Posted by Michael Spencer on March 01, 2000 at 00:29:40:In Reply to: Re: French Curve Tool posted by Bill Stanley on February 29, 2000 at 18:37:18:
true enough, Bill. What the B-spline can't do is submit to elegant real-time editing because there is no ghosting (this fact limites usefulness for us, although we would like to use it more). But perhaps this is a little different than a french curve?
With a FC, as I remember, you were looking for a curve between two or more points, and you would slide the critter along, keeping all the subject points on the surface. As you moved the FC, the nature of the curve changed. The radius of the curve is not an issue in this type of curve-fitting.
The bezier is quite powerful, but as pointed out, requires a light touch. You can get elegant curves with long control rods. But the rods and points don't affect the shape of the entire object all at once in the manner of a FC.
For the life of me I can't think (yet) of how I would use this thing. That's why it's so interesting.
MS