function phi = manualphi(K,m,n)
% obviously, only works for legitimate K
phi = zeros(1,m^n);

dims = repmat([m],[1 n]);

ii = find(K<0);
for k=1:n
  % find all inds differing from ii by 1
  xx = ind2coord(ii,dims);
  ii0 = setdiff(1:m^n,ii);
  ii1 = [];
  for j = ii0(:)'
    xj = ind2coord(j,dims);
    dd = min(sum(abs(xx - repmat(xj,[size(xx,1) 1])),2));
    if dd==1
      ii1(end+1,1) = j;
    end
  end
  phi(ii1) = k;
  ii = union(ii,ii1);
end
return