Abstract:

Techniques for creating complex origami pieces have been developed based on studies of mathematics of origami in recent years. However, the creation of simple origami pieces made with a few folds which are required for children who don’t have ability to precisely control their fingers has not been studied. In this paper, we propose a new system for generating new simple origami pieces that can be folded by four or less steps. Our system enumerates all possible origami shapes which can be folded by four steps, and then stores them in a database in advance. When the user inputs the shape he or she wants to create, such as the face of an animal, the system retrieves origami pieces similar to the input. Then the folding process is displayed. This brute-force approach became possible by recent progress of performance of common PCs. We have made our system more practical by optionally allowing users to lay "eyes" on origami pieces, as often seen in origami pieces for children.

Software is available for Windows (zip)12.4MB. Unzip and Run "startup.bat" file. This software requires Java Runtime Environment. Using "Batik SVG Toolkit" and "SQLJet" (Licenses are included in zip file). Only 4-times folding origami database is included. A feature for generating other databases is not implemented in this software. [CAUTION] Retrieval takes a minute and the software stops when retrieving.