The Bézier tangential surface system: a robust dual representation of tangent space (Q1885207)

A dual representation of a surface's tangent space is developed, namely the tangential surface system, which simplify the analysis of tangential interactions between surfaces. Three cooperating tangential surfaces defined within boxes are used to model the tangential space. The points at infinity on each tangential surface are clipped away. The clipping preserving everything that lies in the boxes and involves subdivision along isoparametric curves. A construction of the tangential surface of a parametric surface is described. Moreover the tangential surface of a Bézier surface is expressed as a rational Bézier surface.