Abstract: Character images are recreated and displayed on an incrementing plotter, such as a cathode ray tube (92), with a smoothly continuous outline and not as a discontinuous assembly of stripes or dots. A master curve, e.g. a spiral, is stored electronically in a memory (16) as a sequence of vector step instructions. The sequential outline is achieved by selecting appropriate curve sections from the memory to match the desired outline and re-orientating these curve sections so that successive sections join perfectly. The image can be displayed as designed, or one can add, subtract or modify elements of the character instantaneously. The system is especially suited for typesetting. For this, the system provides for infiling of the outline; for smoothing the curve; for thickening vertical and/or horizontal elements of a character; for vertically compressing zones of a character; and for tracing a secondary outline just inside the main outline.