The Origami Forum

In fact I got issues to fold without diagrams.

90% of the models that I fold are from diagrams, and are intermediate/complex, and I can hardly remember the steps after folding it, even if I fold it 3 or 5 times.

And then if I am somewhere with paper and no diagrams, I need to scratch my head a lot, to finish something.

So how do you manage to memorize models, and which one do you easily memorize ?

For me models are easier to memorise if you have the structure and crease pattern of the model memorised.

How to manage to memorize not simple models? It is like math when you learn calculate e.g. differencial equations. Recently I folded Joseph Wu's eastern dragon from memory even I have not fold it for a long time. It is because when I learn how to fold it I folded it every day for several months. So 3 or 5 times is absolutely nothing for memorizing.
This is my suggestion...

thut wrote:For me models are easier to memorise if you have the structure and crease pattern of the model memorised.

Exactly. Memorizing a CP is way easier than memorizing the whole folding sequence

call me crazy but i remember how to fold something after folding it just once even both the new and the old kawasaki roses

Hi this is Arnold from Taiwan first join discussion. The same problem always happened to me when I was creating something. I think maybe put a video beside will easy to remember.

I think Joisel's rat is pretty easy to memorize. I could fold it without instructions after I folded it two times.

It's easier to memorize a folding sequence with large and complicated steps than a folding sequence where even a simple petal fold is devided in several steps. That's why I tend to look at multiple steps in diagrams and fold them all at once. It's also easier to memorize diagrams if you don't blindly follow the steps, but look at which steps are for which parts of the model and how those parts should look in the end.

rokonacdc wrote:i remember how to fold something after folding it just once

I'd like to see that for a model like Satoshi Kamiya's Ancient Dragon

Anyway, I agree that CPs are (sometimes) much easier to remember than folding sequences and I can't really say that I know many models by heart. I don't think it's that important either because if I don't know what to fold I can just go ahead and create something new

Btw, there is a similar topic here: viewtopic.php?t=16

I find memorizing a diagram is a lot like studying for a test... I have to go over and over the diagram (on complex diagrams) until I can fold it without even looking... it always works for me! Then again, I don't have one of the best memories...

I always try to have a mental image of the end product that I am folding, that way if I can get the first few steps, I can puzzle out what comes next.

If the model has very little pre-creasing, and is under fifty or so steps, (I did manage to memorize Lang's black devil angler). Usually I memorize a model just by folding it once.... I don't know, it's just something that I do. I never purpose to memorize a diagramed model; it's something that comes naturally.
I guess if you are trying to memorize one, look at the most important steps, and memorize those, and then the intermediate steps will come naturally.
The more you fold, the more you get used to all the different folds that shape a model. It just becomes easier and easier to fold from memory. Just keep folding.

When I fold something that I like ...
I fold it again, smaller, so I allready have folded it two times.
Then, I try to fold it quickly, without making beautifull folds : folding quickly forces you to look the main steps of the diagram, and to memorize a step while you are folding the previous one.

By the way, folding quickly allows you to fold two models (and more folding helps memorization) when you would have folded only one perfect model.

Forget the finishing details when you try to learn diagrams: this is why I quickly fold smaller models : it is often difficult to fold the details on smaller models and creases are more quickly made.

Some days later, I try to fold it without using the diagram ... and If I miss a step, I spend some time learning it, as I know that I'm likely to miss it again later ...


Anyway, symetrical models are easier to remember that asymetrical ones, and repetitve models are the easiest, cause you repeat severall times the same steps folding only one model:
in kawasaki's roses, you repeat 4 times the same thing, so you learn it 4 times faster (finishing 1 rose is like finishing 4 models of a violonist for instance)
in modulars ... well it depends on the number of identicall pieces

I don't like to memorize anything I fold, instead I'd rather learn the base and then work on the details I try to solve most of the details on my own if I can't find a solution I look at the diagrams that's how eventually you can learn the models you fold they can become hundreds

I wrote:Then again, I don't have one of the best memories...

I now have Charles Esseltine's Dragon memorized... I had it memorized by my 3rd attempt, and I have now folded 15 of them. I guess I was wrong

what i do is fold the model 1 time. then, about 3 hours later, i refold it, trying not to look at the diagrams. the next day, i repeat the process. i have memorized the dragon in flight, the devil by Jun Maekawa, and a lot of other models doing this.