We analyze the space of geometrically continuous piecewise polynomial functions, or splines, for rectangular and triangular patches with arbitrary topology and general rational transition maps. To define these spaces of G 1 spline functions, we introduce the concept of topological surface with gluing data attached to the edges shared by faces. The framework does not require manifold constructions and is general enough to allow non-orientable surfaces. We describe compatibility conditions on the transition maps so that the space of differentiable functions is ample and show that these conditions are necessary and sufficient to construct ample spline spaces. We determine the dimension of the space of G 1 spline functions which are of degree k on triangular pieces and of bi-degree (k, k) on rectangular pieces, for k big enough. A separability property on the edges is involved to obtain the dimension formula. An explicit construction of basis functions attached respectively to vertices, edges and faces is proposed; examples of bases of G 1 splines of small degree for topological surfaces with boundary and without boundary are detailed.

Designing mechanical devices, called linkages, that draw a given plane curve has been a topic that interested engineers and mathematicians for hundreds of years, and recently also computer scientists. Already in 1876, Kempe proposed a procedure for solving the problem in full generality, but his constructions tend to be extremely complicated. We provide a novel algorithm that produces much simpler linkages, but works only for parametric curves. Our approach is to transform the problem into a factorization task over some noncommutative algebra. We show how to compute such a factorization, and how to use it to construct a linkage tracing a given curve.

We analyze the space of differentiable functions on a quad-mesh M, which are composed of 4-split spline macro-patch elements on each quadrangular face. We describe explicit transition maps across shared edges, that satisfy conditions which ensure that the space of differentiable functions is ample on a quad-mesh of arbitrary topology. These transition maps define a finite dimensional vector space of G 1 spline functions of bi-degree (k, k) on each quadrangular face of M. We determine the dimension of this space of G 1 spline functions for k big enough and provide explicit constructions of basis functions attached respectively to vertices, edges and faces. This construction requires the analysis of the module of syzygies of univariate b-spline functions with b-spline function coefficients. New results on their generators and dimensions are provided. Examples of bases of G 1 splines of small degree for simple topological surfaces are detailed and illustrated by parametric surface constructions.