Curvature graph density

I would like for the points to match with the curvature graph divisions, how should I do this? Is there a way to match density to the number of divisions? (currently at 70)


rollercoasterfirstgo (1).gh (40.6 KB)

I don’t know exactly about curvature graph density, it looks like it’s the number of divisions -along the graph curve?- between two consecutive discountinuity points?

“draw your own curve graph” taken from here:


well… looks like I was wrong, they don’t match :slight_smile:


rollercoasterfirstgo (1) (2)_curve_graph_inno.gh (45.5 KB)

This script might be relevant:

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These are some fantastic solutions, thank you all! Does anyone know how to make it so that the curvature measured is only being shown in the z-direction? I don’t want it to show the lateral curve radius on my coaster.

You could do something like this, assuming I understood the question correctly:


220520_CurveCurvatureToZLines_00.gh (6.2 KB)

That’s great thank you, does that scale value tell you the absolute value of curvature at that point?

I’m not entirely sure what you meen by “scale value”. But I assume the Grasshopper component implements the same Curve.CurvatureAt method I implemented in the script referenced above. Which returns a “Curvature vector of the curve at the parameter t” (i.e. the K output of the compent), where the length/magnitude of this vector (i.e. the scale value you are referring to I assume) can be described as how large the curvature is.

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Ah sorry, what I meant was when I went into the panel to look at line length, the length of the lines was quite small (e.g. 0.3mm). I’d assume this is because it had been scaled down from the actual value of curvature? So I would like to know the absolute value of curvature instead of just a relative scale, I hope this makes sense?

A wonderful solution though, thank you so much for your help!

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Would it be able to measure the radius of curvature in the z-direction?

You can deconstruct the curvature circle output to get their radii:


220520_CurveCurvatureToZLines_01.gh (7.0 KB)

Ah ok does that give the radius of curvature in the z-direction only?

I’m afraid I don’t follow. Can you point to a reference (e.g. on Wikipedia)?

Ok so at the moment I have a curvature graph that also tells me the radius of curvature at that point. The problem however is that you can probably see (the graph line sticking out of the track) that the radius of curvature it is calculating is including the horizontal as well as the vertical. I only want the vertical radius (follow and calculate the radius of the track as it goes up and down). The vertical direction in the program is in the z-direction.

The solution provided before was good at showing me how much relative curvature there was on the z-axis, but it did not tell me the radius of curvature at the vertical.

Sorry I haven’t explained it very clearly. If you would rather I make a new thread I am happy to? Thanks again for all of the help!


rollercoasterfirstgo (1).gh (51.2 KB)