88 research outputs found
Coaxing a planar curve to comply
AbstractA long-standing problem in computer graphics is to find a planar curve that is shaped the way you want it to be shaped. A selection of various methods for achieving this goal is presented. The focus is on mathematical conditions that we can use to control curves while still allowing the curves some freedom. We start with methods invented by Newton (1643–1727) and Lagrange (1736–1813) and proceed to recent methods that are the subject of current research. We illustrate almost all the methods discussed with diagrams. Three methods of control that are of special interest are interpolation methods, global minimization methods (such as least squares), and (Bézier) control points. We concentrate on the first of these, interpolation methods
The use of Cornu spirals in drawing planar curves of controlled curvature
AbstractCornu spirals or clothoids have been used in highway design for many years. In the past the spirals have been found manually by draftsmen. The purpose of this paper is to show that it is practical to find these spirals with a micro-computer. The design curve will be made up of arcs of circles and segments of Cornu spirals joined in such a way that the curvature is continuous throughout, and takes its largest values on the arcs of circles. Thus, the radii of the circles used will limit, and control the curvature of the whole design curve
Approximating smooth planar curves by arc splines
AbstractWhen a smooth curve is used to describe the path of a computer-controlled cutting machine, the path is usually approximated by many straight line segments. It is preferable to describe the cutting path as an arc spline, a tangent continuous piecewise curve made of circular arcs and straight line segments. This paper presents an algorithm for finding an arbitrarily close arc spline approximation of a smooth curve
Uniform convergence of discrete curvatures from nets of curvature lines
We study discrete curvatures computed from nets of curvature lines on a given
smooth surface, and prove their uniform convergence to smooth principal
curvatures. We provide explicit error bounds, with constants depending only on
properties of the smooth limit surface and the shape regularity of the discrete
net.Comment: 21 pages, 8 figure
- …