CompuServe Thread

OK, a little background on beziers… A bezier is a 2 dimensional parametric representation of a curve based on 4 control points; 2 end points and two mid points. By moving the control points relative to one another, the shape of the curve is changed. This method of creating curves interactively makes it very easy for a user to create smooth, flowing curves. A bezier patch is a 3 dimensional extension of a bezier curve. The patch is basically a grid of triangles that can be shaped into smooth flowing shapes using control points. Patches use 16 control points to modify their shape, regardless of the number of triangles that make it up. The cool thing about bezier patches is that you can "stick" them together and, using the combined patches, create very complicated surfaces easily. The surfaces are very smooth and are great for simulating real-world shapes that don't contain many straight lines. A good example would be a blanket on an unmade bed. What I'm working on right now is a bezier patch modeller for 3D Studio. If all goes well, you will be able to create patches inside 3D Studio through the use of an IPAS routine. If all goes REALLY well, you will not only be able create bezier patches, but you will be able to "attach" the patches to other objects in your scene. These objects will "control the control points" of the patches. This should allow for some really neat effects. For example, you could create a patch "skin" for a skeleton. As the skeleton moves, the skin will automatically move appropriately; rotating, wrinkling, twisting, etc. Right now, the program is still under development and is being beta tested in it's DOS version. When the IPAS3 SDK is released, I plan on porting it for use with 3D Studio 3. How's that for a "short" example. <grin>