4 ms·

Is it some sort of coincidence that both Bezier and Casteljau were working for car companies? Renault & Citroen feels like they were design powerhouses in this

by gopalv 12y ago

Is it some sort of coincidence that both Bezier and Casteljau were working for car companies? Renault & Citroen feels like they were design powerhouses in this context, with numerical industrial design. The curves were like compressed specifications, instead of being "make it look like this" with a sculpted model. That said, cars from the same era built by aerodynamics engineers also resulted in beautiful curves (like a Jaguar E Type).

jacobolus 12y ago
Of course it’s not a coincidence. Car companies were one of the first places where it was reasonable to do computer-aided design, back when computers were rare and expensive.
- agumonkey 12y ago
  As were airplanes manufacturers, where first visual ~workstations were designed.
jacquesm 12y ago
Sheetmetal fabrication is hard, and knowing what you can and can not make out of a single sheet is not obvious. For that reason car companies were very early in the game to use computers to gain an edge over their competitors by making others 'impossible' shapes with repeatable accuracy and resulting material thickness. Deformation results in variable material thickness and if you want to input curves into a computer (so your numerically controlled mill can make the tool-and-die used to stamp the part) then it helps if you can do so easily. That's where the Bezier curves (and splines) come in, they allow you to specify a complex curve using only a few points. I used them extensively for a computer program that cut sails for sailing vessels, the problems are roughly similar (only you can't really deform cloth all that much so you're going to end up cutting panels, the end result looks much the same as a 2 dimensionally deformed sheet of metal though).
- agumonkey 12y ago
  Reminds me of the picture here http://blog.martindoms.com/2012/04/25/splines-and-curves-part-i-bezier-curves/ http://blog.martindoms.com/2012/04/25/splines-and-curves-par... How people designed curved surface thanks to material tension and knots.

by gopalv 12y ago

jacobolus 12y ago

Of course it’s not a coincidence. Car companies were one of the first places where it was reasonable to do computer-aided design, back when computers were rare and expensive.

agumonkey 12y ago
As were airplanes manufacturers, where first visual ~workstations were designed.

jacquesm 12y ago

Sheetmetal fabrication is hard, and knowing what you can and can not make out of a single sheet is not obvious. For that reason car companies were very early in the game to use computers to gain an edge over their competitors by making others 'impossible' shapes with repeatable accuracy and resulting material thickness. Deformation results in variable material thickness and if you want to input curves into a computer (so your numerically controlled mill can make the tool-and-die used to stamp the part) then it helps if you can do so easily. That's where the Bezier curves (and splines) come in, they allow you to specify a complex curve using only a few points. I used them extensively for a computer program that cut sails for sailing vessels, the problems are roughly similar (only you can't really deform cloth all that much so you're going to end up cutting panels, the end result looks much the same as a 2 dimensionally deformed sheet of metal though).

agumonkey 12y ago
Reminds me of the picture here http://blog.martindoms.com/2012/04/25/splines-and-curves-part-i-bezier-curves/ http://blog.martindoms.com/2012/04/25/splines-and-curves-par... How people designed curved surface thanks to material tension and knots.