# Animating Folding Plates

**URL:** <https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/animating-folding-plates/161022>\
**Category:** Rhino\
**Tags:** windows\
**Created:** [June 5, 2023, 8:55pm UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/animating-folding-plates/161022 "2023-06-05T20:55:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Michael\_Cobb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/user_avatar/discourse.mcneel.com/michael_cobb/32/262513_2.png) [@Michael\_Cobb](https://discourse.mcneel.com/u/Michael_Cobb)\
**Post date:** [June 5, 2023, 8:55pm UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/animating-folding-plates/161022/1 "2023-06-05T20:55:07Z")

</div>

I’m trying to figure out how to animate a flat arrangement of polygons with matching edges into a three-dimensional, folded open arrangement of planes. I’ve seen some grasshopper content that contains “hinging” and “folding” nodes that can be used to animate the folding of two planes. It is not immediately obvious to me how this can be implimented when one plane is hinging off another plane that is itself hinging off another plane. I’m attaching a three-step image that should give a sense of the basic animation desired.

 ![Asset 2](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/uploads/default/original/4X/e/2/5/e25d1e0a1feb116c27326a048605e06f099f80a0.jpeg)

Can anyone give me some advice on how best to proceed with this in Rhino?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![pascal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/user_avatar/discourse.mcneel.com/pascal/32/479395_2.png) [@pascal](https://discourse.mcneel.com/u/pascal)\
**Post date:** [June 5, 2023, 9:40pm UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/animating-folding-plates/161022/2 "2023-06-05T21:40:12Z")

</div>

Hi Mike - I do not see a way to do that in plain Rhino - you’ll need a dedicated animation tool - Bongo3d - or GH for that. I’d ask on the GH forum first.

> **[Grasshopper](https://discourse.mcneel.com/c/grasshopper/2)**
>
> Add a new topic to this category related to Grasshopper.

-Pascal

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Michael\_Cobb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/user_avatar/discourse.mcneel.com/michael_cobb/32/262513_2.png) [@Michael\_Cobb](https://discourse.mcneel.com/u/Michael_Cobb)\
**Post date:** [June 5, 2023, 9:56pm UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/animating-folding-plates/161022/3 "2023-06-05T21:56:12Z")

</div>

Thank you!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![martinsiegrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/user_avatar/discourse.mcneel.com/martinsiegrist/32/498369_2.png) [@martinsiegrist](https://discourse.mcneel.com/u/martinsiegrist)\
**Post date:** [June 6, 2023, 8:23am UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/animating-folding-plates/161022/4 "2023-06-06T08:23:35Z")

</div>

Hi Mike, this is possible and I can help you.

> [@How do I unroll this surface? Paper Mock Up](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/how-do-i-unroll-this-surface-paper-mock-up/108802/10):
>
> Well, soccer balls are made of leather… You’ll have to digg into platonic solids. This file contains an unrolled polysurface of a chamfered dodecahedron. I started with a mesh from Polyhedron plugin, exploded the mesh into individual faces and created a surface of each face then joined those. The unrolle polysurface is not exploded. [20\_09\_18\_chamfered\_dodecahedron\_from\_polyhedron\_plugin.3dm](https://discourse.mcneel.com/uploads/short-url/181Cq8Z9yQncmk7kxfkDpR4xyT6.3dm) (467.2 KB) [I played around with the chamfered dodecahedron a few years ago. This post on my insta sh…](https://www.instagram.com/p/BivOWAzAn_i/)

[

 ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/uploads/default/original/4X/f/5/6/f56cf6014dcd920fcb7d2db849137f6ee5dfa321.jpeg)

 ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/uploads/default/original/4X/1/a/5/1a5d7216964ade71b513c4845569c945d7544e5b.jpeg)]([Martin Siegrist on Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/p/BivOWAzAn_i/))