Amiga Computing - Commodore Is Awesome

I
rigami? In a DTP column? Well, only in
the loosest sense of the word I'm
talking about folded paper - two-fold
and three-fold brochures, greetings cards, paper
aeroplanes and so on. They might seem like
tough tasks when you first look at them, but they
can actually be quite easy and a lot of fun to do.
The only thing they really rely on is the ability to
rotate graphics and text. So your PageStream,
ProPage, Wordworth 3.1 and Final Writer will be
fine, but things like PageSetter or kindWords
aren't suitable
The very first thing to bear in mind is that you
cant do this solely on the computer (well, not
unless you have a brain the site of a planet) So
get out a spare piece of A4 arid have a good
look at rt.
What sort of printer do you have? If rts one
that relies on tractor or friction feed you know
you won't be able to print on the bottom inch or
so of the paper If it's a laser. you wont be able
to phM nght up to the side edges. Know the
limitations you are stuck with and don't jump
straight into your design without considenng
these elements of space
MEHUREMER5
The n e xt th in g yo u w
ruler , out. Fold Me paper so that it resembles the
11 n a v e
final shape you want, whether it be the complex
t o
folds d of a o paper aeroplane or simply folded into
quarters i s for a birthday card Then measure
where g the e Crease t marks are.
y o u
The best way of assuring accuracy is to draw
r
your fold lines in your DIP package and then
adjust them numerically, rather than by eye. For
lines at an angle, you might find it easier to use a
protractor to calculate the angle from the edge
of the page and enter it this way, instead of
trying to fix start and end points in space.
Once you have marked up your page with
lines, you are then ready to proceed onto the
design side of things. As a birthday card is the
simplest example, we will have a look at that first.
Your page should be divided into four quarters.
Looking at the piece of paper you nave folded
you will see you need to use the toplett hand
corner for the inside of the card and the bottom
nght-hand corner for the (over.
The inside of the card has to be upside-down,
so your best bet is to create your greeting in that
section of the page the right way up), and once
you are satisfied that it fits, looks nice, and is
going to print, you can then select all the items
in the section, and group them together if
Faling into plam
1
• Web.
111 rhi• Is the atrt•
sIde of our
three- fold brochure
(sections two, eie
end one)
necessary, before rotating the whole bunch
through 180 degrees. A three-fold brochure is
somewhat more difficult to plan as you will
almost certainly want to print on both sides of
the paper. You will need two pages. both divided
Into three in the same places lir you have a
master page facility in the program you are
using, I would suggest you use that).
Then you wit need to decide which flap will
inow on the outside, whether you want a
The illustranom On this page show the two Imges I have clone in PageAream 2 1 tor this sort of
brixnure The quality of the globe seems shoddy but as It is an EPS graphtc it will print okay. This type
of three-fold brochure takes a lot more thought, and in this instance was achieved using three copies
of the clip, one on sections three, four and five, and one on section one - moved so this section had
the middle of the cyaphsc in It The remainder of the graphIc falls off the tight-hand side of the page
and also cOverS section stir.
The last dip is used on section two. again with the middle pan of the graphic over it and the left-
hand portron of the graphic has fallen off the left-hand side of the page and the other third is covering
secOon six. This is why I have covered the whole of section six with a white tKirclecless box to cover up
the overlapping images
Play around with these concept- and try your rand at the paper aeroplane idea The techniques
have explained might prove more protilernatir with one of me
, bit wof oingenuity. r d p you u bshould l i sbe haf:Xe & to cope
p r o g r a m s
b u t
W
a
i t h
Turning
Japane5e
continuation of a graphic from one half Of toe
brochure to the other, and if you are going to
need to print on the back or the middle section.
For ease of use, you will probably find it less
conftsung to sketch out your idea onto your sheet
of A4 first and numtier Me sections from one to
six Repeat dm numbering in your DTP program -
you can always get rid of them once the design is
complete.
Imagine a three-foicl brochure folded up in
front of you. The section you can see first (the first
flap) is called section one, the next flap is section
two, then the three spread sections are three.
four and five, leaving the middle panel on Me
back of the brochure as section so
One of the nicest examples of continuity in a
three-fold brochure is where there is a picture on
the cover (section II which, when opened,
reveals the same picture on the second flap, but
perhaps with some more text on it 'section 2),
which also continues onto the inside of the first
section 'section 31 When you open the second
Rap, Me entire inside of the brochure is revealed
to show The complete picture.
Amiga Computing
MAY 1995
T . to Sibo
inside of OW
throw- told twochon,
(sections three,
lour and Ilse)
take5 a look
at thu
intrkaties of
DIP origami