In the days of VRML 1.0, NURBS seemed to be too complex to be adapted to the specification. Current development of hardware compels us to reevaluate this idea: While CPU clocks break the 1-GHz barrier, users still have to cope with 56K modems. NURBS meet exactly these demands. A NURBS description is a compact storage form, but its evaluation requires more computational effort. In addition, NURBS can be utilized for morphing effects and they provide a means for a smooth LOD. Adopting trimmed NURBS allows visualization of complex CAD models in VRML. This paper gives an overview of the proposed nodes and their implementation and applications. We take a closer look at LOD, animations and trimmed NURBS. Finally, we look ahead and briefly touch on an emerging new representation, subdivision surfaces.
['H. T. Grahn', 'T. Volk', 'Hans J. Wolters']
NURBS in VRML