Automatically Filling A Geometric Shape With Graphical Cells Aligned With The Geometric Shape

In a content creation digital medium environment, a computing device comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• computer-readable storage media having stored thereon multiple instructions of an application that, responsive to execution by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations including:
• identifying a geometric shape in digital content;
• receiving a graphical cell with which to fill the geometric shape in accordance with a pattern;
• determining a medial axis of the geometric shape, the medial axis including a set of points in the geometric shape that have more than one closest point on a boundary of the geometric shape;
• determining salient boundary segments of the geometric shape that are aligned with the medial axis;
• for each of multiple locations of the geometric shape where the graphical cell is to be placed in accordance with the pattern:
• determining an orientation for the graphical cell at the location that aligns the graphical cell with the salient boundary segments of the geometric shape;
• and
• displaying, at the location, the graphical cell with the determined orientation.

A system comprising:

• a user input module, implemented at least in part in hardware, to receive an indication of a geometric shape in digital content, a pattern, and a graphical cell with which to fill the geometric shape in accordance with the pattern;
• a medial axis generation module, implemented at least in part in hardware, to determine a medial axis of the geometric shape, the medial axis including a set of points in the geometric shape that have more than one closest point on a boundary of the geometric shape;
• means for determining, for each of multiple locations of the geometric shape where the graphical cell is to be placed based on the pattern, an orientation for the graphical cell that aligns the graphical cell with the medial axis;
• and
• a display module, implemented at least in part in hardware, to display the graphical cell with the determined orientation.