Drawing a bezier curve between a set of given points

Question

What is the best way to draw a bezier curve, in iOS application, that passes through a set of given points

Answer 1

A little more generic way to do it can be achieved by, for example, looking at the BEMSimpleLineGraph GitHub Project (see here for more info: bemsimplelinegraph). Here I extracted a method to draw a bezier curve through a given list of points.

The header file (BezierLine.h):

#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>
#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>
#import <CoreGraphics/CoreGraphics.h>

@interface BezierLine : NSObject

/*
 Draws a bezier curved line on the given context
 with points: Array of CGPoint values
 */
-(void) drawBezierCurveInContext:(CGContextRef)context withPoints:(NSArray*)points lineColor:(UIColor*)color lineWidth:(CGFloat)lineWidth;

@end

The implementation (BezierLine.m):

#import "BezierLine.h"

@implementation BezierLine

-(void) drawBezierCurveInContext:(CGContextRef)context withPoints:(NSArray*)points lineColor:(UIColor*)color lineWidth:(CGFloat)lineWidth {
    if (points.count < 2) return;

    CGPoint CP1;
    CGPoint CP2;

    // LINE
    UIBezierPath *line = [UIBezierPath bezierPath];

    CGPoint p0;
    CGPoint p1;
    CGPoint p2;
    CGPoint p3;
    CGFloat tensionBezier1 = 0.3;
    CGFloat tensionBezier2 = 0.3;

    CGPoint previousPoint1;
    CGPoint previousPoint2;

    [line moveToPoint:[[points objectAtIndex:0] CGPointValue]];

    for (int i = 0; i < points.count - 1; i++) {
        p1 = [[points objectAtIndex:i] CGPointValue];
        p2 = [[points objectAtIndex:i + 1] CGPointValue];

        const CGFloat maxTension = 1.0f / 3.0f;
        tensionBezier1 = maxTension;
        tensionBezier2 = maxTension;

        if (i > 0) { // Exception for first line because there is no previous point
            p0 = previousPoint1;
            if (p2.y - p1.y == p1.y - p0.y) tensionBezier1 = 0;
        } else {
            tensionBezier1 = 0;
            p0 = p1;
        }

        if (i < points.count - 2) { // Exception for last line because there is no next point
            p3 = [[points objectAtIndex:i + 2] CGPointValue];
            if (p3.y - p2.y == p2.y - p1.y) tensionBezier2 = 0;
        } else {
            p3 = p2;
            tensionBezier2 = 0;
        }

        // The tension should never exceed 0.3
        if (tensionBezier1 > maxTension) tensionBezier1 = maxTension;
        if (tensionBezier2 > maxTension) tensionBezier2 = maxTension;

        // First control point
        CP1 = CGPointMake(p1.x + (p2.x - p1.x)/3,
                          p1.y - (p1.y - p2.y)/3 - (p0.y - p1.y)*tensionBezier1);

        // Second control point
        CP2 = CGPointMake(p1.x + 2*(p2.x - p1.x)/3,
                          (p1.y - 2*(p1.y - p2.y)/3) + (p2.y - p3.y)*tensionBezier2);


        [line addCurveToPoint:p2 controlPoint1:CP1 controlPoint2:CP2];

        previousPoint1 = p1;
        previousPoint2 = p2;
    }

    CGContextSetAllowsAntialiasing(context, YES);
    CGContextSetStrokeColorWithColor(context, color.CGColor);
    CGContextSetLineWidth(context, lineWidth);
    CGContextAddPath(context, line.CGPath);
    CGContextDrawPath(context, kCGPathStroke);
}


@end

You can use it by for example creating an image context using UIGraphicsBeginImageContext and retrieving the context with UIGraphicsGetCurrentContext().

Otherwise you may want to change the code and assign the resulting Path to a CALayer and add that to an UIView.

Hope this helps.