I Concur, autocad, the spline function is excellent and you could still place a start point off the boat to start the curve off if the required shape in not forthcoming.
As for curves, a colleague used to use earthing wire (sheathed in yellow and green stripes) as a way of drawing curves on graphs, we had a bench vice that he used to straighten a piece of the wire in by clamping one end and using a set of pliers with wire gripped and rolled at the end, then pulled straight, then he cut the ends off and then bent the wire to suit the shape, it would do for several curves until it kinked and then he would re straighten again, until it got to short to reuse, he then replaced with a piece long enough, cheap and inexpensive (he used company wire so no expense to him), eventually tracing the shape with a pencil.