Origami! (I made a stupid thing and I'm proud of it.)

[Dan Q]

I made a stupid thing for Weird Web October and it turned out to be pretty high-effort (and turned into a real sloggy hack at the end to fix bugs), but I'm proud of the result so I wanted to share (click the pic or go to origami.danq.dev to try it; I hope it works in your browser!):

The code was hard, but honestly the hardest thing was learning to think of a piece of completed origami as a series of "layers" and then work that backwards to a flat piece of paper to work out what the partial "shapes" are and how they move over the course of creating a piece of origami. I don't think I'll ever look at a piece of folded paper the same way again!

(also: I folded so much paper on my desk while I was thinking through this; so much recycling to do, now!)

(I'm not doing every day of Weird Web October; just a few... and that's how I felt it possible to put this level of effort into one of the few days I'm taking part in!)

[bennizone]

this is SERIOUSLY cool, i love it!! particularly cus I've tried following origami-instructions, and they never really click for me (i have really crappy spacial awareness haha, it's hard to understand how stuff is being flipped and folded from 2D images!), but this really felt like I was doing it right for the first time.... even though my hand was being directed, LOLL... i felt a certain childlike wonder.. awesome 

[Melooon]

It worked great for me! This is intense and impressive, but it needs sound effects where the paper groans and complains when you fold it  I assume that is what all paper does when it is folded, but peoples ears cannot understand paper screams 

[Dan Q]

It worked great for me! This is intense and impressive, but it needs sound effects where the paper groans and complains when you fold it  I assume that is what all paper does when it is folded, but peoples ears cannot understand paper screams 

I was considering sound effects, but I ran out of time! I was only thinking of "crease and fold" sounds, but it could be a fun easter egg if say 1 time in 4 repeat-visitors get a "complainy" sheet of paper instead!

[norn]

This is so... relaxing. I even tried to fold one out of paper, butI failed. 

Are you planning to add more shapes or is it 'nah, I'm good'?

[Dan Q]

Are you planning to add more shapes or is it 'nah, I'm good'?

Probably I'm done. This was supposed to be a one-off, and it was really hard so I'm not keen to revisit it. But now I've done the groundwork it's certainly not impossible and I might use what I've learned somewhere else... like I could add to my website's April Fools Gag collection a button that can show up that "folds" the website into a paper swan or something? I dunno.