Self-affinities of planar curves: towards unified description of aesthetic curves

Abstract

In this paper, we consider the self-affinity of planar curves. It is regarded as an important property to characterize the log-aesthetic curves which have been studied as reference curves or guidelines for designing aesthetic shapes in CAD systems. We reformulate the two different self-affinities proposed in the development of log-aesthetic curves. We give rigorous proof that one self-affinity actually characterizes log-aesthetic curves, while another one characterizes parabolas. We then propose a new self-affinity which, in equiaffine geometry, characterizes the constant curvature curves (the quadratic curves). It integrates the two self-affinities, by which constant curvature curves in similarity and equiaffine geometries are characterized in a unified manner.