CURVE REPRESENTATION

❖ Examples in the previous section have been chosen to require only simple geometric entities (lines and circles) to provide a good
understanding of issues encountered in practicing CAD/CAM technology.
❖ However, many applications (automotive and aerospace industries) require other general curves to meet various shape constraints
(continuity and/or curvature). The same will be discussed in this section.
❖ A geometric description of curves defining an object can be tackled in several ways. A curve can be described by arrays of
coordinate data or by an analytic equation.
❖ The coordinate array method is impractical for obvious reasons. The storage required can be excessively large and the computation
to transform the data from one form to another is cumbersome.
❖ In addition, the exact shape of the curve is not known, therefore impairing exact computations such as intersections of curves and
physical properties of objects (e.g., volume calculations).
❖ From a design point of view, it becomes difficult to redesign
shapes of existing objects via coordinate array method
❖ Analytic equations of curves provide designers with
information such as the effect of data points on curve
behavior, control, continuity and curvature
Ship hull design
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 Reference slide (only for reference not in syllabus): Coordinate array method
• “Coordinate array method" typically refers to the use of arrays to store and manage coordinate data in various programming contexts
or applications.
In Computer Graphics:
Representing vertices of 2D or 3D objects or defining positions of elements within a scene.

Single-Dimensional Arrays:
• Coordinates can be stored sequentially in a single array, often alternating between X and Y (or X, Y, Z) values. For example, [x1, y1,
x2, y2, x3, y3].
Multi-Dimensional Arrays:
• A more structured approach involves using a two-dimensional array where one dimension represents the coordinate type (e.g., X, Y)
and the other represents the point index. For example, [[x1, x2, x3], [y1, y2, y3]] or [[x1, y1], [x2, y2], [x3, y3]].

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 CURVE REPRESENTATION
❑ The curve equation should be able to accept points and/or tangent values as input from the designer
❑ Curves can be described mathematically by nonparametric or parametric equations.
❑ Nonparametric equations can be explicit or implicit.
❑ For a nonparametric curve, the coordinates y and z of a point on the curve are expressed as two separate functions of the third
coordinate x as the independent variable (Explicit form)
This curve representation is known as the nonparametric explicit form

(This represents one-to-one relationship. Thus, this form cannot be used to represent closed (e.g., circles) curves)
❑ If the coordinates x, y and z are related together by two functions, a nonparametric
implicit form results (Implicit form)

The implicit nonparametric representation can solve the previous

problem and is given by the intersection of two surfaces

❑ For a parametric curve, on the other hand, a parameter is introduced and the
coordinates x, y and z are expressed as functions of this parameter
Position Vector of Point P

In parametric form, each point on a curve is expressed as a function of a parameter u.

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CURVE REPRESENTATION

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CURVE REPRESENTATION

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CURVE REPRESENTATION

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A few advantages of explicit representation

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Parametric representation

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Advantages of Parametric representation

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Advantages of Parametric representation over non-parametric representation

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 Parametric representation of a three-dimensional curve
• Parametric equations define the coordinates of points on a curve or surface as functions of one or more independent variables (i.e., u)
• The parametric equation for a three-dimensional curve in space takes the following vector form:

✓ Equation implies that the coordinates of a point on the curve are the
components of its position vector.
✓ In Cartesian coordinate systems, we describe points using their
coordinates (x, y, z) directly.
x
✓ A mapping from a one-dimensional Euclidean parametric space E1
(represented by a single parameter 𝑢) to a three-dimensional
Cartesian space 𝐸3 (represented by coordinates x, y, z) is achieved
through a set of parametric equations.
✓ Each Cartesian coordinate (i.e., x, y, z) can be expressed as a function
of the parameter u. This is as follows: x = f(u), y = g(u), and z = h(u)
✓ The parametric curve is bounded by two parametric values umin and umax.
It is convenient to normalize the parametric variable u to have the limits
0 and 1. Positive sense on the curve is the sense in which u increases.
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Slope of a parametric curve

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Numerical Problem

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 Characteristics of parametric curve
• Points on the curve can be computed by substituting the proper parametric values into the parametric equation.
• Geometrical transformations can be performed directly on parametric equations.
• Parametric geometry can be easily expressed in terms of vectors and matrices which enables the use of simple computation
techniques to solve complex analytical geometry problems.
• In addition, common forms for curves which are extendable to surfaces can be found.
• For example, a cubic polynomial and a cubic polynomial for surfaces, can describe a three-dimensional curve sufficiently in space
• Curves are inherently bounded and, therefore, no additional geometric data is needed to define boundaries.
• Lastly, the parametric form is better suited for display by the special graphics hardware

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 Characteristics of parametric curve
• There are two categories of curves that can be represented parametrically: analytic and synthetic.
• Analytic curves are defined as those that can be described by analytic equations such as lines, circles and conics.
• Synthetic curves are the ones that are described by a set of data points (control points) such as splines and Bezier curves.
• Parametric polynomials usually fit the control points.
• While analytic curves provide very compact forms to represent shapes and simplify the computation of related properties such as
areas and volumes.
• Alternatively, synthetic curves provide designers with greater flexibility and control of a curve shape by changing the positions of
the control points. Global as well as local control of the shape can be obtained

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 Parametric representation of curve

For any general 3D curve, the equation

can be expressed in a parametric form
(x, y, z are some function of u)
u is a parameter which will vary within a certain range
from starting point to end point of the curve

The same curve can be also represented in an

implicit manner

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 Parametric representation of curve

starting point (a,b,c) and direction cosines

are l,m,n

Typical example of parametric

curve (straight line)

For a circle, center at (0,0) and

a is the radius

This is parametric representation

Implicit representation

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 Parametric cubic curves
▪ A circle is typically a case of second-degree
curve, quadratic curve but higher degree
curves are also there and the first types of
curves that will be dealing cubic curves (or
parametric cubic curves)

Vector equation in 3D (space curve)

p0 and p1 are the position vectors

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 Parametric cubic curves
Vector
equation

Scalar
equation

(Row vector *
p= U A
Column vector)
▪ U is a matrix of the four terms in a cubic polynomial and the matrix A is matrix of 4 vectors (a0, a1, a2, a3)

▪ Each vector has 3 components (x,y,z) therefore matrix A has 12 components. By specifying 4 vectors, a unique PC curve
can be obtained
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 Parametric cubic curves

Parametric cubic curve: coordinates are

expressed as cubic polynomials of a
parameter
Advantages
• All derivatives exist and can be
computed analytically.
Splines are piecewise
• It is the lowest order parametric polynomial curves. Curve is
curve that can meet all divided into multiple segments,
continuity requirements. and each segment is defined by
a polynomial equation.
• Higher order curves are more
wiggly & introduce unwanted
oscillations into curve
• A cubic curve is smooth within
its segment. Smoothness for the
whole curve can be achieved by
matching tangent vectors at the
joints of segments.

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 Parametric cubic curves

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 Parametric cubic curves

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 Parametric cubic curves

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 Parametric cubic curves

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