Document Type
Article
Publication Date
8-1-2015
Publication Title
Annals of Mathematics and Artificial Intelligence
Abstract
Robert Lang’s Universal Molecule algorithm, a landmark in modern computational origami, is the main component of his widely used Tree Maker program for origami design. It computes a crease pattern of a convex polygonal region, starting with a compatible metric tree. Although it has been informally described in several publications, neither the full power nor the inherent limitations of the method are well understood. In this paper we introduce a rigorous mathematical formalism to relate the input metric tree, the output crease pattern and the folded uniaxial origami base produced by the Universal Molecule algorithm. We characterize the family of tree-like 3D shapes that are foldable from the computed crease patterns and give a correctness proof of the algorithm.
Keywords
Computational origami, Crease pattern, Folding
Volume
74
Issue
3
First Page
371
Last Page
400
DOI
10.1007/s10472-014-9437-3
ISSN
10122443
Rights
© the authors, 2015
Recommended Citation
Bowers, John C. and Streinu, Ileana, "Lang’s Universal Molecule Algorithm" (2015). Computer Science: Faculty Publications, Smith College, Northampton, MA.
https://scholarworks.smith.edu/csc_facpubs/305
Comments
Peer reviewed accepted manuscript.