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Fitting NURBS spherical patches to measured data

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Abstract

Algorithms and empirical studies for fitting spherical and planar NURBS patches to random data are presented. Algebraic as well as geometric methods are discussed leading to efficient techniques for surface as well as patch fitting. An automatic fitter is also presented that determines whether a plane or a sphere fit is optimal, computes the appropriate entities, and clips the geometry to obtain a NURBS sphere or plane fit. It is argued that patch fitting is necessary in order to avoid numerical problems due to pole and seam problems.

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Acknowledgments

The work reported in this paper was supported by the National Science Foundation under grant No: DMI-0200385, awarded to the University of South Florida. All opinions, findings, conclusions and recommendations expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation or the University of South Florida.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA

    L. A. Piegl

  2. Geomware, Inc., Tyler, TX, USA

    W. Tiller

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  1. L. A. Piegl
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  2. W. Tiller
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Correspondence to L. A. Piegl or W. Tiller.

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Piegl, L.A., Tiller, W. Fitting NURBS spherical patches to measured data. Engineering with Computers 24, 97–106 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00366-007-0076-8

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