Point-Along-Path Interpolation

100%

Point-Along-Path Interpolation

✓ Published0🌍 Public

Last edited Feb 9, 2016

Created on Jan 30, 2012

A steelblue circle travels indefinitely along a closed Catmull–Rom spline path, interpolating its position over ten seconds per loop. Seven fixed white-ringed points mark the path’s control vertices. The SVG animation uses D3’s `transition.attrTween` with the path’s `getTotalLength` and `getPointAtLength` methods to compute each frame’s coordinates, while `d3.svg.line().tension(0)` defines the curve geometry.

AI-generated description

This example demonstrates how to use the getTotalLength and getPointAtLength methods on SVG path elements to interpolate a point along a Catmull–Rom spline.

A related technique is stroke dash interpolation.

gpl-3.0 Licensed

Similar vizzes

Loading thumbnail…

Point-Along-Path Interpolation

A small circle animates repeatedly along a fixed arc path, demonstrating how to interpolate a point’s position along an existing SVG path. The example uses D3 v3 and SVG’s native `getTotalLength` and `getPointAtLength` methods to compute the circle’s coordinates at each step. A `transition.attrTween` drives the animation, updating the circle’s `transform` attribute over five seconds, then restarting it via the transition’s `each("end")` event. The path itself is drawn with `d3.svg.arc` and rendered as a gray filled shape with a pointer cursor.

Mmbostock

89% match

Loading thumbnail…

Path Tween

This example demonstrates smooth path interpolation between two SVG shapes defined by cubic Bézier curves. A black path morphs between two distinct configurations over a two-second animated loop, using SVG’s getPointAtLength and getTotalLength methods to uniformly sample points at four-pixel intervals. The transition replaces the original curve with a polyline for interpolation via d3.interpolate, then restores the Bézier path upon completion. The animation runs in d3 v4 with transition.attrTween, alternating between the two path definitions indefinitely.

Mmbostock

80% match

Loading thumbnail…

SVG path animation

A red dot animates along a black, wiggly SVG path, looping infinitely. The path is defined in an external SVG file. Built with D3.js v3, the visualization loads the SVG via `d3.xml`, extracts the path with a `d3.select`, and uses a `transition.attrTween` to move a circle marker based on `getPointAtLength` and `getTotalLength`, replicating Mike Bostock’s point-along-path interpolation example.

KKoGor

78% match

Loading thumbnail…

Untitled

A black cubic Bézier path is drawn on an SVG canvas using D3 v4, with its total length queried via `getTotalLength()`. The example marks two points sampled along the path at 50% and 78% of its length, using `getPointAtLength()` to position small red and blue circles. A green line is then constructed between the two points and extended backwards to the canvas edge, demonstrating how to compute a secant line from arbitrary positions along a vector path. The visualization uses inline SVG elements created through D3's selection API, with styling applied via a linked CSS file.

RRSSBDAE

76% match

Loading thumbnail…

Data Folowing a Path

A collection of pink circles animates along a fixed black path, each circle traveling from the path’s start to its end in sequence. The visualization shows how data points can follow a predefined geometric route, with each circle representing a discrete step. The code uses D3 v5’s `scaleLinear` to map indices to path lengths, and `transition.attrTween` with `getPointAtLength` to move each circle along the SVG path. The animation uses `d3.easeCircleInOut` for smooth acceleration and deceleration, with the path defined by a complex Bézier string.

HHalian Vilela

76% match

Loading thumbnail…

Path Tween

This example shows a smooth animated transition between two SVG path shapes, alternating back and forth indefinitely. The code samples both the source and target paths uniformly using the SVG `getPointAtLength` method, then interpolates the corresponding points to create a piecewise linear curve during the transition. After each cycle, the path is restored to its original cubic Bézier form. The animation uses D3 v4’s `transition.attrTween` and `d3.easeLinear` easing, with a precision of 4 pixels for sampling.

GGerardoFurtado

76% match

Loading thumbnail…

Closest Point on Path

A black cardinal-interpolated path connects ten fixed points. As the mouse moves over the SVG canvas, a red line and circle dynamically trace the nearest location on that path to the cursor. The example demonstrates an approximate algorithm built on D3 v3’s SVG path API, using `getTotalLength` and `getPointAtLength` for a coarse linear scan followed by a binary search to refine the result to roughly one pixel accuracy.

Mmbostock

74% match

Loading thumbnail…

Element rotation with point-along-path interpolation

A small triangle and a text label move along a dashed path, with the triangle’s rotation updating to match the tangent of the curve at each point. The label displays the computed angle in degrees as the element travels back and forth. Built with D3.v3, it uses `d3.svg.line` for the path, `transition.attrTween` with `translateAlong` for motion, and `getPointAtLength` plus `Math.atan2` to derive orientation. The underlying data is random values mapped through a linear scale.

FFrissAnalytics

73% match