Abstract
This paper describes a tool for teaching curve design. This tool is a component of the software tools to be used in a computing with geometry course [3, 4] that is being developed under the support of National Science Foundation. Curve design is important in computer graphics, animation, and computer aided design. Unfortunately, curve design requires very involved mathematics even though many curve design concepts are intuitive. As a result, it has been a challenging job for instructors teaching curves and surfaces in computer graphics, computer aided design, and other related courses. During past years, there have not been very many efforts dedicated to curve design tool development. Yen [7] produced a well-received video program explaining important concepts of B-spline curves and surfaces and Rockwood and Chambers [6] published a multimedia tutorial on computer aided geometric design. The former only provides a one-way communication, while the latter restricts users to a predefined environment with very limited interaction for users to carry out experiments. To fill this gap, our tool provides students with a fully interactive environment in which they are free to design, modify, and manipulate curved objects and perform experiments without constraints.In the following, Section 2 presents design issues, Section 3 discusses general features, Section 4 enumerates basic elements, Section 5 covers advanced topics, and Section 6 is our conclusion. Interested readers should consult [1, 2, 5] for mathematical background details.
- 1 Gerald Farin, NURB Curves and Surfaces, A K Peters, 1995.Google Scholar
- 2 Gerald Farin, Curves and Surfaces for CA GD: A Practical Guide, forth edition, Academic Press, 1997. Google Scholar
Digital Library
- 3 john L. Lowther and Ching-Kuang Shene, Geometric Computing in the Undergraduate Computer Science Curricula, The Journal of Computing in Small Colleges, Vol. 13 (1997), No. 2 (November), pp. 50-61.Google Scholar
- 4 John L. Lowther, Ching-Kuang Shene and Yuan Zhao, Computing with Geometry as an Undergraduate Course, August 1997. Available at http://www, cs .mtu. edu/- shene/edu/educat ion. html.Google Scholar
- 5 Les Piegl and Wayne Tiller, The NURBS Book, Springer-Verlag, 1995. Google Scholar
Digital Library
- 6 Alyn Rockwood and Peter Chambers, Interactive Curves and Surfaces: A Multimedia Tutorial on CA GD, Morgan Kaufmann, 1996. Google Scholar
Digital Library
- 7 Jonathan Yen, Knotty: A B-Spline Visualization Program, Part I and II, Morgan Kaufrnann, San Francisco, 1993.Google Scholar
Index Terms
A tool for teaching curve design
Recommendations
A tool for teaching curve design
SIGCSE '98: Proceedings of the twenty-ninth SIGCSE technical symposium on Computer science educationThis paper describes a tool for teaching curve design. This tool is a component of the software tools to be used in a computing with geometry course [3, 4] that is being developed under the support of National Science Foundation. Curve design is ...
G2 curve design with planar quadratic rational Bézier spiral segments
Spiral segments are useful in the design of fair curves. They are important in computer-aided design CAD and manufacturing applications, the design of highway and railway routes, trajectories of mobile robots, and other similar applications. Quadratic ...
Planar G2 transition with a fair Pythagorean hodograph quintic curve
Recently planar cubic and Pythagorean hodograph quintic transition curves that are suitable for G2 blending were developed. They are suitable for blending, e.g. rounding corners, or for smooth transition between two curves, e.g. two circular arcs. It ...






Comments