UPSB v4

Linkages & Combos / Combo Design (Ceru's Method)

1. Ceru Seiyu

   Date: Mon, Sep 8 2014 02:25:44

   Designing combos, by Ceru Seiyu [spoiler=”Introduction”] Welcome to my first thread on combo design! I would like to say first thread because I have the feeling that as I improve still, I'll be able to use my experience to add improvements to how I create combos and spin them. This is not an end-game thread for combo creation and is merely my take on combo creation and how I like to go about it, with the theories that I use and the ideas that I have. This is not a research department thread and I haven't taken other input in the creation of this thread. This is very much likely to conflict with how you or other pen spinners, particularly professional pen spinners, design their combos. I'd like to spam “IMO” here. Warning! This thread has no pictures or videos and is theory based, if you're sensitive to walls of text, please leave now! Comments about the thread being too complicated or too long are always a waste of time! Without further delays, let's continue on with the thread![/spoiler] [spoiler=”Basic Concepts”]You are going to need a bit of knowledge before reading this thread, first of all a good idea of notation is very useful, viz. formal notation as it is most accurate and will be invaluable when discussing precise spins, as well as simultaneous notation as it comes in handy when discussing foundational tricks. Additionally you may wish to view Fel2Fram's “Japanese Motion” video, as it will be mentioned here as an example a few times. The most basic concepts that need to be grasped in order to understand how to construct a combo are what make it up: tricks, linkages and the combo itself. This may sound straightforward, and it really is, with the exception of some explanation on tricks that is absolutely necessary in order to discuss which tricks are most suitable for a certain task. The explanations are as follows: [spoiler=”Tricks”] Thanks to research on the FPSB board, it has been found that pen spinning only has six tricks in total. I will quote a post from RPD for this: [quote=”RPD”]Time ago, hexbinmos developed a notation system (quite complex btw) based in only 6 tricks α = fingerswitch β = half-tipped charge γ = wiper δ = roll ε = slide ζ = stall half-release[/quote] Interestingly, a lot of the tricks in pen spinning only use the first three tricks that have been named, the wiper, the fingerswitch and the half tipped charge. So just what are these tricks and why do they matter? Well, each trick has a different visual effect and when combined with other tricks we can create a linkage out of the tricks that has precisely the desired visual effect. Let's take a more in depth look at the tricks individually:

   [*]Fingerswitch – When the fingerslot that holds the pen is changed, in the way that fingers/a finger is released and fingers/a finger takes hold of the pen. This provides absolutely zero spinning or motion of the pen when not done in conjunction with other tricks. An interesting point to make is that a fingerswitch can be used (with difficulty/fingercrossing) to manipulate the pen into any position in the hand from any position, without turning the pen. [*]Half Tipped Charge – When fingers are moved back and forth to shift the pen's pitch, may also be done fingerlessly and outside of a fingerslot hold. Creates a “seesaw” motion when done continuously. A common combination is with the fingerswitch to create the fundamental trick the Pass. [*]Wiper – When a force from gravity, hand flicks, conserved momentum or finger movement causes the pen to turn in a fingerslot or outside of a fingerslot fingerlessly. The wiper can also be considered a form of the tipped charge as the motion is the same with the exception that it occurs at 90 degrees, perpendicular, to the tipped charge. It and the tipped charge are the only two tricks where the pen visibly spins, the rest focus on position and other non-spinning forms of movement. With both of these tricks you can position a 1 Dimensional object (pen) at any rotation possible in 3D space (your hand). [*]Roll – While the wiper and the tipped charge can be considered the pitch and yaw rotations that are directly visible, as we are dealing with 3D space the third degree of angular motion is Roll, which can be interesting as it can delicately allow positioning of the fingers and its rare use means that linkages involving it can appear incomprehensible. Examples of roll tricks can be seen in Fel2Fram's i-o charges and 1p1h twirls as well as in several of RPDs combos, namely his 2013 R2 spanish tournament combo. [*]Slide – Where the length of the pen is slid along a fingerslot, or vice versa, allowing the fingers that currently held the pen to be shifted to a new position without changing the fingers holding the pen or rotating it. Known commonly as the “Seasick” trick and can be accomplished with a finger push, with gravity or a hand flick. [*]Stall Half Release – Where the pen is released and held on a finger. All power tricks can be observed to use this trick as they require the pen to be released.
   From here we can use simultaneous notation and normal notation to create some of our favourite basic tricks:
   [*]Wiper + Half Tipped Charge – Half charge [*]Tipped Sonic > Fingerswitch – Pass [*][Wiper + Half Tipped Charge]x2 + [Fingerswitch > Fingerswitch] – Sonic [*][Wiper + Half Tipped Charge]x2 + [Fingerswitch] – Twisted Sonic
   It may seem uselessly complicated to break it down to these levels, but you can discover things that you normally would not have when you attempt to play with these basic tricks. An example is my Sonics thread where I used the discovery of the two fingerswitches to invent sonic variations that were still classed as true sonics but looked completely different. There is a staggering amount of combinations that can be created from these base tricks using notation if you wish to attempt to discover entirely new tricks, and by analysing the effect you can use them to quickly find or invent a trick that suits precisely the need that you are after or has the visual effect that you desire. [/spoiler] [spoiler=”Linkages”] Linkages are relatively straightforward, they are a collection of tricks that are designed to link together. Typically, people have not classed joining up the basic tricks as we have seen above as linkages (the pass is a small linkage but called a trick by the majority), but it remains up to you if you wish to take it to that level of detail. It is entirely possible to craft combos without having to go to the extreme trick detail stage that has been discussed in the last topic, and most spinners will never consider it. However, one thing to do with linkages is to give them a purpose to serve in the combo to achieve in a certain amount of time. This is best explained with a tournament analogy, such as having different links for creativity and difficulty that split the focus up in the combo to make it more comprehensible. The complete opposite can also be done: making the links so that it is unfocused so that they are harder to comprehend. See: Fel2Fram, Blue, RPD, etc. [/spoiler] [spoiler=”Combos”]Combos are collections of linkages, often with multiple goals in mind to be achieved, but sometimes, but less frequently, with a single goal to be achieved when executed. Examples of these goals may be to achieve a maximum score in difficulty, presentation, creativity and execution. These four goals are paramount in designing a tournament combo, particularly where the criteria for judging has not changed in many years. What I believe to be an error is to use the term “structure” to refer to whether a combo is built correctly, as it has lead to a convention being created where linkages are spun at a set difficulty level, with focus on presentation and comprehensibility, with the difficulty increasing at the end, often with the use of power tricks. A common argument used for “structure” is that of the positioning of power tricks in a combo, with the idea that it is easier to land a combo when the hard tricks are done at the beginning. A flaw in this logic is that the difficulty of the combo does not change, and the amount of attempts required theoretically does not change either, with the only differing statistic being the amount of time filmed. This happens because if a person was to say drop their pen 20 times at a power trick segment halfway through, when it lasts four seconds, then it would take a minimum of 40 seconds to film. If there was a 10 second combo beforehand, then it would take a minimum of (12+2)*20 =280 seconds. The big issue is that this favours the time spent recording rather than the content of the combo, of which the difficulty could theoretically be assessed and compiled into an average, without taking “structure” into account. Note that in both the circumstances the same spinner using the same tricks is used as an example, with the same consistency. This means that the placement does not reflect skill or consistency but merely the time spent filming. However, back on topic with the goals of a combo, a combo can also be “themed” to a certain style, such as links that don't rotate the pen as much (see Fel2Fram's FPSB 7th Combo) or to keep a solid pace of spins to create a feeling of flow (see HAL combos). The combo is the idea that the actual design of the content should conform to, imagine if someone came to you with money and asked you to create a combo that achieved certain goals, this is how you need to imagine your combo plans starting: to create a finished, polished product instead of forgoing an entire plan and ending up with something messy. [/spoiler][/spoiler] [spoiler="Further Concepts"] To be continued! [/spoiler]

2. cl3ud.kr

   Date: Mon, Sep 8 2014 20:48:55

   This is awesome! :DD Musht shee da furder conshepts :3