French curve

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French curves
French curves

A French curve is a template made out of plastic, metal or wood composed of many different curves. It is used in manual drafting to get a smooth curve of varying radii.

The curve is placed on the drawing material, and a pencil, knife or other implement is traced around its curves to produce the desired result.

The image on the right shows the three most common French curves; this set is also known as the Burmester set. The one in the far left corner is most commonly used for hyperbolas; the smaller one in the far right corner is suited for ellipses. The large one below is used most for parabolas. This information comes from excellent page on drawing tools.[1]

Modern computer CAD drafting systems use vector based graphics to achieve a precise radius, so no template is required.

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