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

j0 i0
( 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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