Origami meets L-systems.

This project sprung from an ill-fated architecture class. The original goal was to create interesting shapes and spaces by folding rigid planar materials, e.g. paper. Something along the lines of creating complex 3D spaces from rule-based folding of 2(.5)D sheets. A more successful example can be found here.

But in the process of doing this, I found myself more interested in creating 3D space from 1(.5)D pieces. After several all-nighters and ungodly amounts of coffee sacrificed to feverishly folding bits of paper, I found a set of folds which allow one to manipulate a thin, square paper tube pretty much arbitrarily, without cutting or adhesive.

Origami meets L-systems. Fun because parameterizing space, plus regular languages. Fun as a concept: creating complex 3D shapes from an arbitrarily long, thin sheet of paper with a very simple set of cuts and folding.

The basic idea goes something like this: We fold paper into tubes, The goal being to create

What is fun about this is that we can create a mind-boggling set of interesting shapes

And these in turn can be used in interesting Design applications. Haven't figured out how to make anything useful, but that's not the point.

Here is a sample cut file.

Of course, this is the absolute minimum that this system can do

Extensions:

• A more complex alphabet:
  • Support for different cross sections, i.e. C, U, and angle
  • Multiple angles, non-integer steps
  • Stairstep patterns
  • Overlapping characters
• Automatic design of wireframe supports for lattice structures.
• Automatically reduce 3D structures into 1.5D tangles, e.g. what extrusion-based 3d printers do