The Concept of
the Spline Curves

The harmonic connection of a row of points.

The Spline Function "spline{ ... }":
A spline function is a relation between given time values and according vectors of positions (anchor points). POV-Ray calculates with this function all values between these given points for a curve which connects these anchor points.

#declare Spline_1 = spline { natural_spline -0.2, <-2,1.0,-2>,//control point 0.0, <-0,1.0,-2>,//start point 0.2, < 2,1.0,-2>, 0.4, < 2,1.0, 0>, 0.6, < 0,1.0, 0>, 0.8, < 0,1.0, 2>, 1.0, < 2,1.0, 2>,//end point 1.2, < 4,1.0, 2>//control point }

Complete scene description for POV-Ray:
"spline_demo.pov"

In POV-Ray there are 4 different types of splines:
linear_spline   = Straight lines are connecting the anchor points (This is default).
quadratic_spline = Connecting the anchor points by a smooth curve of 2nd order.
cubic_spline   = Connecting the anchor points by a more smooth curve of 3rd order.
natural_spline = Connecting the anchor points by a very smooth curve of 3rd order

For animation paths without jerky motions it's optimal to use the spline types cubic_spline and natural_spline. Using cubic_spline and natural_spline we have to define additional control points before and behind our anchor points to control the bending of the curve in our start and end points.
In the image above "Spline Demo" the anchor points are yellow and the control points are red. With a While loop the spline curve is marked with little spheres:

#declare Nr = 0; // start #declare EndNr = 1; // end #while (Nr< EndNr) // ----------------------------------- sphere{ <0,0,0>,0.07 texture{ pigment{color rgb <1-Nr/2,0.75+Nr/4,0>} finish {diffuse 0.9 phong 1} } translate Spline_1(Nr) } // end of sphere #declare Nr = Nr + 0.005; // next Nr #end // -------------------------------------- end of loop