Creasing Patterns and how to decipher

[hobbestheprince]

Hey everyone, I'm new here and wanted to ask a few things. I've been folding origami for a while now. I've only lately noticed a trend of these new "crease patterns" and the impressive models that you can make from them. There's one thing I don't get about crease patterns. All I see are a bunch of black lines ... how do you ever know if you should do a valley fold or a mountain fold? I understand that some CP's state the difference of the two, but alot I've seen do not. They just have black lines on a white square and that's it. I'm interested in knowing if it's as simple and precreasing, and then just collapsing it all?

I never understood how you know where to start with collapsing either ... I would guess you would just start from both the left side and right side and go towards the middle? I am interested in making this:

http://ericjoisel.com/Site/creating.html

And when I'm advanced enough, I can try this:

http://spinflipper.com/blog/?p=189

It's funny how almost everyone says that it's not the collapsing that's hard, it's getting from the base to the finished model ... but I would think it was the other way around. Just as a quick note, I've used the search and read everything I could before posting ... these are just general questions I had regarding CP's. I was starting to think that perhaps most of you had a sixth sense when you look at these things and you can break everything down just by a bunch of polygonal lines. But I'm determined and have folded quite a few things in my past, then I came across this board and it has inspired me to do it again.

Thanks for your time everyone,

-Hobbes

[origami_8]

The mountain-valley orientation is in most cases no problem at all. If it is a boxpleated CP just start with mountain-valley-mountain..., on other CPs precrease all creases in one direction and turn them over if needed. For your first try do not use tissue foil but something that allows to turn the direction of a crease easily.
The collapsing can be hard but most of the time folding the details are what gives you troubles.

Best of all you begin with reading everything linked from this topic:
viewtopic.php?t=2131

When you've done some CPs you will begin to recognize usual patterns that have a clear folding sequence like bird bases (fold one and unfold it to see what I mean).
Boxpleated CPs are especially easy to collapse, so from the links you gave I would begin with the dwarf and then try the medusa (make sure you've read Gerwin's guide first), the others are surely a bit harder to get but not impossible.

Good luck.

[Brimstone]

It's funny how almost everyone says that it's not the collapsing that's hard, it's getting from the base to the finished model ... but I would think it was the other way around

This depends very much on the author. Some, like Komatsu have models that are just a few steps away from the collapsed base while others like Miyajima, Takashi, Kamiya, Lang and a long etcetera, have many (sometimes over a 100) steps from the collapsed base to the finished model. There's your explanation.

[JeossMayhem]

Strange.... did someone delete my post? I posted two minutes after origami_8 and now it's not here... Anyway, if you didn't catch what I said:

You find out the direction of the creases as you go. Many times, you'll notice patterns and maneuvers that can only be executed in one way, but when this is not the case, it's up to you to guess and check. Get lots of pictures of the model you're trying to fold to help out with this, because they can reveal the order that the layers are supposed to be in. Eventualy you'll instinctly see and identify how certain sections should be collapsed.

First, start easy. Fold something you have diagrams for and then draw out the directions of the creases. You'll see many patterns that show up in various models.

But go out on a limb and take the time to figure things out. It takes practice, but you might suprise yourself.

[origami_8]

Strange.... did someone delete my post?

No. Why should someone delete something that's obviously Origami related, on topic and fitting the Forum Rules? (and I'm sure whatever you wrote was) Maybe something went wrong with submitting? I guess we'll never know.

[hobbestheprince]

Wow lots of replies, thanks for the tips everyone. I missed one of those links, and it definitely helped. Once again thank you.

By the way, has anyone here actually folded Medusa? It looks challenging.