2 replies to this topic

[dagfooyo]

Can somebody explain spline math to me in layman's terms? Or point me to a tutorial that does? I've found a million explanations that all basically say "To calculate splines, let's start with this formula: [big freaking formula with x's, k's i's l's etc. and a giant sigma in the middle]"

NO explanation of that formula, as if I'm supposed to have had a proper math education and know what a sigma means when it's surrounded by alphabet soup. (I went to art school, okay? :P )

[WingedPanther]

Sigma means "add up the stuff on the right". Yes, you are expected to have had calculus if you want to understand it. If you post the version of the formula you're looking at, I can step you through a couple examples.

[Hoffmann Peter]

A spline is a mathematical tool to describe a (real world) line (e.g. the edge of an object).
The trick of spines is that you do not use just one function that is interpolated to fit the whole object but to split the line you like to describe in multiple sections of which each is described by a different function out of one class of functions (e.g. polynomials). The glue between two sections is that both function describing the two adjoining sections have similar mathematical properties at their meeting point.
The math behind splines converts the single sections functions into one mathematical expression and is indeed - depending on the class of functions of which all functions for the sections are - complicated.