Approximation of surfaces of revolution by developable surfaces

Algorithms are developed for approximation of surfaces of revolution by parts of cones and cylinders. The method can be extended to other surfaces generated by moving a planar curve. The main idea is to use the offset curves with an offset +/- epsilon of a given planar curve for controlling the approximation with respect to a maximal error tolerance epsilon. As a result we obtain a planar pattern of the considered surfaces, and thus the surfaces can be approximately developed by bending the planar development. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.