The Quest to Build a 4D Rubik's Cube 

Enjoyed every second of this video. Can't imagine how much effort you put into crafting this Rowan, and thank you Melinda and Grant (and so many others!) for pushing the boundaries of hypercubing.

the irony that the 4d cube was made so people didn't have to use a program, only for it to be mostly experienced using a program

I wish all the 4D programs were on VR, it would be so cool.

Ya know its wild that the modern world allows people to enjoy any hobby together, even something as niche as "making rubik's cubes in higher dimensions." I'm glad you all were able to connect with each other, and I hope more people find community with you. As an aside, I actually prefer the 2x3x3x3 puzzle the most, as it definitely has more elegance to the neighboring puzzles.

I have never in my life solved a rubic's cube. I don't even know how I got here. With every new model you showed, I grew progressively more horrified. Yet, I loved it. Thank you for a thoroughly entertaining, entrancing watch that I will never be able to forget, no matter how I try. I hope I never have to see one of these monstrosities in the real world.

I think it can't be overstated enough how much Melinda's design is the foundation for everything. If you have a good base design, adding more layers to it does not require redesigning that foundation... which is exactly her invention. That really is spectacular. :D

i was whisper shouting "what!???" multiple times when watching fascinating work done by hyper people, i'm blown away by their creativity and dedication that brings these 4d toys into our physical realm you did an outstanding job with the storytelling and presentation, great explanations/visuals, interesting throughout truly one of the cubing documentaries to ever exist

I remember playing with the virtual 4D cube 20 years ago (never even close to solving it, however). I didn’t realize the first 4D cube was created in 1988. And it’s super fun to discover that rather than it being a weird one-off, there’s a thriving hypercubing community. This whole thing is delightful.

This is absolutely incredible.the way you explained 4D cubes was so understandable and entertaining, and every minute of this was so high quality and interesting. one of the best cubing videos out there!

I have a sneaking suspicion that some of this might be about me 🤔

I don't understand a single thing about how these 4d puzzles are supposed to work, it's all just completely incomprehensible to me However the video's editing and storytelling was good enough that i could pick up the impact and weight of each new development. I didn't understand a single thing but I had a great time with this one :)

This was always a big dream of mine as a kid. My 3rd grade notebooks were completely filled with sketches of possible 4D cube designs. So happy to see a dream like this come true! 🎉

Well made! It's crazy how far the hyper-cubing community came in such a short time.

Dude, I can barely solve a megaminx and you guys come up with biblically accurate rubik's cubes. As a mathematical engineer, I feel both admiration and dread when I see this. You guys felt so compelled to make this lovecraftian toy a reality that even yog sothoth doesn't know how to solve these cubes or even dares to try. I love this, please people on the internet, make more of these abhorrent puzzles.

This popped up randomly in my recommends and I put it on sort of intended as interesting background noise. I was enraptured and watched every second avidly. Not only is the subject incredibly fascinating but the dedication you all have to the craft is just beautiful! You as a community must be immeasurably proud of the leaps and bounds you’ve made in this journey!

My non-cuber brain stopped being able to keep up after the first few minutes, but it was still understandable in general and the density of information is incredibly refreshing because of how diluted most of youtube is now

Amazing quality and story telling - by far the most entertaining and interesting video/documentary type thing I’ve watched in a while! I will send it to my non-cuber friends to confuse them now 😂

Really cool that you got people to voice their emails and messages.

this is beautiful. a docu about a nook of the internet about funny 4 dimensional puzzles people would have otherwise not known about without the docu. just, amazing.

Even after watching other RU-vidrs try to explain the 4th dimension I have learned so much more in this one random video then any other

The existence of this community surprises me, but it is really wholesome how you work together and incredible what you achieved!

Some of those hypercube turns, and especially those simplex turns, are absolutely disgusting and I love it. Thank you for sharing a strange and small side of the world with me and the rest of the internet.

Ninth person to ever solve the 2^4 here, great video! I had no idea that they created all these hypercuboids! I'm very intrigued by the 2x3x3x3, it looks very elegant compared to all the others (especially when comparing gyros). I must say though, the 3^4 looks like trash to handle 🤣

What an amazing video this is! I'm so honoured to have featured, and to have been a part of the early 4D world back in 2018! To this day, my videos on Melinda's 2x2x2x2 are some of my favourites and it's such an amazing solving experience once you get your head around it. It's also so crazy to think that there is now a functioning 3x3x3x3! Honestly, amazing job on this video - this is hands down one of the best cubing/puzzle videos I have ever seen!

It's crazy how far you've come Rowan. I remember being blown away at how deep you knew cubing at cube club and this is just incredible. Keep it up :)

Awesome video! I forgot that all of this happened within one year -- pretty incredible

I understood the half of it, but completely understood the dedication and love for this project. This is how people get together and make amazing things, through passion

Masterful video. It was a real joy to watch. After watching just the intro, I knew this video would to be completely awesome, and indeed the rest of it did not disappoint at all! I had so many "what!!" moments during this, and the video just kept on giving. Also I have so much admiration for Melinda, Grant and all the others involved in creating and exploring these mind-bending puzzles. Truly beautiful work!

You just earned a sub, my friend. This niche topic really deserves more attention.

This was such an amazing video, it's so cool how people were able to make physical analouges of puzzles that literally are in a higher dimension.

This is THE coolest thing I have ever seen. Its mind blowing how we can actually somehow represent 4D motion with 3D counterparts. I’ve been fascinated by the 4th dimension for a while now, but we’ve never had a “real example.” This is one of the best I’ve ever seen. Best of luck!!!

incredibly dynamic video, loved it edit: i generally hate 4d videos because they all explain it over and over again in different ways, but this one didn't focus a lot on it and actually expanded my perspective on it way better than other videos lol

Great job epic! Awesome video. Very well edited and professional. I liked the voice overs which were really good!. Thanks for the awesome content ~Hyperespy

I love how my tiny reptile brain cannot comprehend a single damn thing in this video, n yet it is still sooooo damn interesting. Just got into cubing when I got a 2x2 and 3x3 phantom for christmas this year.

amazing work of art, never thought id be invested in a story about rubiks cubes and the 4th dimension

I'm so proud of this community. Great video!

I can't even solve a normal Rubik's cube but I enjoyed this video. It's so awesome to see things never thought possible brought into reality.

I hope this video gets very popular. It is well deserved to be.

This is an incredible endeavor, and a very interesting way to wrap your head around 4d and up. And now I REALLY want one! Thank you, didn’t even know about all of this!

I don't know anything about rubiks cubes, I just saw 4d and was immediately interested, was not expecting a documentary and was pleasantly surprised! The video itself was so good, and although most of the design explanations went straight over my head, it was still so much fun to watch! Great video!! Also, I wasn't going to comment but I saw the technoblade shirt and had to pay my respects. The blade never dies 💜💜💜

What a mind-blowing story. Enjoyed every second of this amazing video. Great job :)

Great video! Thanks for making it, and telling the story so nicely! 🙂

Dude this is amazing! I enjoyed every single moment of this video, and I learned so much!

Dude, the feeling that the video gives while we watch it... It's amazing!

This is the best documentairy i’ve seen in a while, absolutely astonishing!

i have no idea how you got me to watch the full 26 minutes of a video i understood none of. also i appreciate your t-shirt in the last clip, very cool

I literally have no idea how 4 dimensional cubing works, but I found the video fascinating, well done!

Man i've never had experience with cubing, but i was so captured by this video! The passion you guys put into this stuff really shines through

My god such a underated vídeo you deserve much more my dude

one of the best vids about rubiks cubes ive ever seen edited so well and it kept me interested, great vid rowan!

I don't understand 3x3x3 cubes, and I understood about 5 words of this video, yet I still found it interesting to watch, nice job! 10/10 great video.

The start 4D was very well explained! Nice job!

Wow this was insanely well put together!

Hello Rowan, thank you for making this amazing video! I found every single second to be fascinating and this video became the catalyst for me to finally learn how to solve a Rubik's cube! :D Okay that's the tl;dr version lol but I feel like I should explain a bit more, plus I wanted to bring up a couple other points. a. So I'm a guy in my 30s, and like so many other people on Earth, I had played around with a Rubik's cube but I had never actually learned how to solve one. But a part of me had always wanted to learn at some point. I knew it was in my capacity to learn because I figure its something like chess; if someone can learn chess they can learn to solve a Rubik's and I've always loved chess. So I figured it's an easy to learn hard to master sort of thing. But people said it's not that hard, just got to get other the initial hump and then it gets easier and then you become addicted and learn other twisty puzzles lol. Hmmmmm, "even with the mind-boggling ~43 Quintilian combinations?" I'd think. I've also been super damn fascinated with the concept of the 4th dimension, like for 4/5 of my life. I read Edwin Abbott's Flatland as a kid, tried to understand Einstein's concept of 4D spacetime, etc. It's honestly something I've thought about constantly in my life, seemingly even more so recently because the computer age has allowed some amazing simulations, videos, articles, and games that have helped me to understand the 4th dimension more and more. And of course, in my travels across infospace I came across magic cube 4D. I thought it was a curious niche thing that humans would create it, and absolutely love that its all explainable by math, even if our human brains can't fully grasp 4-space. But I had never considered that I might try to figure it out someday....welllllll all that has changed recently. Because I've been watching tons of videos on 4th dimension, this wonderful video of yours popped up in my suggestions. And I watched it and found every single part of it interesting. Then I watched it multiple times. And I watched some of your other cool videos like the list of twisty puzzle permutations, cuboids being awesome, and you solving cubes simulating different forms of colorblindness. And I watched Cuberly's videos why we cube as well. And I became inspired to finally learn. Then I got covid recently and had a bunch of free time, and so I busted out my old ass unsolved Rubik's cube that I had saved from when I was a kid and proceeded to learn how to solve it. Those satisfying neurotransmitters when I solved it the first time were nice but I realized I wanted quality. And so Pandora's box was opened because I ordered a couple hundred bucks of twisty puzzles from the cubicle and it really is satisfying solving these puzzles! So again, thanks for making this video because it pushed me into this new world and its been a lot of fun. And hey, I figure its good for my brain. Learning these puzzles is something that I feel sticks with a person the rest of their life, and like reading or chess it can help keep our brains healthy as we get older. I even convinced my dad to learn, I think he got jealous after he saw me solve one in just a couple minutes after I couldn't just weeks prior XD. And also thanks to this video I'd like to learn how to also solve the 3^4. b. If you get a chance, you should check out some of the other 4-dimensional games/simulations that exist, I think you would enjoy them. I saw you made a VR video, one of the games is called 4D toys that is also in VR. It's neat, basically feels like you are a 3-d slice being with 4-d shapes in your hands. Another one is called 4D miner, and is exactly what it sounds like, 4 dimensional Minecraft. It's currently in beta but its a lot of fun. You are a 3D being in the game of course, but it allows you to spin your 3D slice around in the world to see different views of the 4-space. Nothing like having 4 dimensional spiders come at you from an angle you can't see lol. 4D golf and Miegakure are two more that are currently in development but look absolutely amazing, can't wait to play them. 4D golf is being developed by CodeParade, he's made some really incredible games like fractal marble madness and a game that lets you explore hyperbolic and spherical 3-space's, its called Hyperbolica. Walking around in the 3-sphere dimension made me absolutely dizzy but it was a blast. His channel and the devlog videos for both 4D golf and Hyperbolica are super fascinating. c. I downloaded the various programs you mention in this video. But I was wondering, I didn't see some of the cuboids you showed from magic puzzle ultimate. Is there somewhere online where I can download the code to add those as custom puzzles or some kind of guide (or would you be willing to post the code)? ... Or do I need to do some extensive reading about Schläfli symbol's first? I got a kick out of the 3x3x3x1, especially since after learning the Erno OG 3x3 I also learned to solve the floppy 3x3x1 I ordered at the same time. I love the design Grant and you came up with for a physical 3x3x3x1 and wouldn't mind having one someday (as well as having Melinda Green's 2^4), but I figure I should try to solve them on my computer first. Sorry for the wall of text lol

Love the story telling of this video, very engaging!

what did i stumble upon lmfao seriously tho neat video, the passion in your community is extremely clear

Imagine the video is just the Rowan saying "no" and quitting

Pollution of the mathematical world? Jeez That's a very rare insult

I love this kind of stuff, not because I understand any of it, but because I hope to one day understand it. Pure Math for the sake of solving abstract problems is such a beautiful thing. As a teen I was quick to rote learn the known basic algorithms to solve the standard 3x3x3 Rubik's cube, but to this day I'm trying to reason on my own how I could (with my limited 3d thinking abilities) come up with such an algorithm. Major props to everyone involved with these higher dimensional projects for having the sheer intellect to do so; awe inspiring minds you have :) . I truly hope to catch up to you all some day! Best wishes to you nerds!

How interesting! You are an important part of your own documentary too! Nice video!

When the intro is good enough to be an excellent video you know you're in for a wild ride

Good job to everyone working on this since this is alot of work and money 😃and all that mathematic or scientific stuff, i dont understand this building but its cool!

this is the highest quality video i have seen today, why the hell do you have only 4k subscribers? i thought you have millions, dude thats insane, i wish you so much luck in getting 1 million subscriubers, you explained really well in this video, its also really interesting, thanks for the good explanation, i will subscribe :)

Never solved a cube, never watched or searched for vids on them. With that said, this video randomly popped up on my feed and I couldn’t stop watching. Great vid

Can't wait! 😆

Amazing! Can't wait!

That s a very very very good video. How amazing are people ! And what a super idea to present all the story like this. It was VERY pleasant to watch. Thanks a lot to show us how we can try to make a 4d puzzle in a 3d world. I never thought it would be possible. Wow.

This is a video every cuber needs to see!

Absolute madmen.

This is just so... nerdy! And if I understood it i world surely think its even more awsome! I feel like I can relate to the story tho bc I'm trying to make a physical mixup cube but all layers are mixupable (not just centers).

4:06 That’s the best introduction you could’ve given her. She’s a crow enthusiast? Is she single?

This needs 100x the views

The problem is that it's too easy to cheat, even by accident. I think the best solution is to make an electronic toy that looks like the cubes in the hypercube games, and then has LEDs that change colors as you turn.

Me: *Thinks I know a lot about cubing* Hypercubing: You haven't seen me yet Me: 🤯

god, cubers are something else i swear. love all of this

This is absolutely incredible. I'm blown away

Wow, thats the best video i ever wached

Ah yes, learning about 4D objects while living in a 3D space, watched on a 2D screen. Makes sense.

this deserves an Oscar for the best documentary.

Still unable to wrap my head around higher dimensional puzzles, but totally awesome nonetheless! Keep the innovation coming!

hyped

You guys help me some really cool stuff and I can’t wait to see what you come up with next!

I have an early (wooden!) 2^4 in my collection and used to speedsolve 2^4 and 3^4 before the speed sims. Pretty cool to hear they made a physical 3^4, even if all the gyro moves are nasty and it hasn't been solved yet. I think the 2x3x3x3 and 1x3x3x3 look really cool.

5head

Very cool, but something felt off about this representation. The simulations feel better because of the way they surround the inner piece. Having it be side by side just doesnt feel 4d to me. I liked the very first design in the video, and I was surprised nobody was able to find a way to make that work. I understand it might be impossible, but its definitely sad. Really great work though, I loved the video!

I was giggling! I love this video. Great job. :) I hardly understood a second however! :)

man i used to be a cuber when i was in middle school and this totally captured the passion i had for the hobby, really a super doc for an ultra-niche subject with that being said i am far too dumb to understand 85% of this

great video! i dont have a 3d printer yet, but i plan on getting one very soon. once i get it i may be able to help you make more 4d puzzles.

I never knew this other side of the cubing commnuity!!! Your telling me we can access the FORTH DIMENSION NOW! JUST WHAT, AMAZING Documentery!! Thank you for showing me this. Lets see what I can do

Wow, why do I want to buy a 3d printer now?? You sir have opened another one’s eyes in this amazing corner of society. Love your work and hope one day these dreams are accomplished❤

This is an incredibly interesting video, 26 minutes flew by like it was nothing. Nice job! 👍

RU-vid recommended this to me. I was watching, wondering, why does this voice sound familiar? Rowan, this is some excellent, fantastic work and I always knew you were so damn talented. Letting Ms. Termes know about this. Love it!

This is extremely impressive work, and I hate to be a killjoy, but it is impossible for an actual 4D object to exist in our 3rd dimensional world. The same that way that it is impossible for a 3D object to exist in a two dimensional world. Wireframe computer models that is presented to represent a 4D object really doesn't and could never, in reality, even be comprehended...... BUT, I think you and the community knows this so you guys are doing the next best thing. With all that said, keep up the awesome work. You folks might stumble upon something so amazing that could become the Rubik's Cube of the 21st century.

HOW DOES THUS NOT HAVE MORE VIEWS THIS VIDEO IS INCREDIBLE

This is insane! I always used to think those 4D simulation programs are just for experiments and that no people actually solve it 😅😆

Suprisingly a lot of these techniques of reimagining dimensions apply to 3d modelling. We use a lot of these methods when UV unwrapping with minimal stretching while taking up the most UV space and being as equally sized as possible. Even though less seen stuff can be optimised by shrinking its UV island it still brings up the some of the same questions in this video. I just thought this was a nice little fun fact.

This is extremely well made, loved the video!

The puzzle community is so cool. I used to love physical puzzles when I was a kid but as I get older I realise i mostly liked them because fidget spinners/ADHD toys hadn't been invented yet (which would explain why I never really cared about solving them but just playing with them LOL) thanks for an excellent video 🧶🐈🏳️‍🌈

Amazingly well made video Rowan!!

I can't believe I missed all of this because the mailing list has my old email - woe is me! Amazing work by everyone involved, and a fantastic video.