Fast B-spline Curve Fitting by L-BFGS

We propose a novel method for fitting planar B-spline curves to unorganized data points. In traditional methods, optimization of control points and foot points are performed in two very time-consuming steps in each iteration: 1) control points are updated by setting up and solving a linear system of equations; and 2) foot points are computed by projecting each data point onto a B-spline curve. Our method uses the L-BFGS optimization method to optimize control points and foot points simultaneously and therefore it does not need to perform either matrix computation or foot point projection in every iteration. As a result, our method is much faster than existing methods

Ship Hull Representation by Non-Uniform Rational B-Spline Surface Patches

The purpose of this work is to propose a new method for representing the ship hull shape with mathematic surfaces so that geometric data can be generated for any point on the hull where required to assist the production process. An extensive survey of previous work is presented covering both the use of parametric curves and surfaces to model the ship hull and also the most relevant software systems developed for that purpose. The main methods and algorithms available for the generation and edition of curves and surfaces are presented and compared taking into consideration the intended application. From the analysis of the formulations available it was concluded that the most adequate one, which however had not yet been extensively used to model ship hulls was the Non-Uniform Rational B-Splines (NURBS), due to the potential of their capability to represent exactly conic curves and surfaces. Therefore these surfaces were selected as the basis of the method developed in this thesis. A procedure is proposed for the representation of a given hull form in a two step approach, creating first a wireframe model over which the surface patches are generated. Both curves and surfaces are based on the NURBS formulation. To create the wireframe model, first a set of longitudinal boundary lines is selected, dividing the surface into areas of similar shape. Then, these lines are fitted by curves and faired to some extent. Next, transverse sections are defined and split by the boundary lines. Surface patches are then generated over the transverse section curves within the limits of each patch. Finally, to obtain the traditional representation of the ship surface by transverse sections, buttocks and waterlines, contour lines are generated for constant values of x, y and z coordinates. A computer system has been developed incorporating an interface that allows the visualization of the curves and surfaces being modeled. The system incorporates several algorithms for generation and edition of curves and surfaces, in addition to the main contribution of this thesis which is the use of NURBS to represent the ship hull surface. The system also incorporates curve and surface analysis tools and some basic fairing algorithms so that during the several steps of the creation of the model, the fairness of the curves and surfaces can be evaluated and improved to some extent. The procedure is tested and compared with an existing commercial system through some application examples, of a complete hull and in more detail in the bow region, showing that good results can be obtained with the system presented here

Machine Learning Techniques on Multidimensional Curve Fitting Data Based on R- Square and Chi-Square Methods

Curve fitting is one of the procedures in data analysis and is helpful for prediction analysis showing graphically how the data points are related to one another whether it is in linear or non-linear model. Usually, the curve fit will find the concentrates along the curve or it will just use to smooth the data and upgrade the presence of the plot. Curve fitting checks the relationship between independent variables and dependent variables with the objective of characterizing a good fit model. Curve fitting finds mathematical equation that best fits given information. In this paper, 150 unorganized data points of environmental variables are used to develop Linear and non-linear data modelling which are evaluated by utilizing 3 dimensional ‘Sftool’ and ‘Labfit’ machine learning techniques. In Linear model, the best estimations of the coefficients are realized by the estimation of R- square turns in to one and in Non-Linear models with least Chi-square are the criteria.

Computer-Aided Development of Shell Plates

Ship hulls and other curved shells, like gas tanks, aircraft bodies, and even clothes and shoes, offer a common difficulty in their manufacturing: it is necessary to produce them from a set of formerly plane elements. These plane elements, the raw materials like plates and fabric pieces, must be curved and assembled together to form the final product. The reverse of the forming process of these curved elements, is the map of the curved surface onto the plane, which is improperly known as development. To develop a surface, in a proper sense, is to unfold it onto the plane without stretching or bulging. This is not possible with all kinds of shapes, such as spherical and saddle surfaces. Some common developable surfaces are the conical and cylindrical ones. To form a non-developable shell requires much more work than to form an equivalent shell of developable shape. This increases the costs, the processing times and the defect content. Nevertheless, the fluid dynamists and the other designers are not always free to use developable shapes in their concepts; therefore, a pragmatic approach to the construction of curved shells has to cope with non-developable surfaces. These subjects are chiefly of an advanced mathematic nature, and the required background is too widely spread in the bibliography. Therefore the necessary mathematical results are compiled and presented in Chapter 2 - The Mathematics of Developable Surfaces, providing for a unified view of the concepts, the symbols and the nomenclature. Since the advent of the digital computer, the increasing availability of computing power enabled new methods for surface development and for developable surface definition. By examining and comparing the methods reported in the literature, CHAPTER 3 - Plate Development and Developable Surfaces provides a broad view of the surface development issues, along with the developability conditions and the technologies for the definition of developable surfaces. Given the absence of developability conditions in some areas of the shell, a number of methodologies are reported which produce a plate map onto the plane. In Chapter 4 - Concept and Implementation of an Algorithm, the concept and the implementation of a new development algorithm is described, analysed and applied to example cases. By geodesicaly mapping the surface onto the plane, this method avoids the implementation difficulties of both non- developable surfaces, and developable surfaces with ruling lines aligned in any direction. Therefore, the slightly non-developable plates, commonly found in actual ship hulls, are easily accommodated by this process, working as a map onto the plane. In Chapter 5 - Industrial Application of the Improper Geodesic Map, the user interface of the method is presented. The method provides information about the surface developability and fairness, which assists the user in the decision to develop or otherwise to take corrective measures, like re-fairing or editing of seams and butts. Results obtained from analytical plates, and comparisons with results from both a 1/10-scale electrostatic development jig, and a commercial software package, validate the method. Other results, obtained from actual ship plates, are also presented, further confirming the good accuracy of the method's developments and its good behaviour when processing non-developable plates. This method is in current use, as part of a shipyard system

Rational quadratic Bézier spirals

A quadratic Bézier representation withholds a curve segment with free from loops, cusps and inflection points. Furthermore, this rational form provides extra freedom to generate visually pleasing curves due to the existence of weights. In this paper, we propose sufficient conditions for rational quadratic Bézier curves to possess monotonic increasing/decreasing curvatures by means of monotone curvature tests which are based on the derivative of curvature functions. We have derived a simple interval of the middle weight that assures the construction of a family of rational quadratic Bézier curves to be planar spirals, which is characterized by the turning angle, end curvatures and the chords of control polygon. The proposed formulation can be used by CAD systems for aesthetic product design, highway/railway design and robot trajectory design avoiding unwanted curvature oscillations

Evalutionary algorithms for ship hull skinning approximation

Traditionally, the design process of a hull involves simulation using clay models. This must be done cautiously, accurately and efficiently in order to sustain the performance of ship. Presently, the current technology of Computer Aided Design, Manufacturing, Engineering and Computational Fluid Dynamic has enabled a 3D design and simulation of a hull be done at a lower cost and within a shorter period of time. Besides that, automated design tools allow the transformation of offset data in designing the hull be done automatically. One of the most common methods in constructing a hull from the offset data is the skinning method. Generally, the skinning method comprised of skinning interpolation and skinning approximation. Skinning interpolation constructs the surface perfectly but improper selection of parameterization methods may cause bumps, wiggles, or uneven surfaces on the generated surface. On the other hand, using the skinning surface approximation would mean that the surface can only be constructed closer to data points. Thus, the error between the generated surface and the data points must be minimized to increase the accuracy. Therefore, this study aims to solve the error minimization problem in order to produce a smoother and fairer surface by proposing Non Uniform Rational B-Spline surface using various evolutionary optimization algorithms, namely, Gravitational Search Algorithm, Particle Swarm Optimization and Genetic Algorithm. The proposed methods involve four procedures: extraction of offset data from line drawing plan; generation of control points; optimization of a surface; and validations of hull surfaces. Validation is done by analyzing the surface curvature and errors between the generated surface and the given data points. The experiments were implemented on both ship hull and free form models. The findings from the experiments are compared with interpolated skinning surface and conventional skinning surface approximation. The results show that the optimized skinning surfaces using the proposed methods yield a smaller error, less control points generation and feasible surfaces while maintaining the shape of the hull

Sketch-based path design

We first present a novel approach to sketching 2D curves with minimally varying curvature as piecewise clothoids. A stable and efficient algorithm fits a sketched piecewise linear curve using a number of clothoid segments with G2 continuity based on a specified error tolerance. We then present a system for conceptually sketching 3D layouts for road and other path networks. Our system makes four key contributions. First, we generate paths with piecewise linear curvature by fitting 2D clothoid curves to strokes sketched on a terrain. Second, the height of paths above the terrain is automatically determined using a new constraint optimization formulation of the occlusion relationships between sketched strokes. Third, we present the break-out lens, a novel widget inspired by break-out views used in engineering visualization, to facilitate the in-context and interactive manipulation of paths from alternate view points. Finally, our path construction is terrain sensitive. ii Acknowledgements I would like to acknowledge the efforts of my supervisor, Karan Singh, and thank him for his guidance over the duration of the Masters program. I learned much from him a