Abstract: A method for designating an object image to be extracted is simplified. Positions of contour designation points are designated by employing an operation input apparatus so that a contour region of an initial region containing a desirable subjective object image is designated. A central processing circuit firstly subdivides the basic image into a plurality of division regions which are like in color, in units of pixel groups. Subsequently, the central processing circuit calculates distances between pixels within the division region and pixels within the contour region, and also calculates positions of pixels with respect to the initial region, and then determines factor values for the respective pixels on the basis of distance values indicative of the distance and the position.

Abstract: A character generating device which is capable of creating a clear thickened or thinned (wider or narrower) character by eliminating an improper portion of an outline of a character. According to a character code input from an input portion, a CPU obtains outline font data for one character from a font data storage and transfers the data into a RAM. On the basis of the character code input from the input portion, the CPU searches a head address of a memory storing data for a required character and transfers the data from the address into the RAM. A character thickness processing portion performs character thickening or thinning operations on each point sequence composing each outline of the outline-font character and a point-sequence transferring portion determines, by use of functions or a table, a correct destination and transfers thereto the improper point-sequence on the thick or thin processed outline of the outline-font character.

Abstract: A method and device for generating a character line of uniform width throughout character size conversion includes predetermining an offset value corresponding to a target line width; adjusting a line width of each character part to the target value without consideration of respective line widths; obtaining coordinate data by reading coordinates of a dot sequence of each character part; reading an offset value corresponding to a character size after coordinate transformation on the basis of the read-out coordinate data. A reference point for a character part from the coordinate data is selected and coordinates of the dot sequence of the character part are transformed to a specified size. A character part font is generated using the transformed dot sequence and superimposing a character part font onto another character part for plotting a character.