A New Member of The Morphix Family

Shengso (ShengShou); Mastermorphix 7x7x7

 

My 2x2 - 6x6 Mastermorphix collection is here. 

This puzzle is only a tiny bit larger than the 6x6x6 version. The inner layers' pieces are noticeably smaller, and for me they made the solve harder. It was diffilult sometimes to align the layers properly. If only it was magnetized... But I've checked and it's impossible to put magnets in this puzzle. The movements are smooth and the quality is as good as of other puzzles from the series.

While going up with the number of layers in the Mastermorphix series, it is harder and harder to maintain the triangular shape. The geometry forces the shape to become more spherical. The designers used a trick to reduce the roundness and shaved off some parts. In the first picture above, the light on the green face forms a triangle. Along the light-shadow border there's a small palpable ridge (or a sudden bend of curvature of the surface). The surface doesn't curve evenly across the entire face. This allowed to make the solid less bulky (less spherical), and keep its geometrical edges (between two colors) curved less. Now the solid became a rather flatish triakis tetrahedron. This is true for the 6x6x6 Mastermorphix, too, it's very subtle however. 

I've seen a picture of the 8x8x8 version somewhere. The triakis tetrahedron shape was clearly visible in that puzzle. It would be so round, the makers had to reduce the surfaces significantly to bring the triangular shape back.