Design Nomenclature / Form & Geometry

G1 continuity

Also called tangent continuity, tangency, g0 continuity, positional continuity

Two curves or surfaces meet G1 when they share a point and a tangent direction there, but not necessarily curvature. The join reads as smooth in outline and in a matte render, and shows a hard kink under a specular highlight or a zebra stripe, because the reflected direction jumps. G0 below it is contact only: position, no shared tangent.

Two arcs joined end to end with a shared tangent, their curvature combs drawn as bristles along each side — the bristle lengths jumping abruptly at the join.

In practice

'Tangent' is the CAD word and the default a fillet gives you. Enough for a machined bracket, not enough for a Class-A surface, where a tangent-only join reads as a crease the moment a strip light crosses it.

Not to be confused with

How this term connects

ChamferFilletG2 continuityInflectionNURBSRadius breakG1 continuity
Related Confused with