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Approximate an Arc by Line Segments

Summary

Given an arc with known center, start and end point, get a series of line segments to approximate the arc.

The Question

Given a 2D arc with arc center point c, start point s and end point e, find a series of line segments to approximate the arc. The arc's sweep angle < 180. The minimum number of required line segments is also given.

The Solution

Find mid point of line s-e. This is point m Find vector v from c to m Translate point c along vector v by radius to get point A1 The arc is approximated by line segments s-A1 and A1-e in this step.

For the 2 new arcs, repeat the same process to get point A2 and A3. This gives line segments s-A2, A2-A1, A1-A3, A3-e. Repeat this process until the required number of segments is met.

Main Advantages

• Arcs can be in 3D without needing to calculate angles and worry about the arc direction
• Does not use expensive sin() and cos() functions, thus high performance.