Drawing ellipses and elliptical arcs with piecewise cubic Bézier curve approximations

Abstract

This tutorial describes how to use piecewise cubic B\'ezier curves to draw arbitrarily oriented ellipses and elliptical arcs. The geometric principles discussed here result in strikingly simple interfaces for graphics functions that can draw (approximate) circles, ellipses, and arcs of circles and ellipses. C++ source code listings are included for these functions. Their code size can be relatively small because they are designed to be used with a graphics library or platform that draws B\'ezier curves, and the library or platform is tasked with the actual rendering of the curves.