NUBS and Polynomials, with graphic

As has happened before, while putting the finishing touches on the code for this post, I suddenly realized I needed to rewrite the code before I could be happy with it. So this post will be devoid of Perl 6 code, and just discuss what is going on in the (now-improved) graphic.

The basic idea I'm illustrating here is that a NUBS curve is basically a convenient way of merging a series of partial polynomial curves. In this graphic, the NUBS curve is in black. The polynomials are in red, green, and blue.



If you start where the red doesn't overlap the black, and then follow it to the black and follow the black beyond that, you can trace the curve and get an idea of what is going on. Basically, the black NUBS curve follows one section of the red polynomial, then smoothly switches to a section of the green polynomial, and finally switches to a section of the blue polynomial. It is piecewise polynomial, in other words, with smooth transitions. (It is possible to generate unsmooth transitions too with a NUBS, or even out-and-out discontinuities, but generally this is not wanted.)

The other great thing about NUBS is how natural they are to specify, because their control points conform roughly to the shape of the curve, and modifying them changes the curve in a fairly natural fashion. I don't have time to go into great depth here, but here's a quick comparison. First, here's the code to specify the curve in the picture:

my @control_points = (Vector.new(-1, -2),
                      Vector.new(1, 0),
                      Vector.new(1, 1),
                      Vector.new(0, 1),
                      Vector.new(1, 2),
                      Vector.new(1, 2),
                      Vector.new(1, 2));
my @knots = (-1, -1, -1, -1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 3);
my Nubs $nubs = Nubs.new(3, KnotVector.new(@knots), @control_points);

Then here's the red polynomial:

(0.194444444444444, 0.111111111111111) x^3 
+ (-0.916666666666667, -0.666666666666667) x^2 
+ (0.583333333333333, 1.33333333333333) x^1 
+ (0.694444444444444, 0.111111111111111) x^0

Actually, that's a fairly clean polynomial in this case, but even so, it's hard to work with. The bit we're interested in is parameterized from -1 to 1, so for instance, to find the starting point we need to evaluate the polynomial at x = -1:

- (0.194444444444444, 0.111111111111111)
+ (-0.916666666666667, -0.666666666666667) 
- (0.583333333333333, 1.33333333333333) 
+ (0.694444444444444, 0.111111111111111)
= (-1, -2)

Whereas the starting point of the NUBS version is just the first control point.

Ack. I could go on, but I fear I've exhausted the patience of the Perl readers out there. And I feel like I'm constantly butting up against the limits of Rakudo with this project, so I think I'll put it aside for a few months and tackle something else. Maybe try to whip up a grammar for ABC files, or something like that. Then return to Vector when after Rakudo has had a chance to mature a bit more...