Computer software program for representation and visualization of free-form curves through bio-inspired optimization techniques

Abstract

Free-form parametric curves are becoming increasingly popular in many theoretical and applied domains because of their ability to model a wide variety of complex shapes. In real-world applications those shapes are usually given in terms of data points, for which a fitting curve is to be obtained. Unfortunately, this is a very difficult task for classical optimization techniques. Recently, it has been shown that bio-inspired optimization techniques can be successfully applied to overcome this limitation. This paper introduces a new interactive, user-friendly computer software program for the representation and visualization of free-form parametric curves from sets of data points. Given a cloud of data points as initial input, the user is prompted to a graphical interface where he/she can choose the bio-inspired technique of his/her preference, set up the control parameters interactively, and obtain the mathematical representation and graphical visualization of the underlying shape. The paper discusses the main features of this software. An illustrative example of its application is also briefly reported. © 2014 Springer-Verlag.