Digitally folding Origami is a nice challenge in 3D. Here, 3D Artist Nika Ragua shares a look at some techniques on how one might create animated origami in Side Effects Houdini.
His walkthrough is basically a compilation of various techniques found on the web, including Yader’s technique for folding Origami in Cinema 4D.
Also included in the list for inspiration, is paper bend deformer Houdini Operator demonstration that was posted by Vlad Yudin, Backlit Media’s Houdini Origami SOP, and Danil Krivoruchko’s paper folding in SoftImage ICE.
You can download the scene file used in the tutorial, to dig into the process yourself.