Unsure if people know of this already and it's just not faster anywhere, but you can seem to use cubes to paint jump. I think they're slightly weaker and have only found 2 places where its useful in B3 and B4. I've linked my twitch vod of me doing those two but it's the same technique as a paint jump but with a cube instead.
Yes, this is known, you can actually do this with every item, not just boxes. This tech is called an item jump. The height you get is indeed quite a bit lower, but this is used all over the place.
Paint for some reason gives you more height, no one knows why, it's pretty weird.
Also, for the second jump, it's much easier off of the tree on the other side. If you use the other tree, you don't need to turn around in mid air.
Yes but in this case the box is giving more height than a different item would. Another example is in Road to Gehenna World 4 in Air Delivery, once you break out the cube you can use the tree next to the wooden wall to get up the wall; the same does not work for a jammer or fan.
My usual FPS is around 220, but with correct cube positioning I could do the jump on B3 with about 120 though.
Hmm, I haven't tested myself.
Maybe the box acts differently from other items because when you place it at your feet it's underneath you more, which pushes you more up into the tree or something.
This strat of placing an item a certain distance away from you (dubbed as the 'perfect item jump' according to nozu) sounds incredibly useful, and there seems to be a reasonable explanation why its more effective. (my own speculation)
A paint bucket's collider is much smaller than any other item in the game (maybe someone can prove this in the editor), and thus every paint jump might have the effect it has because the item is practically always a small distance away from you. Maybe the reason why perfect item jumps work is because you can emulate this small distance by placing it further away from you.
Now as for why the small distance actually gives you more height, who knows! Talos engine shenanigans! In any case, food for thought :D
My explanation for perfect item jumps (mostly speculation):
There are two distinct collision effects for items. The first (which I'll call static collision) pushes you away when your character model overlaps an item. You can see this effect when you attempt to stand in the same space as a jammer or connector. The second collision effect (drop collision) occurs only when you place an item next to you; it also pushes you away, but pushes you a farther distance. (To observe this, take a jammer and walk into it: you will be pushed back until you are just outside the jammer model. Now without moving pick the jammer up and place it back in the same spot: you will be pushed significantly farther away.)
Static collision is what causes you to jump higher when performing an item jump. Drop collision is what causes you to slide up near-vertical surfaces (i.e. paint/perfect item jump). The reason perfect item jump only works if you place the item at a very specific distance is because the static collision interferes with the slide from the drop collision. By placing the item some distance away from you, your character model ends up inside the range of the drop collision but outside the range of the static collision. Nozu jumps (quickly placing and picking up an item then jumping) work because you are removing the static collision before it can fully interfere with the push from the drop collision. Paint is special in that it has no static collision, and thus there is no need to worry about the static collision ruining the jump.
The above also explains why paint jump height > perfect item jump height > Nozu jump height. Since you can place paint directly underneath you, you get the full force of the drop collision. With a perfect item jump, you are only pushed by the outer edge of the drop collision. With a Nozu jump, the static collision of the item removes some of your momentum before you pick the item back up.
