Generating bicubic B-spline surfaces by a sixth order PDE

Abstract

As the solutions of partial differential equations (PDEs), PDE surfaces provide an effective way for physical-based surface design in surface modeling. The bicubic B-spline surface is a useful tool for surface modeling in computer aided geometric design (CAGD). In this paper, we present a method for generating bicubic B-spline surfaces with the uniform knots and the quasi-uniform knots from the sixth order PDEs. From the given boundary condition, based on the cubic B-spline basis representation and the PDE mask, the resulting bicubic B-spline surface can be generated uniquely. The boundary condition is more flexible and can be applied for curvature-continuous surface design, surface blending and hole filling. Some representative examples show the effectiveness of the presented method.