Chapter 3 Surfaces

3.1 Introduction
3.2 Surface Representation
3.3 Parametric Representation of Analytical
Surfaces
3.4 Parametric Representation of Synthetic
Surfaces
3.5 Surface Manipulation
 3.1 Introduction

The wireframe models introduced in the

previous chapters are not enough to
represent the complex objects. The following
example shows that the wireframe model in
Fig. 3.la can be interpreted by three different
ways, as shown in Fig. 3.1b, c and d.
Figure 3. 1 An ambiguous wireframe model.
 To give an accurate definition of the objects,
surface modeling has to be used to describe
objects accurately. Surface modelling is
considered as an extension of the wireframe
models. CAD/CAM systems usually create a
surface from wireframe entities. Surface models
are less ambiguous and provide hidden line and
surface algorithms to add realism to displayed
geometry. Shading is only available for surface
and solid models. Surface models can also be
used in volume and mass property calculations,
finite element modelling etc.
 The choice of the surface form depends
on the application and manufacturing
methods. All surfaces form must be easy to
differentiate to determine the surface
tangents, normals and curvatures.
Polynomial functions are obvious choices,
and for most practical application, cubic
polynomials are sufficient. Polynomials of
higher order have higher computation costs
and may lead to unwanted oscillations.
 Despite many advantages, surface models
have few disadvantages. Surface models are
generally more complex and require more
CPU time and computer storage than
wireframe models. They can be ambiguous in
the case when determining which surfaces
define a volume.
 Surfaces are usually displayed with a mesh, the
mesh size is m  n (for example) and it can be
changed by users. Figure 3.2 shows a cylinder
surface with 3 X 4 and 6 X 8 mesh size respectively.
The finer mesh has a smoother contour but takes
more CPU time.
 Similar to curves, CAD/CAM systems
provide designers with both analytic and
synthetic surfaces entities. Analytic surface
includes entities such as plane surface,
ruled surface, surface of revolution and
tabulated cylinder. Synthetic entities include
the bicubic Hermite spline surface, B-spline
surface, Bezier patches, Coons patches etc.
This chapter covers the mathematical
representations of most popular surfaces.
3.2 Surface
Representation
Surfaces can be
described by
nonparametric or
parametric equations.
Figure 3. 3 shows
parametric representation
of a surface. The
parametric equation of
three-dimensional curved
surface is
P(u, v)  x y z  x(u, v) y(u, v) z(x, y) , u min  u  u max , v min  v  v max
T T

The parametric variable u and v are

constrained to intervals bounded by
minimum and maximum values. In most
surfaces, the parametric variables u and v
have the interval [0, 1]. A surface can also
be divided into a number of topological
patches. Figure 3.4 shows a two-patch
surface where u and v values are between
[0, 1].
 Curves on the surfaces can be generated by
fixing one parametric variable, say u, to obtain a
curve in terms of variable v. The mesh size
determines the number of curves displayed.
There are two tangent vectors at any point P(u,
v) on the surface. These vectors are given by
P x y z
Pu (u, v)   i j k, u min  u  u max , v min  v  v max
u u u u
(3.2)
And
P x y z
Pv (u, v)   i j k, u min  u  u max , v min  v  v max
v v v v
(3.3)
 The two equations can be written as
 x y z 
Pu   u u u 
P    x y z 
 v  
 v v v  (3.4)
The twist vector is the rate of change of the
tangent vector Pu with respect to v or Pv with
respect to u, or it is the cross (mixed) derivative
vector at the point. The twist vector can be
written in terms of its Cartesian components as
T
 2x  y
2
 z 
2
2x 2y  2z
Puv     i j k
 uv uv uv  uv uv uv
(3.5)
u min  u  u max , v min  v  v max
 The twist vector depends on both the
surface geometry and its parameterization.
Due to the latter dependency, interpreting
the twist vector in geometrical terms may
be misleading.
Each rectangular surface has sixteen
vectors and four boundary curves. These
vectors are four position vectors (four
corners), eight tangent vectors (two at each
corner), and four twist vectors at corners.
 The surface normal at a point is a vector that
is perpendicular to both tangent vectors at the
point, that is:
N(u, v)= P  P  Pu  Pv (3.6)
u v
The unit normal vector is
N Pu  Pv
n 
N Pu  Pv (3.7)
 Many surfaces used in engineering are
curved surfaces. It is useful to find the minimum
length between two points on a curved surface
and the minimum surface curvature at a point
on surface.
The paths that have minimum lengths
between two points on a curved surface are
known as geodesics. Surface geodesics can
provide optimized motion planning across a
curved surface for numerical control machining.
The minimum length between two points is
tb tb
S   ds   Eu ' 2Fu' v'Gv' dt
2 2
ta ta
(3.8)
Where
E(u, v)  Pu  Pu F(u, v)  Pu  Pv G(u, v)  Pv  Pv

(3.9)
E, F and G are the first fundamental coefficients
of the surface. u = du/dt and v =dv/dt.
 The maximum and minimum curvatures are
given below, readers can find the proofs (and
the proof to Eq. (3. 8)) in the related
mathematical books.
In order to investigate the curvature, we
have the second fundamental form
1 2
dh  Ldu  2Mdudv  Ndv
2 2
(3.10)
2
Where
L(u, v)  n  Puu M(u, v)  n  Puv N(u, v)  n  Pvv

(3.11)
 A surface curvature at a point P(u.v) is
defined as the curvature of the normal section
curve that lies on the surface and passes by the
point. A normal section curve is the intersection
curve of a plane passing through the normal n
at the point and the surface. There can be a
family of planes and a family of normal section
curves that can contain n. The surface
curvature at a point on a normal section curve
given by the form { u=u(t), v=v(t)} can be written
as
Lu ' 2Mu ' v' Nv'
2 2
k
Eu ' 2Fu' v'Gv '
2 2
(3.12)
 Equation (3.12) can be used to obtain the
principal curvatures which are the maximum
and minimum bounds on the curvature at the
point
k max  H  H  K 
2


k min  H  H  K 
2
(3.13)
where K and H are the Gaussian and mean
curvature respectively.
LN  M 2

K 
EG  F 2
(3.14)
EN  GL  2FM 
H 
2(EG  F ) 
2
 From a practical point of view, the principal
curvatures are of primary interest. For example,
to machine a surface with a spherical cutter, it is
important to ensure that the cutter radius is
smaller than the smallest concave radius of
curvature of the surface.
The tangent plane contains all the tangent
vectors to the surface at a point. The equation
can be written as

n  (Q  P)  (Pu  Pv )  (Q  P)  0
(3.15)
3.3 Parametric
Representation
Of
Analytical
Surface

3.3.1 Plane Surface

The parametric equation of a plane can take
different forms depending on the given data. Three
cases are discussed here.
Case 1: A plane is defined by three points P0, P1
and P2 as shown in Fig. 3.5.
The vector of any point P on the plane
can be written as
P(u, v)  P0  u(P1  P0 )  v(P2  P0 )
0  u  1,0  v  1 (3.16)
 Use the Eqs. (3. 2) and (3. 3), the tangent
vectors at the point are
Pu (u, v)  P1  P0 
 0  u  1,0  v  1
Pv (u, v)  P2  P0  (3.17)
and the surface normal is
(P1  P0 )  (P2  P0 )
n ( u , v) 
(P1  P0 )  (P2  P0 ) 0  u  1,0  v  1
(3.18)
 Case 2: A plane passes through a point P0
and contains two directions defined by the unit
vectors r and s (Figure 3. 6).
P(u, v)  P0  uL u r  vL v s
0  u  1,0  v  1 (3.19)
Equation (3. 19) can be used to provide the
equation of a plane surface that passes
through two points P0 and P1, and is parallel to
the unit vector r.
P(u, v)  P0  u(P1  P0 )  vL v r
0  u  1,0  v  1 (3.20)
 Case 3: A plane passes through a point P0
and is perpendicular to a given direction n.
The nonparametric equation of the plane is
(P-P0) n = 0, which can be used to generate
two points on the plane, Eq. (3. 16) can then
be used to write the parametric Eq. (3. 1).
A database structure of a plane surface can
be seen to include its unit normal n, a point
on the plane P0, and u and v axes defined in
terms of the local coordinates.
 3.3.2 Ruled Surface
A ruled surface is formed by linear
interpolation between corresponding parametric
locations along the selected curves. It is
generated by joining corresponding points on
two spaces curves (rails) G(u) and Q(u) by
straight lines, as shown in Fig. 3.7.
 The parametric equation of a ruled surface
defined by two rails is
P(u, v)  G (u )  v[(Q(u )  G (u )]  (1  v)G (u )  vQ (u )

0  u  1,0  v  1
(3.21)
where G(u) and Q(u) are rails in Fig. 3.7.
G(u) and Q(u) are P(u, 0) and P(u,1)
respectively.
 A ruled surface can only allow curvature
in the u direction and the curvature in v
direction is zero, thus a ruled surface can
not be used to model surface patches that
have curvature in two directions. Figure 3.8
shows a ruled surface generated from two
B-spline curves.
 3.3.3 Surface of Revolution
A lot of objects in engineering have (or
almost have) the symmetry of revolution.
Surface of revolution can be generated by
rotation of a planar curve with an angel v
around an axis. Each point on the curve creates
a circle (if v = 360') , its centre lies on the axis
of ration and its radius rz(u) is variable. The
planar curve and the circle are called the profile
and parallels respectively, while the various
positions of the profile around the axis are
called meridians.
 To develop the parametric equation for a
surface of revolution, a local coordinate system
with a z axis coincident with the axis of rotation
is assumed as shown in Fig. 3.9.
 The local coordinate system has the
subscript L and its origin at PL(u =0).
Consider a point G(u) = P(u,0) on the profile
that rotates an angle v about zL axis, the
parametric equation of the surface of
revolution can be written as
P(u, v)  rz (u) cos vn 1  rz (u) sin vn 2  Z L (u)n 3
0  u  1,0  v  1 (3.22)
 Each point P (u, v) in the local coordinate
system has the coordinate [rz(u)cosv, rz(u)sinv,
ZL(u)]. The local coordinates have to be
transformed into global coordinates before
displaying the surface.
The database of a surface of revolution
includes its origin, axis of rotation, and the
angle of ration as starting and ending angels.
 3.3.4 Tabulated Cylinder
Translating a space planar curve along a given
direction generates a tabulated cylinder. It can also be
defined as a surface generated by moving a straight
line (called generatrix) along a given planar curve
(directrix). Figure 3.10 shows the v direction of the
cylinder.
 The position vector of any point P(u, v)
on the surface can be written as
P(u, v) = G(u)+vnv
0≤u ≤umax, 0 ≤v ≤vmax (3.23)
The database of a tabulated cylinder
includes its directrix, the unit vector nv and
the lower and upper bounds of the cylinder.