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# points-on-curve
This package calculate the points on a curve with a certain tolerance. It can also simplify the shape to use fewer points.
This can really be useful when estimating lines/polygons for curves in WebGL or for Hit/Collision detections.
## Install
From npm
```
npm install --save points-on-curve
```
The package is distributed as an ES6 module.
## API
### pointsOnBezierCurves(points: Point[], tolerance?: number, distance?: number): Point[]
You pass in the points representing a bezier curve. Each point is an array of two numbers e.g. `[100, 123]`.
The points can also be a set of continuous curves where the last poing on the `Nth` curve acts as the first point of the next.
```javascript
import { pointsOnBezierCurves } from 'points-on-curve';
const curve = [[70,240],[145,60],[275,90],[300,230]];
const points = pointsOnBezierCurves(curve);
// plotPoints(points);
```
![points on bezier](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/833927/79051836-45630300-7be7-11ea-8cb6-cba2695a4807.png)
Same can be rendered with more **tolerance** (default value is 0.15):
```javascript
const points = pointsOnBezierCurves(curve, 0.7);
```
![points on bezier with 0.7 tolerance](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/833927/79051837-45fb9980-7be7-11ea-9583-52cf882e770e.png)
Note that this method does not accept the number of points to render, but takes in a tolerance level which allows for better distribution of points.
The value of **tolerance** can be between 0 and 1. It is used to decide how many points are needed in a section of the curve. The algorithm determined the *flatness* of a section of the curve and compares it to the *tolerance* level, if less flat, the segment gets further divided into 2 segments.
#### Simplifying path
Based on the tolerance alone, this algorithm nicely provides enough points to represent a curve. It does not, however, efficiently get rid of unneeded points. The second *optional* argument in function, **distance** helps with that. If a `distance` value is provided, the method uses the [RamerDouglasPeucker algorithm](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramer%E2%80%93Douglas%E2%80%93Peucker_algorithm) to reduce the points.
```javascript
const points = pointsOnBezierCurves(curve, 0.2, 0.15);
```
Following are the points generated with distance values of `0.15`, `0.75`, `1.5`, and `3.0`
![points with 0.15d](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/833927/79051853-53b11f00-7be7-11ea-8970-7cc3f7621142.png)
![points with 0.75d](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/833927/79051854-5449b580-7be7-11ea-9601-a1dd418b10d8.png)
![points with 1.5d](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/833927/79051855-5449b580-7be7-11ea-9ab4-139beb0faf11.png)
![points with 3.0d](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/833927/79051856-54e24c00-7be7-11ea-9f52-34e3ad9c81bd.png)
### curveToBezier(pointsIn: Point[]): Point[]
Sometimes it's hard to think of shape as a set of cubic bezier curves, each curve with 2 controls points. It is simple to just think of them as a curve passing through a set of points.
This method turns those set of points to a set of points representing bezier curves.
```javascript
import { curveToBezier } from 'points-on-curve/lib/curve-to-bezier.js';
const curvePoints = [
[20, 240],
[95, 69],
[225, 90],
[250, 180],
[290, 220],
[380, 80],
];
const bcurve = curveToBezier(curvePoints);
// .. Plot bcurve
```
![Curve through points](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/833927/79051797-12b90a80-7be7-11ea-92d2-5cb79adcbe30.png)
Now that we have bezier points, these could be passed to `pointsOnBezierCurves` function to get the points on the curve
![Curve through points](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/833927/79051798-1351a100-7be7-11ea-8465-959a22b72371.png)
## License
[MIT License](https://github.com/pshihn/bezier-points/blob/master/LICENSE)