OT: Another word for Spline ?

Hi guys,

I use splines quite a bit in my audio applications, I use them for 
envelopes, blending functions and even to create waveforms.

I'm talking about cubic interpolation between endpoints.

Is there another word I can use, maybe something more technical ? I 
really don't like the word spline.

Thanks.

Noekk wrote:
> Hi guys,
> 
> I use splines quite a bit in my audio applications, I use them for 
> envelopes, blending functions and even to create waveforms.
> 
> I'm talking about cubic interpolation between endpoints.
> 
> Is there another word I can use, maybe something more technical ? I 
> really don't like the word spline.

Splines are a thin pieces of wood. Joiners use them for strengthening 
miters, and draftsmen use them for fairing curves through arbitrary 
points, driving brads or drafting pins into the board to hold the 
splines in place. Now, equivalents made of steel springs have grooves in 
one edge that allow them to be pinned down by iron weights (called 
ducks) with a wire from weight to groove that looks a bit like a neck.

Laying down full-size ships curves requires a large floor, and is 
usually done in the loft of the construction shed. The process, both for 
hulls and for sails, is called lofting. While desk-top drafting is done 
with splines, lofting is done with heavier stuff called a limber batten. 
(A batten is thicker than a spline.) 
http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/06/howto/splineweights/index.htm

Just as the work done in a loft is called lofting, the fairing of curves 
through a series of points is called splining, even when it's done with 
software. "Spline" is a good word. Use it.

Jerry
-- 
Engineering is the art of making what you want from things you can get.
�����������������������������������������������������������������������

> Is there another word I can use, maybe something more technical ? I
> really don't like the word spline.

There's nothing wrong with the term "spline" if you're doing cubic (or
any other polynomial order, for that matter) piecewise fits between
points; that's what the method is called.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spline_interpolation

No sense in using another term when this one describes exactly what
you're doing.

Jason

Hi,

Yeah, you guys are right, I'll stick with Spline.

What are the points usually called, Knots ?

Thanks.


Noekk wrote:
> Hi guys,
> 
> I use splines quite a bit in my audio applications, I use them for 
> envelopes, blending functions and even to create waveforms.
> 
> I'm talking about cubic interpolation between endpoints.
> 
> Is there another word I can use, maybe something more technical ? I 
> really don't like the word spline.
> 
> Thanks.

"Noekk" <noekk@noekk.com> wrote in message 
news:md37h.512$LN6.115@newsfe11.lga...
> Hi,
>
> Yeah, you guys are right, I'll stick with Spline.
>
> What are the points usually called, Knots ?
>
> Thanks.
>

Are you confusing "spline" with "splice"? 

Noekk wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> Yeah, you guys are right, I'll stick with Spline.
> 
> What are the points usually called, Knots ?

Nodes (http://stsdas.stsci.edu/cgi-bin/gethelp.cgi?vigfit), datum points 
(www.iop.org/EJ/article/0031-9155/18/4/306/pbv18i4p550.pdf), offsets 
(from the naval architect's table), other; varies with the application.

Jerry
-- 
Engineering is the art of making what you want from things you can get.
�����������������������������������������������������������������������

Jerry Avins wrote:
> Noekk wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> Yeah, you guys are right, I'll stick with Spline.
>>
>> What are the points usually called, Knots ?
> 
> Nodes (http://stsdas.stsci.edu/cgi-bin/gethelp.cgi?vigfit), datum points 
> (www.iop.org/EJ/article/0031-9155/18/4/306/pbv18i4p550.pdf), offsets 
> (from the naval architect's table), other; varies with the application.
> 
> Jerry

 From http://www.newavesys.com/new00002.htm:

Entering a Table of Offsets (ProSurf Only)

If you have a full table of offsets (more than 25 offsets or so) for an 
existing boat/ship that you wish to match up exactly using the ProSurf 
package, you should follow the steps below. If you have less that 25 
offsets, it may be faster to use the File-Create Boat command and the 
Edit-Set Point command method described in the section on "Setting 
Offsets in ProBasic or ProSurf".

A. Use the Offsets module to enter offsets for each station. The offset 
half-breadth and height values must first be converted to decimal form 
if they are in some other form, such as feet-inches-eights. See the 
Offsets module manual for more details.

B. Verify the station shapes using the Body Plan display or the Hull 
Draw module. You want to make sure that the station shapes looks good 
before you fit surfaces to them.

C. Correct any errors using the Offsets or Digitize modules. The 
Digitize module can be used with a mouse for doing interactive editing 
of station shapes.

D. Convert this "Station Definition" to a "Surface Definition" using the 
Convert Hull module. This program fits or "skins" the stations with one 
or more B-spline surfaces. A "Station Definition" of a hull describes 
the hull shape using only a number of stations located along the length 
of the hull. Station definition programs fit B-spline curves through the 
offset points of each station. The "station definition" is good for 
input and calculation, but not accurate enough for fairing and 
construction templates. A B-spline (NURB) surface definition is required 
to perform full surface fairing and lofting. See the Convert Hull manual 
for a detailed example of this surface fitting process.

E. Read the new surfaces into ProSurf using the File-Get Old Surf command.

Conversion from an arbitrary table of offsets to a surface definition is 
a complex process, since the hull being defined might have many chines 
separating many surfaces. Before you begin this conversion process, you 
need to read up on the definition of the "Station Definition" and 
"Surface Definition" of a hull and read about the conversion example in 
the Convert Hull manual.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

For those interested, stations correspond roughly to frames that support 
the planking in a wooden boat. Offsets are three-dimensional data 
measured up from an arbitrary plane (often through the bottom of the 
keel) and outward from the fore-and-aft plane that bisects the boat.

There's more than one world out there!

Jerry

P.S. The head shipwright at the Minneford boat yard at City Island once 
offered me an apprenticeship. Sometimes I'm sorry I turned him down.
-- 
Engineering is the art of making what you want from things you can get.
�����������������������������������������������������������������������