... Something to think about...Can and does each player see the reference points similarly? Does an A, left pivot make a ball at 15.5 degrees for each user? Is there a fudge factor for individual perception? Can it be up two degrees in either direction per individual?
This is part of a +/- way of looking at some of the possible angles. Not rooted in math, but a function of all pivot systems. I'm not talking about slop here, but real world alignments per individual users. ...
... would it be possible that the user could move himself a small distance and still be able to see the same visuals? ...
Mike, I think these are valid observations. As I've said several times -- if performed robotically, Stan's CTE is a discrete aiming method ("x-angle system" in pj's terms) rather than a continuous aiming method. That means, on paper, that it offers only a limited number of cut angles for any given distance between the CB and OB.
In use, however, I believe many players actually convert it into something more flexible (more cut angles) by slightly modifying something either
before or
after the pivot, based upon their knowledge of where the pocket is. I think those "feel" adjustments can become so routine and ingrained that the method starts to seem like a continuous method (unlimited cut angles at any CB-OB distance).
Here's an analogy. The "quarters" system -- or SAM or something similar -- is an x-angle system. Many players use these systems with high proficiency -- snooker players included, apparently. But we know that a relatively small number of cut angles is not enough to play at a high level. So the user develops a keen sense of needing to go a little thinner or a little thicker off of each of the reference cut lines, thereby converting the x angles into many more. This way of adjusting becomes ingrained, natural, automatic -- almost systematic, yet it can also be labeled "feel."
With Stan's manual CTE, it's harder to understand what's going on for the adjustments. The multiple visual alignment lines and the pivoting complicate the analysis. It has often been said in the past that CTE just gets the user in the ballpark and then he adjusts as needed. That's just one way of adjusting. I think it can also become built-in to the alignment process -- shade something a little here or there, wind up at a slightly different cut angle.
I don't even think there is anything magic about Stan's A/B/C alignment points on the quarters and his pivot being 1/2 tip. I think CTE mechanics could be defined using OB thirds or fifths or eights, for example, instead of quarters. And the pivot could be of a different size. But to make any such method work with great proficiency at all cut angles for all CB-OB distances takes considerable experience to ingrain the needed "feel" adjustments, to make it subconscious, to make it continuous.
Like it, dislike it, use it or not -- but no harm in actually understanding and acknowledging what is going on.
That's the way I see it -- March 28, 2011.