Approximation of quadratic Bézier curves by arc splines

Abstract

The paths of cutting tools used in a computer-aided manufacturing environment are usually described by means of circular arcs and straight line segments. In a computer aided design environment, however, objects are often designed using B-splines or Bézier curves. This paper develops a simple technique to find an arbitrarily close approximation to a quadratic Bézier curve by a G 1 curve consisting of circular arcs.