ME/MF F342:

COMPUTER AIDED DESIGN

M2-1-1: Basics of Parametric

Geometric Modeling of
Analytic Curves
BITS Pilani Dr. Srinivasa Prakash Regalla
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Hyderabad Campus
Learning OBJECTIVES
 Non-parametric and parametric representation

 Wire-frame, surface and solid modeling – fundamental

difference – geometry & topology

 Wire frame modeling elements

 Geometric modeling of parametric analytic curves:

 Straight line
 Circle and circular arc
 Ellipse: Basic and General
 Parabola: Basic and General
 Hyperbola

BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

Using different parametric curves
segements and surface patches

Parametric
Synthetic curve

Parametric Parametric
ellipse parabola

Parametric straightline

BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

 Mathematical Modeling of Physical Parts
• Mathematical model of physical part is a
symbolic representation of geometry of the
part

• Geometric modeling is a superset of

mathematical modeling and the activities
of:
– Conversion of mathematical model into data
suitable for storing in a computer memory
– Organization of data for storage and retrieval

Dr. Srinivasa Prakash Regalla, Professor, Mechanical Engineering, BITS-Pilani Hyderabad Campus 4
 Geometric Modeling

• Wire-frame modeling

• Surface modeling

• Solid modeling

Dr. Srinivasa Prakash Regalla, Professor, Mechanical Engineering, BITS-Pilani Hyderabad Campus 5
 Wireframe Modeling
• It is the simplest but most verbose
geometric model of an object
• The word “wire” is to represent
that a bent wire can be arranged
to simulate the wireframe model
of an object
• It consists entirely of points, lines,
arcs, circles, other conics and
other polynomial and synthetic
curves.
• It is the most commonly used
technique
• Almost all commercial packages
of CAD are wireframe-based.
• It is also referred sometimes as
stick figure or edge configuration.

Dr. Srinivasa Prakash Regalla, Professor, Mechanical Engineering, BITS-Pilani Hyderabad Campus 6
 Wireframe Modeling (contd.)
• Developed in 1960s, initially it was limited to 2-D,
applied to drafting and simple NC.
• Current day wireframe modelers support various
automatic functionalities:
– Automatic generation of orthographic views from wireframe
model of part
– All three modes of data input: cartesian, cylindrical and
spherical.
– Explicit as well as Implicit input in each mode
– Explicit input through absolute or incremental coordinates
– Implicit input through digitizing tablets
– Support to the geometric modifiers, built by the system
itself and help locate mid-points and end-points of
geometric entities created

Dr. Srinivasa Prakash Regalla, Professor, Mechanical Engineering, BITS-Pilani Hyderabad Campus 7
 Wireframe modeling: Disadvantages
• Data input is laborious
• Ambiguous
• Lengthy and verbose

WfM needs both point and edge data (geometrical

data) and also the description of how they are
connected to each other (topological data:
connectivity).
SM requires only geometrical data (P, L, W and H
for a cube) because topological information is in-
built.
Dr. Srinivasa Prakash Regalla, Professor, Mechanical Engineering, BITS-Pilani Hyderabad Campus 8
AMBIGUITY OF WIREFRAME MODEL (contd)

Model

Which one?

Dr. Srinivasa Prakash Regalla, Professor, Mechanical Engineering, BITS-Pilani Hyderabad Campus 9
 Wireframe Modeling: Advantages
• Simplicity of construction: does not required as
much computer time and memory as required by
surface and solid modeling techniques
• It is a natural extension of traditional methods of
drafting: does not require extensive training to
existing draftsmen
• Terminology is much simpler and fewer than
SfM and SM
• The CPU time required to retrieve, edit or update
a wireframe model is usually small compared to
SfM and SM
• Wireframe models are basis for SfM and SM

Dr. Srinivasa Prakash Regalla, Professor, Mechanical Engineering, BITS-Pilani Hyderabad Campus 10
 Wireframe Entities are Different Curves
• Analytic Curves
– Points
– Lines
– Arcs
– Circles
– Fillets
– Chamfers
– Conics: Ellipses, Parabolas, and Hyperbolas
• Synthetic Curves
– Cubic Splines (Hermite cubic spline for example)
– Bezier curves
– B-Spline curve
The analytic and synthetic curve segments are suitably
blended to obtain a longer curve of creative shape.

Dr. Srinivasa Prakash Regalla, Professor, Mechanical Engineering, BITS-Pilani Hyderabad Campus 11
 PRACTICAL EXERCISE
• Write program in MATLAB to generate the
various elements of wireframe modeling:
– Points
– Lines
– Poly-line
– Spline
– Circles
– Ellipse
– Arcs
– Parabola
– Hyperbola

Dr. Srinivasa Prakash Regalla, Professor, Mechanical Engineering, BITS-Pilani Hyderabad Campus 12
 Alternative Representations of Curves
• Explicit non-parametric representation

• Implicit non-parametric representation

• Parametric representation

Dr. Srinivasa Prakash Regalla, Professor, Mechanical Engineering, BITS-Pilani Hyderabad Campus 13
• Explicit non-parametric representation of a
general 3-D curve is done by:
P=[x f(x) g(x) ]T
P = Position vector of any point P on the curve
• Implicit Non-parametric representation of a
curve is the intersection of two surfaces defined
by
F(x, y, z) = 0
G(x, y, z) = 0

P(x, y, z)

Dr. Srinivasa Prakash Regalla, Professor, Mechanical Engineering, BITS-Pilani Hyderabad Campus 14
Disadvantages of Non-parametric Representations
• Multi-valued nature
• Implicit representation is laborious as it requires that two
surface equations be solved for “y” and “z” for a given value
of “x”
• Infinite slope situations can not be dealt with in computer
program

Dr. Srinivasa Prakash Regalla, Professor, Mechanical Engineering, BITS-Pilani Hyderabad Campus 15
 Parametric form of a curve
• It is a one-to-one mapping from the
parametric space (Euclidean space E1 in u
values) to the Cartesian space (E3 in x, y,
X
z values)
u=0
u
u
u=umin u=umax
Y
Y
u
umax
Z
umin n
P(u) P’(u)
umax u
umin u
X
Z Dr. Srinivasa Prakash Regalla, Professor, Mechanical Engineering, BITS-Pilani Hyderabad Campus
16
 Parametric Representation of curves: Advantages

P = [x(u), y(u), z(u)]T

In parametric form, each point on a curve is expressed as a
function of a parameter u.
• It overcomes all difficulties of the non- u=0
u

parametric representations u=umin u=umax

1. It allows multi-valued and closed functions
Y
to be easily defined
umax
2. It replaces the use of slopes with that of
tangent vectors umin n
P(u) P’(u)
3. The equations are polynomials and thus
computationally more suitable than X
Z
transcendental equations of analytic curves
Dr. Srinivasa Prakash Regalla, Professor, Mechanical Engineering, BITS-Pilani Hyderabad Campus 17
Parametric Form of a Curve
• The parameter acts as a local/natural
coordinate for points on the curve
• The parametric equation for a 3-D u=0
curve in space is u

P(u) = [ x y z]T = [ x(u) y(u) z(u)]T, u=umin u=umax

umin ≤ u ≤ umax Y
• Coordinates of a point on the curve umax
are the components of its position
umin n
vector. P(u) P’(u)

X
Z

Dr. Srinivasa Prakash Regalla, Professor, Mechanical Engineering, BITS-Pilani Hyderabad Campus 18
The Tangent Vector of a Parametric Curve
• To enable evaluation of slope of a parametric curve
at any arbitrary point on it, the tangent curve must
be evaluated.
• The tangent vector is a vector Y P’(u) in Cartesian
space such that u max

dP (u ) umin n
P(u )  P(u) P’(u)

du X
• The components of tangent vector in parametric space
P’(u) = [ x’ y’ z’]T = [ x’(u) y’(u) z’(u)]T, umin≤u≤umax
The unit tangent vector is given by:

P ' (u )
nˆ   nxiˆ  n y jˆ  nz kˆ nx2  n y2  nz2  1
P ' (u )
Dr. Srinivasa Prakash Regalla, Professor, Mechanical Engineering, BITS-Pilani Hyderabad Campus 19
Exercise:

In parametric representation, to avoid unbounded values, the concept of “slope”

is replaced by ______________.

(A) Tangent vector

(B) Twist vector
(C) Kink vector
(D) Not replaced; used as it is

BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

• Parametric representation of curves can be in
two categories:

– Analytic curves
• May be very useful only as planar curves
• Not useful when the curve has to be a space curve

– Synthetic curves
• Useful to represent space curves
• Useful for freeform modeling

Dr. Srinivasa Prakash Regalla, Professor, Mechanical Engineering, BITS-Pilani Hyderabad Campus 21
Analytic curves or Planar curves
• Most useful of analytic curves are the
conic section curves (lines, circles,
ellipses, parabolas, hyperbolas or
other general conics)
• They provide the compact form and
more convenient for computations of
secondary properties such area,
volume
• Not attractive for interactive
computation
Dr. Srinivasa Prakash Regalla, Professor, Mechanical Engineering, BITS-Pilani Hyderabad Campus 22
 Synthetic curves
• Described by a set of data points
(called as control points) and
parametric polynomials that
interpolate or approximate those
points
• They provide greater flexibility an
control of a curve by changing the
positions of control points
• Global as well as local control can
be obtained
Dr. Srinivasa Prakash Regalla, Professor, Mechanical Engineering, BITS-Pilani Hyderabad Campus 23
PARAMETRIC REPRESENTATION OF
ANALYTIC CURVES

Dr. Regalla
Dr. Srinivasa
Srinivasa
Prakash
Prakash,
Regalla,
Professor,
Professor,
Mechanical
Mechanical
Engineering,
Engineering,
BirlaBITS-Pilani
Institute of Technology
Hyderabad Campus
& Science, Pilani 24
 ANALYTIC CURVES:
TOPICS TO BE COVERED
• Review of vector algebra
• Lines
• Circles
• Ellipses
• Parabolas
• Hyperbolas
• Conics (General)

Dr. Srinivasa Prakash Regalla, Professor, Mechanical Engineering, BITS-Pilani Hyderabad Campus 25
 Review of vector algebra
Let:
A, B, and C be independent vectors
i, j, and k be unit vectors in X, Y, Z directors
K be a constant.
1. Magnitude of a vector is

A  A A A 2
x
2
y
2
z
Where Ax, Ay and Az are the cartesian components of
the vector A.

Dr. Srinivasa Prakash Regalla, Professor, Mechanical Engineering, BITS-Pilani Hyderabad Campus 26
 2. The unit vector in the direction of A is
A
nˆ A   n Ax ˆi n Ay ˆj n Az kˆ
A
The components of nˆ A are also the direction cosines of the vector A.
3. If two vectors A and B are equal then
Ax=Bx Ay=By Az=Bz
4. The scalar (or dot or inner) product of two vectors
A and B is a scalar value given by Use the
convenient
A•B=B•A=AxBx+AyBy+AzBz=|A||B|cosθ form as per
Hence the angle is θ=cos-1[(A•B)/(|A||B|)] given data
The scalar product can give the component of a
vector in the direction another unit vector:
A•nB=|A|cosθ
Dr. Srinivasa Prakash Regalla, Professor, Mechanical Engineering, BITS-Pilani Hyderabad Campus 27
Other properties of scalar product are
A•A=|A|2

A•B=B•A

A•(B+C)=A•B+A•C

(KA)•B=A.(KB)=K(A•B)
i•i=j•j=k•k=1

i•j=j•k=k•i=0

Dr. Srinivasa Prakash Regalla, Professor, Mechanical Engineering, BITS-Pilani Hyderabad Campus 28
5. The vector (cross) product of two vectors
A and B is a vector that is perpendicular to
the plane formed by A and B and is given
by ˆi ˆj kˆ
A  B  Ax Ay Az
Bx By Bz

 ( Ay Bz  Az B y )ˆi  ( Az Bx  Ax Bz )ˆj  ( Ax B y  Ay Bx )kˆ

If instead magnitudes of A, B and the angle between them
Use the
are given then use convenient
 ( A B sin  ) l̂ form as per
given data
Where l is a unit vector perpendicular to the plane
of A and B having sense as per right hand screw
when A is rotated towards B.
Dr. Srinivasa Prakash Regalla, Professor, Mechanical Engineering, BITS-Pilani Hyderabad Campus 29
 A B
tan  
A B
Component of vector A in the direction  to another vector B
A  n̂ B  A sin 
Other properties of the vector product are :
A  B  B  A
A B A B sin 2 
2 2 2

A  B  C   A  B  A  C
(kA)  B  A  kB   k A  B 
ˆi ˆi  ˆj ˆj kˆ  kˆ  0
ˆi ˆj kˆ
ˆj kˆ  ˆi

kˆ  ˆi  ˆj

Dr. Srinivasa Prakash Regalla, Professor, Mechanical Engineering, BITS-Pilani Hyderabad Campus 30
6. Two vectors A and B are parallel if and only if
n̂ A  n̂ B  1 or n̂ A  n̂ B  0 or A  B  0
7. Two vectors A and B are perpendicular if and only if
n̂ A  n̂ B  0 or n̂ A  n̂ B  1 or A  B  0

Dr. Srinivasa Prakash Regalla, Professor, Mechanical Engineering, BITS-Pilani Hyderabad Campus 31
 QUADRIC POLYNOMIAL FUNCTIONS
Represents a conic section curve
x2 + y2 – 1 = 0
Ellipse a 2 b2

Parabola y 2– 4 a x= 0
x2 – y2 – 1 = 0
Hyperbola a2 b2
Ellipse

Hyperbola

Parabola Circle

Dr. Srinivasa Prakash Regalla, Professor, Mechanical Engineering, BITS-Pilani Hyderabad Campus 32
 Conic Sections

(courtesy: http://www.math2.org/math/algebra/conics.htm)

Dr. Srinivasa Prakash Regalla, Professor, Mechanical Engineering, BITS-Pilani Hyderabad Campus 33
 End of the topic
• Any questions?

Dr. Srinivasa Prakash Regalla, Professor, Mechanical Engineering, BITS-Pilani Hyderabad Campus 34