Q-BA-MAZE

Hanukkah Bush, Christmas Tree, Blue Spruce and Marble Maze!

 

This blue spruce sapling with snow-tipped branches is just in time for the Holidays. 

Build this with two Q-BA-MAZE Cool Colors 50-packs following the marble maze plan here.

Thank Mitch from Missouri for submitting this for all to share!

Face or Temple?

 

This is a design by Tessa (one of several University of Minnesota interns working at Q-BA-MAZE). She sees a face. I see a Balinese temple. 

Since it is a pretty abstract design, we have named it Tower Eleven. It is made from two Q-BA-MAZE 50-Packs -- one Hot Colors and one Cool Colors.

To build it yourself, see this construction plan.

(Tessa's arm, by the way, makes a cameo in our latest marble run video). 

Flower Design From Missouri

 

Mitch from Missouri designed this new Q-BA-MAZE sculpture which uses all of the cubes of a Cool  Colors 50-Pack.

Using Q-BA-CAD (blank Excel files available on Q-BA-MAZE .com), he drew the instruction plan and uploaded it to us in Minneapolis using the Submissions Page at Q-BA-MAZE.com.

We built Mitch's design from his plan, took a photo and put together the final instruction plan pdf. Now Mitch's design is available on the Plans Page for anyone to use.

We have listed Mitch's name in the Plans Index as the designer of Flower One.

Designing a representational sculpture in which each cube is used with consideration of color, pathway, and stability is a real challenge. Mitch has done an absolutely fantastic job with this new Flower One design! Way to go Mitch!

(PS Mitch has also uploaded a Candle and a Rocket design and we are preparing those for the Plans Page as well!)

.skp Format Model of the Fish Eight Marble Run

 

This illustration of the Fish Eight  was made using a 3D .skp format file.

Follow these links for a Fish Eight photo and a Fish Eight marble run construction plan.

Stay tuned. We will be providing links to the Q-BA-MAZE cube and design collections within the next week. You will be able to build designs of your own for free!

1000 Robot Parade Using 3D CAD .skp Files

 

The Q-BA-MAZE 3D CAD project is marching forward. With .skp 3D CAD files, we  easily multiplied one robot into a parade of 1000 with just a few mouse clicks!

We will be posting the Q-BA-MAZE cubes in .skp format possibly as soon as next week. We're making a few refinements on the cubes.

Our goal is to have Q-BA-MAZE 3D CAD cubes that are:

1. easy to align in
2. ready for use with a physics plug-ins

Marble Run Video of the Fish Five Design

There are two sides to Q-BA-MAZE play:

CONSTRUCTION with the inter-locking cubes 

ACTIVATION with the randomly rolling marbles

This new video shows both sides of Q-BA-MAZE play. It also shows the mysterious way in which a single marble will sometimes take several seconds to "decide" whether to exit out the left or right side of a cube. A handful of marbles will rush through a structure and a single marble will linger.

The Fish Five design is highlighted here and many other designs are available on the Q-BA-MAZE marble run plans page or in your own imagination!

Big Fish Marble Run on Holiday Display

The Big Fish marble run first appeared at the Walker Art Center last March, spent the summer months at the Milwaukee Art Museum on the shores of Lake Michigan and will now be on display for strolling Holiday shoppers in the window of the Air Traffic store in Rosedale Mall in Minnesota.

If you get a chance to stop by, make sure to look in the fish's mouth -- this view reveals the skeletal armature of cross-bracing composed solely of Q-BA-MAZE cubes.

Note: The Big Fish is made from Q-BA-MAZE cubes only and has travelled from Minneapolis to Milwaukee and back. No glue. This is a testament to the quality of the inter-locking Q-BA-MAZE joinery.

Fish Eight Marble Run

 

Here is the Fish Eight marble run sculpture!

It is made with two 50-packs: one in the Cool Colors (Q50C) and one in the Hot Colors (Q50H).

The construction plan for Fish Eight is on the Q-BA-MAZE marble run plans page.

Stay tuned -- we have another more abstract design coming in a few days with a Balinese flavor. . .

Haiku composed in Tokyo

interlocking cubes

randomly rolling marbles

creativity

In Tokyo, while attending the Gift Show in early September, a young Japanese woman named Shizu asked me what the word "Q-BA-MAZE" means. I explained that the combination of Q + B creates the sound "cube", and that the name has a double meaning:

It means both "cube amaze" and "cube a maze." In one name, it refers to cubes, mazes, and amazement.

I also chose the name because I think Q is the coolest letter in the alpahbet, both because it looks cool and because it is the 17th letter in the alphabet. I like prime numbers and 17 is my favorite prime number. Then I told her that someday I would write a haiku about Q-BA-MAZE since haiku poems have 17 syllables. She laughed and was surprised to learn that Americans know about haiku.

The next morning when I awoke, I immediately composed the Q-BA-MAZE haiku and presented it to Shizu when I saw her again later that day.

Q-BA-MAZE as Design Education Toy with Free 3D CAD Files

 

The image above is a screenshot we took this morning from our draft working files.

A virtual online version of Q-BA-MAZE will soon be available for free.

This new Q-BA-MAZE 3D CAD initiative is an extension of our design education effort.

Q-BA-CAD is the first design tool we have provided. It allows people to draw their own Q-BA-MAZE designs in 2D. Now Q-BA-MAZE 3D CAD files will allow people to design and build Q-BA-MAZE structures in 3D as well! We are first providing .skp files and may follow up with .dwg or other file types in the future.

We are making loose cubes as well as pre-built examples of designs from our plans page. People will be able to use the 3D cubes to design elaborate structures. These designs can then be built in the real world and tested with a flow of cascading marbles. 

The operation of 3D CAD design software is really as easy as playing a video game these days. It is fascinating to think that design professionals of the (near) future will enter design school already knowing how to design in 3D with the computer based on their childhood play.