AN ALGORITHM FOR FAST FINDING THE SHORTEST PATH BETWEEN TWO POINTS ON FREE-FORM SURFACE

In this paper, an algorithm to find the shortest path and calculate the shortest distance between two points on a free-form surface-FSPFFS algorithm is presented using Dijkstra's shortest path algorithm and the curve patch splitting principle. The algorithm presented in the paper is suitable for the convex or concave free-form surface, and is certainly of widespread practical value. The algorithm has impressive prospect to develop the computer-aided geometric design.