Experiment · Fold together
Introducing Fold together
Learn an origami model step by step with a 3D demonstration you can turn, pause, loop and slow down while you fold real paper alongside it.
Words by David Mansaray
- What I was testing
- I wanted to find out whether live 3D or rendered video teaches folding better, so I built the same lessons both ways in one player.
- What I found
- Passing tests is not the same as correct paper. My edge-length checks passed while some animations still had surfaces crossing through each other, so I added a scan that rejects them.
Fold together is a small origami app for adult beginners, children and families folding together. You pick a model, get your paper ready, and follow a demonstration that pauses at the end of each step so your hands can catch up. The live site has five lessons: a dog face, a paper boat, a floppy-eared dog, a jumping frog and a masu box.
Live 3D and video, one player
I wasn’t sure whether learners would prefer a 3D model they can turn or a plain video, so each lesson has both. They share one timeline, so switching keeps your place. You can scrub, change speed, loop one step or several, and orbit or zoom the 3D paper without losing the fold. A guided camera turns to show pockets and back layers, and you can take over at any time. Progress is saved on your device; there are no accounts and no camera access.
The app is Vue 3, TypeScript and Three.js. The paper is authored in headless Blender and exported for the browser, and the videos are rendered from the same scenes.
The hard part
Paper is hard to animate honestly. My checks kept edge lengths stable, yet a later scan found frames where layers pass through each other, worst on the lily. The authoring build now rejects crossing surfaces, and a lesson only reaches the live site after reference, geometry, media and player checks. I haven’t run a study with beginners folding real paper yet, so I can’t yet say which format teaches better.