill.
Thank you Frank.