Curve Maker

Draw curves

To help design scrolls, volutes and other elements common in ornamental and decorative metalwork, Curve Maker draws: a) Bernoulli (logarithmic or equiangular) spirals - including the golden section spiral, b) Archimedes spiral, c) Archimedean spirals - including Fermat's spiral, hyperbolic spirals and the Lituus, d) Euler (clothoide or Cornu) spirals, e) sine waves and cosine waves, f) helices and g) Cornu splines.  In addition, three-dimensional versions of spirals can be drawn.

To fit a curve into a design, you draw the curve interactively or you specify the dimensions that you want the curve to have.  You do not need to know or understand any mathematical formulas or to guess parameter values to enter into formulas.

This brief video demonstrates some of the interactive curve drawing capabilities of Curve Maker:

An Example

It takes just two steps to draw a sine wave like this one:

Step 1 - Choose the curve type

From the list of available curves, choose the one you want to draw. In this case, a sine wave is selected.

Step 2 - Specify the dimensions

The dialog box below calls for drawing the middle-half of a complete sine wave (from 1/4 to 3/4 of a complete cycle). The curve to be drawn should lie within a rectangle that is 2" high by 3" wide.