Patent ID: 8134572

Claim:
A method, comprising: creating a drawing to define at least a first path and a second path, wherein the first path and the second path overlap, and wherein the first path has a first path attribute, and the second path has a second path attribute; determining a first overlapping region wherein the first path and the second path overlap; deriving, by a processor, an apparent stacking order for the first overlapping region, wherein the apparent stacking order is determined at least in part by: determining, by the processor, if (1) the first overlapping region and every region in the first path is also in the second path and (2) for every boundary separating the first overlapping region inside the first path from an adjacent region outside the first path, the first overlapping region and the adjacent region on the two sides of the boundary have the first path attribute and the second path attribute, respectively, designating said first path as above the second path in apparent stacking order; and else determining, by the processor, if (1) the first overlapping region and all regions inside both the first path and the second path that are not also inside another path that is above the first path and that border on the first path have the first path attribute and (2) at least a second path region in the second path is outside the first path, borders the first path, and has the second path attribute, designating the first path as above the second path in apparent stacking order; editing the drawing by modifying at least one of the first path and the second path, and at least the first overlapping region is modified and a second overlapping region is created; assigning the path attribute to at least one of the first overlapping region and the second overlapping region based on the derived apparent stacking order of the first path and the second path; and displaying the edited drawing of the first path and the second path on a display.