On multi-degree splines

Multi-degree splines are piecewise polynomial functions having sections of different degrees. For these splines, we discuss the construction of a B-spline basis by means of integral recurrence relations, extending the class of multi-degree splines that can be derived by existing approaches. We then propose a new alternative method for constructing and evaluating the B-spline basis, based on the use of so-called transition functions. Using the transition functions we develop general algorithms for knot-insertion, degree elevation and conversion to B\'ezier form, essential tools for applications in geometric modeling. We present numerical examples and briefly discuss how the same idea can be used in order to construct geometrically continuous multi-degree splines

Piecewise Extended Chebyshev Spaces: a numerical test for design

Given a number of Extended Chebyshev (EC) spaces on adjacent intervals, all of the same dimension, we join them via convenient connection matrices without increasing the dimension. The global space is called a Piecewise Extended Chebyshev (PEC) Space. In such a space one can count the total number of zeroes of any non-zero element, exactly as in each EC-section-space. When this number is bounded above in the global space the same way as in its section-spaces, we say that it is an Extended Chebyshev Piecewise (ECP) space. A thorough study of ECP-spaces has been developed in the last two decades in relation to blossoms, with a view to design. In particular, extending a classical procedure for EC-spaces, ECP-spaces were recently proved to all be obtained by means of piecewise generalised derivatives. This yields an interesting constructive characterisation of ECP-spaces. Unfortunately, except for low dimensions and for very few adjacent intervals, this characterisation proved to be rather difficult to handle in practice. To try to overcome this difficulty, in the present article we show how to reinterpret the constructive characterisation as a theoretical procedure to determine whether or not a given PEC-space is an ECP-space. This procedure is then translated into a numerical test, whose usefulness is illustrated by relevant examples

Matrix representations for multi-degree B-splines

The paper is concerned with computing the B-spline basis of a multi-degree spline space, namely a space of piecewise functions comprised of polynomial segments of different degrees. To this aim, we provide a general method to work out a matrix representation relating the sought basis with another one easier to compute. This will allow us, for example, to calculate a multi degree B-spline basis starting from local Bernstein bases of different degrees or from the B-spline basis of a spline space where all sections have the same degree. This change of basis can be translated into a conceptually simple and computationally efficient algorithm for the evaluation of multi-degree B-splines

A practical method for computing with piecewise Chebyshevian splines

A piecewise Chebyshevian spline space is good for design when it possesses a B-spline basis and this property is preserved under knot insertion. The interest in such kind of spaces is justified by the fact that, similarly as for polynomial splines, the related parametric curves exhibit the desired properties of convex hull inclusion, variation diminution and intuitive relation between the curve shape and the location of the control points. For a good-for-design space, in this paper we construct a set of functions, called transition functions, which allow for efficient computation of the B-spline basis, even in the case of nonuniform and multiple knots. Moreover, we show how the spline coefficients of the representations associated with a refined knot partition and with a raised order can conveniently be expressed by means of transition functions. This result allows us to provide effective procedures that generalize the classical knot insertion and degree raising algorithms for polynomial splines. We further discuss how the approach can straightforwardly be generalized to deal with geometrically continuous piecewise Chebyshevian splines as well as with splines having section spaces of different dimensions. From a numerical point of view, we show that the proposed evaluation method is easier to implement and has higher accuracy than other existing algorithms