VECTOR GRAPHICS WITH CONTROLLED THIN-PLATE SPLINES

This patent relates to thin plate spline (TPS)-based interpolation techniques for representing free-flowing vector graphics (VG) images based on user-specified features, such as points and curves. One or more features can be identified in a pixel grid. A higher-order least squares interpolating function with a TPS smoothness objective can then be utilized to interpolate individual color values to individual pixels of the pixel grid. Smoothness terms of the function that impose smoothness penalties can be interrupted in certain regions of the pixel grid based on attributes of the user-specified features. For example, a curve attribute can specify a particular color value(s), add or remove a smoothness penalty, or anisotropically impose a first derivative constraint in a particular direction.