> AFAIK, Non-Rational Bicubic B-Splines (NURBS is singular, so would the
> plural be NURBSes?) is the popular name for what used to be popularly 
> known as Bezier patches, named for the researcher who first published 
> them (although they were previously developed by someone working for
> the Army, who did not permit him to publish his work so I don't
> remember his name).  Mathematically, they're bicubic splines, so this
> is the name that POV-Ray used originally.  NURBS, as a name, is just
> a little more specific (specifying that they are non-rational, and
> the specific type of spline).
NURBS are a *generalisation* of Bezier splines. Non-intuitively,
"non-uniform" doesn't mean "not uniform", it means "not necessarily
uniform". Bezier splines, in contrast, are all uniform.

-- 
"Follow the enemy and try to prevent  the enemy carrying away the guns."
On 25th Oct 1854, Lord Raglan, on a hill, can see one set of guns;  Lord
Lucan, down in the valley,  sees a different, better defended,  set, and
leads the Light Brigade in its fateful charge. http://surreal.istic.org/

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