Curve Fitting

Question

Given two points say (1,2,3) and (4,7,8). The endpoint tangents at these points are also given as inputs say pi/4 and -pi/2 respectively. How to fit a helix of arc length 2 between these points? How to implement this in Matlab?

Answer 1

I'm not sure what toolboxes you have access to, but you should check the documentation for these two:

• Curve Fitting toolbox
• Spline toolbox

I think there may be a number of different ways you could approach the problem (i.e. different types of curves to use to match an arbitrary set of points and tangents).

Answer 2

A question very similar to this was asked at Stack Overflow a few days ago - you may find the answers helpful.

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/556601/equation-of-a-helix-parametrized-by-arc-length-between-two-points-in-space/556636