Origami unfolding animation

Hey there just a quick question before I leap into this next small project.

I need a extruded number “3” to unfold, kind of like origami, like this…

any tips on how to do that or will I just need to animate a whole bunch of shapes unfolding and unhiding manually?

Thanks in advance.

I’ve tried with a custom transform orientation but the interpolation from one keyframe to the next mucks up, see my images below…




see how the centre image shows the first piece splitting from the main piece, does the animation not know how to handle custom transform orientations?

Actually here’s the file

http://www.pasteall.org/blend/36002

for a great control use Emu’s scripts here: http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?186071
I suggest to cut the mesh yourself and use the script to create armature

as a quick option try this one: http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?307784
rough test on this last script: https://db.tt/BYeAk7Dl

Try this (just press Play to see it working):

fold-out.blend (509 KB)

It worked for someone else, some time ago with the same problem.

Cheers, Clock.

Mind you, if I was doing it again today - I might do something like this instead:

fold-out.blend (863 KB)

Cheers, Clock. :smiley:

Thx liero,

that was exactly what I was after!