A tool for teaching curve design

  • Authors:

  • Yuan Zhao;John Lowther;Ching-Kuang Shene

  • Affiliations:

  • Department of Computer Science, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI;Department of Computer Science, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI;Department of Computer Science, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI

  • Venue:
  • SIGCSE '98 Proceedings of the twenty-ninth SIGCSE technical symposium on Computer science education
  • Year:
  • 1998

Quantified Score

Hi-index 0.00

Visualization

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.