iMacmatician's videos

Nice.

lol

Escher's Race (alternate path to 2nd gem)

Story:
When it was announced on the SDA thread that Dushine had found a new path for Escher's Race, I decided to try and find it too. So I spent hours trying all kinds of things that might give a better path. Unfortunately, I didn't succeed, but it was kinda fun exploring different parts of the level.

Today I was messing with the level, and after a few minutes, I found that a jump to the yellow part sent the marble below the platform with the 2nd gem. A change in the place to jump off allowed the marble to get enough height after the bounce to get on the platform. Most of the theoretical time saved is from the marble not rebounding after the first hit on the platform.

I never saw this in all those hours of pathfinding, and when I'm not really trying to find a path, I do. Typical.

Notes:
In this run, I hit the Gravity Modifier at about the same time as I usually do the normal way (when I don't do a 3rd rebound before the GM).
I get a lot of spin and momentum before getting on the platform with the gem on it, so usually I overshoot the platform. I can't pull back too much since that decreases my height. This run is a lucky one where I managed to stay on the platform. Not overshooting the gem would save about 1 second.
I tried to finish the level but I screwed up.
A light edge hit on the platform with a landing on the gem would counter the overshooting, with a small loss in time.

Nobody ever saw this.... HOW?!?
Cool.

Marble Mini Golf (2.93)

This will be the last video before uploading my No Gems compilation (finished and details updated).

Marble Mini Golf, edge hit path for 2.93. It took about an hour to do, and another hour to hit a similar time (2.95) on the Leaderboards.

This recording was made on January 2009.

Notes:
The first water OOB trigger sometimes doesn't activate when jumping quickly over it (like this time). At the time of recording the video, it was (probably) better for me to take my chances with the trigger than to skillshot an island in the water.
My best catch is 2.84 (while on LBs), but I messed up the run.

Awesome job!

And i thought my sub 3.20 was good...

nice one

Incredible corner hit tweak!

Awesome run!

nice!

Marble Blast: No Gems [part 1/7]

Part 1: Marble Blast Gold + Marble Blast Platinum Beginner (to Learn the Wall-Hit)
Part 2: Marble Blast Platinum Beginner (from Learn the Time Modifier) + Intermediate + Advanced (to NëonTech)
Part 3: Marble Blast Platinum Advanced (from Beach Party) + Expert (to Recoil Ultra Course)
Part 4: Marble Blast Platinum Expert (from Bouncing Fun) + Director's Cut
Part 5: Custom Levels + Blooper Reel
Part 6: Extras (to Combo Course)
Part 7: Extras (from Morph)

Overall details: www.marbleblast.com/index.cgi?boa....52&page=2#81885

Notes:

Skate Park: I found that hitting the sloped part of the start rock saves a bit of time (.05?) over the regular route. Then I realized an edge hit on the rock saves even more time.
Marbletris: I have to use a delayed start since otherwise I would hit the trim.
Half-Pipe: This jump pattern allows the marble to go straight into the goal after the half pipe rather than go straight up, saving time.
Spork in the Road: No edge hits are needed to get the time travels (I originally thought one was needed), it’s all a matter of jumping at the right places. After I get the first TT, I have to pull back hard or I will fall off, which happened many times. A different (faster) route is possible, where the marble collects 2 or 3 TTs at first, then keeps moving and jumping towards the steps at the back, then go to the finish that route. That path is quite hard for me though.
Monster Speedway: The tricky part of this path is not only to get the 1st TT in a low time, but to get to the 2nd TT after the rebound before time restarted. There is a lot of forward movement that is not easily reversed. I got 3.32 which is better than the 3.37 of Monster Speedway Qualifying and also the previous 3.47 using the direct route.
Money Tree: A new path I found which uses a weird wall/edge hit. It lets me bypass the moving platform, saving over 10 seconds. I wanted to get bumped up low for a time around 21 seconds, but I got knocked high all 4 times I tried it. NOTE: This run shows a low hit that barely makes it to the green platform. Many of my hits go some distance above the platform.
Leap of Faith: This path got me a 7.32, which is better than my PR of 7.56 with gems doing it the regular way. It might be possible to jump off after one jump on the grass (I did 2) and finish in a faster time, or not jump on the second jump, although I can't pull them off. I make a small delay in the start so my bounces are aligned with the grass.
Three-Fold Maze: Previously I maxed out at 3.28 with a 3.32 recording. Then one day I hit a 5.18, then a 5.15. I then did another recording of this level and on the first attempt I got 5.15.
Tube Treasure: One of my old recordings. The most interesting thing about this run was that I was actually going to do another level but I accidentally opened this one instead. I hit a 3.72, which hasn't been beaten before or since, due to the lucky Super Speed angle.
Skyscraper: I got traplaunched up so fast that I only had time to move the marble closer to the skyscraper so it would hit the finish. I didn’t even have time to activate the Super Jump.
Block Party: Interesting path that involves a weird edge hit on or near the corner. While recording, I got 3.04 twice, although sub-3 is possible (PR is 2.96).
Escher's Race: Pretty much what I did with this level was to experiment with different angles, jump patterns, and movement to see which combination gives the lowest time. It turns out that the particular combination seen in this video works the best for me. It may be possible to edge hit on the final bounce before the goal, but I never made a good one.
Will o' Wisp: After finding the previous path (gyro, then TT slightly to the left) several months ago, although I liked it, I always wondered if there was a better path. I tried getting different TTs earlier but they always ran out way before I could get to the finish. One day I experimented with getting the TTs to the right instead of the one slightly to the left. It didn't save time until I found that an edge hit on the TT could shoot me up to the finish. I also found that I could get the TT on the right faster than the one slightly to the left (by around .3 second) and unlike with the previous path where a hard hit would push me too far left, I could hit the edge as hard as I could and still make it to the finish. This run was done on my 1st attempt while recording so I was quite lucky.
Twisting the night away: I got edge hit off to the side, so that probably saved me time. If I don’t go as far back I think I can save more time.
Plumber's Portal: I used this start instead of an EFS since it has precise timing and I only had to worry about one thing and that was the camera angle. I got 2.18 which could go down a bit lower with a better start (PR is 2.16).
Siege: This path gave me a lot of misses around 5.47 to 5.6x since I would usually go too far out after the TT catch, missing the finish parapet. Then I suddenly got 5.42 and managed to pull back enough to hit the finish for a very good run. However, there is a possible path for 5.2-5.3, which I have pulled a number of times. It involves a light bump on the left launcher for a quick catch of the lowest TTs. I don’t actually know exactly what happens on the launch, but I have tried to pull this path while recording for hours with no luck.
Acrobat: One day I was messing around with this level when I used the Super Speed to shoot up the ramp. I got surprisingly close to the finish and with a bit of work, I was able to hit the finish.
Mudslide: This edge hit was inspired by the edge hit in MBU's Slick Slide.
Pipe Dreams: I can’t pull the hole edge hit path, but I still got 14.88.
Airwalk: I used to do this with a NEFS, which gives around a 1.77-1.79. I then substituted the start pad trick for the NEFS.
Daedalus: Many good TT catches (3.7-3. were missed thanks to screwups right after the catch, especially that hole where the elevator is (that was before I rolled up the ramp)! I made it with a 3.81, which is still a good time, but I would have liked a 3.7x.
Pinball Wizard: One of the levels where the time has gone down a lot due to new paths. I initially had a 8.53 but one day realized there were many new paths which saved 1-2 seconds each, culminating in this edge hit path. I got 1.57 while recording but it can go at least .05 lower.
Eye of the Storm: One of the most annoying levels due to the slopes and the tornado. I made many screwups in various places. I eventually managed to get a 3.84, but it’s possible for me to do half a second better.
Icarus: What an annoying edge hit! Many times I collected the Super Bounce but didn’t edge hit, and many other times I hit the platform without an edge hit. I tried it with the Super Bounce but made a ton of misses, so one day I decided to use the previous method of not using the Super Bounce (as well as an older start), and got an edge hit fairly quickly for a 6.10. A lower edge hit can go sub-6 (PR is 5.94), but even after trying again, I only got a 6.08. Using the Super Bounce can get around 5.6 I think.
Learn the Wall-Hit: I used to go all the way to the first wall, then rebound back to the floor, then wall-hit on the scenery pole again up to the finish. Then I realized stopping midway and reversing direction still gave enough momentum to wall-hit up (and saved time).

amazing! i hope the other 6 parts are out soon

The plan is at least one part every day.

Same as sonic.

Why is it so bright? >_<

And... You have a taste in wierd music, brah. No offence...

Outstanding paths! I look forward to the other parts.

Aug 11, 2009, 3:57pm, tehmarbler wrote:Why is it so bright? >_<iMovie and probably MPEG Streamclip (used for splitting).

Marble Blast: No Gems [part 2/7]

Part 1: Marble Blast Gold + Marble Blast Platinum Beginner (to Learn the Wall-Hit)
Part 2: Marble Blast Platinum Beginner (from Learn the Time Modifier) + Intermediate + Advanced (to NëonTech)
Part 3: Marble Blast Platinum Advanced (from Beach Party) + Expert (to Recoil Ultra Course)
Part 4: Marble Blast Platinum Expert (from Bouncing Fun) + Director's Cut
Part 5: Custom Levels + Blooper Reel
Part 6: Extras (to Combo Course)
Part 7: Extras (from Morph)

Overall details: www.marbleblast.com/index.cgi?boa....52&page=2#81885

Notes:

Learn the Wall-Hit: I used to go all the way to the first wall, then rebound back to the floor, then wall-hit on the scenery pole again up to the finish. Then I realized stopping midway and reversing direction still gave enough momentum to wall-hit up (and saved time).
Learn the Time Modifier: The 12 second TM was not required to finish before the time restarted, which made the level much easier for me.
Mini Mountain: A long time ago I tried this path but couldn’t do it, lately I was able to do it to give a 2.31.
MMG: Icichole: Path and run dedicated to JRONI! After watching his big marble routes video, I was simply shocked at his routes, and so I decided to work harder at finding paths for my No Gems compilation. That night I looked at this level and played with hitting the flower. I suddenly got a hit that could get me over the castle wall, which was due to an edge hit on the pink part of the flower plus acceleration provided by the grass. This path was quite hard for me since I would miss most of my flower hit attempts, many of the successful hits also hit the castle, and all the ones that made it in were blown off by the fan and the forwards movement. But then I figured out that hitting the left side of the grass part of the flower was more consistent and reliable than hitting the front. Many close calls followed and in the end I hit a 8.71 (2nd finish).
Basic Agility Course: The most important part of this path is to hit the 1st TM early, then do a weird wall/edge hit and get the other TMs before time restarts. You can see that the time restarted here but only by .01, which is fortunate.
Take a Stroll...: I messed up many good TM catches at 3.2x. But then I somehow got it at 3.11 because I went further left than normal after the trim hit. Then I got a lucky second trim hit to the finish. That also took more time than a direct line to the finish, so the TM restarted for a 3.14 finish.
Powerup Practice: It's hard for me to get to the finish since most of my wall hits didn't have enough height. A wall hit on the Jump Boost wall would give a faster time, but that's another variable added to an already hard path.
Astroflight: Another old recording. I read Technostick's comment on his video saying the Super Speed shoots the marble in the direction of the surface it last touched. I kept that in mind while looking for an elegant path for Astroflight, it took me about 30 minutes to find the path and another 30 minutes (I think) to get this recording. I haven't redone this level since the edge hit + finish is quite hard, plus I can't do much better anyway.
Perplexingness: For this compilation, I added an edge hit to the existing path, which saves about 1.5 seconds.
Platform Race: Trap and resulting path found not long after I did my 44.10 (which was on a different path) a long time ago. However, the traplaunch is really random so the few runs that made it to the nuke area always screwed up at the nukes. I finally got it recently for a 29.62. The reason why I spent a lot of time in the trap is that it's more reliable that way. Or at least that's what it seems.
Fighting Slopes: I tried an edge hit near the start but I couldn’t get enough height. I was still able to do a sign hit at the end.
Slippery Steps: The particular start I use is an effective way to get up to the platform. From there I made many screwups as I never got enough height at the correct angle on the edge hit (much easier when doing a runup from the left platform).
NëonTech: A delayed start put me in the right position for an edge hit. The slow camera turn rate hindered some of my speed more than on most other levels. I got 16.91/17.00 time bonus so I was quite close.

very good! some made me watch them 20x

Seems to be working now (I was wondering why it stayed at 0 views for a while).

Marble Blast: No Gems [part 3/7] and Marble Blast: No Gems [part 4/7]

Part 1: Marble Blast Gold + Marble Blast Platinum Beginner (to Learn the Wall-Hit)
Part 2: Marble Blast Platinum Beginner (from Learn the Time Modifier) + Intermediate + Advanced (to NëonTech)
Part 3: Marble Blast Platinum Advanced (from Beach Party) + Expert (to Recoil Ultra Course)
Part 4: Marble Blast Platinum Expert (from Bouncing Fun) + Director's Cut
Part 5: Custom Levels + Blooper Reel
Part 6: Extras (to Combo Course)
Part 7: Extras (from Morph)

Overall details: www.marbleblast.com/index.cgi?boa....52&page=2#81885

Notes:

Perilous Road: One of the older paths. The landing after the Jump Boost and the fan parts were quite tricky.
Ring Stunts: I modified the existing path with a scenery pole hit (behind the finish) since that was the only way to get enough height with a fast run to hit the finish. Or so I thought. With a bit of luck I directly hit the finish (the camera turn at the end is to slow down the marble a bit so it gets enough height), so I ended up back to the old path.
Platform Race 2: My reaction after this 6.51 run: “Um, what?” That is one sign hit I will never forget. All I wanted to do was to traplaunch not far above the finish (my previous 18.46 run went very high over the top), and I got this very very lucky hit within a few minutes.
Quaked Path: This was all about timing to move and jump so the motion of the platform pushes the marble further.
Frictional Ascent: At first, I couldn’t get to the finish after the half pipe, so I went to the moving platform instead. But later when I was playing around with this level, I tried to hit the finish again and barely missed it. From then on I tried some more and I was able to hit the finish fairly easily. The other problem here is that I kept sliding towards the corner (where the marble won’t hit the finish) and so lost time. For this run I pulled further to the right than usual to avoid going to the corner.
Treacherous Path: The change made to this run compared to my older run is that I hit the nuke without going all the way up the slope. I can do 1 second faster but it’s quite tricky, especially when the keyboard is so slow that I can’t turn the camera 180 degrees after the nuke hit, see the finish, and still maintain control of the marble.
Combo Course: I tried both Marble Recoil + Gyrocopter and Gyrocopter + Jump Boost and the former combination of Powerups was faster.
Ultimate Tree: I activated the gyrocopter a bit too early, so I took a bit more time to get the TM than what I wanted. I got knocked up at the end with a good height to curve right into the goal.
Despair: I found out the hard way that the IBT is too low for a traplaunch for the finish. (Well not really since I trapped on like the 2nd try.)
Rolling to Eternity: LOL! I fell off at the fan area, but I managed to respawn and finish before the time modifier ran out. I don’t remember how much time bonus I used, but from the video it looks like about 23.9/25 seconds. I also tweaked the existing path to avoid the blocks without a slope hit before them.
Michael's Final Adventure: I found that it was possible to jump up to the upper half pipe and that allows for a faster TM catch (by 1 second). I used this start rather than an EFS since it's easier to get on the upper half pipe with this start. I missed a number of runs at the tightrope skillshot.
Trigonometry: While I was developing the start jump pattern, I made an accidental edge hit at the top of the wall, which took me upward. I tried to replicate it but couldn’t, but then figured out a way to get onto another part of the level using a similar jump pattern. That ended up better than the edge hit. The other important part of the path is to hit the side of the second cylinder to rebound towards the finish.
Helicopter Monster Course: Thanks to Sonic who told me there was a sub-20 path for this level (I previously had 31.04). I knew about the TM in the air but never bothered to get it, but after Sonic’s message I decided to go for it. I modified the rest of the path to get an even faster time. It can be done without the time restarting.

Bouncing Fun: I missed one TM (after the sloped bouncy floor and the Helicopter), but I still think it's a good run. I tried again but it was frustrating getting the TM and finishing.
Sand Storm: Similar to Pascal’s Battlements run in the 1st WR Rampage because after the traplaunch, the marble rebounds on a surface before the finish. It can be done faster without the rebound, but this is still quite good.
Cardcaddy's Diamond Collection: A lucky hit that shot me all the way to the finish. It’s all about the timing of the jumps at the start.
The Tale of the Tall Skyscraper: The last regular level I did. I was discouraged from doing it since it takes a (comparatively) long time to get to the trap location and the trap had to go very high up. I tried it one day and after maybe 20-30 minutes I hit this trap. The run can be done about 5 seconds better but the trap itself is quite good.
Battlecube Finale: Thanks to Sonic (again) who told me of a sub-4 path. It turns out I never bothered to look behind me for a path, so I missed an obvious one. The same thing would have happened on Platform Mayhem except I noticed one TM was behind the start pad while watching my recording.
Half Pipe Dive: This level uses the same Super Speed tip that helped me with Astroflight.
Happy Birthday!: It turns out that going through the cake is faster than going around. I had trouble with the Jump Boost part. I used to jump up, hit the candle, then activate the Jump Boost, which sent me high up. One time I suddenly went fairly low (still above the finish) and I didn’t know how. Further exploration led me to find that activating the Jump Boost just before hitting the candle gives the same trajectory.
Pool: Oddly enough, moving to the front of the teleporter gets rid of the message that otherwise pops up right after the teleport.

Part 3:
Part 4:

I'm starting to hate your camera always being low or down as you can't see the level and it drives me nuts (yeah, I usually perform all the hard tricks with normal camera height, not focusing it).

Anyway, Ring Stunts great, PR2 I watched 3 times (I thought you were somehow glitching into the finish pad) and when I paused at a certain bit I saw you in fact had a sign hit into the finish, im like WHOA WTF. Strategy Climb very well done abusing the checkpoint , Despair I forgot I must have lowered the IBT when I fixed it. Oops. Thief lol'd. MFA wow new WR route? Tunnel Vision smart. Trigonometry I assume a traplaunch didn't work or was too slow? Talk about perfect alignment on HMC Bouncing Fun you missed 3 TMs I think, maybe 4. Speed Attack why not go for the uber TM on the magnet bit? Also not possible to loop exit to the end platform with all the super speeds or at the least the gravity one (both are still faster due to super speeds in there, and you dont need to waste all this time). SS wow, RM nicely done, CDC again nice, Catwalks a faster method (for me) would be to nuke hit. TTotTS rewatched 5x, Space Station wow. Diamond Travel BIG TT collection, why go for tornado when there's a jump boost? Gravity shaker LOL, MtJB wait what, stairmaster nice.

Great job on all of your runs! Some were pretty obvious, but some impressed me I must admit.
Some deceived me such as Twisting the Night Away, Eye of the Storm and Acrobat.

I recorded a run for all of those 3 levels with faster paths, I can send you the .rec files via MSN if you want to see them.

MSN : Xelna79ssbm@hotmail.com

Ownage.
Nuff said.

Impressive job! I am seriously wowed.

Aug 13, 2009, 4:45pm, xelna wrote:I recorded a run for all of those 3 levels with faster paths, I can send you the .rec files via MSN if you want to see them.You could send them to Matan, that way everybody can see them. Or, attach them to a PM and send it to me.

Marble Blast: No Gems [part 5/7] and Marble Blast: No Gems [part 6/7]

Part 1: Marble Blast Gold + Marble Blast Platinum Beginner (to Learn the Wall-Hit)
Part 2: Marble Blast Platinum Beginner (from Learn the Time Modifier) + Intermediate + Advanced (to NëonTech)
Part 3: Marble Blast Platinum Advanced (from Beach Party) + Expert (to Recoil Ultra Course)
Part 4: Marble Blast Platinum Expert (from Bouncing Fun) + Director's Cut
Part 5: Custom Levels + Blooper Reel
Part 6: Extras (to Combo Course)
Part 7: Extras (from Morph)

Overall details: www.marbleblast.com/index.cgi?boa....52&page=2#81885

Notes:

Chicago Loop: The edge hit here is actually really easy, just put the delay in the start and you hit it every time. Hitting the corner hits you up to the next platform.
Dangerous Roads: I had fun with pathfinding this level. I was intending to edge hit the trim of the small bouncy floor surface (and did it once). On this run, I missed the edge hit but still managed to stay on somehow.
Math XC: I messed up the start (I normally put a delay) but I just happened to get the edge hit on that run. Pathway by GreeD, I added the edge hit and modified the path to work with the regular marble.
Random Things: The jump pattern and camera turn are done so that I can reliably get the edge hit.

Siege (2nd path shown): It was Matan's post here www.marbleblast.com/index.cgi?boa....52&page=3#82005 that prompted me to try and find additional paths for Siege (and other levels…but I didn't find any other paths). I knew I couldn't beat KidPlayer44 using his path, or even do that path (which is ironic since I end up doing the path and beating his time), but I could find a better path. I found this path, shortly after finding the low 6 path also seen here. Best time I've gotten using this path is 5.24, although the rest are 5.3x's.
Icarus: I've gone higher on the rebound, I put this in because it's more interesting than my other recording.
Winding Steps: This tweak doesn't really save time. Can also be done by rolling off the step.
Platform Race: The path (and recording) I used to do one of Thoran's challenges a long time ago.
Platform Race 2: I was trying to hit the Helicopter after hitting the top after the traplaunch.

Part 5:
Part 6:

WTF? Your Edge level is messed up. That's a different interior than it's supposed to be.

It's just the different textures he uses, so some levels seem very different to others.

Hmm, Money Tree traplaunch is possible?

Marble Blast: No Gems [part 5/7] and Marble Blast: No Gems [part 6/7]

Part 1: Marble Blast Gold + Marble Blast Platinum Beginner (to Learn the Wall-Hit)
Part 2: Marble Blast Platinum Beginner (from Learn the Time Modifier) + Intermediate + Advanced (to NëonTech)
Part 3: Marble Blast Platinum Advanced (from Beach Party) + Expert (to Recoil Ultra Course)
Part 4: Marble Blast Platinum Expert (from Bouncing Fun) + Director's Cut
Part 5: Custom Levels + Blooper Reel
Part 6: Extras (to Combo Course)
Part 7: Extras (from Morph)

Overall details: www.marbleblast.com/index.cgi?boa....52&page=2#81885

Notes:

Morph: I don't know if these paths (or variants of them) work...
Tunnel Vision and Gravity Shaker: The times I got without restarting / going OOB
Speed Attack: I was very slow after the loop exit, but I let that slide since I already thought of another path. Maybe if this is done faster, it might be faster than the other path?
Sand Storm: I can't trap up from this location for some reason, maybe I'm not skilled enough or maybe it's due to the high friction of the sand stopping the marble from spinning up