(via Edible Geography)
In fact, version 4 of TreeMakercould solve for crease patterns that I couldn’t construct by any other way — by which I mean, using pencil and paper. I (and at this writing, most other composers of technical origami) have usually designed my/our compositions on paper using the geometric concepts collectively described as “circle/river packing.” (Those concepts are described in my book,Origami Design Secrets; seeits pagefor details.) No computer is needed for this type of design; one simply sketches circles and the crease patterns known as molecules, constructs the crease pattern, and folds away. Occasionally a bit of algebra is needed to work out an initial reference point or two (seeReferenceFinderfor more on this).
TreeMaker allows one to set up quite elaborate relationships between flaps, their lengths, and their angles: far more complex relationships than are possible using pencil-and-paper origami design. Which meant that it was now possible, with TreeMaker, to solve for origami bases that truly were more complicated than anything a person could design by hand.
Yes, there is, in fact, software for designing origami.

