chinese-calligraphy-vectorization's Introduction

Chinese Caligraphy Vectorization (CCV) Project

Goal

Transfer famous Chinese caligraphy works to vector graphics, and establish a library
Develop interesting applications based on the library

Method of vectorization

The method I employ is generally as follows:

find a high-resolution bitmap of the caligraphy work
crop the bitmap into small bitmaps each contains a character
vectorize each character bitmap by the aid of vector graph editor (I use Inkscape)
export to svg file

It should be noted that the vectorization process has no rigid or unique rule to follow. It is a physical yet artistic job, and no "best" result exists. The ambiguous edges should be decide objectively.

Specific (important) setups for Inkscape: (in Edit -> Perreferences -> SVG output)

set "Path string format" to "Absolute"
check "Force repeat commands"

What is done

From 2008 to 2009, I vectorized many characters in "兰亭集序" (not finished). This work will be continued in 2016.

Applications

Calligraphy copybook. I write a app to re-typeset the characters to produce a copybook of the caligraphy.

demos:

import ccv
ccv.produce_copybook(character_dir   = os.path.join(os.getcwd(), 'calligraphy', 'lantingxu', 'svg'),
                     title           = 'lantingxu',
                     rows            = 8,
                     direction       = 'v',
                     character_ratio = 0.75,
                     grid            = 'on',
                     canvas_width    = 1300)

will produce:

import ccv
ccv.produce_copybook(character_dir   = os.path.join(os.getcwd(), 'calligraphy', 'lantingxu', 'svg'),
                     title           = 'lantingxu',
                     rows            = 8,
                     direction       = 'v',
                     character_ratio = 0.75,
                     grid            = 'off',
                     canvas_width    = 1300)