ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Non-uniform rational B-spline

Okay kiddo, listen up. You know how sometimes you draw a line or a curve on a paper or on your tablet? Non-uniform rational b-spline (NURBS) is a way to describe and draw those lines and curves using math.

Imagine your drawing as a bunch of points, like dots on a piece of paper. NURBS will use those points to draw a curve or a line smoothly. But these points are not just regular points, they are special points called control points.

NURBS uses something called b-spline basis function to connect those control points and make a smooth line or curve. A basis function is like a helper that tells the computer how much each control point should contribute to the curve.

But wait, there's more! NURBS also uses something called weights. Think of weights as how much each control point pulls or pushes the curve in a certain direction. Each control point has its own weight which makes the curve smoother and more flexible.

Finally, the "non-uniform" part in NURBS means that the distance between the control points can be different. This allows you to manipulate the curve or line in different ways, and you can create really cool shapes with it!

So, to sum it up, NURBS is a fancy way of using math to smoothly draw curves and lines using control points and weights. Cool, right?