Bézier representation for cubic surface patches

The paper describes a new method for creating rectangular Bézier surface patches on an implicit cubic surface. Traditional techniques for representing surfaces have relied on parametric representations of surfaces, which, in general, generate surfaces of implicit degree 8 in the case of rectangular Bézier surfaces with rational biquadratic parameterization. The method constructs low-degree algebraic surface patches by reducing the implicit degree from 8 to 3. The construction uses a rectangular biquadratic Bézier control polyhedron that is embedded within a tetrahedron and satisfies a projective constraint. The control polyhedron and the resulting cubic surface patch satisfy all of the standard properties of parametric Bézier surfaces, including interpolation of the corners of the control polyhedron and the convex-hull property.     

An analogue approach to surface definition

This note describes a method for producing cubic curves made up from Bézier functions on an oscilloscope screen using simple analogue techniques. Ruled surface patches are illustrated in a simple extension of the method. It also indicates how generalized Bézier patches could be produced.     

Gregory-type patches bounded by low degree intergral curves for G continuity

G² continuity of free-form surfaces is sometimes very important in engineering applications. The conditions for G² continuity to connect two Bézier patches were studied and methods have been developed to ensure it. However, they have some restrictions on the shapes of patches of the Bézierpatch formulation. Gregory patch is a kind of free-form surface patch which is extended from Bézier patch so that four first derivatives on its boundary curves can be specified without restrictions of the compatibility condition. Several types of Gregory patches have been developed for intergral, rational, and NURBS boundary curves. In this paper, we propose some intergral boundary Gregorytype patches bounded by cubic and quartic curves for G² continuity.     

Control point surfaces over non-four-sided areas

This paper constructs control point surfaces of arbitrary degree over 3-, 5- and 6-sided areas. These surface patches behave like rectangular Bézier surface patches along their boundaries and can be connected smoothly with surrounding rectangular Bézier patches.     

The convexity of parametric Bézier triangular patches of degree 2

This paper discusses the convexity of parametric Bézier patches of degree 2 over triangles. A necessary and sufficient condition for the convexity of the Bézier patches is presented.     

Link between Bézier and Lagrange curve and surface schemes

A class of curves that vary continuously between polynomial Lagrange interpolants and polynomial Bézier curves is discussed. An element in this class is specified by a real number which could be used as a shape parameter for Bézier curves. A geometric derivation of this scheme is given, and the connection to Pólya curves is pointed out. A generalization to the case of tensor product and triangular surface patches is also described.     

Generating the Bézier points of a β-spline curve

We present an efficient algorithm for computing the Bézier points of a generalized cubic β-spline curve and show the connection with multiple knot insertion. We also consider the inverse problem of determining the β-spline vertices of a composite G² Bézier curve. Finally, we briefly discuss how to construct the Bézier net of a tensor product β-spline surface.     

Curvature continuous curves and surfaces

A simple methods is given for constructing the Bézier points of curvature continuous cubic spline curves and surfaces from their B-spline control points. The method is similar to the well-known construction of Bézier points of C² splines from their B-spline control points. The new construction allows the use of all results of the powerful Bernstein-Bézier technique in the realm of geometric splines.

A simple introduction to nu- and beta-splines is also derived, as well as some simple geometric properties of beta-splines.     

The rational cubic Bézier representation of conics

The rational cubic Bézier curve is a very useful tool in CAGD. It incorporates both conic sections and parametric cubic curves as special cases, so its advantage is that one can deal with curves of these two kinds in one computer procedure. In this paper, the necessary and sufficient conditions for representing conics by the rational cubic Bézier form in proper parametrization are investigated; these conditions can be divided into two parts: one for weights and the other for Bézier vertices.     

Computer-aided geometric design and panel generation for hull forms based on rational cubic Bézier curves

For generation of hull forms, a method using rational cubic Bézier curves is chosen because of their superior segmentwise local-weighted behavior. A hull form is defined by two sets of grid lines—transverse grid lines arranged in length direction and longitudinal grid lines arranged in depth direction. Transverse lines are first defined, the points on the transverse lines with the same curve parameter values are then fitted to define longitudinal lines. Thereby, each curve is described by a rational cubic Bézier curve in space. The bilge, flat side and flat bottom can be defined precisely and more flexibilities are provided for defining bow and stern regions. By the way, a hull surface can be generated which is useful to produce desired data for hydrostatic or panel generations.     

Curvature estimation scheme for triangle meshes using biquadratic Bézier patches

When dealing with triangle meshes, it is often important to compute curvature information for the purposes of feature recognition, segmentation, or shape analysis. Since a triangle mesh is a piecewise linear surface, curvature has to be estimated. Several different schemes have been proposed, both discrete and continuous, i.e. based on fitting surfaces locally. This paper compares commonly used discrete and continuous curvature estimation schemes. We also present a novel method which uses biquadratic Bézier patches as a local surface fitting technique.     

A modification to the rational boundary Gregory patch

This paper presents a method for modifying the boundary derivatives of rational Bézier patches, preserving their directions at any parameter so as not to affect the G¹ continuity with adjacent patches. This method is applicable to reduce the complexity of rational boundary Gregory patches.     

On the convexity of parametric Bézier triangular surfaces

In this paper, we discuss the convexity of parametric Bézier triangular patches, give some sufficient conditions of it to be convex, which only depend on the edge vectors and twist vectors. All the conditions we obtained can be served as the extension of the convexity preserving conditions of functional Bézier triangular patches.     

Three-dimensional Bézier interpolation in solid modeling and grid generation

Bézier and B-spline patches are popular tools in surface modeling. With these methods, a surface is represented by the product of univariate approximations. The extension of this concept to three-dimensions is straightforward and can be applied to the problem of grid generation. This report will demonstrate how rational Bézier basis functions can be used to generate three-dimensional solids that can be used in solid modeling and in the generation of grids. Examples will be given demonstrating the ability to generated three-dimensional grids directly from a set of data points without having to first set up the boundary surfaces. Many geometric grid properties can be imposed by the proper choice of the control net, the weights, and the twist models.     

Matrix formulations of Bézier technique

At the start of this paper, a recurrence formula for calculating the Bézier functions of any order is proved. Based on this formula, the Bézier functions are written in matrix form which enables us to develop the Bézier technique in a concise way. There are some new identities of the Bézier functions which are potentially useful in CAGD. Surprisingly a matrix involving the Bézier functions has been shown to be a doubly-stochastic matrix and the convergence behaviour of its powers is determined. Based upon these facts, the Kelisky — Rivlin theorem for the Bernstein polynomials has been extended to the Bézier curves.     

Rational hodographs

An equation for the hodograph control points for a rational degree n Bézier curve is derived. If, for a rational Bézier curve with positive weights, all weights are set to one, then the hodograph for this integral Bézier curve will bound the tangent directions of the rational curve.     

Tool path generation for free form surfaces using Bézier curves/surfaces

Presented in this paper is a tool path generation method for multi-axis machining of free-form surfaces using Bézier curves and surfaces. The tool path generation includes two core steps. First is the forward-step function that determines the maximum distance, called forward step, between two cutter contact (CC) points with a given tolerance. The second component is the side step function which determines the maximum distance, called side step, between two adjacent tool paths with a given scallop height. Using the Bézier curves and surfaces, we generate cutter contact (CC) points for free-form surfaces and cutter location (CL) data files for post processing. Several parts are machined using a multi-axis milling machine. As part of the validation process, the tool paths generated from Bézier curves and surfaces are analyzed to compare the machined part and the desired part.     

Dual Bézier curves and convexity preserving interpolation

A convexity preserving interpolation problem is analyzed from a geometrical point of view. A dualization of the usual Bézier techniques allows us to define a subdivision algorithm which generates certain conic sections. This algorithm can be used to define a rational convexity preserving interpolant. We also describe some particular dual Bézier curves which are particularly suitable for the design of convex functions.     

Generating Bézier points for curves and surfaces from boundary information

This paper presents efficient methods for directly generating Bézier points of curves and surfaces explicitly from the given compatible arbitrary order boundary information of Hermite curves, Coons-Hermite Cartesian sum patches and Coons-Boolean sum patches. The explicit expressions for the generalized Hermite functions are also developed. Furthermore, a method for determining the twist control points and higher level sets of interior control points from their boundary and lower level sets of control points by using the Coons-Boolean sum schema presented. Many interesting and useful examples are also given in this paper.     

An approximation approach of the clothoid curve defined in the interval [0, π/2] and its offset by free-form curves

We propose an algorithm to approximate the clothoid curve defined in the interval [0, π/2] and its offset curves with Bézier curves and the approximation errors converge to zero as the degree of the Bézier curves is increased. Secondly, we discuss how to approximate the clothoid curve by B-spline curves of low degrees. By employing our method, the clothoid curve and its offset can be efficiently incorporated into CAD/CAM systems, which are important for the development of 3D civil engineering CAD systems, especially for 3D highway road design systems. The proposed method has been implemented on AutoCAD R14.