Skip to main content
`Ctrl`+`K`
scipy.spatial.

# geometric_slerp

scipy.spatial.geometric_slerp(start, end, t, tol=1e-07)

  Geometric spherical linear interpolation.

  The interpolation occurs along a unit-radius great circle arc in arbitrary dimensional space.

  Parameters:
    start(n_dimensions, ) array-like

      Single n-dimensional input coordinate in a 1-D array-like object. n must be greater than 1.

    end(n_dimensions, ) array-like

      Single n-dimensional input coordinate in a 1-D array-like object. n must be greater than 1.

    tfloat or (n_points,) 1D array-like

      A float or 1D array-like of doubles representing interpolation parameters, with values required in the inclusive interval between 0 and 1. A common approach is to generate the array with `np.linspace(0, 1, n_pts)` for linearly spaced points. Ascending, descending, and scrambled orders are permitted.

    tolfloat

      The absolute tolerance for determining if the start and end coordinates are antipodes.

  Returns:
    result(t.size, D)

      An array of doubles containing the interpolated spherical path and including start and end when 0 and 1 t are used. The interpolated values should correspond to the same sort order provided in the t array. The result may be 1-dimensional if `t` is a float.

  Raises:
    ValueError

      If `start` and `end` are antipodes, not on the unit n-sphere, or for a variety of degenerate conditions.

  See also

  `scipy.spatial.transform.Slerp`

    3-D Slerp that works with quaternions

  Notes

  The implementation is based on the mathematical formula provided in [1], and the first known presentation of this algorithm, derived from study of 4-D geometry, is credited to Glenn Davis in a footnote of the original quaternion Slerp publication by Ken Shoemake [2].

  Added in version 1.5.0.

  References

  [1]

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slerp#Geometric_Slerp

  [2]

  Ken Shoemake (1985) Animating rotation with quaternion curves. ACM SIGGRAPH Computer Graphics, 19(3): 245-254.

  Examples

  Interpolate four linearly-spaced values on the circumference of a circle spanning 90 degrees:

      >>> import numpy as np
      >>> from scipy.spatial import geometric_slerp
      >>> import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
      >>> fig = plt.figure()
      >>> ax = fig.add_subplot(111)
      >>> start = np.array([1, 0])
      >>> end = np.array([0, 1])
      >>> t_vals = np.linspace(0, 1, 4)
      >>> result = geometric_slerp(start,
      ...                          end,
      ...                          t_vals)

  The interpolated results should be at 30 degree intervals recognizable on the unit circle:

      >>> ax.scatter(result[...,0], result[...,1], c='k')
      >>> circle = plt.Circle((0, 0), 1, color='grey')
      >>> ax.add_artist(circle)
      >>> ax.set_aspect('equal')
      >>> plt.show()

  Attempting to interpolate between antipodes on a circle is ambiguous because there are two possible paths, and on a sphere there are infinite possible paths on the geodesic surface. Nonetheless, one of the ambiguous paths is returned along with a warning:

      >>> opposite_pole = np.array([-1, 0])
      >>> with np.testing.suppress_warnings() as sup:
      ...     sup.filter(UserWarning)
      ...     geometric_slerp(start,
      ...                     opposite_pole,
      ...                     t_vals)
      array([[ 1.00000000e+00,  0.00000000e+00],
             [ 5.00000000e-01,  8.66025404e-01],
             [-5.00000000e-01,  8.66025404e-01],
             [-1.00000000e+00,  1.22464680e-16]])

  Extend the original example to a sphere and plot interpolation points in 3D:

      >>> from mpl_toolkits.mplot3d import proj3d
      >>> fig = plt.figure()
      >>> ax = fig.add_subplot(111, projection='3d')

  Plot the unit sphere for reference (optional):

      >>> u = np.linspace(0, 2 * np.pi, 100)
      >>> v = np.linspace(0, np.pi, 100)
      >>> x = np.outer(np.cos(u), np.sin(v))
      >>> y = np.outer(np.sin(u), np.sin(v))
      >>> z = np.outer(np.ones(np.size(u)), np.cos(v))
      >>> ax.plot_surface(x, y, z, color='y', alpha=0.1)

  Interpolating over a larger number of points may provide the appearance of a smooth curve on the surface of the sphere, which is also useful for discretized integration calculations on a sphere surface:

      >>> start = np.array([1, 0, 0])
      >>> end = np.array([0, 0, 1])
      >>> t_vals = np.linspace(0, 1, 200)
      >>> result = geometric_slerp(start,
      ...                          end,
      ...                          t_vals)
      >>> ax.plot(result[...,0],
      ...         result[...,1],
      ...         result[...,2],
      ...         c='k')
      >>> plt.show()