Free form curves: Hermite

curve
Dr. Jatinder Madan
Lecture 10
 Free form curves
Hermite curve (cubic spline)
Bezier curve
B-spline
NURBS
 Background
Analytic curves not sufficient to meet the geometric design
requirements
Car bodies, ship hulls, airplanes, consumer items
Mathematically, synthetic curves represent the problem of
constructing a smooth curve from given data points
These curves provide the designers much needed freedom
 PARAMETRIC CUBIC CURVE
It is also known as Hermite Curve

It is an Interpolation Curve

It has three different forms

Algebraic Form (12 algebraic coefficients)
Geometric Form (End points & tangent vectors)
Four - Point Form (Four points)
PARAMETRIC CUBIC CURVE
Algebraic Form

x = a3x u3 + a2x u2 + a1x u + a0x

y = a3y u3 + a2y u2 + a1y u + a0y 12
unknowns
z = a3z u3 + a2z u2 + a1z u + a0z
0u1

p (u) = a3 u3 + a2 u2 + a1 u + a0
(Vector Form)
PARAMETRIC CUBIC CURVE
Algebraic to Geometric Form

x = a3x u3 + a2x u2 + a1x u + a0x

y = a3y u3 + a2y u2 + a1y u + a0y 0 u 1
z = a3z u3 + a2z u2 + a1z u + a0z

x` = 3 a3x u2 + 2 a2x u + a1x

Tangent
y` = 3 a3y u2
+ 2 a2y u + a1y
Vector
z` = 3 a3z u2 + 2 a2z u + a1z
PARAMETRIC CUBIC CURVE
Geometric Form
starting point
(x0, y0, z0)
end point
(x1, y1, z1)

starting tangent vector

(x`0, y`0, z`0)
end tangent vector dx
x`0 =
(x`1, y`1, z`1) du u=0
 PARAMETRIC CUBIC CURVE
Algebraic to Geometric Form

x = a3x u3 + a2x u2 + a1x u + a0x

y = a3y u3 + a2y u2 + a1y u + a0y Substitute
z = a3z u3 + a2z u2 + a1z u + a0z u=0
&
x` = 3 a3x u2
+ 2 a2x u + a1x
y` = 3 a3y u2 + 2 a2y u + a1y u=1

z` = 3 a3z u2 + 2 a2z u + a1z

 PARAMETRIC CUBIC CURVE
Algebraic to Geometric Form

x0 = a0x x1 = a3x + a2x + a1x + a0x

y0 = a0y y1 = a3y + a2y + a1y + a0y
z0 = a0z z1 = a3z + a2z + a1z + a0z

x`0 = a1x x`1 = 3 a3x + 2 a2x + a1x

y`0 = a1y y`1 = 3 a3y + 2 a2y + a1y
z`0 = a1z z`1 = 3 a3z + 2 a2z + a1z
 PARAMETRIC CUBIC CURVE
Algebraic to Geometric Form
x(u) = (2u3 - 3u2 + 1) x0 + (-2u3 + 3u2 ) x1 +
(u3 - 2u2 + u ) x`0 + (u3 - u2 ) x`1

y(u) = (2u3 - 3u2 + 1) y0 + (-2u3 + 3u2 ) y1 +

(u3 - 2u2 + u ) y`0 + (u3 - u2 ) y`1

z(u) = (2u3 - 3u2 + 1) z0 + (-2u3 + 3u2 ) z1 +

(u3 - 2u2 + u ) z`0 + (u3 - u2 ) z`1
 Parametric cubic curve
Geometric form
P (u) = U M VT
U = [u3 u2 u 1]
2 -2 1 1
-3 3 -2 -1

M= 0 0 1 0
1 0 0 0

V = [P0 P1 P0 P1]T
 PARAMETRIC CUBIC CURVE
Tangent Vectors
(x`0, y`0, z`0)
(x`1, y`1, z`1)

can be written as

(k0l0, k0m0, k0n0)

(k1l1, k1m1, k1n1)

(l0, m0, n0) & (l1, m1, n1) are direction cosines of
tangent vector at start & end points
 PARAMETRIC CUBIC CURVE
Tangent Vectors

(k0l0, k0m0, k0n0)

(k1l1, k1m1, k1n1)

Effect of Increasing
k0 & k1 on
Curve Shape
 PARAMETRIC CUBIC CURVE
Tangent Vectors

(k0l0, k0m0, k0n0)

(k1l1, k1m1, k1n1)

Effect of Increasing
k0 & k1 on
Curve Shape
 PARAMETRIC CUBIC CURVE
Tangent Vectors

(k0l0, k0m0, k0n0)

(k1l1, k1m1, k1n1)

Effect of Increasing
k0 & k1 on
Curve Shape
 PARAMETRIC CUBIC CURVE
Tangent Vectors

(k0l0, k0m0, k0n0)

(k1l1, k1m1, k1n1)

Effect of Increasing
k0 & k1 on
Curve Shape
 PARAMETRIC CUBIC CURVE
Tangent Vectors

(k0l0, k0m0, k0n0)

(k1l1, k1m1, k1n1)

Effect of Increasing
k1 relative to k0 on
Curve Shape
 PARAMETRIC CUBIC CURVE
Tangent Vectors

(k0l0, k0m0, k0n0)

(k1l1, k1m1, k1n1)

Effect of Increasing
k1 relative to k0 on
Curve Shape
PARAMETRIC CUBIC CURVE
Four-Point Form
Input

starting point (x0, y0, z0)

end point (x1, y1, z1)

two intermediate points

(x1/3, y1/3, z1/3) &
(x2/3, y2/3, z2/3)
PARAMETRIC CUBIC CURVE
Algebraic Form to Four-Point Form

x = a3x u3 + a2x u2 + a1x u + a0x

y = a3y u3 + a2y u2 + a1y u + a0y
z = a3z u3 + a2z u2 + a1z u + a0z

Substitute u = 0, u = 1/3 u = 2/3 & u = 1

 PARAMETRIC CUBIC CURVE
Algebraic Form to Four-Point Form

x(u) = (-4.5u3 + 9u2 -5.5 u + 1) x0 +

(13.5u3 - 22.5u2 + 9u) x1/3 +
(-13.5u3 +18u2 + -4.5u ) x2/3 +
(4.5u3 - 4.5u2 + u) x1

y(u) & z(u) can be written in a similar manner

 Parametric cubic curve
Four point form
P (u) = U M VT
3 u2 u 1]
U = [u-4.5 13.5 -13.5 4.5
9 22.5 18 -4.5
-5.5 9.5 4.5 1
M= 1 0 0 0

V = [P0 P1/3 P2/3 P1]T