Chap.
4 Representation of Surfaces
05.09 & 06.09, 2024
Contents
Introduction
Bilinear surfaces
Bicubic patch
Bêzier surfaces
An example (Bicubic patch)
B-Spline & NURBS surfaces
References:
1.K. Lee (1999). Principles of CAD/CAM/CAE Systems, Chap. 7.
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Introduction
In surface modeling we want to answer these questions
What types of surface equations are available?
How are the equations stored?
What techniques are available to manipulate surface modeling equations?
Contrary to curve segments that are one-dimensional objects (given by
P(u) = F(u). [p0, p1, …..]T, surfaces are two-dimensional objects in 3D space
(R3)
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Introduction
Two ways to define surface equations
1. Parametric equation:
relates coordinate points (x, y, z) on a surface with parameters.
2. Nonparametric equation – relates coordinate points (x, y, z) on a surface
directly with a function.
Example: A sphere of radius R centred at the origin of the reference
coordinate system
1. Parametric representation
P(u, v) R cos(u) cos(v) i R sin(u) cos(v) j R sin(v) k
(0 u 2 , 2 v 2 )
Where u and v are parameters in longitude and latitude directions resp.
2. Nonparametric representation
Implicit form : x 2 y 2 z 2 R 2 0
Explicit form : z R2 ( x2 y2 )
Parametric representation is preferred in CAD systems because it enables efficient
evaluation of points on the surface at finite intervals
Facilitates interactive display and surface manipulation!
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Introduction
Rough classification of surface types
1. Plane surface: the simplest surface type, requires 3 non-coincident points
2. Ruled (lofted) surface: linear surface that interpolates between two
boundary curves defining the surface (rail), which can be any type of curve.
3. Axisymmetric surface: used to model objects with axisymmetry by rotating
a planar curve about the symmetry of the model
4. Bèzier surface: generates a model by approximating or interpolating a given
input data. It allows twists and kinks in the model, and allows global control.
5. B-spline surface: a general surface like Bèzier, but allows local control of the
model.
6. Coons surface (patch): used to create a surface using curves that form
closed boundaries
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Bilinear surface
Definitions
Linear Interpolation: determine the simplest curve between two points
Bilinear Interpolation: determine the simplest surface between four points
Edge curves are represented as straight lines
that go through two vertices.
Exercise: Derive parametric expression for P(0,v) and P(u,0)
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Bilinear surface
Linear equations in parameters u and v define 4 corner points
p00, p10, p01, and p11
Calculation of surface points
P0v = (1-v)P00 + vP01 along edge u = 0
P1v = (1-v)P10 + vP11 along edge u = 1
P(u,v) = (1-u)P0v + uP1v along v = constant
An arbitrary point P(u,v) on the
surface traverses the surface
with increment of u and v from
0 to 1.
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Bilinear surface
Linear interpolation between the points P0,v and P1,v gives P(u,v) as follows:
P(u,v) = (1-u) P0,v + u P1,v
The bilinear surface is obtained by blending the
effects of the corner points after they are weighted
Exercise: by the blending functions.
Verify that the elements of the blending function represent the corner points of the
surface!
Define 4 corner points in 3D space and write down the bilinear surface equation
using the above equation. Write a simple MATLAB program to draw the surface.
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Bicubic surface patch
Bicubic surface patch (i.e. generally non-planar) is a portion of a surface
represented by an equation in polynomial form of deg. 3 in two parameters, u
and v 3 3
P (u, v ) ij v
a u i j
j0 i0
( 0 u 1, 0 v 1)
Expressed in matrix form a00 a01 a02 a03 1
a a a a v
P ( u, v ) 1 u u 2 u 3
10 11 12 13
a20 a21 a22 a23 v 2
U
3
a30 a31 a32 a33 v
A VT
The matrix A contains 16 algebraic coefficients aij, i, j = 0, …, 3 (i.e., in each direction)
The algebraic coefficients have no direct relationship with the shape of the surface
we need to replace them with geometric coefficients (using B.C.)
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Bicubic surface patch
An arbitrary point on the patch is given by
P(u, v) = P(ui, vj) ui, vj [0, 1]
To determine the geometric form, we have to impose the boundary conditions
Corner points: P00 = P(0, 0); P01 = P(0, 1)
P10 = P(1, 0); P11 = P(1, 1)
Tangent vectors: Pu = Pu(0,0), Pu(0,1), Pu(1,0), Pu(1,1)
Pv = Pv(0,0), Pv(0,1), Pv(1,0), Pv(1,1)
These boundaries decide the boundary curves, but not the internal shape of the
surface
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Bicubic surface patch
Internal shape of the surface is determined by introducing the second order
derivative given by 2
P(u , v)
Pu ,v (u , v)
u v
Second-order derivatives calculated at corner points:
Puv(0,0), Puv(0,1), Puv(1,0), Puv(1,1)
and they are known as twist vectors
Putting the boundary conditions in matrix form
P(u, v)
P(0,0) P(0,1) Pv (0,0) Pv (0,1)
f1 (v)
P(1,0) P(1,1) Pv (1,0) Pv (1,1) f 2 (v)
f1
(u) f 2 (u) f3 (u) f 4 (u)
P (0,0) P (0,1) P (0,0) P (0,1) f3 (v)
u u uv uv
F(u) f (v)
4
Pu (1,0) Pu (1,1) Puv (1,0) Puv (1,1)
F(v)T
B
(0 u 1; 0 v 1)
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Bicubic surface patch
The blending functions are given by (see also Hermite curves)
f1 (u ) 1 3u 2 2u 3 f1 (v) 1 3v 2 2v 3
f 2 (u ) 3u 2 2u 3 f 2 (v) 3v 2 2v 3
f 3 (u ) u 2u 2 u 3 f 3 ( v ) v 2v 2 v 3
f 4 (u ) u 2 u 3 f 4 (v ) v 2 v 3
In matrix form
3
2 2 1 1
P(0,0) P(0,1) Pv (0,0) Pv (0,1)
2 3 0 1 v
u 3 , u 2 , u , 1 3 3 2 1 P(1,0) P(1,1) P
v
(1,0) P
v
(1,1) 2 3 0 0 v 2
0 0 1 0
Pu (0,0) Pu (0,1) Puv (0,0) Puv (0,1)
1 2 1 0 v
U 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1
P
u (1,0) P (1,1) P (1,0) P (1,1)
M u uv uv
B MT VT
OR
P(u, v) UMBM T V T
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Bicubic surface patch
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Bicubic surface patch
Bicubic surface patch uses normalized cubic splines (i.e. polynomal forms of 3rd
degree) for all four boundary curves and also for blending functions to define the
interior
To control the shape, 4 corner vertices, 8 tangent vectors and 4 twist vectors are
used as input data.
The magnitudes and directions of the tangent and twist vectors can be changed to
influence the shape.
Modifying one twist vector magnitude affects about a quarter portion near to that
corner.
Increasing the magnitude lifts up the surface further.
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F- patch
Difficult to provide values for the twist vector
Usually set to zero for the sake of simplicity
A bicubic patch with zero twist vector is called
F- patch, or Furgson’s patch
F-patch is relatively flat, cannot accurately describe a surface having large curvature
Useful in designing and machining applications
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An example
Class work 1
As given earlier, a bicubic surface patch is defined by P(u,v) = F(u)[B]F(v), where B is
the boundary condition or the B-matrix.
Sketch the bicubic surface patch defined by the following B-matrix
(additional ark is provided in class)
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Bêzier surfaces
Defined by network of points that form the characteristic polyhedron
Represents one dimension higher level definition of Bezier curves using a control
polygon
Bezier surfaces behave like Bezier curves
The surface approximates the control points except the four corner points.
The surface passes exactly
through the corner points
The equation for the surface, i.e.,
Bezier surface is given by
n m
P(u, v) Pi , j Bi ,n (u) B j ,m (v) (0 u 1; 0 v 1)
i 0 j 0
where Pi,j are set of control points and
Bi,n , B j,m are the Berstein polynomials
Bezier Surface (mizuno.org)
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Bêzier surfaces
The blending functions (Bernstein polynomilas)
B (u) and B (v) are given by (see also Bezier curves)
i, n j, m
n i
Bi ,n (u ) u 1 u and
n i
i
m j
B j ,m (v) v 1 v
m j
j
Expanding the Bezier surface equation with respect to j:
n
P(u, v) Pi,0 B0,m (v) Pi,1B1,m (v) . . . Pi,m Bm,m (v)Bi,n (u)
i 0
Bezier surface is obtained by blending (n+1) (m+1) Bezier curves each defined by
the control points Pi,j where m and n are the degrees of the polynomial
Similar to Bezier curves, making local changes to Bezier surface patches is not
possible
movement of a control point propagates throughout the surface (global modification
property)
Class work 2
Show that the corner points P0,0, P0,3, P3,0 and P3,3 are on the Bezier surface of 3rd degree
in each direction
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B-Spline surfaces
A B-spline surface is an extension of the B-spline curve equation as follows:
n m
P (u , v ) Pi , j N i , k (u ) N j ,l (v ) ( sk 1 u sn 1 ; tl 1 v t m 1 )
i 0 j 0
B-spline and Bezier surface become
identical if k = n+1 and l = m+1.
Bezier surfaces are special cases of B-spline surfaces
k = l = 4 for surfaces of degree 3, which is mostly used
All boundary curves of a B-spline surface are B-spline curves (in which the control
points are the vertices of the control polyhedron, like Bezier surfaces)
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NURBS surfaces
NURBS (Non-Uniform Rational B- Splines) are derived from the equation of a B-spline
surface using homogeneous coordinates (hij) for the control points:
The homogeneous coordinates serve as scaling factors
n m
h
i 0 j 0
P N i ,k (u ) N j ,l (v)
i, j i, j
Pij = the x, y and z coordinates of the
P(u, v) n m control points
h
i 0 j 0
i, j N i ,k (u ) N j ,l (v)
( sk 1 u sn 1 ; tl 1 v t m 1 )
NURBS are Rational B-splines they are defined by two polynomials, while
nonrational curves are defined by one polynomial.
NURBS are Non-Uniform knot vectors [u0, u1 …. uv]T are not equally spaced in u
The NURBS surface equation becomes the same as B-spline surface equation when
hij = 1, in which case the denominator = 1
NURBS surface equation is a general form of B- Spline surface equation.
NURBS can exactly represent quadratic surfaces such as cylindrical, conical,
spherical, etc. surfaces (i.e. 2nd order in u and v)
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NURBS surfaces
NURBS are generalizations of all curves and surfaces
(developed by Boeing in 1970s)
Advantages:
Can be used to formulate any curve or surface
Unified representation for both synthetic (such as Bezier and B-spline) and
analytic (such as circles and conics) curves and surfaces
Allow unification and conversion from one CAD system to another using
exchanging tools such as STEP and IGES
Its algorithms are stable and accurate
enhance manufacturing and machining accuracy and speed
Limitations
More data is required to define simple curves such as arcs, circles and conics, i.e.
compared with the traditional way.
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Chapter summary
In this chapter, we covered the following key issues
Definition of surface equations
Parametric and non-parametric surface equations
Reasons why parametric surface equations are preferred for CAD system
Diverse classification of surface types
Formulations using linear interpolation and bilinear interpolation
Derivation of equations for bilinear surfaces and bicubic surface patches
Plotting bicubic surface patches
Brief introduction to Bèzier, B-spline and NURBS surfaces
?
Next: Chap. 5: Optimization in Engineering
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