Cheap way of calculating cubic bezier length

Question

An analytical solution for cubic bezier length seems not to exist, but it does not mean that coding a cheap solution does not exist. By cheap I mean something like in the rang

Answer 1

Simplest algorithm: flatten the curve and tally euclidean distance. As long as you want an approximate arc length, this solution is fast and cheap. Given your curve's coordinate LUT—you're talking about speed, so I'm assuming you use those, and don't constantly recompute the coordinates—it's a simple for loop with a tally. In generic code, with a dist function that computes the euclidean distance between two points:

var arclength = 0,
    last=LUT.length-1,
    i;
for (i=0; i<last; i++) {
  arclength += dist(LUT[i], LUT[i+1]);
}

Done. arclength is now the approximate arc length based on the maximum number of segments you can form in the curve based on your LUT. Need things faster with a larger potential error? Control the segment count.

var arclength = 0,
    segCount = ...,
    last=LUT.length-2,
    step = last/segCount,
    s, i;
for (s=0; s<=segCount; s++) {
  i = (s*step/last)|0;
  arclength += dist(LUT[i], LUT[i+1]);
}

This is pretty much the simplest possible algorithm that still generates values that come even close to the true arc length. For anything better, you're going to have to use more expensive numerical approaches (like the Legendre-Gauss quadrature technique).

If you want to know why, hit up the arc length section of "A Primer on Bézier Curves".

Answer 2

in my case a fast and valid approach is this. (Rewritten in c# for Unity3d)

public static float BezierSingleLength(Vector3[] points){
    var p0 = points[0] - points[1];
    var p1 = points[2] - points[1];
    var p2 = new Vector3();
    var p3 = points[3]-points[2];

    var l0 = p0.magnitude;
    var l1 = p1.magnitude;
    var l3 = p3.magnitude;
    if(l0 > 0) p0 /= l0;
    if(l1 > 0) p1 /= l1;
    if(l3 > 0) p3 /= l3;

    p2 = -p1;
    var a = Mathf.Abs(Vector3.Dot(p0,p1)) + Mathf.Abs(Vector3.Dot(p2,p3));
    if(a > 1.98f || l0 + l1 + l3 < (4 - a)*8) return l0+l1+l3;

    var bl = new Vector3[4];
    var br = new Vector3[4];

    bl[0] = points[0];
    bl[1] = (points[0]+points[1]) * 0.5f;

    var mid = (points[1]+points[2]) * 0.5f;

    bl[2] = (bl[1]+mid) * 0.5f;
    br[3] = points[3];
    br[2] = (points[2]+points[3]) * 0.5f;
    br[1] = (br[2]+mid) * 0.5f;
    br[0] = (br[1]+bl[2]) * 0.5f;
    bl[3] = br[0];

    return BezierSingleLength(bl) + BezierSingleLength(br);
}

Answer 3

I worked out the closed form expression of length for a 3 point Bezier (below). I've not attempted to work out a closed form for 4+ points. This would most likely be difficult or complicated to represent and handle. However, a numerical approximation technique such as a Runge-Kutta integration algorithm (see my Q&A here for details) would work quite well by integrating using the arc length formula.

Here is some Java code for the arc length of a 3 point Bezier, with points a,b, and c.

    v.x = 2*(b.x - a.x);
    v.y = 2*(b.y - a.y);
    w.x = c.x - 2*b.x + a.x;
    w.y = c.y - 2*b.y + a.y;

    uu = 4*(w.x*w.x + w.y*w.y);

    if(uu < 0.00001)
    {
        return (float) Math.sqrt((c.x - a.x)*(c.x - a.x) + (c.y - a.y)*(c.y - a.y));
    }

    vv = 4*(v.x*w.x + v.y*w.y);
    ww = v.x*v.x + v.y*v.y;

    t1 = (float) (2*Math.sqrt(uu*(uu + vv + ww)));
    t2 = 2*uu+vv;
    t3 = vv*vv - 4*uu*ww;
    t4 = (float) (2*Math.sqrt(uu*ww));

    return (float) ((t1*t2 - t3*Math.log(t2+t1) -(vv*t4 - t3*Math.log(vv+t4))) / (8*Math.pow(uu, 1.5)));

Answer 4

Another option is to estimate the arc length as the average between the chord and the control net. In practice:

Bezier bezier = Bezier (p0, p1, p2, p3);

chord = (p3-p0).Length;
cont_net = (p0 - p1).Length + (p2 - p1).Length + (p3 - p2).Length;

app_arc_length = (cont_net + chord) / 2;

You can then recursively split your spline segment into two segments and calculate the arc length up to convergence. I tested myself and it actually converges pretty fast. I got the idea from this forum.

Answer 5

public float FastArcLength()
{
    float arcLength = 0.0f;
    ArcLengthUtil(cp0.position, cp1.position, cp2.position, cp3.position, 5, ref arcLength);
    return arcLength;
}

private void ArcLengthUtil(Vector3 A, Vector3 B, Vector3 C, Vector3 D, uint subdiv, ref float L)
{
    if (subdiv > 0)
    {
        Vector3 a = A + (B - A) * 0.5f;
        Vector3 b = B + (C - B) * 0.5f;
        Vector3 c = C + (D - C) * 0.5f;
        Vector3 d = a + (b - a) * 0.5f;
        Vector3 e = b + (c - b) * 0.5f;
        Vector3 f = d + (e - d) * 0.5f;

        // left branch
        ArcLengthUtil(A, a, d, f, subdiv - 1, ref L);
        // right branch
        ArcLengthUtil(f, e, c, D, subdiv - 1, ref L);
    }
    else
    {
        float controlNetLength = (B-A).magnitude + (C - B).magnitude + (D - C).magnitude;
        float chordLength = (D - A).magnitude;
        L += (chordLength + controlNetLength) / 2.0f;
    }
}

Answer 6

first of first you should Understand the algorithm use in Bezier, When i was coding a program by c# Which was full of graphic material I used beziers and many time I had to find a point cordinate in bezier , whic it seem imposisble in the first look. so the thing i do was to write Cubic bezier function in my costume math class which was in my project. so I will share the code with you first.

    //--------------- My Costum Power Method ------------------\\

public static float FloatPowerX(float number, int power)
        {
            float temp = number;
            for (int i = 0; i < power - 1; i++)
            {
                temp *= number;
            }
            return temp;
        }

    //--------------- Bezier Drawer Code Bellow ------------------\\

public static void CubicBezierDrawer(Graphics graphics, Pen pen, float[] startPointPixel, float[] firstControlPointPixel
                , float[] secondControlPointPixel, float[] endPointPixel)
        {
            float[] px = new float[1111], py = new float[1111];
            float[] x = new float[4] { startPointPixel[0], firstControlPointPixel[0], secondControlPointPixel[0], endPointPixel[0] };
            float[] y = new float[4] { startPointPixel[1], firstControlPointPixel[1], secondControlPointPixel[1], endPointPixel[1] };
        int i = 0;

        for (float t = 0; t <= 1F; t += 0.001F)
        {
            px[i] = FloatPowerX((1F - t), 3) * x[0] + 3 * t * FloatPowerX((1F - t), 2) * x[1] + 3 * FloatPowerX(t, 2) * (1F - t) * x[2] + FloatPowerX(t, 3) * x[3];
            py[i] = FloatPowerX((1F - t), 3) * y[0] + 3 * t * FloatPowerX((1F - t), 2) * y[1] + 3 * FloatPowerX(t, 2) * (1F - t) * y[2] + FloatPowerX(t, 3) * y[3];
            graphics.DrawLine(pen, px[i - 1], py[i - 1], px[i], py[i]);
            i++;
        }
    }

as you see above, this is the way a bezier Function work and it draw the same Bezier as Microsoft Bezier Function do( I've test it). you can make it even more accurate by incrementing array size and counter size or draw elipse instead of line& ... . All of them depend on you need and level of accuracy you need and ... .

Returning to main goal ,the Question is how to calc the lenght???

well The answer is we Have tons of point and each of them has an x coorinat and y coordinate which remember us a triangle shape & especially A RightTriabgle Shape. so if we have point p1 & p2 , we can calculate the distance of them as a RightTriangle Chord. as we remeber from our math class in school, in ABC Triangle of type RightTriangle, chord Lenght is -> Sqrt(Angle's FrontCostalLenght ^ 2 + Angle's SideCostalLeghth ^ 2);

and there is this relation betwen all points we calc the lenght betwen current point and the last point before current point(exmp p[i - 1] & p[i]) and store sum of them all in a variable. lets show it in code bellow

//--------------- My Costum Power Method ------------------\\

public static float FloatPower2(float number)
        {
            return number * number;
        }

//--------------- My Bezier Lenght Calculator Method ------------------\\

public static float CubicBezierLenghtCalculator(float[] startPointPixel
            , float[] firstControlPointPixel, float[] secondControlPointPixel, float[] endPointPixel)
        {
            float[] tmp = new float[2];
            float lenght = 0;
            float[] px = new float[1111], py = new float[1111];

            float[] x = new float[4] { startPointPixel[0], firstControlPointPixel[0]
                , secondControlPointPixel[0], endPointPixel[0] };

            float[] y = new float[4] { startPointPixel[1], firstControlPointPixel[1]
                , secondControlPointPixel[1], endPointPixel[1] };

            int i = 0;

            for (float t = 0; t <= 1.0; t += 0.001F)
            {
                px[i] = FloatPowerX((1.0F - t), 3) * x[0] + 3 * t * FloatPowerX((1.0F - t), 2) * x[1] + 3F * FloatPowerX(t, 2) * (1.0F - t) * x[2] + FloatPowerX(t, 3) * x[3];
                py[i] = FloatPowerX((1.0F - t), 3) * y[0] + 3 * t * FloatPowerX((1.0F - t), 2) * y[1] + 3F * FloatPowerX(t, 2) * (1.0F - t) * y[2] + FloatPowerX(t, 3) * y[3];
                if (i > 0)
                {
                    tmp[0] = Math.Abs(px[i - 1] - px[i]);// calculating costal lenght
                    tmp[1] = Math.Abs(py[i - 1] - py[i]);// calculating costal lenght
                    lenght += (float)Math.Sqrt(FloatPower2(tmp[0]) + FloatPower2(tmp[1]));// calculating the lenght of current RightTriangle Chord  & add it each time to variable
                }
                i++;
            }
            return lenght;
        }

if you wish to have faster calculation just need to reduce px & py array lenght and loob count.

We also can decrease memory need by reducing px and py to array lenght to 1 or make a simple double variable but becuase of Conditional situation Happend which Increase Our Big O I didn't do that.

Hope it helped you so much. if have another question just ask. With Best regards, Heydar - Islamic Republic of Iran.