[lug] Off-topic: Contour line in image problem

[D. Stimits]

Rob Mohr wrote:
> 
> Approximate or match profile to a curve function.  Then integrate to calc
> the area.  I would *guess* that cad programs such as AutoCad use a series
> of Laplace Transforms to do the same thing.
> 
> Save for the challenge, and dusty math books, you can prolly get something
> via a perl library and a good Google search string.
> 
> Rob Mohr (Iowa City, Iowa - Boulder, Colo )
> eof
> 
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Aha, that reminds me. If you have a drawing program that lets you draw
curves, most likely Bezier, then it might be possible to simply bring in
the bitmap (embossing would be an aid still), and manually draw a curve
to the outline. Then it might be possible at some point to save with
original Bezier specification in-tact. You'd then integrate along the
curve. Possibly there are existing applications (like octave) that know
how to directly find the line integral along the path of a Bezier (I
haven't searched). In any case, it is probably easy to emboss via Gimp,
and also easy to draw a curve free-hand, what you'd need to do is find a
way to get free-hand drawings and pixmaps mixed on the same application.
(and maybe scaling?)

D. Stimits, stimits at idcomm.com