An interpolating piecewise bicubic surface with shape parameters

This paper presents a new method for the generation of a surface interpolating a mesh of control points. The surface is generated by piecewise bicubic interpolation and is derived from a classical Coons patch. The introduction of three shape parameters (namely the tension, continuity and bias parameters) provides the surface designer with a set of flexible user handles for shaping the surface locally. Modifying the values of the shape parameters allows the designer to introduce soft or hard cross patch boundaries thus introducing creases and corners to the curved surface. This approach is based on a generalisation of Kochanek-Bartels splines. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.