Why are "splines" so called in Trainz?

J

JonMyrlennBailey

Well-known member
This is an interesting term for certain objects in this game.

here is how http://www.dictionary.com/browse/spline?s=t defines SPLINE


spline

[splahyn]
Spell Syllables



noun

1.a long, narrow, thin strip of wood, metal, etc.; slat.

2.a long, flexible strip of wood or the like, used in drawing curves.

3.Machinery.
  • any of a series of uniformly spaced ridges on a shaft, parallel to its axis and fitting inside corresponding grooves in the hub of a gear,etc., to transmit torque.
  • feather key.


4.Building Trades. a thin strip of material inserted into the edges of two
boards, acoustic tiles, etc., to make a butt joint between them; a feather.

5.Mathematics, Engineering. a function that has specified values at a
finite number of points and consists of segments of polynomial
functions joined smoothly at these points, enabling it to be used for
approximation and interpolation of functions.

verb (used with object), splined, splining. Machinery.6.to provide with a spline or key.

7.to provide with a keyway.


Origin of splineExpand
1750-1760

1750-60; orig. East Anglian dial.; perhaps akin to splint; compare OldEnglish splin spindle





Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2016.
Cite This Source
 
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A "spline" is a mathematical term referring to a way of building curves. It involves taking the spline points and solving to find a polynomial function passing through each of the points. It seems usually the polynomial is cut off at the cubic term, as this is the minimum required for a curve that has an inflection. Thus the second derivative of the curve between points is a constant...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spline_(mathematics)

https://people.cs.clemson.edu/~dhouse/courses/405/notes/splines.pdf
 
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AFAIR the expression was first used in train sim circles by the people who created 3D Railroad Master (I think it was called) to describe their flexible track system. Auran as it was then, borrowed the terminology and it has stuck ever since.
 
....and this, for example, is how Trainz calculates the curvature of a 'spline' like a road?

are mathematical splines used in civil engineering and highway construction?
 
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JonMyrlennBailey said:
....and this, for example, is how Trainz calculates the curvature of a 'spline' like a road?

are mathematical splines used in civil engineering and highway construction?
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And...what is your point, exactly?

As a acoustic systems engineer myself, I have computed a few splines in my time, but have never found the overloading of a simple word such as "spline" to be all that disconcerting. Graphics application designers often struggle to find appropriate terms to label the multitude of options and functions provided in their software. For example, I would think "rendering" and "baking" would be most likely found taking place on the stove and in the oven, but nowhere near (the) Blender. ;)
 
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cressjl said:
In fact, I would think "rendering" and "baking" would be most likely found taking place on and near the stove, not in (the) Blender. ;)
Click to expand...

What would one render in a kitchen? I would have said render is the cement like substance applied to external walls of buildings... :)
 
edh6 said:
What would one render in a kitchen? I would have said render is the cement like substance applied to external walls of buildings... :)
Click to expand...
Haven't you ever rendered fat out of bacon before? But now that you mention it, I did render a ceiling once...:)
 
Not so, edh6. Rendering fat is a very common British cookery term. Anyone who lived during WW2 would have known all about rendering to obtain and make usable every scrap of fat, from bacon rind, suet etc. to eke out the meagre rations. British housewives knew how to make the most use of everything in those days.

Ray (a WW2 schoolboy)

PS there are many odd terms used in railways/railroads and railway modelling - frog, sleeper (tie in the States), etc.
 
In a 3D modelling context, render is used in the same sense as when an artist renders a portrait and has nothing to do with rendering a carcass etc. An odd word that can mean both to create and to break down something. How can non-English speakers ever make sense of English?
 
mezzoprezzo said:
I'm sure there must be an Australian member out there who could "spline" that for us!
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As an Aussie, I am happy to "spline" (translation: explain) it for youse!

It is not only non-English speakers who scratch their heads over the English language. Here is a little poem that I picked up that will explain it all.

We'll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes;
but the plural of ox became oxen not oxes.
One fowl is a goose, but two are called geese,
yet the plural of moose should never be meese.
You may find a lone mouse or a nest full of mice;
yet the plural of house is houses, not hice.
If the plural of man is always called men,
why shouldn't the plural of pan be called pen?
If I spoke of my foot and show you my feet,
and I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet?
If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth,
why shouldn't the plural of booth be called beeth?
Then one may be that, and three would be those,
yet hat in the plural would never be hose,
and the plural of cat is cats, not cose.
We speak of a brother and also of brethren,
but though we say mother, we never say methren.
Then the masculine pronouns are he, his, and him, but
imagine the feminine, she, shis, and shim.
​

I rest my case.
 
cressjl said:
And...what is your point, exactly?

As a acoustic systems engineer myself, I have computed a few splines in my time, but have never found the overloading of a simple word such as "spline" to be all that disconcerting. Graphics application designers often struggle to find appropriate terms to label the multitude of options and functions provided in their software. For example, I would think "rendering" and "baking" would be most likely found taking place on the stove and in the oven, but nowhere near (the) Blender. ;)
Click to expand...


I am not disconcerted about the word spline, just curious as the devil.

Why not call it a BISCO?

bendable inclining stretching and compressible object
 
Good explanation, trouble is I've forgotten the answer , or was it the question !

Anyway who the hell are you :)
 
Vern said:
AFAIR the expression was first used in train sim circles by the people who created 3D Railroad Master (I think it was called) to describe their flexible track system. Auran as it was then, borrowed the terminology and it has stuck ever since.
Click to expand...

Not claiming that we are the first to use the term in a railroad context, but we derived our use of it from the mathematical basis that is used to generate the track curves, as norfolksouthern37 suggests, and not because of 3D Railroad Master.

chris
 
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