Patent ID: 7262782

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for converting a computer graphics illustration from an input format to an output format that differs from the input format, the computer graphics illustration including a plurality of overlapping artwork elements, each of the artwork elements having an appearance defined by a set of appearance attributes, the method comprising: classifying the overlapping artwork elements of the computer graphics illustration as being transparent artwork elements or non-transparent artwork elements, the transparent artwork elements including any artwork element having an appearance that can depend at least in part on an appearance of an artwork element that is overlapped by the transparent artwork element; classifying the transparent artwork elements as being compatible or incompatible with the output format, the compatible transparent artwork elements being transparent artwork elements having no appearance attribute that is incompatible with the output format and the incompatible transparent artwork elements being transparent artwork elements having one or more appearance attributes that are incompatible with the output format, the computer graphics illustration including at least one compatible transparent artwork element and at least one incompatible transparent artwork element; and transforming the incompatible transparent artwork elements and any of the artwork elements that are at least partially overlapped by any of the incompatible transparent artwork elements into transformed artwork elements, without transforming any compatible transparent artwork element that is not overlapped by an incompatible transparent artwork element, the transformed artwork elements being compatible with the output format.