how to draw smooth curve through N points using javascript HTML5 canvas?

Question

For a drawing application, I\'m saving the mouse movement coordinates to an array then drawing them with lineTo. The resulting line is not smooth. How can I produce a sing

Answer 1

The first answer will not pass through all the points. This graph will exactly pass through all the points and will be a perfect curve with the points as [{x:,y:}] n such points.

var points = [{x:1,y:1},{x:2,y:3},{x:3,y:4},{x:4,y:2},{x:5,y:6}] //took 5 example points
ctx.moveTo((points[0].x), points[0].y);

for(var i = 0; i < points.length-1; i ++)
{

  var x_mid = (points[i].x + points[i+1].x) / 2;
  var y_mid = (points[i].y + points[i+1].y) / 2;
  var cp_x1 = (x_mid + points[i].x) / 2;
  var cp_x2 = (x_mid + points[i+1].x) / 2;
  ctx.quadraticCurveTo(cp_x1,points[i].y ,x_mid, y_mid);
  ctx.quadraticCurveTo(cp_x2,points[i+1].y ,points[i+1].x,points[i+1].y);
}

Answer 2

If you want to determine the equation of the curve through n points then the following code will give you the coefficients of the polynomial of degree n-1 and save these coefficients to the coefficients[] array (starting from the constant term). The x coordinates do not have to be in order. This is an example of a Lagrange polynomial.

var xPoints=[2,4,3,6,7,10]; //example coordinates
var yPoints=[2,5,-2,0,2,8];
var coefficients=[];
for (var m=0; m<xPoints.length; m++) coefficients[m]=0;
    for (var m=0; m<xPoints.length; m++) {
        var newCoefficients=[];
        for (var nc=0; nc<xPoints.length; nc++) newCoefficients[nc]=0;
        if (m>0) {
            newCoefficients[0]=-xPoints[0]/(xPoints[m]-xPoints[0]);
            newCoefficients[1]=1/(xPoints[m]-xPoints[0]);
    } else {
        newCoefficients[0]=-xPoints[1]/(xPoints[m]-xPoints[1]);
        newCoefficients[1]=1/(xPoints[m]-xPoints[1]);
    }
    var startIndex=1; 
    if (m==0) startIndex=2; 
    for (var n=startIndex; n<xPoints.length; n++) {
        if (m==n) continue;
        for (var nc=xPoints.length-1; nc>=1; nc--) {
        newCoefficients[nc]=newCoefficients[nc]*(-xPoints[n]/(xPoints[m]-xPoints[n]))+newCoefficients[nc-1]/(xPoints[m]-xPoints[n]);
        }
        newCoefficients[0]=newCoefficients[0]*(-xPoints[n]/(xPoints[m]-xPoints[n]));
    }    
    for (var nc=0; nc<xPoints.length; nc++) coefficients[nc]+=yPoints[m]*newCoefficients[nc];
}

Answer 3

Give KineticJS a try - you can define a Spline with an array of points. Here's an example:

Old url: http://www.html5canvastutorials.com/kineticjs/html5-canvas-kineticjs-spline-tutorial/

See archive url: https://web.archive.org/web/20141204030628/http://www.html5canvastutorials.com/kineticjs/html5-canvas-kineticjs-spline-tutorial/

Answer 4

This code is perfect for me:

this.context.beginPath();
this.context.moveTo(data[0].x, data[0].y);
for (let i = 1; i < data.length; i++) {
  this.context.bezierCurveTo(
    data[i - 1].x + (data[i].x - data[i - 1].x) / 2,
    data[i - 1].y,
    data[i - 1].x + (data[i].x - data[i - 1].x) / 2,
    data[i].y,
    data[i].x,
    data[i].y);
}

you have correct smooth line and correct endPoints NOTICE! (y = "canvas height" - y);

Answer 5

To add to K3N's cardinal splines method and perhaps address T. J. Crowder's concerns about curves 'dipping' in misleading places, I inserted the following code in the getCurvePoints() function, just before res.push(x);

if ((y < _pts[i+1] && y < _pts[i+3]) || (y > _pts[i+1] && y > _pts[i+3])) {
    y = (_pts[i+1] + _pts[i+3]) / 2;
}
if ((x < _pts[i] && x < _pts[i+2]) || (x > _pts[i] && x > _pts[i+2])) {
    x = (_pts[i] + _pts[i+2]) / 2;
}

This effectively creates a (invisible) bounding box between each pair of successive points and ensures the curve stays within this bounding box - ie. if a point on the curve is above/below/left/right of both points, it alters its position to be within the box. Here the midpoint is used, but this could be improved upon, perhaps using linear interpolation.

Answer 6

A bit late, but for the record.

You can achieve smooth lines by using cardinal splines (aka canonical spline) to draw smooth curves that goes through the points.

I made this function for canvas - it's split into three function to increase versatility. The main wrapper function looks like this:

function drawCurve(ctx, ptsa, tension, isClosed, numOfSegments, showPoints) {

    showPoints  = showPoints ? showPoints : false;

    ctx.beginPath();

    drawLines(ctx, getCurvePoints(ptsa, tension, isClosed, numOfSegments));

    if (showPoints) {
        ctx.stroke();
        ctx.beginPath();
        for(var i=0;i<ptsa.length-1;i+=2) 
                ctx.rect(ptsa[i] - 2, ptsa[i+1] - 2, 4, 4);
    }
}

To draw a curve have an array with x, y points in the order: x1,y1, x2,y2, ...xn,yn.

Use it like this:

var myPoints = [10,10, 40,30, 100,10]; //minimum two points
var tension = 1;

drawCurve(ctx, myPoints); //default tension=0.5
drawCurve(ctx, myPoints, tension);

The function above calls two sub-functions, one to calculate the smoothed points. This returns an array with new points - this is the core function which calculates the smoothed points:

function getCurvePoints(pts, tension, isClosed, numOfSegments) {

    // use input value if provided, or use a default value   
    tension = (typeof tension != 'undefined') ? tension : 0.5;
    isClosed = isClosed ? isClosed : false;
    numOfSegments = numOfSegments ? numOfSegments : 16;

    var _pts = [], res = [],    // clone array
        x, y,           // our x,y coords
        t1x, t2x, t1y, t2y, // tension vectors
        c1, c2, c3, c4,     // cardinal points
        st, t, i;       // steps based on num. of segments

    // clone array so we don't change the original
    //
    _pts = pts.slice(0);

    // The algorithm require a previous and next point to the actual point array.
    // Check if we will draw closed or open curve.
    // If closed, copy end points to beginning and first points to end
    // If open, duplicate first points to befinning, end points to end
    if (isClosed) {
        _pts.unshift(pts[pts.length - 1]);
        _pts.unshift(pts[pts.length - 2]);
        _pts.unshift(pts[pts.length - 1]);
        _pts.unshift(pts[pts.length - 2]);
        _pts.push(pts[0]);
        _pts.push(pts[1]);
    }
    else {
        _pts.unshift(pts[1]);   //copy 1. point and insert at beginning
        _pts.unshift(pts[0]);
        _pts.push(pts[pts.length - 2]); //copy last point and append
        _pts.push(pts[pts.length - 1]);
    }

    // ok, lets start..

    // 1. loop goes through point array
    // 2. loop goes through each segment between the 2 pts + 1e point before and after
    for (i=2; i < (_pts.length - 4); i+=2) {
        for (t=0; t <= numOfSegments; t++) {

            // calc tension vectors
            t1x = (_pts[i+2] - _pts[i-2]) * tension;
            t2x = (_pts[i+4] - _pts[i]) * tension;

            t1y = (_pts[i+3] - _pts[i-1]) * tension;
            t2y = (_pts[i+5] - _pts[i+1]) * tension;

            // calc step
            st = t / numOfSegments;

            // calc cardinals
            c1 =   2 * Math.pow(st, 3)  - 3 * Math.pow(st, 2) + 1; 
            c2 = -(2 * Math.pow(st, 3)) + 3 * Math.pow(st, 2); 
            c3 =       Math.pow(st, 3)  - 2 * Math.pow(st, 2) + st; 
            c4 =       Math.pow(st, 3)  -     Math.pow(st, 2);

            // calc x and y cords with common control vectors
            x = c1 * _pts[i]    + c2 * _pts[i+2] + c3 * t1x + c4 * t2x;
            y = c1 * _pts[i+1]  + c2 * _pts[i+3] + c3 * t1y + c4 * t2y;

            //store points in array
            res.push(x);
            res.push(y);

        }
    }

    return res;
}

And to actually draw the points as a smoothed curve (or any other segmented lines as long as you have an x,y array):

function drawLines(ctx, pts) {
    ctx.moveTo(pts[0], pts[1]);
    for(i=2;i<pts.length-1;i+=2) ctx.lineTo(pts[i], pts[i+1]);
}

var ctx = document.getElementById("c").getContext("2d");


function drawCurve(ctx, ptsa, tension, isClosed, numOfSegments, showPoints) {

  ctx.beginPath();

  drawLines(ctx, getCurvePoints(ptsa, tension, isClosed, numOfSegments));
  
  if (showPoints) {
    ctx.beginPath();
    for(var i=0;i<ptsa.length-1;i+=2) 
      ctx.rect(ptsa[i] - 2, ptsa[i+1] - 2, 4, 4);
  }

  ctx.stroke();
}


var myPoints = [10,10, 40,30, 100,10, 200, 100, 200, 50, 250, 120]; //minimum two points
var tension = 1;

drawCurve(ctx, myPoints); //default tension=0.5
drawCurve(ctx, myPoints, tension);


function getCurvePoints(pts, tension, isClosed, numOfSegments) {

  // use input value if provided, or use a default value	 
  tension = (typeof tension != 'undefined') ? tension : 0.5;
  isClosed = isClosed ? isClosed : false;
  numOfSegments = numOfSegments ? numOfSegments : 16;

  var _pts = [], res = [],	// clone array
      x, y,			// our x,y coords
      t1x, t2x, t1y, t2y,	// tension vectors
      c1, c2, c3, c4,		// cardinal points
      st, t, i;		// steps based on num. of segments

  // clone array so we don't change the original
  //
  _pts = pts.slice(0);

  // The algorithm require a previous and next point to the actual point array.
  // Check if we will draw closed or open curve.
  // If closed, copy end points to beginning and first points to end
  // If open, duplicate first points to befinning, end points to end
  if (isClosed) {
    _pts.unshift(pts[pts.length - 1]);
    _pts.unshift(pts[pts.length - 2]);
    _pts.unshift(pts[pts.length - 1]);
    _pts.unshift(pts[pts.length - 2]);
    _pts.push(pts[0]);
    _pts.push(pts[1]);
  }
  else {
    _pts.unshift(pts[1]);	//copy 1. point and insert at beginning
    _pts.unshift(pts[0]);
    _pts.push(pts[pts.length - 2]);	//copy last point and append
    _pts.push(pts[pts.length - 1]);
  }

  // ok, lets start..

  // 1. loop goes through point array
  // 2. loop goes through each segment between the 2 pts + 1e point before and after
  for (i=2; i < (_pts.length - 4); i+=2) {
    for (t=0; t <= numOfSegments; t++) {

      // calc tension vectors
      t1x = (_pts[i+2] - _pts[i-2]) * tension;
      t2x = (_pts[i+4] - _pts[i]) * tension;

      t1y = (_pts[i+3] - _pts[i-1]) * tension;
      t2y = (_pts[i+5] - _pts[i+1]) * tension;

      // calc step
      st = t / numOfSegments;

      // calc cardinals
      c1 =   2 * Math.pow(st, 3) 	- 3 * Math.pow(st, 2) + 1; 
      c2 = -(2 * Math.pow(st, 3)) + 3 * Math.pow(st, 2); 
      c3 = 	   Math.pow(st, 3)	- 2 * Math.pow(st, 2) + st; 
      c4 = 	   Math.pow(st, 3)	- 	  Math.pow(st, 2);

      // calc x and y cords with common control vectors
      x = c1 * _pts[i]	+ c2 * _pts[i+2] + c3 * t1x + c4 * t2x;
      y = c1 * _pts[i+1]	+ c2 * _pts[i+3] + c3 * t1y + c4 * t2y;

      //store points in array
      res.push(x);
      res.push(y);

    }
  }

  return res;
}

function drawLines(ctx, pts) {
  ctx.moveTo(pts[0], pts[1]);
  for(i=2;i<pts.length-1;i+=2) ctx.lineTo(pts[i], pts[i+1]);
}

canvas { border: 1px solid red; }

<canvas id="c"><canvas>

This results in this:

You can easily extend the canvas so you can call it like this instead:

ctx.drawCurve(myPoints);

Add the following to the javascript:

if (CanvasRenderingContext2D != 'undefined') {
    CanvasRenderingContext2D.prototype.drawCurve = 
        function(pts, tension, isClosed, numOfSegments, showPoints) {
       drawCurve(this, pts, tension, isClosed, numOfSegments, showPoints)}
}

You can find a more optimized version of this on NPM (npm i cardinal-spline-js) or on GitLab.