Hi everyone.
In this talk, we will introduce Crane, an integrated computational platform for functional, foldable, and fabricable origami products.
I am Koya Narumi from the University of Tokyo.
And I’m gonna talk with Kai Suto from UTokyo and Nature Architects Inc.
Recently, there are many HCI works related to origami fabrication.
For example, Mueller et al. achieved an interactive origami fabrication with a laser cutter.
Later on, researchers explored different origami fabrication methods, for example, for paper circuit, shape-changing interfaces, 4D printing, and haptics.
Surprisingly, in UIST2022 held in the last year, we saw three origami fabrication projects out of the total 100 papers.
Thus, as one of the HCI and origami researchers, I am very happy with this trend.
However, if we look at other fields, origami patterns are designed and used in more sophisticated ways.
For example, space engineers use origami for large satellite wings.
Fashion designers use aesthetic origami tessellation patterns for their pleats design.
And in mathematics, it is known that any polyhedron is foldable from a sheet of paper.
Thus, our motivation is to bridge the gap between such complex origami design and origami fabrication methods in product design and HCI.
Now, as a concrete example, let’s think about the origami chair and origami table.
Do you think they are easy to design?
You may think it is not such difficult, because there are not so many origami facets or creases.
But in reality, there are many things to consider at the same time.
For example, the table must fold into a flat sheet, which means we need to solve a mathematical constraint of flat foldability.
Or, the chair must fold from a flat sheet, which leads to the different mathematical constraint of developability.
Also, as products, they must be functional and beautiful, so they require symmetry.
We also have to care about the rigidity of the wood panels, because many origami patterns rely on the deformation of the facets in the folding process.
Finally, the products have thickness.
Then we need to consider the self-collision and the suitable hinge structures for the used fabrication method.
We propose Crane, an integrated computational design platform that deals with such requirements at the same time.
For more detail, I’m gonna pass a baton to Kai.
Hi everyone, I’m Kai.
So, this is Crane’s UI, which is implemented on Grasshopper,
because there are already many product designers and researchers using Rhino for their projects.
On the left, there is a visual programming environment, and there is a visualizer on the right.
Now I’m gonna overview the design pipeline with Crane.
This is the typical design pipeline.
Although it seems complicated, there are only four component groups.
First, we give input, and also put some constraint components and integrated solver,
to simulate the folding transformation and find a new shape under constraints.
Finally, the system calculates the thickness and hinge structure.
Let’s check each of them from input.
One input option is image recognition, in which the system takes a photo as input and converts it to the 2D pattern for post-processing.
Now, he is prototyping an origami chair by manually folding a sheet of paper.
And he assigns different colors to creases.
Next, the user conducts simulation and form-finding.
Here, the system automatically simulates the folding transformation.
However, as you can see, this chair design is not good,
This is because the shape is not symmetric, the seat is not horizontal,
the backrest leans too much, the bottom edges float from the ground, and two edges in the back should touch each other.
Then, the user puts several constraint components to satisfy such requirements.
For example, OnPlane component restricts the selected vertices on the same plane.
The user can also choose other constraints from the visual components in Crane GUI.
These constraints are connected to a Solver component for the form-finding.
Based on the constraint components, the system automatically finds a new shape.
Even after form-finding, the user can also manually modify the shape by grabbing vertices, and the system updates a new shape under the constraints.
Finally, the user thickens the pattern for fabrication.
So far, our system allows for five fabrication methods, with which the system assigns the hinges considering the thickness, folding angle, and fabrication tool.
For example, this is the finger joint, which is suitable for CNC milling.
And this is the single hinge structure suitable for 3D printing.
Let’s say, once the user satisfied with a 3D printed prototype, they can proceed to the larger fabrication with the same model, but with the different hinge structure.
Let’s see other functions and applications of Crane.
We note that we have many other functions, so please refer to the paper for more detail.
First, the system can also automatically assign the tessellation pattern.
When the user gives two offset surfaces, the system generates a pattern between them.
With this surface filling tessellation, we can for example design a complex lampshade.
This shape also satisfies the rotational symmetry.
Or, the user can also give an arbitrary polyhedral mesh as input.
In this case, the system automatically generates an approximated origami pattern called a generalized Ron Resch pattern.
Using a mesh as input, this is an example of the mask.
Here, the user gives a 3D mesh covering the face.
Then the system generates a fancy pattern foldable from a sheet of paper.
Finally, we are happy to announce that Crane is open-source.
You can go to Food4Rhino to download a plugin, or you can also refer to GitHub for the source code.
This is the last message.
Crane is applicable and extensible just by adding a fabrication component for your own projects.
We hope that our system will help the future fabrication in HCI with origami.