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Going the Distance talked about tracing curves for
2D implicit surfaces. Jules Bloomenthal has graciously provided
the following list of additional references on the topic:
Chandler, R.E. A Tracking Algorithm for Implicitly
Defined Curves. IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications, Volume
8, Number 2, March 1988, pages 83-89.
Cohen, E. A Method for Plotting Curves Defined
by Implicit Equations. ACM SIGGRAPH Computer Graphics, Volume
10, Number 2, Summer 1976, pages 263-265.
Hobby, J.D. Numerically Stable Implicitization
of Cubic Curves. ACM Transactions on Graphics, Volume 10,
Number 3, July 1991, pages 255-296.
Nakartsuyama, M., Kanno, K., Nagahashi, H.
& Nishizuka, N. Curve Generation of Implicit Functions
by Incremental Computers. Computers and Graphics, Volume 7,
Number 2, 1983, pages 161-168.
Sutcliffe, D.C. An Algorithm for Drawing the
Curve f(x,y)=0. The Computer Journal, Volume 19, Number 3,
August 1976, pages 246-249.
Taubin, G. Distance Approximation for Rasterizing
Implicit Curves. ACM Transactions on Graphics, Volume 13,
Number 1, January 1994, pages 3-42.
There are also lots of commercial packages out there that
will plot implicit curves with a variety of features and guaranteed
accuracies. The most popular are probably the symbolic algebra
packages, though there are some scientific-visualization programs
out there that do a great job of making high-quality plots.
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Signs of Significance discussed different ways of
representing characters with digital displays.
Michael Newman has noted that the Vienna "V" could
be improved using a few of the little 45-degree bevelled segments.
He also pointed out that the caption for Figure 4 should read
"14-segment display", not 16. I'd like to point
out that the light internal lines in Figure 4 were a printing
error, and should have been just as dark as the others.
If the upper and lower pieces in Figure 4 are broken into
two pieces, you indeed get a 16-segment display. Referring
to such an arrangement, David Walton wrote: "I have an
old TI-66 Programmable Calculator. It has a 10-digit display.
The 5th, 6th, and 7th digits from the left are 16-segment,
to facilitate the display of opcodes while programming. The
rest of the digits are 8-segment-the middle bar is broken,
presumably to give the numbers that use it a consistent appearance.
The segments are not as thick as figure 2, perhaps 2/3 the
thickness, and are beveled."
I made a mistake preparing the numeral "4" in Figure
6; the four little triangles around the central octagon should
have been turned on.
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