Difference between revisions of "Reference:Lathe"
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Revision as of 17:02, 31 May 2016
The lathe
is an object generated from rotating a two-dimensional curve about an axis. This curve is defined by a set of points which are connected by linear, quadratic, cubic or bezier spline curves. The syntax is:
LATHE: lathe { [SPLINE_TYPE] Number_Of_Points, <Point_1> <Point_2>... <Point_n> [LATHE_MODIFIER...] } SPLINE_TYPE: linear_spline | quadratic_spline | cubic_spline | bezier_spline LATHE_MODIFIER: sturm | OBJECT_MODIFIER
Lathe default values:
SPLINE_TYPE : linear_spline sturm : off
The first item is a keyword specifying the type of spline. The default if none is specified is linear_spline
. The required integer value Number_Of_Points
specifies how many two-dimensional points are used to define the curve. The points follow and are specified by 2-D vectors. The curve is not automatically closed, i.e. the first and last
points are not automatically connected. You will have to do this yourself if you want a closed curve. The curve thus defined is rotated about the y-axis to form the lathe object, centered at the origin.
The following example creates a simple lathe object that looks like a thick cylinder, i.e. a cylinder with a thick wall:
lathe { linear_spline 5, <2, 0>, <3, 0>, <3, 5>, <2, 5>, <2, 0> pigment {Red} }
The cylinder has an inner radius of 2 and an outer radius of 3, giving a wall width of 1. It's height is 5 and it's located at the origin pointing up, i.e. the rotation axis is the y-axis.
Note: The first and last point are equal to get a closed curve.
The splines that are used by the lathe and prism objects are a little bit difficult to understand. The basic concept of splines is to draw a curve through a given set of points in a determined way. The default linear_spline
is the simplest spline because it's nothing more than connecting consecutive points with a line. This means the curve that is drawn between two points only depends on those two points. No additional information is taken into account. The other splines are different in that they do take other points into account when connecting two points. This creates a smooth curve and, in the case of the cubic spline, produces smoother transitions at each point.
The quadratic_spline
keyword creates splines that are made of quadratic curves. Each of them connects two consecutive points. Since those two points (call them second and third point) are not sufficient to describe a quadratic curve, the predecessor of the second point is taken into account when the curve is drawn. Mathematically, the relationship (their relative locations on the 2-D plane) between the first and second point determines the slope of the curve at the second point. The slope of the curve at the third point is out of control. Thus quadratic splines look much smoother than linear splines but
the transitions at each point are generally not smooth because the slopes on both sides of the point are different.
The cubic_spline
keyword creates splines which overcome the transition problem of quadratic splines because they also take a fourth point into account when drawing the curve between the second and third point. The slope at the fourth point is under control now and allows a smooth transition at each point. Thus cubic splines produce the most flexible and
smooth curves.
The bezier_spline
is an alternate kind of cubic spline. Points 1 and 4 specify the end points of a segment and points 2 and 3 are control points which specify the slope at the endpoints. Points 2 and 3 do not actually lie on the spline. They adjust the slope of the spline. If you draw an imaginary line between point 1 and 2, it represents the slope at point 1.
It is a line tangent to the curve at point 1. The greater the distance between 1 and 2, the flatter the curve. With a short tangent the spline can bend more. The same holds true for control point 3 and endpoint 4. If you want the spline to be smooth between segments, points 3 and 4 on one segment and points 1 and 2 on the next segment must form a straight line and point 4 of one segment must be the same as point 1 on the next segment.
You should note that the number of spline segments, i. e. curves between two points, depends on the spline type used. For linear splines you get n-1 segments connecting the points P[i], i=1,...,n. A quadratic spline gives you n-2 segments because the last point is only used for determining the slope, as explained above (thus you will need at least three points to define a quadratic spline). The same holds for cubic splines where you get n-3 segments with the first and last point used only for slope calculations (thus needing at least four points). The bezier spline requires 4 points per segment, creating n/4 segments.
If you want to get a closed quadratic and cubic spline with smooth transitions at the end points you have to make sure that in the cubic case P[n-1] = P[2] (to get a closed curve), P[n] = P[3] and P[n-2] = P[1] (to smooth the transition). In the quadratic case P[n-1] = P[1] (to close the curve) and P[n] = P[2].
Note: The use of clockwise and counter-clockwise in the following examples should not be taken imply any notion of handedness.
The surface normal determination for lathes depends upon the order in which the splines points are specified. The following code, where the bezier spline point order is counter-clockwise in the x-y plane, will render with the color Red on the outside and the color Blue on the inside.
#declare Lathe_CounterClockwise = lathe { bezier_spline 16, <0.45,0>,<0.45,0.0828427>,<0.382843,0.15>,<0.3,0.15> <0.3,0.15>,<0.217157,0.15>,<0.15,0.0828427>,<0.15,0> <0.15,0>,<0.15,-0.0828427>,<0.217157,-0.15>,<0.3,-0.15> <0.3,-0.15>,<0.382843,-0.15>,<0.45,-0.0828427>,<0.45,0> sturm texture { pigment { Red } } interior_texture { pigment { Blue } } }
While the following example, where the point order for the bezier spine is clockwise in the x-y plane, will render inside-out, with the color Blue on the outside and the color Red on the inside.
#declare Lathe_Clockwise = lathe { bezier_spline 16, <0.45,0>,<0.45,-0.0828427>,<0.382843,-0.15>,<0.3,-0.15> <0.3,-0.15>,<0.217157,-0.15>,<0.15,-0.0828427>,<0.15,0> <0.15,0>,<0.15,0.0828427>,<0.217157,0.15>,<0.3,0.15> <0.3,0.15>,<0.382843,0.15>,<0.45,0.0828427>,<0.45,0> sturm texture { pigment { Red } } interior_texture { pigment { Blue } } }
The actual normal determination is a bit more complicated than just clockwise vs counter-clockwise orientation for complex splines. If the surface normal is important to the visual result, it is best to check how the lathe is being rendered by testing with substantially different inside and outside textures.
Note: With the bezier spline, unlike all the other spline types used with the lathe, it is possible to create independent closed curves within a single lathe definition.
If additional accuracy is required you can add the sturm
object modifier.