A unified Pythagorean hodograph approach to the medial axis transform and offset approximation

AbstractAlgorithms based on Pythagorean hodographs (PH) in the Euclidean plane and in Minkowski space share common goals, the main one being rationality of offsets of planar domains. However, only separate interpolation techniques based on these curves can be found in the literature. It was recently revealed that rational PH curves in the Euclidean plane and in Minkowski space are very closely related. In this paper, we continue the discussion of the interplay between spatial MPH curves and their associated planar PH curves from the point of view of Hermite interpolation. On the basis of this approach we design a new, simple interpolation algorithm. The main advantage of the unifying method presented lies in the fact that it uses, after only some simple additional computations, an arbitrary algorithm for interpolation using planar PH curves also for interpolation using spatial MPH curves. We present the functionality of our method for G1 Hermite data; however, one could also obtain higher order algorithms

Application of a metric for complex polynomials to bounded modification of planar Pythagorean-hodograph curves

By interpreting planar polynomial curves as complex-valued functions of a real parameter, an inner product, norm, metric function, and the notion of orthogonality may be defined for such curves. This approach is applied to the complex pre-image polynomials that generate planar Pythagorean-hodograph (PH) curves, to facilitate the implementation of bounded modifications of them that preserve their PH nature. The problems of bounded modifications under the constraint of fixed curve end points and end tangent directions, and of increasing the arc length of a PH curve by a prescribed amount, are also addressed

New algebraic and geometric characterizations of planar quintic Pythagorean-hodograph curves

The aim of this work is to provide new characterizations of planar quintic Pythagorean-hodograph curves. The first two are algebraic and consist of two and three equations, respectively, in terms of the edges of the Bézier control polygon as complex numbers. These equations are symmetric with respect to the edge indices and cover curves with generic as well as degenerate control polygons. The last two characterizations are geometric and rely both on just two auxiliary points outside the control polygon. One requires two (possibly degenerate) quadrilaterals to be similar, and the other highlights two families of three similar triangles. All characterizations are a step forward with respect to the state of the art, and they can be linked to the well-established counterparts for planar cubic Pythagorean-hodograph curves. The key ingredient for proving the aforementioned results is a novel general expression for the hodograph of the curve

Characterization of Spherical and Plane Curves Using Rotation Minimizing Frames

In this work, we study plane and spherical curves in Euclidean and Lorentz-Minkowski 3-spaces by employing rotation minimizing (RM) frames. By conveniently writing the curvature and torsion for a curve on a sphere, we show how to find the angle between the principal normal and an RM vector field for spherical curves. Later, we characterize plane and spherical curves as curves whose position vector lies, up to a translation, on a moving plane spanned by their unit tangent and an RM vector field. Finally, as an application, we characterize Bertrand curves as curves whose so-called natural mates are spherical.Comment: 8 pages. This version is an improvement of the previous one. In addition to a study of some properties of plane and spherical curves, it contains a characterization of Bertrand curves in terms of the so-called natural mate

On the implicit equation of conics and quadrics offsets

A new determinantal representation for the implicit equation of offsets to conics and quadrics is derived. It is simple, free of extraneous components and provides a very compact expanded form, these representations being very useful when dealing with geometric queries about offsets such as point positioning or solving intersection purposes. It is based on several classical results in ?A Treatise on the Analytic Geometry of Three Dimensions? by G. Salmon for offsets to non-degenerate conics and central quadrics.This research was funded by the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad and by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), under the project MTM2017-88796-P