Surface Generation from an Irregular Network of Parametric Curves

This paper proposes a method of generating surfaces from a network of curves that have arbitrary parametric forms, and that intersect in an arbitrary topology.The surfaces generated from the network are represented by multisided patches defined on a multivariate coordinate system. An m-sided patch is generated by blending m sub-surfaces with a transfinite interpolant, and each sub-surface is generated by blending two sweep surfaces that are defined by a pair of curves intersecting with each other in the network. An advantage of the final surfaces is that they have everywhere the same order of continuity as the curves.This method is flexible in its representation of the curve expressions and the connective topology of a network. It can implement a surface model in user-friendly and designer-oriented CAD interfaces that handle direct input of 3D curves.