In this chapter, an automatic and efficient algorithm for outline capture of character images, stored as bitmaps, is presented. This method is well suited for characters of non-Roman languages such as Arabic, Japanese, Urdu, Persian, and so on. Contemporary word processing systems store shapes of characters in terms of their outlines, and outlines are expressed as cubic Bézier curves. The process of capturing outlines includes various steps including detection of the boundary, finding corner points and break points, and fitting the curve. The chapter discusses automating the above process to provide optimal results. As an alternate smoother scheme, the Hermite cubic spline curve scheme has also been introduced.
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(2008). Digital Outline Capture with Cubic Curves. In: Interactive Curve Modeling. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-84628-871-5_13
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