JPH096309A - Writing brush font generating method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To generate a writing brush font which gives more natural impression close to writing brush characters without increasing the amount of data. CONSTITUTION: A basic writing brush character image inside which is painted out and which has smooth outlines is generated (100). Then, a 'ooze' outline image is generated (102). Moreover, a 'blur' pattern is buried in the inside of the characters (104). Thus, a character image having closer to the image of a writing brush character is obtained by adding the 'ooze' and the 'blur' components of Chinese ink.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to writing brush fonts in word processors and other document processing devices.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, outline fonts capable of high-quality printing have been often installed in word processors and the like. In addition, font types are diversified, and a brush font imitating a brush character is often installed.

Even if the conventional outline font is a font called a writing brush, the shape of the character is represented by a smooth curve, for example, a quadratic Bezier curve, and the inside of the outline is evenly filled. Because
It had a very different impression from the brush letters.
In principle, it is not impossible to represent a complex ink bleeding shape similar to a brush character in an outline font, but in order to realize it, the amount of data to represent one character is enormous. It is not practical.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a practical method for generating a brush font which gives a natural impression close to that of a brush character.

[0005]

In the present invention, the complicated ink mark shape of a brush character is divided into two components, that is, "blurring" of ink and "blurring" of ink. The "blurring" component is mainly related to the contour mark shape, and the "blurring" component is related to the contour and the mark shape inside the character. Then, a basic brush character image, for example, a brush character image having a smooth contour similar to that of a conventional brush outline font and having the inside uniformly filled, is added to the ink "blurring" component or "blurring" component. Is preferably added to both components to generate a brush font.

The "bleeding" component of black is generated by a random or periodic function. More specifically, as this function, for example, a sine wave or a composite wave of sine waves including its harmonics is used, and the amplitude and / or period of the sine wave is set or restricted for each character part. Is determined by a random number.

A plurality of types of "fading" patterns prepared in advance are selectively used as the "fading" component of black ink,
It is embedded inside the character. More specifically, for example, the type of "blurring" pattern to be embedded is associated with each character portion, or is randomly selected within a limited range.

[0008]

According to the present invention, the "blurring" component and / or the "blurring" component added to the basic brush character image simulates a complicated ink mark shape found in an actual brush character.

As a function for generating the "blurring" component, for example, a composite wave of a plurality of sine waves is used, and its cycle and amplitude are determined by a character part or by a random number within a limited range. It is possible to prevent the shape of the "bleeding" from becoming monotonous and to give a natural "bleeding" effect. In addition, by preparing an appropriate "blurring" pattern and selecting and adding it to each part of the character or within a limited range at random, the amount of black ink contained in the brush and the writing speed can be determined. It is possible to add a natural "haze" effect that reflects the difference.

Thus, according to the present invention, it is possible to obtain a brush font having a "bleeding" or "blurred" ink mark shape close to that of a brush character and giving a natural impression.

Further, since the basic brush-writing character image may have the same smooth outline as the conventional brush-writing outline font and the inside thereof is uniformly filled, the amount of data for its generation increases significantly. do not do. If the "blurring" component of black ink is generated by a specific function and the "blurring" pattern prepared in advance as the "blurring" component of black ink is selectively used, the amount of data will increase significantly due to the generation of those components. Nor. As described above, the method of the present invention is practical without enormous data amount.

Further, according to the method of selectively using a "blurring" pattern prepared in advance as a "blurring" component,
The processing time for adding the "blurring" component can be shortened and the font generation processing can be speeded up easily.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a flow chart showing an outline of a brush stroke font generation process according to an embodiment of the present invention. The process flow shown here is as follows.

In the first step 100, a basic brush character image is generated. This brush-writing character image is a character image (called a smooth character image) that has a smooth outline and is filled in the inside, similar to a conventional brush-writing outline font, for example.

In step 102, a "blurring" contour image, which is the "blurring" component of black ink, is generated, and this is combined with the smooth character image generated in step 100.

FIG. 3 shows a basic smooth character image and "
3 shows how the "blurring" contour image is synthesized. In FIG. 3, 300 is the basic smooth character image generated in step 100, and 302 is the "blurring" contour image generated in step 102. Reference numeral 304 denotes a “blurring” additional character image obtained by logically combining both images 300 and 302.

Returning to FIG. In step 104, a large number of "blurring" patterns prepared in advance are selectively added as "blurring" components inside the outline of the "blurring" added character image. FIG. 6 shows how the "blurring" pattern is added. Reference numeral 600 denotes a character image with "blurring" added, in which a "blurred" pattern is embedded as a blank pattern.

In this way, the "bleeding" component and "blurring"
The character image added with the component is displayed or printed in step 106.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a hardware configuration for executing the above-mentioned brush font generation processing.

In FIG. 2, reference numeral 200 is a bit map expansion unit (A) for generating an outline font similar to the conventional one.
It is. The bit map developing unit (A) 200 is given a character code and typeface designation information as the external data 220, and when a writing brush (line or rendition) is designated,
A handwritten character image (line or typeface) corresponding to the character code is bitmap-developed on the image memory (A) 206. Specifically, the contour loop of the character line is drawn, and then the inside of the contour loop is filled. The brush character image generated on the image memory (A) 206 in this manner is a smooth character image (corresponding to 300 in FIG. 3) having a smooth contour and having the inside uniformly filled.

The "blurring" numerical value table creation unit 201 and the bitmap expansion unit (B) 202 are in the process of black ink expansion in the process of bitmap expansion by the bitmap expansion unit (A) 200.
This is a part for generating a "blurring" contour image for expressing a black mark shape due to "blurring".

In the present embodiment, the contour of this "blurring" contour image has three sine waves S1 shown in FIG.
It is given by the composite wave Y (t) of (t), S2 (t), and S3 (t). t corresponds to the moving distance when the contour loop of the smooth character image is traced in one direction from a certain point.
a1, a2, a3 are amplitude coefficients of each sine wave, T1, T2,
T3 is the period of each sine wave.

Since the actual shape of the "blurring" of the brush character changes depending on the part of the character, in order to reflect this change in the "blurring" contour, the amplitude coefficient a1, a2, a3 of each sine wave is used.
And / or the values of the periods T1, T2, T3 are changed for each character part. For example, a1, a2, a3 should be small for a straight line part where the stroke is fast and "blurring" is difficult to spread, and conversely, a1, a2, a2 for a curved part where "blurring" is easy to spread.
Increase a3. Further, in order to prevent the "blurring" contour from becoming monotonous, the values of a1, a2, a3 and / or the values of T1, T2, T3 are determined by random numbers within a limited range for each character part. Also, the shape of "bleeding" changes depending on the paper quality and the amount of black ink contained in the brush,
The values of a1, a2, and a3 are controlled by externally giving "bleeding" control information 221 relating to the paper quality and the amount of black ink.
For example, when a case is used in which the quality of the paper is such that black ink easily bleeds or the amount of black ink is large is specified, the values of a1, a2, and a3 are made large overall to widen the "bleeding".

When the character size exceeds a certain size, in order to prevent the "blurring" shape from becoming monotonous,
It is advantageous to use a composite wave of three sinusoids plus one or more sinusoids with a longer period to generate the "blurring" contour.

In FIG. 2, the bit map developing unit (A) 200 "blurs" the contour information into the contour information of the smooth character image when the contour information is drawn, the numerical value table creating unit 201, the bit map developing unit (B) 202 and the "blurred". It is supplied to the pattern embedding unit 204.

As described above, the "blurring" numerical value table creating section 201, based on the contour information of the smooth character image, has the amplitude coefficient of each sine wave shown in FIG. Or I decided the value of the cycle and memorized it ”
Bleed “numerical value table” “blurred” numerical value table memory 20
Create on 7. As described above, the "bleeding" control information 221 is also taken into consideration when determining the value of the amplitude coefficient of each sine wave.

The bitmap expansion unit (B) 202 is a contents of the "blurring" numerical value table created in the "blurring" numerical value table memory 207, and the bitmap expansion unit (A) 20.
Drawing a "blurring" contour along the contour of a smooth character image on the image memory (B) 208 based on the contour information given from 0, consisting of three (or more) sine wave composite waves. To do. Next, the inside of the “blurring” contour is filled to generate a “blurring” contour image (corresponding to 302 in FIG. 3).

The "blurring" contour image synthesizing unit 203 synthesizes the "blurring" contour image on the image memory (B) 208 and the smoothed character image on the image memory (A) 206 on the image memory (C). To generate. This OR-synthesized image is an image obtained by adding a "blurring" contour image, which is a "blurring" component, along the contour of the basic smooth character image (corresponding to 304 in FIG. 3). This "blurred" additional character image is followed by "gray"
Is added to obtain the final brush image.

The "blurring" pattern memory 211 stores a large number of "blurring" patterns prepared in advance in consideration of the shape of the "blurring" of the brush character. An example of this "blurring" pattern is shown in FIG.

The "blurred" pattern embedding section 204 is
The outline information of the smooth character image is recognized based on the outline information provided by the bit map developing unit (A), and "blurred"
By selectively embedding a large number of "blurring" patterns in the pattern memory 211 inside the "blurring" additional character image, mainly near the contour, a "blurring" shape and
A character image to which a "faint" shape is added is generated on the image memory (D). The hatched portion of each 8x8 dot pattern shown in Fig. 5 is a substantial "fading" pattern and is embedded in the character image. It is the part that becomes white when it is opened.

The difference in the "blurring" of the brush character can be seen depending on the part of the character. In order to give a similar natural “blurred” shape, the “blurred” pattern embedding unit 204 determines the type of the “blurred” pattern to be embedded for each character part.
Randomly select within a limited range.

The final brush character image thus obtained is displayed or printed by the output unit 205.

Conventional cursive writing brush font (1024 × 1
An example of a 024-dot outline font) and an example of a line style brush stroke font according to the present invention using the font as a basic smooth character image are shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, respectively. In addition, the conventional calligraphy writing brush font (1024 ×
An example of an outline font of 1024 dots) and an example of a slave calligraphy brush font according to the present invention using the font as a basic smooth character image are shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, respectively. Each font is printed by a 300 dpi printer.

Each of the fonts shown in FIGS. 7 and 9 has a smooth contour and is uniformly filled in the inside thereof, and thus gives an impression quite different from that of a brush character. On the other hand, the fonts shown in FIGS. 8 and 10 have the "blurring" component
By adding the "blurring" component, the characteristic of the ink mark shape of the brush character is well expressed. By comparing the fonts of FIGS. 7 and 9 with the fonts of FIGS. Obviously, this is a much more natural brush font.

It is possible to add only the "blurring" effect or the "blurring" effect to the smooth character image, but it is more natural to add both effects to the brush font. Can be obtained. Further, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the outline font is used as the basic brush character image, but it is also possible to use the bitmap brush font as the basic character image.

[0037]

According to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained.

According to the method of the first aspect of the present invention, it is possible to generate a brush font having an ink trace shape due to "blurring" of ink similar to a brush character and giving a more natural impression without increasing the amount of data.

According to the method of the second aspect of the present invention, it is possible to generate a writing brush font having a black ink trace shape similar to a writing brush character due to black "blurring" and giving a more natural impression without increasing the amount of data.

According to the method of the third aspect of the present invention, "blurring" similar to a brush character is made without increasing the amount of data.
It is possible to generate a brush font that has an ink trace shape due to "blurring" and gives an extremely natural impression.

According to the method of the fourth aspect of the present invention, for example, a composite wave of a plurality of sinusoidal waves is used as a function for generating the "bleeding" component, and its cycle or amplitude is set to a certain character part or a constant part. By determining by a random number within the range, it is possible to give the font a natural "bleeding" effect similar to a brush character.

According to the fifth aspect of the invention, since the "blurring" pattern prepared in advance is used as the "blurring" component, the processing time for adding the "blurring" component can be shortened and the font generation processing can be speeded up easily. Become. Also, prepare an appropriate "blurring" pattern, and for example, for each part of the character,
Alternatively, by randomly selecting and using it within a limited range, it is possible to give a natural "blurring" effect to the font.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing an outline of a brush stroke font generation process according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a hardware configuration for executing the processing shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing how a “blurring” contour image is combined with a basic smooth character image.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing three sine waves and their composite wave for generating a “blurring” contour.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a “blurring” pattern.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing how a “blurred” pattern is embedded.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a print example of a cursive writing brush font to which neither a “blurring” component nor a “blurring” component is added.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a printing example of a line typeface brush font to which a “blurring” component and a “blurring” component are added, which is generated according to the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a printing example of an example typeface brush font in which neither a “blurring” component nor a “blurring” component is added.

FIG. 10 shows a “blurring” component and a “blurring” component generated according to the present invention.
It is a figure which shows the example of printing of the example typeface brush font to which the "blurring" component was added.

[Explanation of symbols]

200 Bitmap development unit (A) 201 for smooth character image development 201 “Bleed” numeric table creation unit 202 “Bleed” bitmap development unit for contour image development (B) 203 “Bleed” contour image synthesis unit 204 “Blur” Pattern embedding unit 205 Output unit 206 Smooth character image image (A) 207 "Bleed" numerical table memory 208 "Bleed" contour image image memory (B) 209 "Bleeding" additional character image image memory (C) 210 "Bleed" Image memory (D) 211 for "" blurring "additional character image 300" blurring "pattern memory 300 Smooth character image 302" Bleed "contour image 304" Blur "additional character image

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Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A basic brush character image is generated,
A brush font generation method characterized by generating a brush font by adding a black ink bleeding component to it. 2. A basic brush character image is generated,
A brushstroke font generation method characterized in that a brushstroke font is generated by adding a black ink fading component to it. 3. A basic brush character image is generated,
A brush stroke font generation method characterized in that a brush stroke font is generated by adding a black ink blur component and a black ink blur component to it. 4. The brush font generation method according to claim 1, wherein the ink blur component is generated by a random or periodic function. 5. The brush font generation method according to claim 2, wherein a plurality of types of blur patterns prepared in advance are selectively used as a blur component of black ink.