Organizational Note: This course was taught with an inverted lecture format. Students first watched lecture videos from the last time the course was offered, in Fall 2010. Class time was devoted to in-depth discussions of the topics covered in those lectures, and additional activities such as demonstrations, proofs, and folding exercises. The materials here are presented in accordance with the way the course was organized in Fall 2012, which differed from the previous offering. As a result, some of the videos, notes, and slides from Fall 2010 are not in sequential order, but rather one that is most relevant to the inverted format.
SES # | TOPICS & DESCRIPTIONS | LECTURE RESOURCES (FROM FALL 2010) | CLASS RESOURCES |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Overview of the course: Inverted lecture format, sample topics and problems considered. |
Slides for Lecture 1 (PDF - 11.9MB) Video of Lecture 1 (optional) |
Slides for Class 1 (PDF - 2.9MB) Video of Class 1 |
2 |
Origami intro: Origami alphabet, higher dimensions. Universality: Terminology history, practical strip folding, pseudopolynomial bounds, seam placement, hide gadget via simple folds? Simple folds: Metal/wood/plastic motivation, definition, examples, linear-time algorithm, extra creases. |
Video of Lecture 2 |
Slides for Class 2 (PDF - 2.9MB) Video of Class 2 |
3 |
Single-vertex crease patterns: Linear-time algorithm, local foldability examples, T-shirt folding, higher dimensions, why flat foldability? |
Video of Lecture 3 |
Slides for Class 3 (PDF - 1.2MB) Video of Class 3 |
4 |
Efficient origami design: Uniaxial, TreeMaker and Origamizer in practice, box-pleating tree method, tree method triangulation, universal molecule, gift wrapping, checkerboard gadgets, Origamizer software vs. mathematics, vertex/edge tucking molecules, Voronoi diagrams. |
Slides for Lecture 4 (PDF - 1.8MB) Video of Lecture 4 |
Slides for Class 4 (PDF - 6.7MB) Video of Class 4 |
5 |
Artistic origami design: Jason Ku designs, other materials (dollars, cardboard, hydro, metal, polypropylene), tessellations, Tess, connected cranes, modular origami, business card cubes. |
Slides for Lecture 5 (PDF - 2.3MB) Video of Lecture 5 Slides and video courtesy of Jason Ku. Used with permission. |
Slides for Class 5 (PDF - 6.0MB) Video of Class 5 |
6 |
Architectural Origami: Origamizer, Freeform Origami, Rigid Origami Simulator. |
Slides for Lecture 6 (PDF - 12.4MB) Video of Lecture 6 Slides and video courtesy of Tomohiro Tachi. Used with permission. |
Slides for Class 6 (PDF - 2.6MB) Video of Class 6 |
7 |
Universal hinge patterns: Box-pleating history, maze-folding prints. NP-hardness: Simple foldability, crease pattern flat foldability. |
Slides for Lecture 7 (PDF - 11.2MB) Video of Lecture 7 |
Slides for Class 7 (PDF - 2.1MB) Video of Class 7 |
8 |
Fold and one cut: Software, scissor vs. mathematical cuts, tree folding, density, examples, how many disks, comparison to tree method, continuous flattening. |
Video of Lecture 8 |
Slides for Class 8 (PDF - 1.7MB) Video of Class 8 |
9 |
Pleat folding: Triangulated hypars, smoothness, normals, mathematical vs. real paper, pleat folding algorithms, hypar folding. |
Slides for Lecture 9 (PDF - 2.4MB) Video of Lecture 9 |
Video of Class 9 |
10 |
Folding motions: Trouble with holes. Linkages to sign your name: Sliding joints, contraparallelogram bracing, higher dimensions, semi-algebraic sets, splines. Geometric construction: Straight edge and compass, origami axioms, angle trisection, cube doubling. |
Video of Lecture 10 |
Slides for Class 10 (PDF - 1.1MB) Video of Class 10 |
11 |
Rigidity theory: Pebble algorithms, rigid component decomposition, body-and-bar framework, angular rigidity, 5-connected double bananas. |
Slides for Lecture 11 (PDF - 1.3MB) Video of Lecture 11 |
![]() Video of Class 11 |
12 |
Tensegrities: Dot products, springs, software, sculpture. Project discussion |
Video of Lecture 12 |
Video of Class 12 |
13 |
Locked linkages: Why expansiveness, energy algorithm correctness, pointed pseudotriangulations (combinatorics, rigidity, universality, expansiveness, extremeness), linear equilateral trees can't lock, unfolding 4D chains. |
Slides for Lecture 13 (PDF - 17.8MB) Video of Lecture 13 |
Video of Class 13 |
14 |
Hinged dissections: Animations, polyform inductive construction, rectangle to rectangle, furniture, pseudopolynomial construction, 3D, Dehn invariant. |
Video of Lecture 14 |
Slides for Class 14 (PDF - 2.2MB) Video of Class 14 |
15 |
Polyhedron unfolding: Handles, holes, ridge trees; sun unfolding; zipper unfolding; more ununfoldable polyhedra; NP-completeness of edge unfolding; band unfolding; continuous blooming. |
Video of Lecture 15 |
Slides for Class 15 (PDF - 2.8MB) Video of Class 15 |
16 |
Polyhedron unfolding: Topologically convex vertex-ununfoldable polyhedron, unfolding orthogonal polyhedra with quadratic refinement. |
Slides for Lecture 16 (PDF - 1.4MB) Video of Lecture 16 |
Slides for Class 16 (PDF - 1.5MB) Video of Class 16 |
17 |
Polyhedron folding: Pita forms, D-forms, seam forms, convex hull and crease properties, rolling belts, Burago-Zalgaller folding into nonconvex polyhedra. |
Video of Lecture 17 |
Video of Class 17 |
18 |
Watch origami documentary Between The Folds. |
Slides for Lecture 18 (PDF - 1.1MB) Video of Lecture 18 | No class resources for this session |
19 |
Polyhedron refolding: Fractal unfolding, three boxes, flat boxes. Kinetic sculpture: Theo Jansen's Strandbeests, Arthur Ganson. |
Slides for Lecture 19 (PDF - 1.1MB) Video of Lecture 19 |
Slides for Class 19 (PDF - 1.7MB) Video of Class 19 |
20 |
3D linkage folding: ribosomes, HP protein folding NP-hardness, flattening is strongly NP-hard, flips, flipturns, deflations, pops, popturns. Detailed Descriptions of Lectures 20 and 21, and Class 20 (PDF) |
Slides for Lecture 20 (PDF - 1.2MB) Video of Lecture 20
Video of Lecture 21 |
Slides for Class 20 (PDF - 1.3MB) Video of Class 20 |
21–24 | Student presentations | No lecture resources for these sessions | No class resources for these sessions |