Crease Pattern Study of my Goat ( Basic )
- theoriblog
- Jul 22, 2016
- 3 min read
The Crease Pattern of my Goat

Introduction
CP is short for Crease Pattern. Crease Pattern exhibits lines that are formed upon folding. It is the basic blueprint of any models and the lines observed on the CP are the necessary creases that should be formed to make the base.

For this post, I will be dealing with the very basic concept on understanding crease patterns. This will not deal with the design aspects though it is important to understand when designing.
I will deal with the :
Symmetry
Circles,
Rivers
Stick Figure and
Creases / Lines
Symmetry
There are 2 types of symmetries.

Stick Figure
Stick figures are used as a guide that is usually not drawn together with the CP but are derived from them. Stick figures can also be derived from the Crease Pattern itself.

This is the actual stick figure of my origami goat/ ibex which is used to create the CP in the first picture. This generally show the parts of animal I wanted to create.
Circles
Circles are used to allocate minimum amount of paper so that we do not use used paper into another part of the model. E.g. Paper used for legs cannot be used for paper for the head. This is obvious but a fundamental for crease pattern designing. With circles, it allows us to see the assignment of paper visually and which part of the paper had no assignment and be used for some other parts of the paper or even for more intricate details. We thus do not fold or crease any circles but it is for us to visualise the models.
In CP and designing, the radius of the circle is equal to the length of the stick figure part. This is crucial knowledge for the creation of models from stick figure! So, If the tail is 5 times shorter than the hing leg, then the radius, r, of the circle will be 5 times shorter, 0.2r. When designing circle packed design, circles can be of arbitrary size depending on the the stick figure.
The left side of the CP shows circle which means we can see the placement or arrangement of flaps visually which gives us a great understanding and appreciation of the model.
Rivers
While circles are used for determining flaps, rivers are used to separate flaps from one another. For example, Arms and legs do not join at a point. It is separated using a river so that there will be a body. I will not go into great details but to understand CP, this is sufficient enough to know the type of crease pattern that I had been posting.

Rivers on the left side of the CP are in BLUE while rivers on the right side are in GREEN.
The other shades of other colours on the right side are the actual amount of paper taken up to form flaps and parts of the model.
Challenge: Can you figure out how this CP can relate to the stick figure above?
Creases / Lines
After the circles are packed, there are rules which we can follow to make the model flatfoldable, mostly coming from the theory of straight skeleton theory to fold such that edges comes together forming a straight line. The lines are mostly what we fold to create the base of the model; the basic folded object that comprises of all the necessary flaps and spaces between the flaps.
To know more about it I highly recommend , if you don't already have, to buy here in amazon " Origami Design Secrets: Mathematical Methods for an Ancient Art, Second Edition 2nd Edition" by Robert J Lang that teaches in-depth into the theory and why it works together with other interesting design techniques.
Conclusion
CP or Crease Pattern is like the DNA to the model of creation
We do not fold circles
Circles shows the minimum amount of paper needed during the planning phase
Radius of circles = length of flap ; Gives us clue of the stick figure
Hope you all have a better understanding of CP studying and that it can inspire you further to go into designing after adequate experience of folding models ranging from simple to complex!
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