What is a French Curve? : Way to use French Curve

1. What is a French Curve?

A French curve is a drawing instrument composed of several curves and is commonly made from wood, plastic, or metal and is used to draw a smooth curve through predetermined points.

✔ It is used for making smooth curves.

✔ It is used in both artistic drawings as well as in technical drawings.

✔ For more accurate works, Burmester Curves are used instead of French Curves.

2. What is the use of the French Curve?

✔ It is used in both artistic drawings as well as in technical drawings to draw smooth curves of varying radii.

3. What are the types of French Curve?

There are no exact types of French curves. Images of a few French curves that are commonly utilized are given below:

4. How to Use French Curve?

a. The primary use of the French curve is to draw curves by connecting several known points. So, initially mark the points that are needed to be connected to form a curve.

b. They join the points with the help of the French curve to form a curve.

5. What are the differences between the French and Burmester Curves?

Some key differences between these two types of curves have been seen below:

Aspect	French Curve	Burmester Curve
Shape	Flexible, organic curves	Fixed mathematical shapes
Main Usage	Freehand drawing, architectural design, clothing designs, etc	Mechanism design or geometrical designs
Flexibility	Highly flexible	Fixed template
Precision	Artistic and organic	High precision
Fields of Use	Art, fashion, design	High-precision works and designs in several engineering faculties.
Primary Characteristics	Emphasis on artistic freedom	Focus on precision and mechanics
Images	French curves represent all the curves	A Set of 3 curves represents the Burmester curve.