Page 13 - My FlipBook

complex origami patterns. The program turns a line drawing of a
shape or figure, such as a tree or an animal, into an origami folding
pattern. Each line in the drawing represents an appendage in the final
sculpture: an arm or a leg, an antenna, or a jaw. It does so using a
technique called circle‑river packing. The program changes the stick
figure into geometric shapes—circles and rivers, which assign areas of
paper to be folded. Each circle in the design represents the minimum
amount of paper needed to create a folded appendage. The longer the
appendage, the bigger the circle. Each river in the design makes folded
sections that connect appendages—such as the body segments of an
insect—and the longer the section, the wider the river.
Using mathematics, his computer programs, and his skill and
imagination, Lang has created origami sculptures in the shapes of a
cuckoo clock, a hummingbird feeding from a trumpet blossom, a sea
urchin, and many more intricate designs. He names his pieces in the

This illustration by Lang demonstrates the circle-river packing method
for an origami scorpion design. His TreeMaker program transforms a
stick figure (left) into the figure made of circles and “rivers” (right).

INSIDE THE FOLDS: FROM PAPER TO ROBOTS 23