That makes a lot more sense now!
It seems that someone (or rather more likely, a group of people) are working on implementing some software that will do what I said; generating intermediate crease patterns and using the generated folds from ORIPA as steps for complex crease patterns.
If you follow the link in the video description, it will lead you to the Origamiracle website which has lots more details.
http://www.origamiracle.cic.unb.br/software.html
It actually uses TreeMaker as well. It says, about the video;
"our software asks for a TreeMaker5 file and creates a sequence of crease patterns. Then, Oripa shows each step generated by our algorithm and folds it. At the end, we show the SVG files created in each step."
Seems like a great idea if it works. I would think that creating intermediate CPs for very complex models would be the real issue. There would have to be new folds created, changed and deleted at each step to make them flat-foldable. It also might be problematic since the idea is to create diagrams from crease patterns - some designers may not want this to happen (for example, if they had plans to release their own diagrams later).
There's still the issue of ORIPA's output being too perfect. With hand-drawn/computer-drawn diagrams, you can always show the arrangement of layers or flaps if you need to. ORIPA also doesn't allow side views, only front and back. 3D views are not possible, either, although
this software exists which will generate a 3-dimensional representation of a crease pattern being folded.
If, one day, there is some perfect combination of ORIPA, TreeMaker, ReferenceFinder and Rigid Origami Simulator, it would potentially mean being able to create your own crease patterns and generate a 3-dimensional set of step-by-step instructions. If you could manipulate a step in 3D, it would help a great deal. Or with 3D technology, the models and steps would be in 3D on your computer or hand-held device.
It all sounds rather futuristic at the moment, but it would be exciting to see it happen.