JPH05313638A - Character boldfacing system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent a character from becoming disordered by filling a gap between thick line ends, which is generated at a connection part between paths constituting the outline of characters with appropriate shapes such as rectangle a triangle. CONSTITUTION:An outline drawn on the basis of outline data is converted to requested size and inclination. Namely, the outline is enlarged, reduced, deformed, or slanted by a certain angle so as to obtain a character as requested. Then, the 1st path among the paths constituting the outline is plotted thickly. Then, the connection part between the path which is plotted thickly last and the path which is plotted thickly this time, is processed. Namely, the process for filling the gap between the thick line ends is performed. In this case, there are a method 5 for filling the gap into a rectangular shape, a method 6 for filling the gap in the triangular shape, a method 7 for filling the gap into a sectorial shape, etc. Consequently, no thick line gap is left at the connection part.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a character thickening system for thickening a character so as to fill a gap formed at a connecting portion between paths forming a character outline.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art One of methods for forming a character from outline data is a method for forming a character in which an outline is thickened by taking a certain width on both sides of the outline data and filling the width. ..

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining the meaning of thickening characters. FIG. 5A shows a state before the bold line is formed, and FIG.
(B) shows the state after the bold line. Path L is
Part of the outline data, which is one of several paths that make up the outline of the character. A desired thick line width W is set on both sides of this. Bold lines F ₁ , F ₂
Is a line drawn at the position separated by the thickening width W by the same length as the path L. The thickening is performed by filling between the thickening line F ₁ and the thickening line F ₂ .
The shaded area in FIG. 5B indicates that the area is filled.
The thick line end E is the end of the path L in the longitudinal direction when it is thickened.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an embodiment of a conventional character thickening method. This is an example in which an outline similar to the symbol “□” is thickened. FIG. 6A shows an outline, and FIG. 6B shows
It shows the situation after making it bold.

The outline of FIG. 6 (a) has four contour points A to D and is composed of four paths 1 to 4. When the thickening processing as shown in FIG. 5 is applied to these four paths, the result is as shown in FIG. The shaded area is the area filled with thick lines.

As a result, a gap is formed between the thick line ends of the paths at the connecting portions between the paths. Because the outline is bent at the contour point that is the connection part of the path, half of the thick line end is in the thickened area of the other party (hatched part)
This is because the other half goes away from the thick area of the opponent. Taking the connecting portion between the path 1 and the path 4 as an example, a portion of the thick line end E ₁ of the path 1 on the right side of the contour point A enters the thick line region of the path 4. However, the portion on the left side of the contour point A is separated from the thick-lined area of the path 4. Even if you pay attention to the thick line end E ₄ of pass 4,
The same can be said. Therefore, thick line end E ₁ and thick line end E
_A thick line end gap S ₁ is formed between the two and ₄ .

In FIG. 6B, E ₂ is the path 2
Thick line end, E ₃ is the thick line end of pass 3, E ₄ is the thick line end of pass 4, S ₂ is the gap between the thick line ends between E ₁ and E ₂ , S ₃ is between the thick line ends E ₂ and E _3. Of the thick line ends, and S ₄ represents a gap between the thick line ends of the thick line ends E ₃ and E ₄ .

[0008]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional character thickening method, when the thickening width W is increased, the gap between the thick line ends generated at the connecting portion of the path becomes conspicuous and the characters become unsightly. There was a problem.
An object of the present invention is to solve such a problem.

[0009]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, in the character thickening method of the present invention, when the path forming the outline of the character is thickened, the gap between the thick line ends generated in the path connecting portion is filled. , Decided to be part of the character.

[0010]

[Operation] When thickening the outline of a character consisting of multiple paths, fill the gaps between the ends of the thick lines that occur at the connection between the paths with an appropriate shape such as a quadrangle, triangle, or fan. Thereby, it becomes possible to prevent the bolded characters from being unsightly.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a connecting process for filling a gap between thick line ends with a quadrangle. The reference numerals correspond to those in FIG. _{1F 1, 1F 2, 4F 1} , 4F 2 is thickening line, P is the end point of the thickened line 1F ₁ facing the thick line between end gap S _1, Q faces between thick line end gap S ₁ This is the end point of the thick line 4F ₁ .

In this example, the gap S ₁ between the thick line ends is filled with a quadrangle. The quadrangle is a quadrangle formed by the contour point A, the end points P and Q, and the intersection R of the extension lines of the thick line 1F ₁ and the thick line 4F ₁ . To do so, it is necessary to specify the position of this quadrangle. Four
In order to specify the polygon, the coordinates of the vertices of the rectangle may be obtained.

The coordinates of the contour point A are given. The coordinates of the end point P can be obtained by shifting the coordinates of the contour point A in the direction perpendicular to the path 1 by the thickening width W. Similarly, the coordinates of the end point Q can be obtained by shifting the coordinates of the contour point A by a thickening width W in the direction perpendicular to the path 4. Intersection R is path 1
Can be obtained as the intersection of the thickening line 1F ₁ shifted by the thickening width W and the thickening line 4F ₁ shifting the path 4 by the thickening width W.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of thickening of characters using the character thickening method of the present invention. 5 is a connection part. In this example, the connecting portion is processed by filling the gap between the thick line ends with the quadrangle described in FIG. With this configuration, a gap between the thick line ends is not formed in the connection portion, and even if the thickening width is increased, it does not become unsightly.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing various methods for filling the gap between the ends of the thick line, and 5 to 7 are connection portions. Figure 2 (a)
Shows the method of filling with the quadrangle already explained. FIG. 2B shows a method of filling with triangles. Figure 2
(C) shows a method of filling with a fan shape. Of course, it is also possible to fill it by other methods, and it can be appropriately adopted as needed.

FIG. 1 is a flow chart for explaining the character thickening method of the present invention. Step 1 ... First, how to fill the gap between the ends of the thick line and the connection method are specified. For example, the connection is specified as a quadrangle (see FIG. 2A). Step 2: The outline drawn based on the outline data is converted to have the required size and inclination (this is called "affine transformation"). That is, the characters are enlarged, reduced, deformed, or tilted by a certain angle so that the desired characters can be obtained.

Step 3: The thick line as shown in FIG. 5 is drawn on the first path of the paths forming the outline. Step 4 ... Let N be a parameter indicating the number of passes for which bold line drawing has been completed. Step 5 ... It is judged whether or not the value of N has reached the total number of passes forming the outline of the character to be thickened. When it reaches, it means that there are no more paths for thick line drawing, so the process proceeds to step 9.

Step 6 ... N = N + 1 in order to select the next path as a path for drawing a thick line. Step 7 ... Processes the connection between the path previously drawn by the bold line and the path drawn by the thick line this time. That is, here, the process of filling the gap between the thick line ends is performed. Step 8: The thick line drawing is executed for the Nth path selected as the target of the thick line drawing this time. If you finish this,
Returning to step 5, it is judged whether the processing for all the paths is completed. Step 9 ... Perform connection processing between the final path and the first path. With this, all the gaps between the ends of the thick lines are filled.

[0019]

As described above, according to the character thickening method of the present invention, the gap between the thick line ends, which is generated at the connecting portion between the paths forming the character outline, is set to be a triangle or a quadrangle. Since it is filled with an appropriate shape, it is possible to prevent the characters from being unsightly.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart illustrating a character thickening method according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing various methods for filling a gap between thick line ends.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of thickening to which a character thickening method of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a connection process for filling a gap between thick line ends with a quadrangle.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating the meaning of thickening characters.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an embodiment of a conventional character thickening method.

[Explanation of symbols]

1-4 ... path, 5-7 ... connecting portion, P ... path, E ... thick line end, F _1, F ₂ ... thickening line, W ... thickening width, S ₁ ~
S ₄ … Gap between thick line ends

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A character thickening method, characterized in that when a path forming a contour of a character is thickened, a gap between thick line ends generated in a path connecting portion is filled to form a part of the character.