Scaling vector objects having arbitrarily complex shapes

Abstract

Scaling arbitrarily complex graphical objects is described by superimposing a grid of four guide lines on a graphical object defined by one or more vectors. The guide lines define nine grid sections. The graphical application development environment (GADE) divides any vectors crossing multiple grid sections into separate section vectors, such that each section contains whole vectors. The application and resulting vector information in each grid section is compiled into an executable file. When executed in a compatible run-time container, the container virtually renders a transformed representation of the graphical object in memory. Using information gathered from analyzing the outline of the transformed representation, the run-time container generates code blocks for transforming each of the vectors within the grid sections an appropriate amount that conforms to the outline information. The resulting transformed vectors are displayed in the running application.