Degree reduction of Bézier curves (Q5894736)

This paper treats the problem of approximating a given Bézier curve of degree \(n\) by another one of degree \(n-1\) in that sense that the maximal Euclidean distance between the two curves is minimized. In contrast to other approaches by \textit{M. A. Watkins} and \textit{A. J. Worsey} [Comput.- Aided Des. 20, No. 7, 398-405 (1988; Zbl 0658.65014)] and \textit{M. A. Lachance} [Comput. Aided Geom. Des. 5, No. 3, 195-208 (1988; Zbl 0709.65012)], which use extensive basis transformations, the algorithm proposed here is much simpler and easy to implement. As well as the other ones quoted above, it is based on the Chebyshev expansion of the given Bézier curve. Furthermore, a modification of the algorithm for constrained best degree reduction (using constrained Chebyshev polynomials) is given, and the applicability of the univariate scheme to degree reduction of tensor product Bézier surfaces is briefly discussed. The paper contains several instructive numerical examples.