Bezier Paths

A library to easily generate and traverse bezier paths. And different parts of the path can have different speeds!

Interactive demo

Check it out here!

Installation

npm i bezier-paths

Usage

You can include the library in browser projects which don't allow require or import by simply adding the file via <script> and accessing the global variable BezierPaths.

First create a bunch of points that will make up your path using either createLinearPoint or createBezierPoint. Then call compilePath which will compile the points into a path that exposes methods getPointAtTime and getPointAtDistance for traversing the path:

var curvedPoints = [];
 
curvedPoints.push(BezierPaths.createBezierPoint(
    x, y,
    speedTo, speedFrom,
    controlBackX, controlBackY,
    controlFrontX, controlFrontY
));
curvedPoints.push(BezierPaths.createBezierPoint(...));
curvedPoints.push(BezierPaths.createBezierPoint(...));
curvedPoints.push(BezierPaths.createBezierPoint(...));
 
var path = BezierPaths.compilePath(precision, points);
path.getPointAtTime(time);
// OR
path.getPointAtDistance(distance);

API

createLinearPoint(x, y, speedTo, speedFrom): Point

• x: Number - X position of the point
• y: Number - Y position of the point
• speedTo: Number - Speed of the segment when reaching this point
• speedFrom: Number - Speed of the segment when leaving this point
• Creates a new point that is not curved by itself.

createBezierPoint(x, y, speedTo, speedFrom, controlBackX, controlBackY, controlFrontX, controlFrontY): Point

• x: Number - X position of the point
• y: Number - Y position of the point
• speedTo: Number - Speed of the segment when reaching this point
• speedFrom: Number - Speed of the segment when leaving this point
• controlBackX: Number - X position of the control point affect the path before this point
• controlBackY: Number - Y position of the control point affect the path before this point
• controlFrontX: Number - X position of the control point affect the path after this point
• controlFrontY: Number - Y position of the control point affect the path after this point
• Creates a new point that curves the path before and after itself up until the previous/next point.

compilePath(curvesPrecision, points): CompiledPath

• curvesPrecision: Number - Number of points that will make up each curved segment. For smooth angles a value of at least 50 is recommended. The bigger it is the smoother the curves will be when traversing them.
• points: Point[] - An array of points that will make up the path.

Point

• Field x: Number - X position of the point
• Field y: Number - Y position of the point
• Field speedTo: Number - Speed of the segment when reaching this point
• Field speedFrom: Number - Speed of the segment when leaving this point
• Field controlBackX: Number - X position of the control point affect the path before this point
• Field controlBackY: Number - Y position of the control point affect the path before this point
• Field controlFrontX: Number - X position of the control point affect the path after this point
• Field controlFrontY: Number - Y position of the control point affect the path after this point
• Field isCurved: Boolean - Is the point curved or not. If not controls have the same position as the point itself.

CompiledPath.getPointAtTime(time)

• time: Number - Time, in frames
• Returns the position along the path assuming travel from the start of the path for the amount of frames specified in an argument. If time is larger than path's duration it will wrap around.

CompiledPath.getPointAtDistance(distance)

• distance: Number - Distance, in pixels
• Returns the position along the path assuming travel from the start of the path by the number of pixels specified in an argument. If distance is larger than path's length it will wrap around.

CompiledPath.pathLength

• Field containing the path's length in pixels.

CompiledPath.pathDuration

• Field containing the path's duration in frames.

CompiledPath.points

• An array of compiled points making up the path. The points only contain x, y, speedFrom and speedTo.