




Date: Tue, 10 Jun 1997 10:22:50 -0300 (ADT)
From: Mark Morden <marmonk@eskimo.com>
Subject: Re: Lang's new book?

At 04:02 PM 6/7/97 -0300, you wrote:
>What's included in the rumored new book by Lang (something about Flapping,
>Inflating, Moving Origami)?
>
>
The name of the book is "Origami in Action, Paper Toys that Fly, Flap,
Gobble, and Inflate!"  It is published by St. Martin's Griffin and the ISBN
is 0-312-15618-9.  Here is the table of contents with the star rating on
difficulty.  The models with the exclamation points are ones designed by
Robert Lang.

Traditional Flapping Bird *
Randlett's Flapping Bird *
Flapping Butterfly *
Intermediate Flapping Butterfly **
!Flapping Eagle **
!Flapping Duck ***
!Flapping Crane ***
!Flapping Lovebirds **
Inflatable Waterbomb *
Blow-up Bunny *
!Sitting Bunny **
Inflatable Goldfish *
!Folding Knife *
!Barking Wolf *
!Gobbling Clam **
Talking Frogger *
Pecking Woodpecker *
Catapult **
Cootie Catcher *
Harlequin Cootie Catcher **
!Talking Mouse Mask *
Talking Dragon *
!Kicking Frog **
!Wagging-Tail Doggie *
Gliding Butterfly *
Hovercraft *
Boardsailer *
Rocking Sailboat **
!Flying Fighter **
!Clapping Seal *
!Swimming Manatee **
!Kicking Otter ***
!Tyrannosaurus Rex (head) ***
!Indian Paddling a Canoe ***
!Strumming Guitarist ***
!Fiddling Bassist ***
Flasher ***
Spring into Action ***

There is a range of difficulty here that will appeal to all levels of
folders.  Some models are very simple and some are quite difficult.  All of
the models except Spring into Action start from a square piece of paper.  To
those who know Lang's previous work should note that the Bassist model is
not a repeat of his bass player from "The Complete Book of Origami."  This
one starts from a square piece of paper and not a rectangle.  I haven't
folded it yet, but from the photo it looks like the bass is bigger in this
model.

Happy folding

Mark

Mark Morden == marmonk@mail.eskimo.com
http://www.eskimo.com/~marmonk/
--------------------------------------------------------
"God gives His gifts where he finds the vessel empty
enough to receive them."
                                         C.S. Lewis





Date: Tue, 10 Jun 1997 11:56:49 -0300 (ADT)
From: rhudson@netrax.net (Hudson-Robert)
Subject: convention informal meetings

I'm checking to see when people are arriving for convention.  I'll be in
around 10/11am Thursday morning, and was wondering who was doing what. I'd
like to hook up with some folders to scour the city or just linger about.

Anyone want to plan to meet somewhere around 11 or 12pm?

Rob





Date: Tue, 10 Jun 1997 18:43:57 -0300 (ADT)
From: Nick Robinson <nick@cheesypeas.demon.co.uk>
Subject: OT or NORM

Robby/Laura/Lisa <morassi@zen.it> sez

>Suggestion: OT for "off-topic" is a common tag. Why don't we use it instead ?

I prefer NORM - non-origami related material. We have used that in the
magazine FOLD for several years, where it was occaisionally useful!

all the best,

Nick Robinson

personal email  nick@cheesypeas.demon.co.uk
homepage        http://www.cheesypeas.demon.co.uk - all new look!
BOS homepage    http://www.rpmrecords.co.uk/bos/
RPM homepage    http://www.rpmrecords.co.uk - now with real Audio clips!





Date: Tue, 10 Jun 1997 19:37:51 -0300 (ADT)
From: pat slider <slider@stonecutter.com>
Subject: "Secrets of Origami" hardback available

If anyone is interested in the hardback "Secrets of Origami" by
Harbin, send me a note. I'll send the bookstore details to the first
person who asks for them. The price in the catalog is $10 plus $3
shipping.

Remember that Dover is coming out with a revised edition this year
sometime. (ISBN is already in the Library of Congress so it shouldn't
be long.)

pat slider
slider@stonecutter.com





Date: Tue, 10 Jun 1997 19:47:35 -0300 (ADT)
From: Michael Montebello <florafauna@msn.com>
Subject: RE: convention informal meetings

----------
From:  origami-l@nstn.ca on behalf of Hudson-Robert
Sent:  Tuesday, June 10, 1997 10:57 AM
To:  Multiple recipients of list
Subject:  convention informal meetings

I'm checking to see when people are arriving for convention.  I'll be in
around 10/11am Thursday morning, and was wondering who was doing what. I'd
like to hook up with some folders to scour the city or just linger about.

Anyone want to plan to meet somewhere around 11 or 12pm?

Rob
I'm coming in @10:40 Thursday and heading for the "offace" to help out, come
by and help so we all can go play!!
Hobbit





Date: Tue, 10 Jun 1997 20:30:35 -0300 (ADT)
From: pat slider <slider@stonecutter.com>
Subject: Harbin book info gone.

Sorry. I've passed the bookstore info on. But It shouldn't be long
until "Secrets of Origami" is in print again.

pat slider
slider@stonecutter.com





Date: Tue, 10 Jun 1997 20:43:15 -0300 (ADT)
From: jdharris@post.cis.smu.edu (Jerry D. Harris)
Subject: Re: "Secrets of Origami" hardback available

>If anyone is interested in the hardback "Secrets of Origami" by
>Harbin, send me a note. I'll send the bookstore details to the first
>person who asks for them. The price in the catalog is $10 plus $3
>shipping.

If no one else has asked, I'd be very interested! Thanks!

                _,_
           ____/_\,)                    ..  _
--____-===(  _\/                         \\/ \-----_---__
           /\  '                        ^__/>/\____\--------
__________/__\_ ____________________________.//__.//_________

Jerry D. Harris                       (214) 768-2750
Dept. of Geological Sciences          FAX:  768-2701
Southern Methodist University
Box 750395                            jdharris@post.smu.edu
Dallas  TX  75275-0395                (Compuserve:  102354,2222)

"Science _does_ have all the answers -- we just don't have all
the science."
                        -- James Morrow





Date: Tue, 10 Jun 1997 20:43:36 -0300 (ADT)
From: John Marcolina <jmarcoli@cisco.com>
Subject: Re: Harbin book info gone.

According to Barnes and Noble's website, this book is available to ship in
1-2 weeks. ISBN#: 0486297071. Check
http://www.barnesandnoble.com

John Marcolina
San Jose, CA.
jmarcoli@cisco.com

At 08:30 PM 6/10/97 -0300, you wrote:
>Sorry. I've passed the bookstore info on. But It shouldn't be long
>until "Secrets of Origami" is in print again.
>
>pat slider
>slider@stonecutter.com





Date: Tue, 10 Jun 1997 21:02:27 -0300 (ADT)
From: pat slider <slider@stonecutter.com>
Subject: Re: Harbin book reprint

John Marolina wrote:

> According to Barnes and Noble's website, this book is available to ship in
> 1-2 weeks. ISBN#: 0486297071. Check
> http://www.barnesandnoble.com

and I just checked http://www.amazon.com and they say:

Secrets of Origami : The Japanese Art of Paper
                    Folding
                    by Robert Harbin

                    Reprint Edition
                    Paperback, 256 pages
                    Published by Dover Pubns
                    Publication date: July 1,1997
                    ISBN: 0486297071

Perhaps David Lister has some info on the revisions?

pat slider
slider@stonecutter.com





Date: Tue, 10 Jun 1997 22:54:15 -0300 (ADT)
From: Daddy-o D'gou <dwp+@transarc.com>
Subject: Re: Harbin book info gone.

+According to Barnes and Noble's website, this book is available to ship in
+1-2 weeks. ISBN#: 0486297071. Check
+http://www.barnesandnoble.com

Maybe the Barnes and Noble stores in your "neck of the woods" are better, but
here in Pittsburgh they aren't even sure that they can ORDER Lang's new book!
I ordered it from Border's and had it three days.  B&N - GRRRRRR.

-D'gou





Date: Tue, 10 Jun 1997 23:45:27 -0300 (ADT)
From: imcarrie@actrix.gen.nz (Ian Carrie)
Subject: Re: -No Subject-

>I was working on Fuse's modular book and could not figure out how to get the
>pinwheel colors. I did the box with two colors following the instructions
>which
>was simple.  However I could not figure out how the colors came out for the
>pinwheel alternating black and white (p. 151 of Fuse's book).  Could anyone
>help me with this?

Use 6 units folded with dual paper as illustrated on page 135 to diagram 6
then place final folds as for page136 diagram 2.

Ian Carrie
Wellington
New Zealand





Date: Wed, 11 Jun 1997 03:37:09 -0300 (ADT)
From: Kenny1414@aol.com
Subject: Re: Origami data structure

I was exposed to APL in a college class a long time ago, and I've programmed
in ALGOL and Pascal, but not C, C++, nor Java, and not Mathematica.

Still, I'm a little surprised at the direction this discussion took.

I would have thought Mathematica would be a possibility, since it has both
the matrix operations, and very sophisticated graphics.

If what I've been reading about Java as a cleaned-up C++ is true, Java would
seem to be preferable to C and C++, if only because it should be harder to
make mistakes in.

APL is interpreted, but that doesn't automatically make it slow. Old-style
interpreters, like BASIC, whose instructions were very simple, did two or
three times the amount of work to handle one small add, with most of the
extra
overhead coming from decoding the A + B. But the operations in
APL are much "bigger" in scope, like adding one pile of matrices to another
with A+B, so most of the time is spent doing the real work in the compiled
interpreter, and only a little time is spent decoding A+B.

APL would have the matrix operations, but so what. Where are the graphics
going to come from?

Am I missing the big picture again?

Aloha,

Kenneth Kawamura
kenny1414@aol.com





Date: Wed, 11 Jun 1997 12:04:13 -0300 (ADT)
From: John Smith <jon.pure@paston.co.uk>
Subject: The most complex fold

I have recently been sent a tessellation to fold by Alex Bateman. In
attempting to fold this elegant but complex tessellation I began to wonder
about the answer to the question of what is the most complex fold in
Origami. By complex I want, in this case, to mean the maximum number of
creases which have to be manipulated simultaneously in making the fold. For
a fold to flatten there are four necessary and sufficient conditions which
must be present.

1 The creases which meet at the point must be even in number
2 The sum of alternate angles must equal 180 degrees
3 All creases must enetually reach the boundary of the paper (note this last
condition necessarily treats a boundary as either a raw edge or where
several layers of paper are to be folded together)
4 The mountain and valley folds meeting at the point must be of a specific
pattern.

Where the creases reach a boundary directly it is often possible to reduce
the number of creases to be made simultaneously by breaking the move into a
series of steps. Thus a petal fold can be broken down into two reverse folds
and one valley fold. I have even found a way of folding the bird base using
only mountain and valley folds.

The difficulty arises when one node is connected to another. Assuming both
nodes meet the conditions given above, then the paper can be folded flat,
but only if both nodes are folded simultaneously. The tessellation which
Alex Bateman sent me is of great elegance and complexity and really consists
of an intricate series of connected nodes. In order to fold the tessellation
all of the nodes must be folded together. As far as I can see this means
that there is no limit to the complexity of a particular fold because the
number of connected nodes and the size of the paper can increase without
limit.

I have been very interested in the idea of simplifying folding sequences to
help children and people who have some difficulties. In many cases it is
possible to simplify the folds at the expense of increasing the number of
steps. However, I can see no way of using a step sequence in the case of
tessellations which consist of connected nodes. I look forward to hearing
from mathematicians (and others) in Origami L on this interesting issue

John (also known as non-rigorous Smith)
John Smith
Norwich
England
e-mail  jon.pure@paston.co.uk





Date: Wed, 11 Jun 1997 12:04:44 -0300 (ADT)
From: Jamaro@aol.com
Subject: Re: "Secrets of Origami" hardback available

I would be very interested.  Is this a reprint?  Does it have the pictures of
Lillian Oppenheimer (Past President of the International Origami Center)
inside?  This is a wonderful book!

Thanks for your response.

Joe Amaro





Date: Wed, 11 Jun 1997 13:16:39 -0300 (ADT)
From: Steve Woodmansee <stevew@empnet.com>
Subject: Re: "Secrets of Origami" hardback available

Dear Pat:

I'm interested, definitely.  I got the impression that there's only one
     available - true?

At 07:38 PM 6/10/97 -0300, you wrote:

>If anyone is interested in the hardback "Secrets of Origami" by

>Harbin, send me a note. I'll send the bookstore details to the first

>person who asks for them. The price in the catalog is $10 plus $3

>shipping.

>

>Remember that Dover is coming out with a revised edition this year

>sometime. (ISBN is already in the Library of Congress so it shouldn't

>be long.)

>

>pat slider

>slider@stonecutter.com

>

>

               Origami:  "Welcome to the fold"

                     Steve Woodmansee

                     stevew@empnet.com

                    Bend, Oregon

            <bold>http://www.empnet.com/woodmansee

</bold>





Date: Wed, 11 Jun 1997 13:32:26 -0300 (ADT)
From: havener3@delphi.com (geoline)
Subject: Origami data structure AND Death

Bradduh Kenny koined:
>APL would have the matrix operations, but so what. Where are the graphics
>going to come from?
>
>Am I missing the big picture again?

Um, because flat pieces of origami paper are physical representatives of
binary matrices?  One sheet of unfolded paper can be represented by two
matrices of equal size, but of different colors to represent front and back
of paper.  APL would come in handy calculating and collapsing folds
(smaller matrices) step-by-step, inside and out.

I just admire APL one liners for being wickedly powerful in collapsing
matrix operations.

If I were gonna design an origami CAD, I'd design an APL graphical engine
to manipulate the data by pixels or group of pixels on matrices to
represent color/pattern and shade gradients of fold levels.  But silly me
would want to design the APL graphical engine for an advance parallel
processing machine and then not only render the graphics on a flat screen,
but design a holographic screen to go with-it.

Geez, I'm sorry, my mind is running away again.  I pick-up a simple piece
of paper, and I see APL matrices collapsing into an origami sculpture.
Collapsing or shaping a piece of paper is simple do with hands (when hands
are functioning) as is collapsing a complex matrix operation in APL for
someone who understands origami and APL.  I don't program because I am too
preoccupied with miniature horticulture and oriental culture research.  I
haven't programmed in many, years.  (HTML does not count.)  But if my hands
became too weak to manipulate miniature trees, wood or paper, I'd get back
into engineering to design an APL graphical engine and component
peripherals.

But I thought I warned people on the origami list that I am a bit twisted.
I'm twisted because I'm one of those dyslexics who already think in APL
reverse Polish notation.

I'm so dagdum twisted, that I just paged my husband to go pick-up some
large Hershey chocolate bars.  He can have the chocolate.  I want the
wrappers.  You know that super simple Kimono fold I have on my origami
website?  Well, if you take a single square sheet of paper and manipulate
the basic kimono fold slightly, you can fold a three dimensional, stand-up,
hooded Grim Reaper.

Yeah, I'm sending Hershey's a:
DEATH BY CHOCOLATE

I'll have him up on my gallery when I get my hands on some Hershey's wrappers.

Fold Death By Chocolate with red paper and make her a little chubbier, and
you get Little Red Riding Hood.  Why is Death a "her"?  One of these days,
when I have better control of my hands, I'll fold her as the goddess Kali,
the multi-armed Hindu mother goddess creator and destroyer.  And while I'm
at it, I might as well throw-in an origami road kill gallery.

Smiles and other Miss Chief,
"Tita" Geoline
havener3@delphi.com
http://www.geocities.com/~jaspacecorp/momsai.html     <bonsai>
http://www.geocities.com/~jaspacecorp/origami.html    <origami>





Date: Wed, 11 Jun 1997 15:51:05 -0300 (ADT)
From: Erik Demaine <eddemain@daisy.uwaterloo.ca>
Subject: Folding regular heptagons and nonagons

G'day!

In two recent issues of Crux Mathematicorum are the following two articles
on origami:

    Vol. 23, no. 2 (March 1997): Robert Geretschla"ger, ``Folding the Regular
        Heptagon.''
    Vol. 23, no. 4 (May 1997): Robert Geretschla"ger, ``Folding the
        Regular Nonagon.''

A heptagon is a 7-sided polygon, and a nonagon is 9-sided.  These papers show
how to fold a square piece of paper into these shapes.

Gerestschla"ger is the author of what I find a very nice paper on the geometry
of origami, ``Euclidean Constructions and the Geometry of Origami,''
Mathematics Magazine, vol. 68, no. 5, December 1995, pp. 357-371.

As a side note, the heptagon solution is similar to Scimemi's solution in the
Proceedings of the First International Meeting of Origami Science and
Technology.

Geretschla"ger sums it up nicely in his conclusion of the nonagon paper:

        In the conclusion of _Folding the Regular Heptagon_, I declared
        myself as an ardent Heptagonist.  I have no qualms or reservations
        about declaring myself an equally ardent Nonagonist now.  Perhaps I
        will find some similar minded folk out there willing to join me in
        my quest of popularizing these heretofore sadly neglected polygons.

:)

Erik
--
Erik Demaine                 ()  e-mail: eddemain@daisy.uwaterloo.ca
Dept. of Computer Science    ||  URL: http://daisy.uwaterloo.ca/~eddemain/
University of Waterloo       ||  PGP key: finger me.  "Maturity is switching
Waterloo, ON Canada N2L 3G1  ()  from passive voice to active voice" -P. Alder





Date: Wed, 11 Jun 1997 18:30:11 -0300 (ADT)
From: preaux <preaux@univ-lyon1.fr>
Subject: Re: Origami DB structure

Hudson-Robert wrote:
>
> Speaking of Origami and computers,
>
> I've been working out a tentative Entity Relationship Diagram (aborted from

I'm working on databases and I'm intersted in your project may I help?





Date: Wed, 11 Jun 1997 18:42:40 -0300 (ADT)
From: Zachary Brown <zbrown@lynx.dac.neu.edu>
Subject: Anyone want to write code?

Well, it looks like there are a lot of pretty high powered programmers
here. If any are interested in actually doing work on the compiler, how
about contacting me by email and maybe we can get a project started?

What I envision is something like this: a compiler that conforms to the
specifications I've been working on for the past few months.
Unfortunately those specs are not yet in a fully usable state. But I
don't want to douse any flames. There are plenty of things that could be
done while I finish up the specs.

Or the specs I have in mind may be off the mark completely, and folks will
want to go in a completely different direction, which would also be good.
Let me summarize (very briefly) what I've been doing, so you can decide:

Taking as a starting point the captions under the diagrams in origami
books, these specs attempt to flesh out the most natural and intuitive way
we express the development of a model to ourselves while we're folding.
Coordinates, angles, and so on, will be *almost* entirely hidden from the
user's view. The user will be identifying landmarks and doing activities,
just as would normally be done during the process of folding.  In theory,
reading something written in this language would be very similar to
overhearing a teacher explaining a model to a student. It should almost
be possible, with experience, to fold the full model, just by reading the
program written in this language.

Some sample commands might look like, "fold the lower left triangle up to
the top edge", "squash the head", "the two lower triangles will be the
feet." "Double rabbit ear the feet outward."

Of course that is not the whole story, and a good bit of the language
will not sound so pleasing.

In terms of output, I envision a compiler capable of almost any kind of
output the user can specify, including crease patterns and transparent
models. That's one reason the data structure has to hold the entire
model, and not just an image of the model, as is done with normal CAD
programs.

My sense of the needs of the origami community are that this should be a
text processor, taking text as input and outputting postscript files;
that it should be written in portable, machine independant code (I'd
suggest ANSI c++ using the free GNU compiler); and that its busiest use
will be the exchange of programs through email and usenet. Animation (etc)
would not be of primary importance, though the programmers should try to
make it easy for anyone to add such things in.

I've completed about 28K of specifications, and I would conservatively
say that is about 30% of the whole thing. The specs as I conceive them
put a large burden on the programmers. There are a lot of difficult
programming problems, but nothing that I feel is impossible. The hardest
stuff is just very nonintuitive, cpu intensive, and the sort of thing one
might say, "but do we really need it?"

If my idea of the way things should be does not appeal, but you still want
to work on this, then maybe there are other ideas that would be better
than mine. Whatever the case, I think the first step is to get a list of
people anxious to do coding. If this applies to you, email me and let's
get it going!

Zack





Date: Wed, 11 Jun 1997 23:20:39 -0300 (ADT)
From: Valerie Vann <75070.304@compuserve.com>
Subject: Lang's new Book

<<Maybe the Barnes and Noble stores in your "neck of the woods" are better, but
<<here in Pittsburgh they aren't even sure that they can ORDER Lang's new book!

I had it back ordered from amazon.com & it came 2 days ago...

Neat book. I like the flapping crane that really looks like a crane
'cause it has long legs and you can make the beak and legs red on
a white crane. It would be a nifty crane even if it didn't flap!
I didn't take the advice about 10 inch paper and used 6, so my first
was a little tacky, so must make another. Nicely done book too.

Thanks Robert for the great toys!

--valerie
Valerie Vann
75070.304@compuserve.com





Date: Wed, 11 Jun 1997 23:48:55 -0300 (ADT)
From: Jansill@aol.com
Subject: Origami Challenge

When I was looking at modular designs to include in Lifestyle Origami, I came
up with an idea that I thought could be interesting. I made a few attempts,
but I don't think I'm the guy to perfect it, so I'm going to throw it out to
the list to see if any of you can create this. Or if anyone already has...

The idea is an origami roller coaster or marble ramp;  a series of modules in
the shape of a grooved track that can be connected in a way that a marble
could roll down it. Ideally there would be three components: A straightaway
track, a track that can be made into different angles (L shaped both to the
right and left and at less than or more than 45 degrees) and some sort of
pylon that could be made at different heights that would hold up the track at
various points to support it. If done correctly, one could create thousands
of different tracks.

I suppose any number of variations could be invented. I was sure this idea
was going to make me millions! I look forward to seeing if this inspires
anybody and I would love to see any results. (just remember me when the money
starts rolling in!)

Now Go!!!!

Jay Ansill
http://www.dynanet.com/~larry/ja





Date: Wed, 11 Jun 1997 23:56:34 -0300 (ADT)
From: "James M. Sakoda" <James_Sakoda@brown.edu>
Subject: Re: The most complex fold

>
>I have been very interested in the idea of simplifying folding sequences to
>help children and people who have some difficulties. In many cases it is
>possible to simplify the folds at the expense of increasing the number of
>steps. However, I can see no way of using a step sequence in the case of
>tessellations which consist of connected nodes. I look forward to hearing
>from mathematicians (and others) in Origami L on this interesting issue
>
>John (also known as non-rigorous Smith)
>John Smith
>Norwich
>England
>e-mail  jon.pure@paston.co.uk
Many or most of my Hikari-Ori patterns consist of connected nodes extending
throughout the sheet, usually with repetition of patterns in a regular
manner.  In order to obtain sharp creases, I require that each node be
folded flat before the structure is opened out into a low relief pattern to
catch light reflected on the different surfaces.  I first fold a grid to
provide guidelines for drawing the valley and mountain folds that need to
be folded.  While it is true that in theory all of the connected nodes need
to be folded simultaneously, in practice it is possible to proceed
stepwise, starting at one end and proceeding vertically, moving from one
node to the next connected to it.  One node can be folded while the next
one is only partially folded.  When an entire line of nodes are completed,
it is necessary to put in all of the creases extending out of those nodes
in order to fold the partially folded sheet flat.    One can then proceed
to the next vertical line of nodes, starting again at one end.  Sometimes
one needs to work in a circle, starting on the inside and working one's way
outwards.  Pressinsg the whole thing flat may need to wait until all of the
creases are at least partially folded.  In other words, a step by step
process of folding connected nodes is possible.
     Hikari-Ori was written up some years ago in British Origami and more
recently was presented in the Second Internateional Meeting of Origami
Science and Scientific Origami in 1994.  James M. Sakoda, origami dollar
bill foldings in pdf form:  http://idt.net/~kittyv





Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 01:45:26 -0300 (ADT)
From: havener3@delphi.com (geoline)
Subject: Origami Labels

Hi Y'all,

I just picked-up some rather expensive paper at almost $2 (U.S.) per under
eight inch sheet.

Actually, I had to buy 7 ounce Hershey's Milk Chocolate bars which cost
almost $2 a pieces (tax including) just to get the labels.  I need some
helpful hints about how to carefully seperate the glued pieces of label
with as little warping and tearing as possible.

Yes, I really am going to do a Death By Chocolate origami piece.  My
husband gets the first Death By Chocolate because he thinks its a wild
office conversation piece.  My chocoholic friends get one too.  Hershey PR
gets a Death By Chocolate along with a Chocolate Moose.

I am also doing Campbell Soup labels.  (Anyone entering their art contest?)

Meanwhile, are there other people who have done label folding?  I think I'm
gonna put a Label Galleria up on my origami website.  If you have any label
origami pictures you would like to hang at the Label Galleria, drop me a
note in email.

Cocoa Geo
havener3@delphi.com
http://www.geocities.com/~jaspacecorp/momsai.html     <bonsai>
http://www.geocities.com/~jaspacecorp/origami.html    <origami>





Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 05:48:09 -0300 (ADT)
From: Bruce Stephens <B.Stephens@isode.com>
Subject: Re: Origami Challenge

Jansill@aol.com said:
> The idea is an origami roller coaster or marble ramp;  a series of
> modules in the shape of a grooved track that can be connected in a way
> that a marble could roll down it. Ideally there would be three
> components: A straightaway

I love the idea.  Ideally, each module should be made from a silver rectangle,
so we could use A4 or A5 paper to fold it.  I can see offices the world over
(well, in civilised countries which use silver rectangle-shaped paper, anyway)
filling with such creations!





Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 06:56:36 -0300 (ADT)
From: candice bradley/daniel byrne <candice@samara.co.zw>
Subject: yoshizawa book

Hi --

I ordered the following from Amazon.com on June 3 and was just informed
that "publication has been cancelled."

1 copy of "Origami Masterpieces"
         Akira Yoshizawa; Hardcover; @ $19.95 each

know anything about that?

Candice Bradley





Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 12:47:35 -0300 (ADT)
From: Dennis Brannon <brannon@jamin.enet.dec.com>
Subject: RE: Lang's new Book

<<Maybe the Barnes and Noble stores in your "neck of the woods" are better, but
<<here in Pittsburgh they aren't even sure that they can ORDER Lang's new book!

The Barnes and Noble in Burlington, MA had one copy of Lang's new book.
I bought it a week ago.

I've folded the Guitar Player model from gold foil wrapping paper.  It made
a great gift for a friend.  10" paper worked well.

I'm now working my way through the rest of the book.

Thanks Robert!

dennis
--
Dennis Brannon
brannon@jamin.enet.dec.com
Ayer, Massachusetts USA





Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 14:08:50 -0300 (ADT)
From: reeds@openix.com (Reeds family)
Subject: Re: Origami Challenge

This would be great! It does already exist in plastic and wood-- 15+ years
ago my kids had several sets that kept them (not mention their physicist
relatives) happy for hours-the marbles roll down curved flumes and drop
down holes through hollow cylinders, spiral ramps...They can be built into
elaborate Dr. Seussian structures.  I'd love to be able to fold impromptu
versions.
Karen
reeds@openix.com

>When I was looking at modular designs to include in Lifestyle Origami, I came
>up with an idea that I thought could be interesting. I made a few attempts,
>but I don't think I'm the guy to perfect it, so I'm going to throw it out to
>the list to see if any of you can create this. Or if anyone already has...
>
>The idea is an origami roller coaster or marble ramp;  a series of modules in
>the shape of a grooved track that can be connected in a way that a marble
>could roll down it. Ideally there would be three components: A straightaway
>track, a track that can be made into different angles (L shaped both to the
>right and left and at less than or more than 45 degrees) and some sort of
>pylon that could be made at different heights that would hold up the track at
>various points to support it. If done correctly, one could create thousands
>of different tracks.
>
>I suppose any number of variations could be invented. I was sure this idea
>was going to make me millions! I look forward to seeing if this inspires
>anybody and I would love to see any results. (just remember me when the money
>starts rolling in!)
>
>Now Go!!!!
>
>Jay Ansill
>http://www.dynanet.com/~larry/ja





Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 16:22:56 -0300 (ADT)
From: havener3@delphi.com (geoline)
Subject: Origami Monopoly

Here's a fun idea for promoting origami and maybe even get small play money
to play and cards to play with...

Build origami models, play pieces, hotels, houses et cetera out of Monopoly
bills.  Heck, the origami regional conferences could even hold a Monopoly
competition sponsored by Milton Bradley for origami pieces created with
Monopoly bills and cards as well as hold a Monopoly game competition.  The
business card origami-ists could even create with CHANCE and COMMUNITY
CHEST cards.

Sorry to bother y'all with some of my off the wall ideas.  I just have so
much fun with origami in everyday life.  My husband is entering a Monopoly
tournament this Saturday.  While touching the various Monopoly papers, I
had to resist folding the bills and cards.

Origami Monopoly could be a first for the Monopoly record books.

Geoline,
Robber Baron Origami-ist
havener3@delphi.com
http://www.geocities.com/~jaspacecorp/momsai.html     <bonsai>
http://www.geocities.com/~jaspacecorp/origami.html    <origami>





Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 16:30:33 -0300 (ADT)
From: Wayne Fluharty <wflu@hotmail.com>
Subject: Origami sighting

The Nancy comic strip containing an origami reference that was mentioned
recently can now be viewed at:
<http://www.unitedmedia.com/comics/nancy/>
and starting tomorrow, will be at
<http://www.unitedmedia.com/comics/nancy/archive/nancy970605.html>
for 30 days.

Flu (Wayne Fluharty)
wflu@hotmail.com

---------------------------------------------------------
Get Your *Web-Based* Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com





Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 16:53:13 -0300 (ADT)
From: Nick Robinson <nick@cheesypeas.demon.co.uk>
Subject: Re: Origami Challenge

Jansill@aol.com sez

>The idea is an origami roller coaster or marble ramp;

Nice idea - I've knocked something together, but it'll have to wait
until I get diagramming time ;(

all the best,

Nick Robinson

personal email  nick@cheesypeas.demon.co.uk
homepage        http://www.cheesypeas.demon.co.uk - all new look!
BOS homepage    http://www.rpmrecords.co.uk/bos/
RPM homepage    http://www.rpmrecords.co.uk - now with real Audio clips!





Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 17:04:25 -0300 (ADT)
From: havener3@delphi.com (geoline)
Subject: RE: Origami Monopoly ERRATA

------------Ombudsman Errata-----------
>Build origami models, play pieces, hotels, houses et cetera out of
>Monopoly >bills.  Heck, the origami regional conferences could even hold a
>Monopoly >competition sponsored by Milton Bradley for origami pieces
>created with >Monopoly bills and cards as well as hold a Monopoly game
>competition.  The >business card origami-ists could even create with
>CHANCE and COMMUNITY CHEST >cards.

Silly me,
PARKER BROTHERS is the sponsor.  They even have a tournament kit website at:
http://www.monopoly.com/tournament-offline.html

Geoline "Pennybags"
havener3@delphi.com
http://www.geocities.com/~jaspacecorp/momsai.html     <bonsai>
http://www.geocities.com/~jaspacecorp/origami.html    <origami>





Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 18:26:45 -0300 (ADT)
From: DLister891@aol.com
Subject: "Secrets of Origami"

In her posting dated 11th, June, Pat Slider suggested I might say something
about the imminent new  Dover Books edition of Robert Harbin's "Secrets of
Origami".

Robert Harbin bequeathed the copyrights in his books to the British Origami
Society and the Society has for long been trying to get a reprint of Secrets
of Origami printed. A previous attempt about fifteen years ago came to
nothing, but then Dover books expressed interest. Mick Guy, at present the
President of the BOS, supervised the reprint on behalf of the Society.

Mick himself did a conservative revision of the text and diagrams.
Unfortunately, as Robert Harbin left the text, it contained errors, some
minor, but there were others which were more serious and  which gave folders
real headaches trying to follow his insttructions. Mick would have liked to
have done a full and detailed correction, but he found that this would have
been much to large a task. Instead, he has contented himself with removing
the worst of the errors.

Mick asked me to write a new introduction and also a new bibliography to
replace the original one which is now impossibly out of date. I have given a
short account of Robert Harbin's life and an account of his involvement woth
paperfolding. I don't think anyone has ever attempted this before.

Sadly, not only has Robert Harbin died, but so have many of the paper folders
he featured, including Ligia Montoya, Adolfo Cerceda, Jack Skillman ans Fred
Rohm We decided not to attempt a revision of the short bibliographic notes
which precede the section for each folder, but to leave them as Robert Harbin
wrote them.

I had great difficulty deciding which books to include in the bibliography
and which to leave out. Obviously it was impossible to include all the books
I should have liked, but I have tried to give a representative selection from
books by the best of modern authors. No doubt many people will disagree with
my choice.I may say that my selection is already out of date!

We should have liked to have done a more thorough-going job, but I always
think that half a loaf is better than none. While we may be criticised fro
this, the revision of "Secrets of Origami" will still be a fine book. It is
not only a historic book, but it has lots of interest for today's folders. I
certainly hope that everyone will enjoy it  and gain some appreciation of one
of the great pioneers of the modern origami movement.

David Lister,

Grimsby, England.

DLister891@AOL.com.





Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 19:52:37 -0300 (ADT)
From: Daddy-o D'gou <dwp+@transarc.com>
Subject: Re: Origami Challenge

Jay Ansill wrote:
+The idea is an origami roller coaster or marble ramp;  a series of modules in
+the shape of a grooved track that can be connected in a way that a marble
+could roll down it.

Karen Reeds followed on with:
+elaborate Dr. Seussian structures.  I'd love to be able to fold impromptu
+versions.

Nick Robinson wrote:
+Nice idea - I've knocked something together, but it'll have to wait
+until I get diagramming time ;(

That _is_ a neat idea.  Heh, and Biz Cards would be the perfect paper to use,
strong and abundant! ;-)

On a related note, Yoshide Momotani has a book with "real" roller coasters in
it "Origami Amusement Park".

>From the Sasuga web site:  (http://world.std.com/~sasuga/origami1.html)

    { Origami Amusement Park }

    Momotani, Y. [Seibundoh Shinkosha] paperback 1995 68 pp.
    isbn: 4-416-39518-3 $19.20

    In Japanese. With these advanced models, you can make a colorful
    ferris wheel, a castle, a roller coaster and more. Follow
    easy-to-read 2-tone diagrams.

Fascinating Folds' site doesn't list this book (that I could find!).
Kim's Crane site doesn't list this book (that I could find!).

-D'gou





Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 20:29:03 -0300 (ADT)
From: JacAlArt@aol.com
Subject: Re: Origami Challenge

I believe Jeremy Shafer already has a one-piece marble maze

~Alec





Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 20:33:48 -0300 (ADT)
From: JacAlArt@aol.com
Subject: Re: RE: Lang's new Book

I've seen the Bassist and Guitarist before, but is the bassist different? I
believe the one in The Complete Book of Origami is made from a rectangle --
but in the new book it's from a square. The Guitarist appeared in an OUSA
Annual Collection -- but is it the same one?
 Love the Indian-In-A-Boat!

~Alec





Date: Fri, 13 Jun 1997 05:41:11 -0300 (ADT)
From: Rjlang@aol.com
Subject: Re: Origami data structure

Erik said
> Essentially, you want to subdivide the faces of the crease pattern
> so that each subface is identical to any other subface that it
> "shares space" with...

Zack asked,
> This looks like a good solution, and it irks me because it's
> similar to a  solution I came up with long ago and abandoned
> because I did not  associate the non-crease polygons with polygons.
> Instead I saw them as  just arbitrary lines that would have to be
> stored in very ugly ways. If,  as you say, everything is considered
> a polygon, while some lines have an  extra attribute that indicates
> that they are creases, suddenly the data  structure looks a lot
> more managable. Robert, did you consider and reject this idea?

This was the "multiple layer stack" idea I described in my original post. I
didn't reject it -- actually, it was the only thing I could think of that
would make things work -- but it looked like a bigger project than I was
willing to spend time on.

We've talked about the data structures and algorithms for origami simulation,
but I've found that the user interface is just as big a problem. How do you
efficiently select and manipulate groups of layers (particularly when some
layers are hidden)? In both my origami simulation program of old and
TreeMaker, I spend a great deal of time programming the UI, not because I
want to add bells and whistles, but because I can't efficiently define and
manipulate origami data structures without the right tools to access it.

Robert





Date: Fri, 13 Jun 1997 09:03:31 -0300 (ADT)
From: Daddy-o D'gou <dwp+@transarc.com>
Subject: Re: Origami data structure

Robert Lang, in reply to Eric and Zach wrote:
+We've talked about the data structures and algorithms for origami simulation,
+but I've found that the user interface is just as big a problem. How do you
+efficiently select and manipulate groups of layers (particularly when some
+layers are hidden)? In both my origami simulation program of old and
+TreeMaker, I spend a great deal of time programming the UI, not because I
+want to add bells and whistles, but because I can't efficiently define and
+manipulate origami data structures without the right tools to access it.

This is a very important point (though I hadn't wanted to make it myself since
I had neither any resources to donate to work on this project, nor did I have
any past personal experience in this domain).

Because this is not a trivial problem to solve, I think that there are basicly
two responses to the point Robert raised:
    a) You're right, we should design the user interface and let that drive
    the rest of the design process.
    b) You're right, but this problem is so hard that we first just need to
    get some experience solving parts of it before trying to chew on the whole
    thing.  The first efforts will be to get that experience and use it to
    inform second and third round designs.

Just my buck-two-fifty!
-D'gou





Date: Fri, 13 Jun 1997 09:11:05 -0300 (ADT)
From: A.Welles@student.kun.nl
Subject: Inspiration and goals

Every once in a while I have crazy ideas that I want to work out and most
of the time such ideas end up as being impossible, simply because I
cannot tie myself to a certain subject.

I am talking about designing animals (since that is my number one
priority when it comes to Origami). I have tried to do a whole series of
dinosaurs, but ended up with only five dinosaurs. Inspiration gone...

But the last couple of weeks a major change took place since I set myself
the goal of folding animals of each group of the animal kingdom such as:
arthropods, mammals (although this is a sub-group), mollusks etc.

And crazy enough I do the one animal after the other.

For example:

I did the Coelenterates in three days, having designed a (simple but nice
(if I may say so myself)) Jellyfish, a 20-pointed sea anemone a polyp
(with a small baby-polyp attached to it), a soft coral (looks like a
sea anemone but then without the 'foot') and a hard coral.

Then I did the Echinoderms and finished them in three days as well, doing a
star fish, an inflatable bat star, a sea cucumber, a 28-pointed sea urchin
(although I did this one some weeks ago...) and a brittle star.

Now I am working on the mollusks. I already have done a shell, and last
Monday-night (I went to sleep at 3 O'clock and I had a terrible morning
the other day (or to be more correct the next couple of hours)) I did a
cuttlefish and Tuesday I did a very nice (again if I may say so myself,
one have to maintain his modesty though) Octopus. Some months before that
I did a Giant squid already.

Well, the reason why I mention all of this (I even wonder if it'll have
the reader's interest at all...) is, that I'd like to know how other
people deal with such vague things as inspiration. I have had months in
which I didn't do a single animal.

And I'd like to know how people have experienced designing with a certain
format like the one I am doing now. Doesn't it cause a block in one's
inspiration?

Please let me know, because I'd like to do more such things in the future
and I'd like to have some advice on how to maintain the goal you set
yourself in advance....

Arjan Welles
The Netherlands
A.Welles@Student.kun.nl





Date: Fri, 13 Jun 1997 09:20:35 -0300 (ADT)
From: Kevin Kinney <kkinney@med.unc.edu>
Subject: Re: Inspiration and goals

>
> For example:
>
> I did the Coelenterates in three days, having designed a (simple but nice
>
> Then I did the Echinoderms and finished them in three days as well, doing a
> star fish, an inflatable bat star, a sea cucumber, a 28-pointed sea urchin
> (although I did this one some weeks ago...) and a brittle star.
>
> Now I am working on the mollusks. I already have done a shell, and last

I can't help n your primary problem, but please try to diagram these and
make them available!  They sound fantastic.

Kevin Kinney
kkinney@med.unc.edu

(Who recently designed an octopus which, after careful checking, is 90%
homologous to that of Peter Engel.  Oh well.)





Date: Fri, 13 Jun 1997 10:42:11 -0300 (ADT)
From: A.Welles@student.kun.nl
Subject: Re: Inspiration and goals

On Fri, 13 Jun 1997, Kevin Kinney wrote:

> >
> > For example:
> >
> > I did the Coelenterates in three days, having designed a (simple but nice
> >
> > Then I did the Echinoderms and finished them in three days as well, doing a
> > star fish, an inflatable bat star, a sea cucumber, a 28-pointed sea urchin
> > (although I did this one some weeks ago...) and a brittle star.
> >
> > Now I am working on the mollusks. I already have done a shell, and last
>
> I can't help n your primary problem, but please try to diagram these and
> make them available!  They sound fantastic.
>
>
>
> (Who recently designed an octopus which, after careful checking, is 90%
> homologous to that of Peter Engel.  Oh well.)
>

I hope to do a lot of diagramming (by computer) this summer. I have a lot of
models to diagram and I will probably make a book(let) of it that I will
publish myself (?).

I also think that Engel's octopus from "Folding the Universe" ("Origami
from Angelfish to Zen") is the best there is. But mine is quite simple
and is actually based on an octagon (but since I do not fold with
octagons...) I won't be surprised if anyone has done the same base/principle
some time ago....

By the way I made a wonderful base for a crab and I thought that it could
be turned into a base for a scorpion very well, by starting with a square
of which all corners are folded to the center first (Blintz-base) and
then unwrap them. I did a great scorpion, but after checking it turned
out to be almost the same base as Robert Lang used for his scorpion in
"Origami Insects and Their Kin". What a pitty! There were some small
differences (but my base and Lang's base folded from the same seize of paper
had the same seize folded as too). But unfortunately the resemblance was too
big...

Arjan Welles
The Netherlands
A.Welles@Student.kun.nl





Date: Fri, 13 Jun 1997 14:30:18 -0300 (ADT)
From: pat slider <slider@stonecutter.com>
Subject: Re: Flying things wanted...

> Several years late, the world has recognised the significance of my
> first book of airplanes & a German company looks like asking me to do a
> follow up. I'm therefore asking/challenging you all to come up with
> something that flies/skims/hovers/stunts, preferably simple(ish) and
> elegant.

Coincidentally I just saw a used copy of your "Paper Airplane" title
selling for $18. Guess it has gone from the remainder shelves to the
collectible :->.

pat slider
slider@stonecutter.com





Date: Fri, 13 Jun 1997 14:39:14 -0300 (ADT)
From: Kenny1414@aol.com
Subject: Re: Origami Labels

In a message dated 97-06-13 04:36:02 EDT, you write:

<< are there other people who have done label folding?   >>

I've done label folding and junk-mail folding.

Unfortunately I just gave away my Hershey  La Fosse Butterfly,
and probably couldn't duplicate it.

The local Red Lobster has these little paper napkin rings
that I adapted some of my dollar bill rings to.

And I don't have a scanner yet.

As far as peeling the labels, candy bar labels tend not to warp,
but they sometimes de-laminate at  the glue. I haven't tried
using heat to soften the glue first. Maybe a hair dryer or
iron would work. Slide the foil & chocolate out first, tho.

I don't know a good way to peel Campbell's soup cans.
Mine fall apart while I'm washing the can and trying to peel
them, but that's my fault. I think I've had them come off
by themselves, if I soak the can in very hot water and
just wait patiently.

Aloha,

Kenneth Kawamura
kenny1414@aol.com

P O Box 6039
East Lansing  MI  48826-6039





Date: Fri, 13 Jun 1997 17:45:05 -0300 (ADT)
From: Lisa Hodsdon <Lisa_Hodsdon@hmco.com>
Subject: Re: Origami Labels

Kenneth Kawamura mentioned that:
>The local Red Lobster has these little paper napkin rings
>that I adapted some of my dollar bill rings to.

I've been to a couple of restaurants that have green papers that are
partly sticky that they wrap around the napkins & silverware. (Uno's
is one; Red Lobster may have the same rings.)

They make *great* jumping frogs of the dollar bill variety. They're small
but they jump oh so high. Just be sure you cover your drinks, or else...

Lisa





Date: Fri, 13 Jun 1997 18:10:36 -0300 (ADT)
From: Matthias Gutfeldt <Tanjit@bboxbbs.ch>
Subject: Convention Report Online!

Hi all,

only a week after the announced release date I managed to finish
my report on the Origami Deutschland Convention in Wuerzburg.
Take a look at

http://www.bboxbbs.ch/home/tanjit/origami

to read and see what you missed!

Matthias





Date: Fri, 13 Jun 1997 18:32:01 -0300 (ADT)
From: Kristine Tomlinson <ktomlinson@platinum.com>
Subject: Re: Origami Monopoly and money-patterned papers

Hi,

The subject of this message should have read: "You are not alone!" :-).  I
got a chuckle when I read Geoline's posting suggesting folding Monopoly
playing pieces out of Monopoly money.

A few weeks ago I purchased the "Boston Edition" and sat staring at all
those colorful denominations and all I could think about was using them
as Hell Bank Notes and for money-folds.  While I don't have the nerve to
fold my brand-new play money, I did go so far as to scan a "twenty" into
my computer.  Now I can print my own play money and fold away
without fear.  Monopoly money seems to change every so often (I have
a 1937 set a some stray bills from the '90s) adding even more folding
variety.

In fact, I started getting all sorts of ideas around money and folding and
symbolism which may have led to my looking at the inside patterns of
security envolopes.

I've discovered quite a variety of prints and patterns -- including some
traditional Japanese ones like the wave (!).  Because they're usually
used by banks, brokers, payroll offices, and the like many of them have
miniature bank logos or other money-related themes.  When I assembled
a bunch of them I was struck by the consistency of pattern size and the
similarity in ink color and value.  They all go together beautifully!  Of
course, most of the envelopes are small, and the pattern is stamped on
the reverse side of the paper compared to normal, but even that added
some visual  interest.

A future project is to create geometrics and modulars out of security
envelopes and see how they look together.  Thanks for reminding me :-}

Kristine





Date: Fri, 13 Jun 1997 20:54:03 -0300 (ADT)
From: Kim Best <Kim.Best@m.cc.utah.edu>
Subject: OrigamiUSA Convention

With the Convention just a few weeks away, I was wondering if we ever
decided how we were going to identify ourselvses as Origami-l
subscribers.  I was drop from the list recently, so I may have missed it.

This is my first convention, so I'm really exited!  See you all there!

Kim Best                            *******************************
                                    *          Origamist:         *
Rocky Mountain Cancer Data System   * Some one who thinks paper   *
420 Chipeta Way #120                * thin, means thick and bulky *
Salt Lake City, Utah  84108         *******************************





Date: Sat, 14 Jun 1997 06:32:07 -0300 (ADT)
From: Douglas Zander <dzander@solaria.sol.net>
Subject: Re: OrigamiUSA Convention

>
>
> With the Convention just a few weeks away, I was wondering if we ever
> decided how we were going to identify ourselvses as Origami-l
> subscribers.  I was drop from the list recently, so I may have missed it.
>
> This is my first convention, so I'm really exited!  See you all there!
>
> Kim Best                            *******************************
>                                     *          Origamist:         *
> Rocky Mountain Cancer Data System   * Some one who thinks paper   *
> 420 Chipeta Way #120                * thin, means thick and bulky *
> Salt Lake City, Utah  84108         *******************************
>
>

 why not identify yourselfs as IWDFTLT's...

IWDFTLT's = ( I Was Dropped From The List Too )'s       <grin>

--
 Douglas Zander                | many things interest me, too many to list
 dzander@solaria.sol.net       | here.  if you want a profile :-)  why not
 Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA     | send me a letter?  tell me about yourself,
 "Over-looking Lake Michigan." | I'll tell you about myself.





Date: Sat, 14 Jun 1997 06:57:30 -0300 (ADT)
From: Kenny1414@aol.com
Subject: Re: Origami Labels

>>Kenneth Kawamura mentioned that:
>>The local Red Lobster has these little paper napkin rings
>>that I adapted some of my dollar bill rings to.
>
>I've been to a couple of restaurants that have green papers that are
>partly sticky that they wrap around the napkins & silverware. (Uno's
>is one; Red Lobster may have the same rings.)

The Red Lobster rings are white, with a colored center showing
a parrot, and comes in three different colors. The adhesive rubs off
fairly easily.





Date: Sat, 14 Jun 1997 08:35:09 -0300 (ADT)
From: Zachary Brown <zbrown@lynx.dac.neu.edu>
Subject: Re: Origami program

Robert said
> We've talked about the data structures and algorithms for origami simulation,
> but I've found that the user interface is just as big a problem. How do you
> efficiently select and manipulate groups of layers (particularly when some
> layers are hidden)? In both my origami simulation program of old and
> TreeMaker, I spend a great deal of time programming the UI, not because I
> want to add bells and whistles, but because I can't efficiently define and
> manipulate origami data structures without the right tools to access it.

This problem has two features which I believe must form the central idea
of any origami program, if that program is going to do anything
meaningful:

The second is nonlinearity. The user must be able to make retroactive
changes based on the current state of the model. This is true for the
same reason that we sometimes advise others to look at subsequent
diagrams in books, to see what is intended for the diagram they are
currently on.

But that doesn't mean anything without the first feature, which is the
concept of the default. Origami is an art of making do. There is actually
no such thing as a rabbit ear fold, a squash, a sink, or any of them. We
perceive the existence of those folds because our useful wetware neural
nets put arbitrary patterns into categories and define each fold anew when
the need arises. The only way an origami folding program can achieve any
complexity at all, is by *approaching* the operation of our brains in this
regard. It will never have the skill that we can possess, so we will
always have to be a bit more explicit with it than with ourselves than
with each other. But I believe we don't have to approach very far to get
something that would satisfy us.

These two features, painful as it is to consider programming them, must in
my opinion form the basis of any folding program that will do anything
meaningful.

The user interface will be made 1,000 simpler if working through these
features, though I don't think a graphical solution will ever be
satisfactory, unless commands are given via a text window. The activities
are just too delicate for a mouse. Even extensive menus would only be a
pale imitation of a real language. In fact, I'd even go so far as to say
that a pair of special gloves that would put our hands on the screen to
interact with the paper directly, could still only succeed if the two
elements I describe were involved.

Zack





Date: Sat, 14 Jun 1997 12:20:39 -0300 (ADT)
From: tait@earthlink.net
Subject: origami on Discovery Channel

Was wondering if anyone has seen the two origami segments with Gay
Merrill Gross on Home Matters on the Discovery Channel? On one, Gay
displays some wonderful models and folds the magazine cover box with the
hostess of the show. On the other, Gay does a series of beautiful napkin
folds with the hostess following along. The hostess gasps with amazement
at the models she is able to create herself!

The shows have been airing the past couple of months. Last chance to
catch them!--- One airs June 30th at 10:00 am and the other is on July
25th at 10:00 am on the Discovery Channel. The name of the hour long
show is called Home Matters. The origami segments are about 8 minutes
long and in about the middle of the program around 10:30. Well worth
catching!

Regards,
Tricia Tait

P.S. Too bad one of the shows is during the OUSA Convention- maybe the
VCR could be programmed!





Date: Sun, 15 Jun 1997 03:38:16 -0300 (ADT)
From: havener3@delphi.com (geoline)
Subject: Re: Origami Web Ring

Hi y'all,

I am writing to the group about some technical difficulties Amy's origami
web ring is having.  I just became a subscriber at a time when both Amy's
origami ring server and the web ring central server have been either having
hardware or software crashes.  These things happen.  Since some people have
graciously let me know they have encountered web ring problems accessing
the origami web ring at my origami site, I thought I'd advise folks here
about some of the technical difficulties.

Angelfire.com, the server which the origami web ring resides on, reports a
major system failure within the past two week.  The origami web ring site
is one of the casualties.  Amy Huang, hostess of the origami web ring, is
in the process of rebuilding the origami web ring using code from her
animation web ring.  Meanwhile, web ring central is having server problems
of their own in the past few days as web ring popularity builds (over
11,000 web rings).  So for a little while, there will be some odd problems
as Amy revamps the origami web ring, angelfire.com recoups and the
webring.org takes care of software limitations.

I think I'll go put-up a detour message on my origami site regarding the
origami web ring and also help my little guy let people know that the
kidsafe webring he subscribes to is also experiencing technical
difficulties.

Thanks for your understanding.

Warmest aloha,
Geoline
havener3@delphi.com
http://www.geocities.com/~jaspacecorp/momsai.html     <bonsai>
http://www.geocities.com/~jaspacecorp/origami.html    <origami>
