Documentation

curveElement
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A curve consisting of movements, lines, and Bézier segments.

At any point in time, there is a conceptual pen or cursor.

For layout purposes, the bounding box of the curve is a tight rectangle containing all segments as well as the point (0pt, 0pt).

Positions may be specified absolutely (i.e. relatively to (0pt, 0pt)), or relative to the current pen/cursor position, that is, the position where the previous segment ended.

Bézier curve control points can be skipped by passing none or automatically mirrored from the preceding segment by passing auto.

Example

#curve(
  fill: blue.lighten(80%),
  stroke: blue,
  curve.move((0pt, 50pt)),
  curve.line((100pt, 50pt)),
  curve.cubic(none, (90pt, 0pt), (50pt, 0pt)),
  curve.close(),
)
Preview

Parameters
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fill
none or color or gradient or tiling
Settable
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How to fill the curve.

When setting a fill, the default stroke disappears. To create a rectangle with both fill and stroke, you have to configure both.

Default: none

fill-rule
str
Settable
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The drawing rule used to fill the curve.

VariantDetails
"non-zero"

Specifies that "inside" is computed by a non-zero sum of signed edge crossings.

"even-odd"

Specifies that "inside" is computed by an odd number of edge crossings.

Default: "non-zero"

View example
// We use `.with` to get a new
// function that has the common
// arguments pre-applied.
#let star = curve.with(
  fill: red,
  curve.move((25pt, 0pt)),
  curve.line((10pt, 50pt)),
  curve.line((50pt, 20pt)),
  curve.line((0pt, 20pt)),
  curve.line((40pt, 50pt)),
  curve.close(),
)

#star(fill-rule: "non-zero")
#star(fill-rule: "even-odd")
Preview

stroke
none or auto or length or color or gradient or stroke or tiling or dictionary
Settable
Question mark

How to stroke the curve. This can be:

Can be set to none to disable the stroke or to auto for a stroke of 1pt black if and if only if no fill is given.

Default: auto

View example
#let down = curve.line((40pt, 40pt), relative: true)
#let up = curve.line((40pt, -40pt), relative: true)

#curve(
  stroke: 4pt + gradient.linear(red, blue),
  down, up, down, up, down,
)
Preview

components
content
RequiredPositional
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Variadic
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The components of the curve, in the form of moves, line and Bézier segment, and closes.

Definitions
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moveElement
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Starts a new curve component.

If no curve.move element is passed, the curve will start at (0pt, 0pt).

curve.move() -> content
#curve(
  fill: blue.lighten(80%),
  fill-rule: "even-odd",
  stroke: blue,
  curve.line((50pt, 0pt)),
  curve.line((50pt, 50pt)),
  curve.line((0pt, 50pt)),
  curve.close(),
  curve.move((10pt, 10pt)),
  curve.line((40pt, 10pt)),
  curve.line((40pt, 40pt)),
  curve.line((10pt, 40pt)),
  curve.close(),
)
Preview

start
array
RequiredPositional
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The starting point for the new component.

relative
bool
Settable
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Whether the coordinates are relative to the previous point.

Default: false

lineElement
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Adds a straight line from the current point to a following one.

curve.line() -> content
#curve(
  stroke: blue,
  curve.line((50pt, 0pt)),
  curve.line((50pt, 50pt)),
  curve.line((100pt, 50pt)),
  curve.line((100pt, 0pt)),
  curve.line((150pt, 0pt)),
)
Preview

end
array
RequiredPositional
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The point at which the line shall end.

relative
bool
Settable
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Whether the coordinates are relative to the previous point.

Default: false

View example
#curve(
  stroke: blue,
  curve.line((50pt, 0pt), relative: true),
  curve.line((0pt, 50pt), relative: true),
  curve.line((50pt, 0pt), relative: true),
  curve.line((0pt, -50pt), relative: true),
  curve.line((50pt, 0pt), relative: true),
)
Preview

quadElement
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Adds a quadratic Bézier curve segment from the last point to end, using control as the control point.

// Function to illustrate where the control point is.
#let mark((x, y)) = place(
  dx: x - 1pt, dy: y - 1pt,
  circle(fill: aqua, radius: 2pt),
)

#mark((20pt, 20pt))

#curve(
  stroke: blue,
  curve.move((0pt, 100pt)),
  curve.quad((20pt, 20pt), (100pt, 0pt)),
)
Preview

control
none or auto or array
RequiredPositional
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The control point of the quadratic Bézier curve.

View example
#curve(
  stroke: 2pt,
  curve.quad((20pt, 40pt), (40pt, 40pt), relative: true),
  curve.quad(auto, (40pt, -40pt), relative: true),
)
Preview

end
array
RequiredPositional
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The point at which the segment shall end.

relative
bool
Settable
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Whether the control and end coordinates are relative to the previous point.

Default: false

cubicElement
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Adds a cubic Bézier curve segment from the last point to end, using control-start and control-end as the control points.

// Function to illustrate where the control points are.
#let handle(start, end) = place(
  line(stroke: red, start: start, end: end)
)

#handle((0pt, 80pt), (10pt, 20pt))
#handle((90pt, 60pt), (100pt, 0pt))

#curve(
  stroke: blue,
  curve.move((0pt, 80pt)),
  curve.cubic((10pt, 20pt), (90pt, 60pt), (100pt, 0pt)),
)
Preview

control-start
none or auto or array
RequiredPositional
Question mark

The control point going out from the start of the curve segment.

View example
#curve(
  stroke: blue,
  curve.move((0pt, 50pt)),
  // - No start control point
  // - End control point at `(20pt, 0pt)`
  // - End point at `(50pt, 0pt)`
  curve.cubic(none, (20pt, 0pt), (50pt, 0pt)),
  // - No start control point
  // - No end control point
  // - End point at `(50pt, 0pt)`
  curve.cubic(none, none, (100pt, 50pt)),
)

#curve(
  stroke: blue,
  curve.move((0pt, 50pt)),
  curve.cubic(none, (20pt, 0pt), (50pt, 0pt)),
  // Passing `auto` instead of `none` means the start control point
  // mirrors the end control point of the previous curve. Mirror of
  // `(20pt, 0pt)` w.r.t `(50pt, 0pt)` is `(80pt, 0pt)`.
  curve.cubic(auto, none, (100pt, 50pt)),
)

#curve(
  stroke: blue,
  curve.move((0pt, 50pt)),
  curve.cubic(none, (20pt, 0pt), (50pt, 0pt)),
  // `(80pt, 0pt)` is the same as `auto` in this case.
  curve.cubic((80pt, 0pt), none, (100pt, 50pt)),
)
Preview

control-end
none or array
RequiredPositional
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The control point going into the end point of the curve segment.

If set to none, the curve has no end control point, or equivalently, the control point defaults to the curve's end point.

end
array
RequiredPositional
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The point at which the curve segment shall end.

relative
bool
Settable
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Whether the control-start, control-end, and end coordinates are relative to the previous point.

Default: false

closeElement
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Closes the curve by adding a segment from the last point to the start of the curve (or the last preceding curve.move point).

curve.close() -> content
// We define a function to show the same shape with
// both closing modes.
#let shape(mode: "smooth") = curve(
  fill: blue.lighten(80%),
  stroke: blue,
  curve.move((0pt, 50pt)),
  curve.line((100pt, 50pt)),
  curve.cubic(auto, (90pt, 0pt), (50pt, 0pt)),
  curve.close(mode: mode),
)

#shape(mode: "smooth")
#shape(mode: "straight")
Preview

mode
str
Settable
Question mark

How to close the curve.

VariantDetails
"smooth"

Closes the curve with a smooth segment that takes into account the control point opposite the start point.

"straight"

Closes the curve with a straight line.

Default: "smooth"