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A tool for teaching curve design

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Published:01 March 1998Publication History
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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.

References

  1. 1 Gerald Farin, NURB Curves and Surfaces, A K Peters, 1995.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  2. 2 Gerald Farin, Curves and Surfaces for CA GD: A Practical Guide, forth edition, Academic Press, 1997. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  3. 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 ScholarGoogle Scholar
  4. 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 ScholarGoogle Scholar
  5. 5 Les Piegl and Wayne Tiller, The NURBS Book, Springer-Verlag, 1995. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  6. 6 Alyn Rockwood and Peter Chambers, Interactive Curves and Surfaces: A Multimedia Tutorial on CA GD, Morgan Kaufmann, 1996. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  7. 7 Jonathan Yen, Knotty: A B-Spline Visualization Program, Part I and II, Morgan Kaufrnann, San Francisco, 1993.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar

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  1. A tool for teaching curve design

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                  cover image ACM SIGCSE Bulletin
                  ACM SIGCSE Bulletin  Volume 30, Issue 1
                  Mar. 1998
                  376 pages
                  ISSN:0097-8418
                  DOI:10.1145/274790
                  Issue’s Table of Contents
                  • cover image ACM Conferences
                    SIGCSE '98: Proceedings of the twenty-ninth SIGCSE technical symposium on Computer science education
                    March 1998
                    396 pages
                    ISBN:0897919947
                    DOI:10.1145/273133

                  Copyright © 1998 ACM

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                  Association for Computing Machinery

                  New York, NY, United States

                  Publication History

                  • Published: 1 March 1998

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