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Origami Design: Tree Theory For Uniaxial Bases
Origami Design: Tree Theory For Uniaxial Bases
Origami Design: Tree Theory For Uniaxial Bases
Robert J. Lang
robert@langorigami.com
MIT
November, 2004
Context
MIT
November, 2004
Background
• Origami: Japanese paper-folding.
MIT
November, 2004
Traditional Origami
• Japanese newspaper from 1734: Crane, boat, table, “yakko-san”
• By 1734, it is already well-developed
MIT
November, 2004
Modern Origami
• The modern art form was reborn in the early 20th century
through the efforts of a Japanese artist, Akira Yoshizawa, who
created new figures of artistic beauty and developed a written
instructional language.
MIT
November, 2004
The Design Revolution
• “Creative” origami caught on worldwide in the 1950s and 1960s.
MIT
November, 2004
Origami
today
• “Black Forest Cuckoo Clock,”
designed in 1987
• One sheet, no cuts
• 216 steps
– not including repeats
• Several hours to fold
MIT
November, 2004
Ibex
MIT
November, 2004
Dragonfly
MIT
November, 2004
Scaled Koi
MIT
November, 2004
Western Pond Turtle
MIT
November, 2004
Rattlesnake
MIT
November, 2004
White-tailed Deer
MIT
November, 2004
Bull Moose
MIT
November, 2004
Bull Elephant
MIT
November, 2004
Hummingbird & Trumpet Vine
MIT
November, 2004
(Hummingbird Close-up)
MIT
November, 2004
Grizzly Bear
MIT
November, 2004
Roosevelt Elk
MIT
November, 2004
Tree Frog
MIT
November, 2004
Tarantula
MIT
November, 2004
Murex
MIT
November, 2004
Spindle Murex
MIT
November, 2004
12-Spined Shell
MIT
November, 2004
Banana Slug
MIT
November, 2004
Spiral Tessellation
MIT
November, 2004
Egg17 Tessellation
MIT
November, 2004
Molecular Tessellation
MIT
November, 2004
Chalk time…
MIT
November, 2004
A Tree & Active Polygons
5 1 8
4
9
1 (root)
2
3
4
6
5 7 11
8
10
9
11
12
17
13 14 16
18
20 19
21
22 17 15
23 16 15
21 24 20 23
25 26
25 26
MIT
November, 2004
Subtrees
MIT
November, 2004
Chalk time…
MIT
November, 2004
Molecules
• Crease patterns that collapse a polygon so that all edges lie on a
single line are called “bun-shi,” or molecules (Meguro)
• Different bun-shi are known from the origami literature.
• Triangles have only one possible molecule.
a a E A A
D a a
D
E
b B B
c b D b D
c c
C C
B C
b D c
MIT
November, 2004
Quadrilateral molecules
• There are two possible trees and several different molecules for a
quadrilateral.
• Beyond 4 sides, the possibilities grow rapidly.
“4-star” “sawhorse”
MIT
November, 2004
Universal molecule
• An algorithm that produces the crease pattern to collapse an
arbitrary valid convex polygon into a base whose projection is a
specified tree.
0.325
0.354
0.449 0.194
0.393 0.627
0.372
MIT
November, 2004
A pentagonal UM
pA pF,1 pB
T P
A B pF,2
pE
F
E C
pF,3
pC
pF,4
D
pD
MIT
November, 2004
Insetting
MIT
November, 2004
Gusset formation
v1 v2 v1 v2
M M
v1′
v2′
hmax
v5 v5 v′5 v3′
v4′
v3 v3
v4 v4
MIT
November, 2004
Finished gussets
v1 v2
M
v5
v3
v4
MIT
November, 2004
Creases & Folded Form
pA pF,1 pB
P pA
pF,2
pF,6
pF,5
pE
pF,3
pC pB
pE
pD pC
p F,4
pD
MIT
November, 2004
Chalk time…
MIT
November, 2004
Universal Molecule 1
2 1 4
1 1
1
3
1
3
2 4 3 6
5
6
5
3
5
7 8 5
7 5 8
MIT
November, 2004
Universal Molecule 2
2 1 3 1 5
1
4
7
1 11
1
4 7
2
3 4 5 6
10
6 7 8 7
8 9
10 11 12 4
12 13
14 15 8 6
9
13
8
6
9
14 9 15
MIT
November, 2004
Resources
• Origami design software TreeMaker (with 170 pp manual) can
be downloaded from:
– http://origami.kvi.nl/programs/treemaker
• …or Google-search for “TreeMaker”
• Version 5.0 (Mac/Linux/Windows) is under construction.
• Other origami-related software, including ReferenceFinder, is
at the same site
• Theory described in 12 ACM SCG paper, “An Algorithm for
Origami Design” (1996) by Robert J. Lang.
MIT
November, 2004
More Resources
• Origami Design Secrets, my new book teaching how to design
origami (and more), was published by A. K. Peters in October
2003.
• Origami Insects II, my latest, contains a collection of fairly
challenging insect designs
• Both (and other books) available from the OrigamiUSA Source
(www.origami-usa.org).
MIT
November, 2004