EnergyMinimizingBezierDemo

Interactive demonstration of energy-minimizing Bézier curves

demo.py is a a matplotlib-powered demonstration which a user can construct a Bézier curve by clicking repeatedly on the plot. The energy of the curve is shown on a seperate plot once three points have been selected. You can press e with your mouse over a point on the control polygon to move it to a position which minimizes the energy.

Commands:

• click in the plot: Add a point to the curve's control polygon
• click on a point and drag: Move a point
• d key while mouse is hovering over a point: Delete that point
• e key while mouse is hovering over a point: Move that point to a position which minimizes the energy
• 1, 2, and 3 keys: Change the degree of the energy calculated and minimized
  • 1: Stretch energy (first degree)
  • 2: Strain energy (second degree)
  • 3: Jerk energy (third degree)

The included Jupyter notebook investigates the matrices which generate points on a Bézier curve's control polygon which minimize the energy of the curve.