Research Projects

Euler Spirals for Font Design

Carlo H. Séquin and Raph Levien

various donors

The search for a aesthetically pleasing, extensible, and robust interpolating spline curve has been going on for several decades. Some fundamental insights have been gained about the characteristics and potential capabilities of two-parameter splines. Among those, a curvature continuous compound spline constructed from clothoid (Euler spiral) segments has emerged as particularly promising; it closely resembles a minimum-variation curve (MVC) but with a more limited support domain for each segment. A tool kit for the use of these splines in practical applications, such as font design, is under construction.

Figure 1: Font character designed as a compound of clothoid segments (Euler spirals) that are fit together with curvature continuity.