Patent ID: 7602403

Claim:
A method for preparing one or more vector data objects for rendering, the method comprising: receiving a first object and a second object that are vector data objects; defining a first clipping state for the first object and a second clipping state for the second object, wherein the first clipping state represents, for a first stage of rendering, an image associated with the first object, wherein the second clipping state represents, for a second stage of rendering, an image associated with the second object, and wherein defining the first and second clipping states comprises: defining the first clipping state that represents an image of an exterior effect associated with the first object, where the first clipping state does not have a clipping path; and defining second clipping state that represents a composited image of the first object and the second object within an intersection of the first object and the second object; for each clipping state, determining whether the clipping state has a clipping path, and when the clipping state has a clipping path, generating clipping instructions indicating the clipping path for the clipping state, and when the clipping state does not have a clipping path, generating clipping instructions indicating that the clipping state does not have a clipping path; for each clipping state, generating rendering instructions for rendering the image represented by the clipping state; associating the generated clipping and rendering instructions to the corresponding clipping states; and wherein the defining is performed by one or more processors.