A rational model of the surface swept by a curve*

Johnstone, John K.; Williams, James P.

A rational model of the surface swept by a curve*

Date

1995

Authors

Johnstone, John K.
Williams, James P.

Publisher

Blackwell Science Ltd and the Eurographics Association

Abstract

This paper shows how to construct a rational Bezier model of a swept surface that interpolates N frames (i.e., N position/orientation pairs) of a fixed rational space curve c(s) and maintains the shape of the curve at all intermediate points of the sweep. Thus, the surface models an exact sweep of the curve, consistent with the given data. The primary novelty of the method is that this exact modeling of the sweep is achieved without sacrificing a rational representation for the surface. Through a simple extension, we also allow the sweeping curve to change its size through the sweep. The position, orientation, and size of the sweeping curve can change with arbitrary continuity (we use C2 continuity in this paper). Our interpolation between frames has the classical properties of Bezier interpolation, such as the convex hull property and linear precision.This swept surface is a useful primitive for geometric design. It encompasses the surface of revolution and extruded surface, but extends them to arbitrary sweeps. It is a useful modeling primitive for robotics and CAD/CAM, using frames generated automatically by a moving robot or tool.

        @article{10.1111:j.1467-8659.1995.cgf143-0077.x
,
journal = {Computer Graphics Forum},
title = {{A rational model of the surface swept by a curve*
}},
author = {Johnstone, John K. and 
Williams, James P.
},
year = {1995
},
publisher = {Blackwell Science Ltd and the Eurographics Association
},
ISSN = {1467-8659
},
DOI = {10.1111/j.1467-8659.1995.cgf143-0077.x
}
}