Method and apparatus for automatic gap closing in computer aided drawing
AssigneeDigital Equipment Corporation
InventorsMichel Gangnet, Jean-Manuel Van Thong
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Method and apparatus for automatically closing gaps prior to painting a cel in a vector-based computer-aided drawing system. A drawing is processed, as it is entered by a user, to generate a stored planar map containing geometric and topological characteristics of the drawing. The planar map is searched to identify gaps and updated to store synthesized gap-closing vectors for those gaps smaller than a selectable size. The gaps are closed before the painting of the cel, or coloring of the drawing, so as to prevent unintended spill-over of the color into adjacent regions.
Claims2
A method of editing a computer generated drawing to close unintended gaps, said drawing being stored in a storage device as a plurality of digital data elements, said method comprising the steps of:
- storing input drawing strokes as a series of elements in said storage device;
- selecting from said storage device a stored element whose characteristics indicate a gap between said stored element and other stored elements, if any;
- processing, in response to finding said gap, only those stored elements corresponding to input strokes within a selectable region of said gap in order to synthesize at least one connecting element for closing said gap, and;
- updating said storage device by inserting said at least one connecting element in said storage device.
An apparatus to edit a computer generated drawing to close an unintended gap in the drawing, comprising:
- a storage device;
- means for storing said drawing in said storage device as a plurality of digital data elements;
- means for storing input drawing strokes as a series of elements in said storage device;
- means for selecting from said storage device a stored element whose characteristics indicate a gap between said stored element and other stored elements, if any;
- means for processing, in response to finding said gap, only those stored elements corresponding to input strokes within a selectable region of said gap in order to synthesize at least one connecting element for closing said gap, and;
- means for updating said storage device by inserting said at least one connecting element in said storage device.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.