how to figure out cursive paths for an enemy to follow - algorithm

Question

The Problem
I am making a game where enemies appear at some point on the screen then follow a smooth curvy path and disappear at some point. I can make them follow a straight path but can't figure out the way to make them follow the paths depicted in the image.
Attempts
I started with parabolic curve and implemented them successfully. I just used the equation of parabola to calculate the coordinates gradually. I have no clue what is the equation for desired paths supposed to be.
What I want
I am not asking for the code.I just want someone to explain me the general technique.If you still want to show some code then I don't have special preference for programming language for this particular question you can use C,Java or even pseudo-code.

Answer 1

First you need to represent each curve with a set of points over time, For example:
-At T(0) the object should be at (X0, Y0).
-At T(1) the object should be at (X1, Y1).
And the more points you have, the more smooth curve you will get.
Then you will use those set of points to generate two formulas-one for X, and another one for Y-, using any Interpolation method, like The La-grange's Interpolation Formula:
Note that you should replace 'y' with the time T, and replace 'x' with your X for X formula, and Y for Y formula.
I know you hoped for a simple equation, but unfortunately this is will take from you a huge effort to simplify each equation, and my advise DON'T do it unless it's worth it.
If you are seeking for a more simple equation to perform well in each frame in your game you should read about SPline method, In this method is about splitting your curve into a smaller segments, and make a simple equation for every segment, for example:
Linear Spline:
Every segment contains 2 points, this will draw a line between every two points.
The result will be some thing like this:
Or you could use quadratic spline, or cubic spline for more smooth curves, but it will slow your game performance. You can read more about those methods here.
I think linear spline will be great for you with reasonable set of points for each curve.
Please change the question title to be more generic.

Answer 2

If you want to generate a spiral path you need.
Total time
How many full rotations
Largest radius
So, total time T_f = 5sec, rotations R_f = 2.5 * 2 * PI, the final distance from the start D_f = 200px
function SpiralEnemy(spawnX, spawnY, time) {
this.startX = spawnX;
this.startY = spawnY;
this.startTime = time;
// these will change and be used for rendering
this.x = this.startX;
this.y = this.startY;
this.done = false;
// constants we figured out above
var TFinal = 5.0;
var RFinal = -2.6 * 2 * Math.PI;
var RStart = -Math.PI / 2;
var DFinal = 100;
// the update function called every animation tick with the current time
this.update = function(t) {
var delta = t - this.startTime;
if(delta > TFinal) {
this.done = true;
return;
}
// find out how far along you are in the animation
var percent = delta / TFinal;
// what is your current angle of rotation (in radians)
var angle = RStart + RFinal * percent;
// how far from your start point should you be
var dist = DFinal * percent;
// update your coordinates
this.x = this.startX + Math.cos(angle) * dist;
this.y = this.startY + Math.sin(angle) * dist;
};
}
EDIT Here's a jsfiddle to mess with http://jsfiddle.net/pxb3824z/
EDIT 2 Here's a loop (instead of spiral) version http://jsfiddle.net/dpbLxuz7/
The loop code splits the animation into 2 parts the beginning half and the end half.
Beginning half : angle = Math.tan(T_percent) * 2 and dist = Speed + Speed * (1 - T_percent)
End half : angle = -Math.tan(1 - T_percent) * 2 and dist = **Speed + Speed * T_percent
T_percent is normalized to (0, 1.0) for both halfs.
function LoopEnemy(spawnX, spawnY, time) {
this.startX = spawnX;
this.startY = spawnY;
this.startTime = time;
// these will change and be used for rendering
this.x = this.startX;
this.y = this.startY;
this.last = time;
this.done = false;
// constants we figured out above
var TFinal = 5.0;
var RFinal = -2 * Math.PI;
var RStart = 0;
var Speed = 50; // px per second
// the update function called every animation tick with the current time
this.update = function(t) {
var delta = t - this.startTime;
if(delta > TFinal) {
this.done = true;
return;
}
// find out how far along you are in the animation
var percent = delta / TFinal;
var localDelta = t - this.last;
// what is your current angle of rotation (in radians)
var angle = RStart;
var dist = Speed * localDelta;
if(percent <= 0.5) {
percent = percent / 0.5;
angle -= Math.tan(percent) * 2;
dist += dist * (1 - percent);
} else {
percent = (percent - 0.5) / 0.5;
angle -= -Math.tan(1 - percent) * 2;
dist += dist * percent;
}
// update your coordinates
this.last = t;
this.x = this.x + Math.cos(angle) * dist;
this.y = this.y + Math.sin(angle) * dist;
};
}
Deriving the exact distance traveled and the height of the loop for this one is a bit more work. I arbitrarily chose a Speed of 50px / sec, which give a final x offset of ~+145 and a loop height of ~+114 the distance and height will scale from those values linearly (ex: Speed=25 will have final x at ~73 and loop height of ~57)

Answer 3

I don't understand how you give a curve. If you need a curve depicted on the picture, you can find a curve is given analytically and use it. If you have not any curves you can send me here: hedgehogues#bk.ru and I will help find you. I leave e-mail here because I don't get any messages about answers of users from stackoverflow. I don't know why.
If you have some curves in parametric view in [A, B], you can write a code like this:
struct
{
double x, y;
}SPoint;
coord = A;
step = 0.001
eps = 1e-6;
while (coord + step - eps < B)
{
SPoint p1, p2;
p1.x = x(coord);
p1.y = y(coord);
coord += step;
p2.x = x(coord);
p2.y = y(coord);
drawline(p1, p2);
}