Object 11 "Spline" (Entity Type "Object") Changed in Version 2021.0

A spline is a curve that connects a sequence of points with a curved line as "smooth" as possible, i.e. the connecting line has no sharp bends and a minimum deflection. We use the most usual spline form in technical design, a "cubic spline". Since the calculation effort for a plain cubic spline is enormous, the application uses an interpolation method that first calculates a short cubic spline for each point triple, resulting in two different curve segments for each point-to-point segment. The resulting curve is then calculated as the connection of those two curve segments.

If a spline is drawn with a non-solid line type, this line type has to be continued along the complete spline. A spline may contain up to 2000 data blocks in total.

A spline is by definition an "open" object, i.e. it has a non-closed outline and cannot be filled.

Data Block Sequence

Data Block 001( Start )

For each segment

Data Block 002( Point )

Data Block 002( End )

Parameters

Start

[MKI_POINT] Start point of the spline.

Point

[MKI_POINT] Intermediate point on the spline.

End

[MKI_POINT] End point of the spline.

Attributes New in Version 2021.0

A spline may contain attribute data blocks (see MKI_BLOCK_ATTRIBUTE) of types "local", "outline", and "point". Their position in the list of data blocks must be as follows:

The total number of attributes of each type (local, outline, point) per respective element (entity, outline, and point) is limited to MKI_ATTRIBS_PER_OBJECT.

Interface Command Sequence

MKI_ObjectOpen, Type = MKI_OBJ_SPLINE

MKI_ObjectAddPoint, Type = MKI_DB_POINT_START

MKI_ObjectAddPoint, Type = MKI_DB_POINT_END

         ...

MKI_ObjectAddPoint, Type = MKI_DB_POINT_END

MKI_ObjectFastInsert