System and method of hybrid forward differencing to render bézier splines

摘要

A high speed and memory efficient system and method for rendering Bézier curves. The system utilizes a hybrid forward differencing function representing the Bézier curve defined by the Bézier control points and renders the curve with a small number of straight line segments. The system renders the curve in a manner that results in the same Bézier control points that are calculated using the prior art recursive subdivision techniques and rejects line segment approximations that would not be derived from recursive subdivision. The system can start at either end of a Bézier curve and will render the same approximation. The method is readily implemented on a computer and is applicable to Bézier curves of any order.