Some very exciting stuff still coming in future work – probably most exciting for me is a new tool that makes it very easy to design with curved creases! Stay tuned.

Lots and lots and lots of features to add before this is a complete tool, but you can sign up for the beta release here and check it out:

app.packcad.com

Would also love to hear feedback about what you would want to do with PackCAD! Collecting that on GitHub for now: github.com/amandaghassa...

The new folding simulation also has a visualization to show you when the model cannot fold rigidly (i.e., when there is bending in the regions between creases). The direction and magnitude of the bending is indicated by the color, red or blue.

You can chain together several “Simulate Folding” operations in PackCAD to animate a folding sequence or model a transition between two different folded states.

I’m also working on a new folding simulation within PackCAD (kind of a successor to origamisimulator.org). PackCAD’s simulator is more accurate and interactive, allowing you to directly select creases to fold.

Since it’s parametric, you can go back in your design history, edit operations, and see how the changes propagate through your design.

It’s still very early days, but I’ll walk through some of the ideas behind PackCAD here.

At its core PackCAD is a parametric modeling environment for folded geometry. Similar to other CAD software, you build geometry by chaining together a series of operations.