Polygons and paths
For drawing shapes, Luxor provides polygons and paths.
A polygon is an ordered collection of Points stored in an array.
A path is a sequence of one or more straight and curved (circular arc or Bézier curve) segments. Paths can consist of subpaths. Luxor maintains a 'current path', to which you can add lines and curves until you finish with a stroke or fill instruction.
Luxor also provides a BezierPath type, which is an array of four-point tuples, each of which is a Bézier cubic curve section.
create | convert | draw | info | edit |
---|---|---|---|---|
polygons | ||||
ngon() | polysmooth() | poly() | isinside() | simplify() |
ngonside() | prettypoly() | polyperimeter() | polysplit() | |
star() | polysmooth() | polyarea() | polyportion() | |
polycross() | polycentroid() | polyremainder() | ||
offsetpoly() | boundingbox() | polysortbyangle() | ||
hyptrochoid() | ispolyclockwise() | polysortbydistance() | ||
epitrochoid() | ispolyconvex() | polyintersections() | ||
polyrotate!() | polymove!() | |||
polyfit() | polyscale!() | |||
polyreflect!() | ||||
polysample() | ||||
polytriangulate() | ||||
insertvertices!() | ||||
paths | ||||
getpath() | pathtopoly() | |||
getpathflat() | ||||
Bezier paths | ||||
makebezierpath() | pathtobezierpaths() | drawbezierpath() | ||
pathtobezierpaths() | bezierpathtopoly() | brush() | ||
BezierPath() | ||||
BezierPathSegment() | ||||
beziersegmentangles() |
Regular polygons ("ngons")
A polygon is an array of points. The points can be joined with straight lines.
You can make regular polygons — from triangles, pentagons, hexagons, septagons, heptagons, octagons, nonagons, decagons, and on-and-on-agons — with ngon()
.
cols = distinguishable_colors(10)
setline(2)
fontsize(12)
tiles = Tiler(700, 600, 3, 3)
for (pos, n) in tiles
@layer begin
translate(pos)
p = ngon(Point(0, 0), 80, n, vertices=true)
sethue(cols[n])
poly(p, :fill, close=true)
sethue("black")
poly(p, :stroke, close=true)
circle(Point(0, 0), 4, :fill)
label.([string(i) for i in 1:n], slope.(O, p), p, offset=5)
end
end
The initial orientation of the polygon defaults to 0.
If you want to specify the side length rather than the circumradius, use ngonside()
.
for i in 20:-1:3
sethue(i/20, 0.5, 0.7)
ngonside(Point(0, 0), 75, i, 0, :fill)
sethue("black")
ngonside(Point(0, 0), 75, i, 0, :stroke)
end
The functions return the vertices, or you can use the vertices=true
option.
ngon(Point(0, 0), 10, 5)
Point(3.0901699437494745, 9.510565162951535)
Point(-8.090169943749473, 5.877852522924733)
Point(-8.090169943749475, -5.87785252292473)
Point(3.0901699437494723, -9.510565162951536)
Point(10.0, -2.4492935982947065e-15)
Luxor.ngon
— Functionngon(x, y, radius, sides=5, orientation=0, action=:none;
vertices=false, reversepath=false)
Draw a regular polygon centered at point centerpos
.
ngon(centerpos, radius, sides=5, orientation=0, action=:none;
vertices=false,
reversepath=false)
Draw a regular polygon centered at point centerpos
.
Find the vertices of a regular n-sided polygon centered at x
, y
with circumradius radius
.
The polygon is constructed counterclockwise, starting with the first vertex drawn below the positive x-axis.
If you just want the raw points, use keyword argument vertices=true
, which returns the array of points. Compare:
ngon(0, 0, 4, 4, 0, vertices=true) # returns the polygon's points:
4-element Array{Luxor.Point, 1}:
Luxor.Point(2.4492935982947064e-16, 4.0)
Luxor.Point(-4.0, 4.898587196589413e-16)
Luxor.Point(-7.347880794884119e-16, -4.0)
Luxor.Point(4.0, -9.797174393178826e-16)
whereas
ngon(0, 0, 4, 4, 0, :close) # draws a polygon
Luxor.ngonside
— Functionngonside(centerpoint::Point, sidelength::Real, sides::Int=5, orientation=0,
action=:none; kwargs...)
Draw a regular polygon centered at centerpoint
with sides
sides of length sidelength
.
Polygons
Use poly()
to draw lines connecting the points and/or just fill the area:
tiles = Tiler(600, 250, 1, 2, margin=20)
tile1, tile2 = collect(tiles)
randompoints = [Point(rand(-100:100), rand(-100:100)) for i in 1:10]
gsave()
translate(tile1[1])
poly(randompoints, :stroke)
grestore()
gsave()
translate(tile2[1])
poly(randompoints, :fill)
grestore()
Luxor.poly
— Functionpoly(bbox::BoundingBox, :action; kwargs...)
Make a polygon around the BoundingBox in bbox
.
Draw a polygon.
poly(pointlist::Array{Point, 1}, action = :none;
close=false,
reversepath=false)
A polygon is an Array of Points. By default poly()
doesn't close or fill the polygon, to allow for clipping.
A polygon can contain holes. The reversepath
keyword changes the direction of the polygon. The following piece of code uses ngon()
to make and draw two paths, the second forming a hole in the first, to make a hexagonal bolt shape:
setline(5)
sethue("gold")
line(Point(-200, 0), Point(200, 0), :stroke)
sethue("orchid4")
ngon(0, 0, 60, 6, 0, :path)
newsubpath()
ngon(0, 0, 40, 6, 0, :path, reversepath=true)
fillstroke()
The prettypoly()
function can place graphics at each vertex of a polygon. After the polygon action, the supplied vertexfunction
function is evaluated at each vertex. For example, to mark each vertex of a polygon with a randomly-colored circle:
apoly = star(O, 70, 7, 0.6, 0, vertices=true)
prettypoly(apoly, :fill, () ->
begin
randomhue()
circle(O, 10, :fill)
end,
close=true)
An optional keyword argument vertexlabels
lets you pass a function that can number each vertex. The function can use two arguments, the current vertex number, and the total number of points in the polygon:
apoly = star(O, 80, 5, 0.6, 0, vertices=true)
prettypoly(apoly,
:stroke,
vertexlabels = (n, l) -> (text(string(n, " of ", l), halign=:center)),
close=true)
Luxor.prettypoly
— Functionprettypoly(bbox::BoundingBox, :action; kwargs...)
Make a decorated polygon around the BoundingBox in bbox
. The vertices are in the order: bottom left, top left, top right, and bottom right.
prettypoly(points::Array{Point, 1}, action=:none, vertexfunction = () -> circle(O, 2, :stroke);
close=false,
reversepath=false,
vertexlabels = (n, l) -> ()
)
Draw the polygon defined by points
, possibly closing and reversing it, using the current parameters, and then evaluate the vertexfunction
function at every vertex of the polygon.
The default vertexfunction draws a 2 pt radius circle.
To mark each vertex of a polygon with a randomly colored filled circle:
p = star(O, 70, 7, 0.6, 0, vertices=true)
prettypoly(p, :fill, () ->
begin
randomhue()
circle(O, 10, :fill)
end,
close=true)
The optional keyword argument vertexlabels
lets you supply a function with two arguments that can access the current vertex number and the total number of vertices at each vertex. For example, you can label the vertices of a triangle "1 of 3", "2 of 3", and "3 of 3" using:
prettypoly(triangle, :stroke,
vertexlabels = (n, l) -> (text(string(n, " of ", l))))
Recursive decoration is possible:
decorate(pos, p, level) = begin
if level < 4
randomhue()
scale(0.25, 0.25)
prettypoly(p, :fill, () -> decorate(pos, p, level+1), close=true)
end
end
apoly = star(O, 100, 7, 0.6, 0, vertices=true)
prettypoly(apoly, :fill, () -> decorate(O, apoly, 1), close=true)
Polygons can be simplified using the Douglas-Peucker algorithm (non-recursive version), via simplify()
.
sincurve = [Point(6x, 80sin(x)) for x in -5π:π/20:5π]
prettypoly(collect(sincurve), :stroke,
() -> begin
sethue("red")
circle(O, 3, :fill)
end)
text(string("number of points: ", length(collect(sincurve))), 0, 100)
translate(0, 200)
simplercurve = simplify(collect(sincurve), 0.5)
prettypoly(simplercurve, :stroke,
() -> begin
sethue("red")
circle(O, 3, :fill)
end)
text(string("number of points: ", length(simplercurve)), 0, 100)
Luxor.simplify
— FunctionSimplify a polygon:
simplify(pointlist::Array, detail=0.1)
detail
is the maximum approximation error of simplified polygon.
The isinside()
function returns true if a point is inside a polygon.
apolygon = star(O, 200, 8, 0.5, 0, vertices=true)
for pt in collect(first.(Table(30, 30, 15, 15)))
sethue(noise(pt.x/600, pt.y/600), noise(pt.x/300, pt.y/300), noise(pt.x/250, pt.y/250))
isinside(pt, apolygon, allowonedge=true) ? circle(pt, 8, :fill) : circle(pt, 3, :fill)
end
Luxor.isinside
— Functionisinside(p::Point, bb:BoundingBox)
Returns true
if pt
is inside bounding box bb
.
isinside(p, pol; allowonedge=false)
Is a point p
inside a polygon pol
? Returns true if it does, or false.
This is an implementation of the Hormann-Agathos (2001) Point in Polygon algorithm.
The classification of points lying on the edges of the target polygon, or coincident with its vertices is not clearly defined, due to rounding errors or arithmetical inadequacy. By default these will generate errors, but you can suppress these by setting allowonedge
to true
.
You can use randompoint()
and randompointarray()
to create a random Point or list of Points.
pt1 = Point(-100, -100)
pt2 = Point(100, 100)
sethue("gray80")
map(pt -> circle(pt, 6, :fill), (pt1, pt2))
box(pt1, pt2, :stroke)
sethue("red")
circle(randompoint(pt1, pt2), 7, :fill)
sethue("blue")
map(pt -> circle(pt, 2, :fill), randompointarray(pt1, pt2, 100))
Luxor.randompoint
— Functionrandompoint(lowpt, highpt)
Return a random point somewhere inside the rectangle defined by the two points.
randompoint(lowx, lowy, highx, highy)
Return a random point somewhere inside a rectangle defined by the four values.
Luxor.randompointarray
— Functionrandompointarray(lowpt, highpt, n)
Return an array of n
random points somewhere inside the rectangle defined by two points.
randompointarray(lowx, lowy, highx, highy, n)
Return an array of n
random points somewhere inside the rectangle defined by the four coordinates.
Quickly changing polygons
If you want to quickly and permanently modify a polygon, there's polymove!()
, polyscale!()
, polyreflect!()
, and polyrotate!()
.
shape = star(O, 10, 5, 0.5, 0, vertices=true)
circle(O, 3, :stroke)
polymove!(shape, O, O + (0, 50))
poly(shape, :stroke, close=true)
for i in 1:20
poly(polyrotate!(shape, π/5), :fill, close=true)
polyscale!(shape, 19//18)
end
The polygon is continually modified (notice the !
in the function names).
pgon = randompointarray(BoundingBox()/2 ..., 10)
polymove!(pgon, O, Point(-80, 0))
poly(pgon, :fill, close=true)
# reflect in y axis:
polyreflect!(pgon, Point(0, 0), Point(0, 100))
sethue("blue")
poly(pgon, :fill, close=true)
Luxor.polyscale!
— Functionpolyscale!(pgon, s;
center=O)
Scale (permanently) a polygon by s
, relative to center
.
polyscale!(pgon, sh, sv;
center=O)
Scale (permanently) a polygon by sh
horizontally and sv
vertically, relative to center
.
Luxor.polymove!
— Functionpolymove!(pgon, frompoint::Point, topoint::Point)
Move (permanently) a polygon from frompoint
to topoints
.
Luxor.polyreflect!
— Functionpolyreflect!(pgon, pt1 = O, pt2 = O + (0, 100)
Reflect (permanently) a polygon in a line (default to the y-axis) joining two points.
Luxor.polyrotate!
— Functionpolyrotate!(pgon, θ;
center=O)
Rotate (permanently) a polygon around center
by θ
radians.
Other functions
There are a number of experimental polygon functions. These won't work well for polygons that aren't simple or where the sides intersect each other, but they sometimes do a reasonable job. For example, here's polysplit()
:
s = squircle(O, 60, 60, vertices=true)
pt1 = Point(0, -120)
pt2 = Point(0, 120)
line(pt1, pt2, :stroke)
poly1, poly2 = polysplit(s, pt1, pt2)
randomhue()
poly(poly1, :fill)
randomhue()
poly(poly2, :fill)
Luxor.polysplit
— Functionpolysplit(p, p1, p2)
Split a polygon into two where it intersects with a line. It returns two polygons:
(poly1, poly2)
This doesn't always work, of course. For example, a polygon the shape of the letter "E" might end up being divided into more than two parts.
Luxor.polysortbydistance
— FunctionSort a polygon by finding the nearest point to the starting point, then the nearest point to that, and so on.
polysortbydistance(p, starting::Point)
You can end up with convex (self-intersecting) polygons, unfortunately.
Luxor.polysortbyangle
— FunctionSort the points of a polygon into order. Points are sorted according to the angle they make with a specified point.
polysortbyangle(pointlist::Array, refpoint=minimum(pointlist))
The refpoint
can be chosen, but the minimum point is usually OK too:
polysortbyangle(parray, polycentroid(parray))
Luxor.polycentroid
— FunctionFind the centroid of simple polygon.
polycentroid(pointlist)
Returns a point. This only works for simple (non-intersecting) polygons.
You could test the point using isinside()
.
Smoothing polygons
Because polygons can have sharp corners, the experimental polysmooth()
function attempts to insert arcs at the corners and draw the result.
The original polygon is shown in red; the smoothed polygon is shown on top:
tiles = Tiler(600, 250, 1, 5, margin=10)
for (pos, n) in tiles
p = star(pos, tiles.tilewidth/2 - 2, 5, 0.3, 0, vertices=true)
sethue("red")
poly(p, close=true, :stroke)
sethue("black")
polysmooth(p, n * 2, :fill)
end
The final polygon shows that you can get unexpected results if you attempt to smooth corners by more than the possible amount. The debug=true
option draws the circles if you want to find out what's going wrong, or if you want to explore the effect in more detail.
p = star(O, 60, 5, 0.35, 0, vertices=true)
setdash("dot")
sethue("red")
prettypoly(p, close=true, :stroke)
setdash("solid")
sethue("black")
polysmooth(p, 40, :fill, debug=true)
Luxor.polysmooth
— Functionpolysmooth(points, radius, action=:action; debug=false)
Make a closed path from the points
and round the corners by making them arcs with the given radius. Execute the action when finished.
The arcs are sometimes different sizes: if the given radius is bigger than the length of the shortest side, the arc can't be drawn at its full radius and is therefore drawn as large as possible (as large as the shortest side allows).
The debug
option also draws the construction circles at each corner.
Offsetting polygons
There are three methods for offsetpoly()
, a function which constructs a new polygon that's offset from an existing one.
offsetpoly(plist, d)
treats theplist
of points as a polygon withn
vertices joined byn
lines with offsetd
on both sides.offsetpoly(plist, startoffset=d1, endoffset=d2)
treats theplist
of points as a polyline withn
vertices joined byn-1
lines, where the offset varies fromstartoffset
toendoffset
.offsetpoly(plist, f::function)
applies a function f at each vertex of the polyline to determine the width of the offset polygon at that point.
The first method is good for making closed shapes larger or smaller. The other methods are useful for building shapes around an open linear spine.
1: n
vertices joined by n
lines
The offsetpoly(plist, d)
method constructs a closed polygon outside or inside an existing polygon, at distance d
. The last vertex in plist
as assumed to be be connected to the first.
In the following example, the dotted red polygon is the original, the black polygons have positive offsets and surround the original, the cyan polygons have negative offsets and run inside the original. Use poly()
to draw the result.
p = star(O, 45, 5, 0.5, 0, vertices=true)
sethue("red")
setdash("dot")
poly(p, :stroke, close=true)
setdash("solid")
sethue("black")
poly(offsetpoly(p, 20), :stroke, close=true)
poly(offsetpoly(p, 25), :stroke, close=true)
poly(offsetpoly(p, 30), :stroke, close=true)
poly(offsetpoly(p, 35), :stroke, close=true)
sethue("darkcyan")
poly(offsetpoly(p, -10), :stroke, close=true)
poly(offsetpoly(p, -15), :stroke, close=true)
poly(offsetpoly(p, -20), :stroke, close=true)
The function is intended for simple cases, and it can go wrong if pushed too far. Sometimes the offset distances can be larger than the polygon segments, and things will start to go wrong. In this example, the offset goes so far negative that the polygon overshoots the origin, becomes inverted and starts getting larger again.
2 n
vertices joined by n-1
lines
The offsetpoly(plist)
method constructs a polygon around a line joining the lines in plist
. At the start of the line, the polygon will be startoffset
units on each side; by the end of the line, the polygon will be endoffset
units on each side. The last vertex isn't joined to the first, hence n-1
.
In the following example, the original spine is drawn in orange, on top of the black polygon that's constructed to be offset 2 units on each side at the start and 30 units on each side at the end.
spine = [Point(20 + 40x, 15sin(2x)) for x in 0:.1:4π]
for θ in range(0, 2π, step=π/12)
@layer begin
sethue("black")
rotate(θ)
poly(offsetpoly(spine, startoffset=1, endoffset=30), :fill)
sethue("orange")
poly(spine, :stroke)
end
end
Using an offset-control function
This method accepts a keyword argument that allows you to control the way the offsets are applied, using the easing functionality built in to Luxor (see Animation helper functions).
By default the function is lineartween()
, so the offset changes linearly between the startoffset
and the endoffset
values. With other easing functions, this change is modulated. For example, the easeinoutquad
function moves between start and end values using a quadratic motion.
spine = between.(O - (200, 0), O + (200, 0), 0:0.025:1)
sethue("red")
prettypoly(spine, :stroke)
sethue("black")
pg = offsetpoly(spine, startoffset=0, endoffset=200, easingfunction=easeinoutquad)
prettypoly(pg, :stroke, close=true)
But in the next example, the function f(t, b, c, d)
(the Luxor standard four-argument easing function) is defined to run from 0 to 2 and back again as t
goes from 0 to 1, so the initial and final offsets are 'eased' to 0, and at the middle of the polygon the offsets at that location are 'eased' to 2 × the offset value at that point.
spine = [Point(20x, 15sin(x)) for x in -4π:pi/24:4pi]
f(t, b, c, d) = 2sin(t * π)
pg = offsetpoly(spine, startoffset=1, endoffset=10, easingfunction=f)
sethue("black")
poly(pg, :fill)
sethue("white")
poly(spine, :stroke)
3: Applying a function
This method generates offset widths using the supplied function. The value of the supplied function f
at f(0, θ)
determines the start offset on each side, and f(1, θ)
determines the finishing offset on each side. The width at the middle vertex will be f(0.5, θ)
(on each side). θ
is provided as the current slope of the polyline at that point.
spiralcurve = spiral(10, 0.3, log=true, period=3π)
f(x, θ) = 1 + 15sin(x * π)
pgon = offsetpoly(spiralcurve, f)
poly(pgon, :fill)
Luxor.offsetpoly
— Functionoffsetpoly(plist::Array{Point, 1}, d) where T<:Number
Return a polygon that is offset from a polygon by d
units.
The incoming set of points plist
is treated as a polygon, and another set of points is created, which form a polygon lying d
units away from the source poly.
Polygon offsetting is a topic on which people have written PhD theses and published academic papers, so this short brain-dead routine will give good results for simple polygons up to a point (!). There are a number of issues to be aware of:
very short lines tend to make the algorithm 'flip' and produce larger lines
small polygons that are counterclockwise and larger offsets may make the new
polygon appear the wrong side of the original
very sharp vertices will produce even sharper offsets, as the calculated intersection point veers off to infinity
duplicated adjacent points might cause the routine to scratch its head and wonder how to draw a line parallel to them
offsetpoly(plist;
startoffset = 10,
endoffset = 10,
easingfunction = lineartween)
Return a closed polygon that is offset from and encloses an open polygon.
The incoming set of points plist
is treated as an open polygon, and another set of points is created, which form a polygon lying ...offset
units away from the source poly.
This method for offsetpoly()
treats the list of points as n
vertices connected with n - 1
lines. It allows you to vary the offset from the start of the line to the end.
The other method offsetpoly(plist, d)
treats the list of points as n
vertices connected with n
lines.
Extended help
This function accepts a keyword argument that allows you to control the offset using a function, using the easing functionality built in to Luxor. By default the function is lineartween()
, so the offset changes linearly between the startoffset
and the endoffset
. The function:
f(a, b, c, d) = 2sin((a * π))
runs from 0 to 2 and back as a
runs from 0 to 1. The offsets are scaled by this amount.
offsetpoly(plist, shape::Function)
Return a closed polygon that is offset from and encloses an polyline.
The incoming set of points plist
is treated as an polyline, and another set of points is created, which form a closed polygon offset from the source poly.
This method for offsetpoly()
treats the list of points as n
vertices connected with n - 1
lines. (The other method offsetpoly(plist, d)
treats the list of points as n
vertices connected with n
lines.)
The supplied function determines the width of the line. f(0, θ)
gives the width at the start (the slope of the curve at that point is supplied in θ), f(1, θ)
provides the width at the end, and f(n, θ)
is the width of point n/l
.
Examples
This example draws a tilde, with the ends starting at 20 (10 + 10) units wide, swelling to 50 (10 + 10 + 15 + 15) in the middle, as f(0.5) = 25.
f(x, θ) = 10 + 15sin(x * π)
sinecurve = [Point(50x, 50sin(x)) for x in -π:π/24:π]
pgon = offsetpoly(sinecurve, f)
poly(pgon, :fill)
This example enhances the vertical part of the curve, and thins the horizontal parts.
g(x, θ) = rescale(abs(sin(θ)), 0, 1, 0.1, 30)
sinecurve = [Point(50x, 50sin(x)) for x in -π:π/24:π]
pgon = offsetpoly(sinecurve, g)
poly(pgon, :fill)
Fitting splines
The experimental polyfit()
function constructs a B-spline that follows the points approximately.
pts = [Point(x, rand(-100:100)) for x in -280:30:280]
setopacity(0.7)
sethue("red")
prettypoly(pts, :none, () -> circle(O, 5, :fill))
sethue("darkmagenta")
poly(polyfit(pts, 200), :stroke)
Luxor.polyfit
— Functionpolyfit(plist::Array, npoints=30)
Build a polygon that constructs a B-spine approximation to it. The resulting list of points makes a smooth path that runs between the first and last points.
Converting paths to polygons
You can convert the current path to an array of polygons, using pathtopoly()
.
In the next example, the path consists of a number of paths, some of which are subpaths, which form the holes.
textpath("get polygons from paths")
plist = pathtopoly()
for (n, pgon) in enumerate(plist)
randomhue()
prettypoly(pgon, :stroke, close=true)
gsave()
translate(0, 100)
poly(polysortbyangle(pgon, polycentroid(pgon)), :stroke, close=true)
grestore()
end
The pathtopoly()
function calls getpathflat()
to convert the current path to an array of polygons, with each curved section flattened to line segments.
The getpath()
function gets the current path as an array of elements, lines, and unflattened curves.
Luxor.pathtopoly
— Functionpathtopoly()
Convert the current path to an array of polygons.
Returns an array of polygons, corresponding to the paths and subpaths of the original path.
Luxor.getpath
— Functiongetpath()
Get the current path and return a CairoPath object, which is an array of element_type
and points
objects. With the results you can step through and examine each entry:
o = getpath()
for e in o
if e.element_type == Cairo.CAIRO_PATH_MOVE_TO
(x, y) = e.points
move(x, y)
elseif e.element_type == Cairo.CAIRO_PATH_LINE_TO
(x, y) = e.points
# straight lines
line(x, y)
strokepath()
circle(x, y, 1, :stroke)
elseif e.element_type == Cairo.CAIRO_PATH_CURVE_TO
(x1, y1, x2, y2, x3, y3) = e.points
# Bezier control lines
circle(x1, y1, 1, :stroke)
circle(x2, y2, 1, :stroke)
circle(x3, y3, 1, :stroke)
move(x, y)
curve(x1, y1, x2, y2, x3, y3)
strokepath()
(x, y) = (x3, y3) # update current point
elseif e.element_type == Cairo.CAIRO_PATH_CLOSE_PATH
closepath()
else
error("unknown CairoPathEntry " * repr(e.element_type))
error("unknown CairoPathEntry " * repr(e.points))
end
end
Luxor.getpathflat
— Functiongetpathflat()
Get the current path, like getpath()
but flattened so that there are no Bèzier curves.
Returns a CairoPath which is an array of element_type
and points
objects.
Polygons to Bézier paths and back again
Use the makebezierpath()
and drawbezierpath()
functions to make and draw Bézier paths, and pathtobezierpaths()
to convert the current path to an array of Bézier paths.
A BezierPath type contains a sequence of BezierPathSegment
s; each curve segment is defined by four points: two end points and their control points.
(Point(-129.904, 75.0), # start point
Point(-162.38, 18.75), # ^ control point
Point(-64.9519, -150.0), # v control point
Point(-2.75546e-14, -150.0)), # end point
(Point(-2.75546e-14, -150.0),
Point(64.9519, -150.0),
Point(162.38, 18.75),
Point(129.904, 75.0)),
(Point(129.904, 75.0),
Point(97.4279, 131.25),
Point(-97.4279, 131.25),
Point(-129.904, 75.0)
),
...
Bézier paths are different from ordinary paths in that they don't usually contain straight line segments. However, by setting the two control points to be the same as their matching start/end points, you create straight line sections.
makebezierpath()
takes the points in a polygon and converts each line segment into one Bézier curve. drawbezierpath()
draws the resulting sequence.
pts = ngon(O, 150, 3, pi/6, vertices=true)
bezpath = makebezierpath(pts)
poly(pts, :stroke)
for (p1, c1, c2, p2) in bezpath[1:end-1]
circle.([p1, p2], 4, :stroke)
circle.([c1, c2], 2, :fill)
line(p1, c1, :stroke)
line(p2, c2, :stroke)
end
sethue("black")
setline(3)
drawbezierpath(bezpath, :stroke, close=false)
tiles = Tiler(600, 300, 1, 4, margin=20)
for (pos, n) in tiles
@layer begin
translate(pos)
pts = polysortbyangle(
randompointarray(
Point(-tiles.tilewidth/2, -tiles.tilewidth/2),
Point(tiles.tilewidth/2, tiles.tilewidth/2),
4))
setopacity(0.7)
sethue("black")
prettypoly(pts, :stroke, close=true)
randomhue()
drawbezierpath(makebezierpath(pts), :fill)
end
end
You can convert a Bézier path to a polygon (an array of points), using the bezierpathtopoly()
function. This chops up the curves into a series of straight line segments. An optional steps
keyword lets you specify how many line segments are used to approximate each Bézier segment.
In this example, the original star is drawn in a dotted gray line, then converted to a Bézier path (drawn in orange), then the Bézier path is converted (with low resolution) to a polygon but offset by 20 units before being drawn (in blue).
pgon = star(O, 250, 5, 0.6, 0, vertices=true)
@layer begin
setgrey(0.5)
setdash("dot")
poly(pgon, :stroke, close=true)
setline(5)
end
setline(4)
sethue("orangered")
np = makebezierpath(pgon)
drawbezierpath(np, :stroke)
sethue("steelblue")
p = bezierpathtopoly(np, steps=3)
q1 = offsetpoly(p, 20)
prettypoly(q1, :stroke, close=true)
You can convert the current path to an array of BezierPaths using the pathtobezierpaths()
function.
In the next example, the letter "a" is placed at the current position (set by move()
) and then converted to an array of Bézier paths. Each Bézier path is drawn first of all in gray, then the control points of segment are drawn (in orange) showing how they affect the curvature.
st = "a"
thefontsize = 500
fontsize(thefontsize)
sethue("red")
tex = textextents(st)
move(-tex[3]/2, tex[4]/2)
textpath(st)
nbps = pathtobezierpaths()
setline(1.5)
for nbp in nbps
sethue("grey80")
drawbezierpath(nbp, :stroke)
for p in nbp
sethue("darkorange")
circle(p[2], 2.0, :fill)
circle(p[3], 2.0, :fill)
line(p[2], p[1], :stroke)
line(p[3], p[4], :stroke)
if p[1] != p[4]
sethue("black")
circle(p[1], 2.0, :fill)
circle(p[4], 2.0, :fill)
end
end
end
beziersegmentangles()
lets you define a Bézier path segment by specifying the angles the control handles make with the base line.
setline(.5)
@layer begin
rule.(O, (0, (π/2)))
end
P = O
Q = O + (200, 0)
sethue("black")
pts = beziersegmentangles(P, Q,
out = deg2rad(60),
in = 2π - deg2rad(45))
@layer begin
setline(2)
sethue("purple")
drawbezierpath(pts, :stroke)
end
sethue("grey50")
line(O, pts[2], :stroke)
line(Q, pts[3], :stroke)
fontsize(15)
circle.((P, pts[2], pts[3], Q), 5, :fill)
label.(("P", "Q"), :ne, (P, Q))
text("60°", P + (40, 20))
text("135°", Q + (10, 20))
Brush strokes
The brush()
function builds Bezier paths in a quasi-random fashion, that could look like brush strokes. The optional keyword arguments allow a range of different effects.
You can pass a function that can adjust various drawing settings before the shapes are drawn.
brushα(nbpb) = begin
setline(1)
setopacity(0.3)
drawbezierpath(nbpb, :stroke)
sethue(0.2, 0.3, rand(0.3:0.01:0.65))
return nbpb
end
function numberit(pos, n)
@layer begin
sethue("black")
text(string(n), pos)
end
end
t = Tiler(800, 700, 5, 1)
sethue("orange3")
fontsize(20)
for (pos, n) in t
start, finish = pos - (200, 0), pos + (200, 0)
if n == 1
# five brush strokes
brush(start, finish, 1)
numberit(pos, n)
elseif n == 2
# minwidth and maxwidth control the, er, width
brush(start, finish, 5, minwidth = -5, maxwidth = 2)
numberit(pos, n)
elseif n == 3
# dont have to have transparent strokes
brush(start, finish, 20, minwidth = .2, randomopacity = false)
numberit(pos, n)
elseif n == 4
# twist and adjust handles to taste
brush(start, finish, minwidth = -.1, maxwidth = .2,
twist = 2, highhandle = 2, tidystart=false)
numberit(pos, n)
elseif n == 5
# call a function to modify each stroke
brush(start, finish, 1, minwidth = -2.2, maxwidth = .8,
lowhandle = -.4, highhandle = 1.5, twist = .5,
strokefunction = brushα)
numberit(pos, n)
end
end
For more information (and more than you probably wanted to know) about Luxor's Bézier paths, visit https://cormullion.github.io/pages/2018-06-20-bezier/.
Luxor.bezier
— Functionbezier(t, A::Point, A1::Point, B1::Point, B::Point)
Return the result of evaluating the Bezier cubic curve function, t
going from 0 to 1, starting at A, finishing at B, control points A1 (controlling A), and B1 (controlling B).
Luxor.bezier′
— Functionbezier′(t, A::Point, A1::Point, B1::Point, B::Point)
Return the first derivative of the Bezier function.
Luxor.bezier′′
— Functionbezier′′(t, A::Point, A1::Point, B1::Point, B::Point)
Return the second derivative of Bezier function.
Luxor.beziercurvature
— Functionbeziercurvature(t, A::Point, A1::Point, B1::Point, B::Point)
Return the curvature of the Bezier curve at t
([0-1]), given start and end points A and B, and control points A1 and B1. The value (kappa) will typically be a value between -0.001 and 0.001 for points with coordinates in the 100-500 range.
κ(t) is the curvature of the curve at point t, which for a parametric planar curve is:
\[\begin{equation} \kappa = \frac{\mid \dot{x}\ddot{y}-\dot{y}\ddot{x}\mid} {(\dot{x}^2 + \dot{y}^2)^{\frac{3}{2}}} nd{equation}\]
The radius of curvature, or the radius of an osculating circle at a point, is 1/κ(t). Values of 1/κ will typically be in the range -1000 to 1000 for points with coordinates in the 100-500 range.
TODO Fix overshoot...
...The value of kappa can sometimes collapse near 0, returning NaN (and Inf for radius of curvature).
Luxor.bezierfrompoints
— Functionbezierfrompoints(startpoint::Point, pointonline1::Point,
pointonline2::Point, endpoint::Point)
Given four points, return the Bezier curve that passes through all four points, starting at startpoint
and ending at endpoint
. The two middle points of the returned BezierPathSegment are the two control points that make the curve pass through the two middle points supplied.
bezierfrompoints(ptslist::Array{Point, 1})
Given four points, return the Bezier curve that passes through all four points.
Luxor.bezierpathtopoly
— Functionbezierpathtopoly(bezierpath::BezierPath; steps=10)
Convert a Bezier path (an array of Bezier segments, where each segment is a tuple of four points: anchor1, control1, control2, anchor2) to a polygon.
To make a Bezier path, use makebezierpath()
on a polygon.
The steps
optional keyword determines how many line sections are used for each path.
Luxor.bezierstroke
— Functionbezierstroke(point1, point2, width=0.0)
Return a BezierPath, a stroked version of a straight line between two points.
It wil have 2 or 6 Bezier path segments that define a brush or pen shape. If width is 0, the brush shape starts and ends at a point. Otherwise the brush shape starts and ends with the thick end.
To draw it, use eg drawbezierpath(..., :fill)
.
Luxor.beziertopoly
— Functionbeziertopoly(bpseg::BezierPathSegment; steps=10)
Convert a Bezier segment to a polygon (an array of points).
Luxor.drawbezierpath
— Functiondrawbezierpath(bezierpath::BezierPath, action=:none;
close=true)
Draw the Bézier path, and apply the action, such as :none
, :stroke
, :fill
, etc. By default the path is closed.
drawbezierpath(bps::BezierPathSegment, action=:none;
close=false)
Draw the Bézier path segment, and apply the action, such as :none
, :stroke
, :fill
, etc. By default the path is open.
Luxor.makebezierpath
— Functionmakebezierpath(pgon::Array{Point, 1}; smoothing=1.0)
Return a Bézier path (a BezierPath) that represents a polygon (an array of points). The Bézier path is an array of segments (tuples of 4 points); each segment contains the four points that make up a section of the entire Bézier path. smoothing
determines how closely the curve follows the polygon. A value of 0 returns a straight-sided path; as values move above 1 the paths deviate further from the original polygon's edges.
Luxor.pathtobezierpaths
— Functionpathtobezierpaths(
; flat=true)
Convert the current path (which may consist of one or more paths) to an array of Bezier paths. Each Bezier path is, in turn, an array of path segments. Each path segment is a tuple of four points. A straight line is converted to a Bezier segment in which the control points are set to be the same as the end points.
If flat
is true, use getpathflat()
rather than getpath()
.
Example
This code draws the Bezier segments and shows the control points as "handles", like a vector-editing program might.
@svg begin
fontface("MyanmarMN-Bold")
st = "goo"
thefontsize = 100
fontsize(thefontsize)
sethue("red")
fontsize(thefontsize)
textpath(st)
nbps = pathtobezierpaths()
for nbp in nbps
setline(.15)
sethue("grey50")
drawbezierpath(nbp, :stroke)
for p in nbp
sethue("red")
circle(p[2], 0.16, :fill)
circle(p[3], 0.16, :fill)
line(p[2], p[1], :stroke)
line(p[3], p[4], :stroke)
if p[1] != p[4]
sethue("black")
circle(p[1], 0.26, :fill)
circle(p[4], 0.26, :fill)
end
end
end
end
Luxor.setbezierhandles
— Functionsetbezierhandles(bps::BezierPathSegment;
angles = [0.05, -0.1],
handles = [0.3, 0.3])
Return a new Bezier path segment with new locations for the Bezier control points in the Bezier path segment bps
.
angles
are the two angles that the "handles" make with the line direciton.
handles
are the lengths of the "handles". 0.3 is a typical value.
setbezierhandles(bezpath::BezierPath;
angles=[0 .05, -0.1],
handles=[0.3, 0.3])
Return a new Bezierpath with new locations for the Bezier control points in every Bezier path segment of the BezierPath in bezpath
.
angles
are the two angles that the "handles" make with the line direciton.
handles
are the lengths of the "handles". 0.3 is a typical value.
Luxor.shiftbezierhandles
— Functionshiftbezierhandles(bps::BezierPathSegment;
angles=[0.1, -0.1], handles=[1.1, 1.1])
Return a new BezierPathSegment that modifies the Bezier path in bps
by moving the control handles. The values in angles
increase the angle of the handles; the values in handles
modifies the lengths: 1 preserves the length, 0.5 halves the length of the handles, 2 doubles them.
Luxor.findbeziercontrolpoints
— Functionfindbeziercontrolpoints(previouspt::Point,
pt1::Point,
pt2::Point,
nextpt::Point;
smooth_value=0.5)
Find the Bézier control points for the line between pt1
and pt2
, where the point before pt1
is previouspt
and the next point after pt2
is nextpt
.
Luxor.brush
— Functionbrush(pt1, pt2, width=10;
strokes=10,
minwidth=0.01,
maxwidth=0.03,
twist = -1,
lowhandle = 0.3,
highhandle = 0.7,
randomopacity = true,
tidystart = false,
action = :fill,
strokefunction = (nbpb) -> nbpb))
Draw a composite brush stroke made up of some randomized individual filled Bezier paths.
strokefunction
allows a function to process a BezierPathSegment or do other things before it's drawn.
There is a lot of randomness in this function. Results are unpredictable.
Luxor.beziersegmentangles
— Functionbeziersegmentangles(pt1, pt2;
out = deg2rad(45),
in = deg2rad(135))
)
Return a BezierPathSegment joining pt1
and pt2
making the angles out
at the start and in
at the end.
It's similar to the tikZ (a) to [out=135, in=45] (b)
drawing instruction (but in radians obviously).
out
is the angle between a line from pt1
to the outgoing Bézier handle makes with the horizontal. in
is the angle that a line joining pt2
from the preceding Bézier handle makes with the horizontal. So:
drawbezierpath(beziersegmentangles(O, O + (100, 0),
out = deg2rad(45),
in = 2π - deg2rad(45)),
:stroke)
draws a shape resembling a piece of string fixed at each end and hanging down in the middle.
Polygon information
polyperimeter
calculates the length of a polygon's perimeter.
p = box(O, 50, 50, vertices=true)
poly(p, :stroke)
text(string(round(polyperimeter(p, closed=false))), O.x, O.y + 60)
translate(200, 0)
poly(p, :stroke, close=true)
text(string(round(polyperimeter(p, closed=true))), O.x, O.y + 60)
Polygon selection and modification
There are Luxor functions to return the first part or last part of a polygon. You can also ask for a resampling of a polygon, choosing either to increase the number of points (which places new points to the "lines" joining the vertices) or decrease them (which changes the shape of the polygon). It's also possible to insert vertices automatically.
polyportion()
and polyremainder()
return part of a polygon depending on the fraction you supply. For example, polyportion(p, 0.5)
returns the first half of polygon p
, polyremainder(p, .75)
returns the last quarter of it.
p = ngon(O, 100, 7, 0, vertices=true)
poly(p, :stroke, close=true)
setopacity(0.75)
setline(20)
sethue("red")
poly(polyportion(p, 0.25), :stroke)
setline(10)
sethue("green")
poly(polyportion(p, 0.5), :stroke)
setline(5)
sethue("blue")
poly(polyportion(p, 0.75), :stroke)
setline(1)
circle(polyremainder(p, 0.75)[1], 5, :stroke) # first point
You can insert vertices in the edges of a polygon with insertvertices!()
. For example, this code inserts a new vertex into each side of a polygon five times. The polygon ends up with 128 vertices.
pts = box(O, 500, 200, vertices=true)
prettypoly(pts, :stroke, close=true)
for i in 1:5
insertvertices!(pts)
prettypoly(pts, :stroke, close=true)
fontsize(16)
label(string(length(pts)), :ne, pts[1], offset=10)
scale(0.8)
end
To resample a polygon, use polysample()
. In this example, the same four-sided polygon is resampled at multiples of 4, with different circle radii at each multiple. This adds more points to the new copy of the original polygon.
pts = ngon(O, 100, 4, vertices=true)
for (n, npoints) in enumerate(reverse([4, 8, 16, 32, 48]))
prettypoly(polysample(pts, npoints),
:stroke, close=true,
() -> begin
circle(O, 2n, :stroke)
end)
end
There is a closed
option, which determines whether or not the final edge (the one that would join the final vertex to the first), is included in the sampling. In the following example, the original polygon is drawn in black, then sampled as a closed polygon (in blue), then as a non-closed one (magenta).
# original polygon
numbervertices(l, n) = label(string(l), :N, O)
drawvertices() = ngon(O, 3, 4, 0, :fill)
pts = [Point(30x, 20sin(x)) for x in -2π:π/6:2π]
# 1: drawn as defined
prettypoly(pts, "stroke", drawvertices, vertexlabels = numbervertices)
translate(0, 50)
# 2: resampled as closed
npoints = 40
sethue("cornflowerblue")
prettypoly(polysample(pts, npoints, closed=true), :stroke, drawvertices,
vertexlabels = numbervertices)
translate(0, 50)
# 3: resampled as open
sethue("magenta")
prettypoly(polysample(pts, npoints, closed=false), :stroke, drawvertices,
vertexlabels = numbervertices)
Luxor.polysample
— Functionpolysample(p::Array{Point, 1}, npoints::T where T <: Integer;
closed=true)
Sample the polygon p
, returning a polygon with npoints
to represent it. The first sampled point is:
1/`npoints` * `perimeter of p`
away from the original first point of p
.
If npoints
is the same as length(p)
the returned polygon is the same as the original, but the first point finishes up at the end (so new=circshift(old, 1)
).
If closed
is true, the entire polygon (including the edge joining the last point to the first point) is sampled.
Luxor.insertvertices!
— Functioninsertvertices!(pgon;
ratio=0.5)
Insert a new vertex into each edge of a polygon pgon
. The default ratio
of 0.5 divides the original edge of the polygon into half.
Polygon side lengths
polydistances
returns an array of the accumulated side lengths of a polygon.
julia> p = ngon(O, 100, 7, 0, vertices=true);
julia> polydistances(p)
8-element Array{Real,1}:
0.0000
86.7767
173.553
260.33
347.107
433.884
520.66
607.437
It's used by polyportion()
and polyremainder()
, and you can pre-calculate and pass them to these functions via keyword arguments for performance. By default the result includes the final closing segment (closed=true
).
These functions also make use of the nearestindex()
, which returns a tuple of: the index of the nearest value in an array of distances to a given value; and the excess value.
In this example, we want to find a point halfway round the perimeter of a triangle. Use nearestindex()
to find the index of the nearest vertex (nidx
, 2), and the surplus length, (over
, 100).
p = ngonside(O, 200, 3, vertices=true)
prettypoly(p, :stroke, close=true, vertexlabels = (n, l) -> label(string(n), :NW, offset=10))
# distances array
da = polydistances(p)
nidx, over = nearestindex(da, polyperimeter(p)/2)
sethue("red")
circle(p[nidx], 5, :stroke)
arrow(p[nidx],
between(p[nidx], p[nidx+1], over/distance(p[nidx], p[nidx+1])),
linewidth=2)
Of course, it's much easier to do polyportion(p, 0.5)
.
Area of polygon
Use polyarea()
to find the area of a polygon. Of course, this only works for simple polygons; polygons that intersect themselves or have holes are not correctly processed.
This code draws some regular polygons and calculates their area, perimeter, and shows how near the ratio of perimeter over radius approaches 2π.
fontface("Georgia")
sethue("black")
setline(0.25)
outerframe = Table([500], [400, 200])
total = 30
properties = Table(fill(15, total), [20, 85, 85], outerframe[1, 2])
radius = 55
sethue("grey20")
for i in 3:total
global radius
text(string(i), properties[i, 1], halign=:right)
p = ngon(outerframe[1], radius, i, 0, vertices=true)
prettypoly(p, :stroke, close=true, () -> (sethue("red"); circle(O, 2, :fill)))
pa = polyarea(p)
pp = polyperimeter(p)
ppoverradius = pp/radius
text(string(Int(round(pa, digits=0))), properties[i, 2], halign=:left)
text(string(round(ppoverradius, digits=6)), properties[i, 3], halign=:left)
radius += 5
end
fontsize(10)
[text(["Sides", "Area", "Perimeter/Radius"][n], pt, halign=:center)
for (pt, n) in Table([20], [20, 85, 85], outerframe[2] - (0, 220))]
Luxor.polyperimeter
— Functionpolyperimeter(p::Array{Point, 1}; closed=true)
Find the total length of the sides of polygon p
.
Luxor.polyportion
— Functionpolyportion(p::Array{Point, 1}, portion=0.5; closed=true, pdist=[])
Return a portion of a polygon, starting at a value between 0.0 (the beginning) and 1.0 (the end). 0.5 returns the first half of the polygon, 0.25 the first quarter, 0.75 the first three quarters, and so on.
Use closed=false
to exclude the line joining the final point to the first point from the calculations.
If you already have a list of the distances between each point in the polygon (the "polydistances"), you can pass them in pdist
, otherwise they'll be calculated afresh, using polydistances(p, closed=closed)
.
Use the complementary polyremainder()
function to return the other part.
Luxor.polyremainder
— Functionpolyremainder(p::Array{Point, 1}, portion=0.5; closed=true, pdist=[])
Return the rest of a polygon, starting at a value between 0.0 (the beginning) and 1.0 (the end). 0.5 returns the last half of the polygon, 0.25 the last three quarters, 0.75 the last quarter, and so on.
Use closed=false
to exclude the line joining the final point to the first point from the calculations.
If you already have a list of the distances between each point in the polygon (the "polydistances"), you can pass them in pdist
, otherwise they'll be calculated afresh, using polydistances(p, closed=closed)
.
Use the complementary polyportion()
function to return the other part.
Luxor.polydistances
— Functionpolydistances(p::Array{Point, 1}; closed=true)
Return an array of the cumulative lengths of a polygon.
Luxor.nearestindex
— Functionnearestindex(polydistancearray, value)
Return a tuple of the index of the largest value in polydistancearray
less than value
, and the difference value. Array is assumed to be sorted.
(Designed for use with polydistances()
).
Luxor.polyarea
— Functionpolyarea(p::Array)
Find the area of a simple polygon. It works only for polygons that don't self-intersect. See also polyorientation()
.
Luxor.ispolyclockwise
— Functionispolyclockwise(pgon)
Returns true if polygon is clockwise. WHEN VIEWED IN A LUXOR DRAWING...?
TODO This code is still experimental...
Luxor.ispolyconvex
— Functionispolyconvex(pts)
Return true if polygon is convex. This tests that every interior angle is less than or equal to 180°.
Other polygon operations
These functions are still in development. Expect varying degrees of success when using them.
Intersections
intersectlinepoly(pt1, pt2, polygon)
returns an array containing the points where a line from pt1
to pt2
crosses the perimeter of the polygon
.
setline(0.3)
sethue("thistle")
c = star(O, 120, 7, 0.2, vertices=true)
poly(c, :fillstroke, close=true)
for n in 1:15
pt1 = Point(rand(-250:250, 2)...)
pt2 = Point(rand(-250:250, 2)...)
ips = intersectlinepoly(pt1, pt2, c)
if !isempty(ips)
sethue("grey20")
line(pt1, pt2, :stroke)
randomhue()
circle.(ips, 2, :fill)
else
sethue("grey80")
line(pt1, pt2, :stroke)
end
end
polyintersect
calculates the intersection points of two polygons.
pentagon = ngon(O, 250, 5, vertices=true)
square = box(O + (80, 20), 280, 400, vertices=true)
poly(pentagon, :stroke, close=true)
poly(square, :stroke, close=true)
sethue("orange")
circle.(polyintersect(pentagon, square), 8, :fill)
The returned polygon contains the points where one polygon crosses another.
Luxor.intersectlinepoly
— Functionintersectlinepoly(pt1::Point, pt2::Point, C)
Return an array of the points where a line between pt1 and pt2 crosses polygon C.
Luxor.polyintersect
— Functionpolyintersect(p1::AbstractArray{Point, 1}, p2::AbstractArray{Point, 1};
closed=true)
TODO: Fix/test/improve this experimental polygon intersection routine.
Return the points where polygon p1 and polygon p2 cross.
If closed
is false, the intersection points must lie on the first n - 1
lines of each polygon.
Triangulation
Use polytriangulate()
to join the vertices of a polygon to form triangles. It returns an array of triangular polygons.
pts = ngon(O, 200, 7, vertices=true)
triangles = polytriangulate(pts)
for (n, tri) in enumerate(triangles)
sethue([Luxor.julia_purple,
Luxor.julia_blue,
Luxor.julia_red,
Luxor.julia_green
][mod1(n, end)])
poly(offsetpoly(tri, -2), :fill, close = true)
sethue("white")
text(string(n), polycentroid(tri), halign=:center)
end
sethue("red")
setline(3)
poly(pts, :stroke, close=true)
Luxor.polytriangulate
— Functionpolytriangulate(plist::Array{Point,1}; epsilon = -0.01)
Triangulate the polygon in plist
.
This uses the Bowyer–Watson/Delaunay algorithm to make triangles. It returns an array of triangular polygons.
TODO: This experimental polygon function is not very efficient, because it first copies the list of points (to avoid modifying the original), and sorts it, before making triangles.