CONTINUOUS DRAWING METHOD

Abstract

A method of continuously drawing a series of alpha-numerical characters, an image, or a design or scene on a surface with a drawing instrument in which no line intersects any other line and no portion of characters is retraced. Images and designs can also be incorporated with continuous alpha-numerical characters. Also disclosed is a method of drawing an image on a surface that simulates a three-dimensional object or scene. Products can be created using any of the above-described techniques. Such products can include, but not be limited to greeting cards, postcards, apparel, coffee mugs, toys, games, puzzles, and the like. The surface on which the image is drawn can be made of material suitable for three-dimensional reliefs, so that visually impaired individuals can appreciate the work.

Claims

1. A method of continuously drawing a series of alpha-numerical characters on a surface with a drawing instrument in which no line intersects any other line, no portion of characters is retraced, and the drawing instrument can begin at any portion of the series of characters and end at any portion of the series of characters, the steps comprising: a) drawing an outline of each character on a surface; and b) connecting each character to the next character in a series of characters with a line extending from the closest point of one character to the closest point of another character.

2. The method of continuously drawing a series of alpha-numerical characters in accordance with claim 1, the steps further comprising: c) drawing a reference line proximate the series of characters; and d) connecting each character to the reference line.

3. The method of continuously drawing a series of alpha-numerical characters in accordance with claim 2, wherein the reference line is drawn at a location chosen from a set of locations consisting of: below, adjacent, proximate, and above the series of characters.

4. The method of continuously drawing a series of alpha-numerical characters in accordance with claim 1, the steps further comprising: c) creating an island in at least one character comprising an outer line of the island that converts to an inner line of the island.

5. A method of continuously drawing an image, design, or scene in which no line intersects any other line and no portion of the image is retraced, the steps comprising: a) drawing an outline of a first portion of an image; and b) drawing an outline of a second portion of an image and connecting the second portion to the first portion of the image.

6. The method of continuously drawing an image, design, or scene in accordance with claim 5, wherein foreground and background objects are placed in the image and sections of background objects are removed so foreground objects are superimposed thereover.

7. The method of continuously drawing an image, design, or scene in accordance with claim 6, wherein details are provided for illuminated areas of the image and fewer details are provided for shadowed areas of the image.

8. The method of continuously drawing an image, design, or scene in accordance with claim 6, wherein details are provided for foreground objects in the image and fewer details are provided for background objects in the image.

9. The method of continuously drawing an image, design, or scene in accordance with claim 5, wherein portions of the image are terminated by truncation proximate an interrupting feature using a technique chosen from a set of geometries consisting of: rectilinear, curved, and pointed terminations.

10. The method of continuously drawing an image, design, or scene in accordance with claim 5, further comprising a series of alpha-numerical characters.

11. A method of drawing an image, a design, or a scene on a surface that simulates a three-dimensional object or scene in which no line intersects any other line and no portion of the image is retraced, the steps comprising: a) drawing a complete image with foreground and background objects; b) drawing foreground objects with colored lines having first predetermined wavelengths; and c) drawing background objects with colored lines having second predetermined wavelengths shorter than the first predetermined wavelengths; whereby the image is perceived as a three-dimensional image when an observer views the image through ChromaDepth material.

12. The method of drawing an image, a design, or a scene that simulates a three-dimensional object or scene in accordance with claim 11, the steps further comprising: d) drawing a black line between objects having different colors to eliminate color interference.

13. The method of drawing an image that simulates a three-dimensional object or scene in accordance with claim 11, the steps further comprising: d) shading predetermined objects with different colors.

14. The method of drawing an image that simulates a three-dimensional object or scene in accordance with claim 13, wherein details are provided for illuminated areas of the image and fewer details are provided for shadowed areas of the image.

15. The method of drawing an image that simulates a three-dimensional object or scene in accordance with claim 13, wherein details are provided for foreground objects in the image and fewer details are provided for background objects in the image.

16. The method drawing an image that simulates a three-dimensional object or scene in accordance with claim 11, further comprising a series of alpha-numerical characters.

17. The method drawing an image that simulates a three-dimensional object or scene in accordance with claim 11, wherein a material used to draw the image comprises paint.

18. A printed product produced by a method of continuously drawing an image on a surface in which no line intersects any other line and no portion of the image is retraced, the steps comprising: a) drawing a complete image with foreground and background objects on a surface; b) drawing foreground objects in the image; and c) drawing background objects in the image.

19. The printed product in accordance with claim 18, wherein the printed product is chosen from a set of products consisting of: greeting cards, postcards, books, bookmarks, toys, games, apparel, playing cards, and puzzles.

20. The printed product in accordance with claim 18, wherein the surface comprises material suitable for three-dimensional reliefs to aid visually impaired individuals to appreciate the product.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0024] A complete understanding of the present invention may be obtained by reference to the accompanying drawings, when considered in conjunction with the subsequent detailed description, in which:

[0025] FIG. 1 is a front view of an image of alpha-numeric characters drawn in accordance with the method of the invention;

[0026] FIG. 2 is a front view of a graphical design of roses in a flower vase;

[0027] FIG. 3 is another front view of a graphical design, this being of Union Station in Denver, Colo.;

[0028] FIG. 4 is a front and inside view of a greeting card having a graphical design drawn in accordance with the method of the invention;

[0029] FIG. 5 is a graphical design of the El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park which can be viewed as a three-dimensional scene; and

[0030] FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a beverage holder on which an image or scene is printed in three-dimensional relief to aid visually disabled persons to perceive the image.

[0031] Like reference numerals refer to like parts throughout the several views of the drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

[0032] Although the following detailed description contains specific details for the purposes of illustration, those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that variations and alterations to the following details are within the scope of the invention. Accordingly, the exemplary embodiments of the invention described below are set forth without any loss of generality to, and without imposing limitations upon, the claimed invention.

[0033] A method is provided of a method of continuously drawing a series of alpha-numerical characters, an image, or a design or scene on a surface with a drawing instrument in which no line intersects any other line and no portion of characters is retraced. Images and designs can also be incorporated with continuous alpha-numerical characters. Also disclosed is a method of drawing an image on a surface that simulates a three-dimensional object or scene. Products can be created using any of the above-described techniques. Such products can include, but not be limited to greeting cards, postcards, apparel, coffee mugs, toys, games, puzzles, and the like. The surface on which the image is drawn can be made of material suitable for three-dimensional reliefs, so that visually impaired individuals can appreciate the work.

[0034] Referring now to FIG. 1, there is shown a front view of an image of outlined alpha-numeric characters, generally at reference numeral 10, drawn in accordance with the method of the invention. Outlined characters are required with the inventive technique, as the drawing implement (not shown) does not retrace lines. The image is drawn, starting at the point labeled START 12 and ends at the point labeled END 14. When the characters or design images end and start at the same point, those characters or designs can be drawn from any location thereon.

[0035] A single reference line 16 appears below the upper line of text and also below the lower line of text. This technique allows all of the characters to be connected to one another via reference line 16. All characters are connected to reference line 16.

[0036] Certain characters, such as the lower case letters a 18, e 20, and o 22, contain islands or isolated portions, 18, 20, and 22, respectively. To draw these islands without raising the drawing implement from the drawing surface, the outer line of the island becomes the inner portion thereof, as shown. This technique is also used for other characters (e.g., the lower case letters g, k, and p) and design features having islands.

[0037] Referring now to FIG. 2 a front view of a graphical design of roses in a flower vase 30 are shown. No outline characters appear in this figure. In order for the drawing implement to reverse direction at certain positions, a converging or truncating feature is used, such as shown at reference numerals 32 and 34. Truncating feature 32, 34 can be a point, a rectilinear shape, or a curve, depending on the design. The inventive technique also allows for superimposition of elements and shapes in designs by removing background sections therefrom. Thus, a stem 36 extends downwardly in FIG. 2, superimposed with leaves 38.

[0038] Referring now to FIG. 3, a front view of a graphical design of Union Station in Denver, Colo. 40 is shown. Outline characters 42 appear in this figure. Both islands 42 and truncation features 44 are shown in this FIG. 3. Illuminated features 43 of building 40 have fewer detail than features in the shadow 45 of building 40.

[0039] Referring now to FIG. 4, a front and inside view of a greeting card 50 having a graphical design of a building and garden 52 are shown. Greeting card 50 has outline characters 54 printed at the uppermost position thereof. Features at the foreground plants and flowers 56 of design 52 have more detail than features at the background building 58 of design 52. The inside 59 of greeting card 50 can be blank or have words, images, or combinations thereof printed thereon.

[0040] Referring now to FIG. 5, a graphical design of El Capitan Mountain 60 in Yosemite National Park, which can be viewed as a three-dimensional scene, is shown. FIG. 5 can be colored with the foreground vegetation 62 in red hues and the background rock formation 64 in blue hues. When observed with special glasses, the effect is three dimensional, the foreground features 62 appearing to be closer to the observer than the background features 64.

[0041] ChromaDepth eyeglasses are manufactured by Paper Optics, Inc. of Bartlett, Tenn. The glasses do not require two images. Information is encoded from a single image through the use of binary optics and color. The 3D ChromaDepth glasses create 3D images from normal 2D images by pulling forward the color red to the foreground and sorting the remaining colors according to their position in the rainbow.

[0042] Certain types of accessible art can be produced with the aforementioned continuous drawing technique. Referring now to FIG. 6, there is shown a perspective view of a beverage holder 70 on which an image or scene 72 is printed in three-dimensional relief to aid visually disabled persons to perceive the image. This is an example of a three-dimensional tactile medium, such as vinyl, glass, paper, metal, etc. used as the surface of a drawing. That is, any of the images described hereinabove can appear on material suitable for three-dimensional reliefs, including but not limited to postcards, greeting cards, toys, games, t-shirts, playing cards, or puzzles.

[0043] All references throughout this application, for example patent documents including issued or granted patents or equivalents; patent application publications; and non-patent literature documents or other source material; are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entireties, as though individually incorporated by reference, to the extent each reference is at least partially not inconsistent with the disclosure in this application (for example, a reference that is partially inconsistent is incorporated by reference except for the partially inconsistent portion of the reference).

[0044] The terms and expressions which have been employed herein are used as terms of description and not of limitation, and there is no intention in the use of such terms and expressions of excluding any equivalents of the features shown and described or portions thereof, but it is recognized that various modifications are possible within the scope of the invention claimed. Thus, it should be understood that although the present invention has been specifically disclosed by preferred embodiments, exemplary embodiments and optional features, modification and variation of the concepts herein disclosed may be resorted to by those skilled in the art, and that such modifications and variations are considered to be within the scope of this invention as defined by the appended claims. The specific embodiments provided herein are examples of useful embodiments of the present invention and it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that the present invention may be carried out using a great number of variations of the devices, device components, and method steps set forth in the present description. As will be obvious to one of skill in the art, methods and devices useful for the present methods can include a great number of optional composition and processing elements and steps. The techniques described hereinabove can easily be applied to computer software, for example, to automate them, as is well known to those skilled in the computer arts.

[0045] Whenever a range is given in the specification, for example, a temperature range, a time range, or a composition or concentration range, all intermediate ranges and subranges, as well as all individual values included in the ranges given are intended to be included in the disclosure. It will be understood that any subranges or individual values in a range or subrange that are included in the description herein can be excluded from the claims herein.

[0046] All patents and publications mentioned in the specification are indicative of the levels of skill of those skilled in the art to which the invention pertains. References cited herein are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety to indicate the state of the art as of their publication or filing date and it is intended that this information can be employed herein, if needed, to exclude specific embodiments that are in the prior art.

[0047] As used herein, comprising is synonymous with including, containing, or characterized by, and is inclusive or open-ended and does not exclude additional, unrecited elements or method steps. As used herein, consisting of excludes any element, step, or ingredient not specified in the claim element. As used herein, consisting essentially of does not exclude materials or steps that do not materially affect the basic and novel characteristics of the claim. In each instance herein any of the terms comprising, consisting essentially of, and consisting of may be replaced with either of the other two terms. The invention illustratively described herein suitably may be practiced in the absence of any element or elements, limitation or limitations which is not specifically disclosed herein.

[0048] One of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that starting materials, biological materials, reagents, synthetic methods, purification methods, analytical methods, assay methods, and biological methods other than those specifically exemplified can be employed in the practice of the invention without resort to undue experimentation. All art-known functional equivalents, of any such materials and methods are intended to be included in this invention. The terms and expressions which have been employed are used as terms of description and not of limitation, and there is no intention that in the use of such terms and expressions of excluding any equivalents of the features shown and described or portions thereof, but it is recognized that various modifications are possible within the scope of the invention claimed. Thus, it should be understood that although the present invention has been specifically disclosed by preferred embodiments and optional features, modification and variation of the concepts herein disclosed may be resorted to by those skilled in the art, and that such modifications and variations are considered to be within the scope of this invention as defined by the appended claims.

[0049] Since other modifications and changes varied to fit particular operating requirements and environments will be apparent to those skilled in the art, the invention is not considered limited to the example chosen for purposes of disclosure and covers all changes and modifications which do not constitute departures from the true spirit and scope of this invention.

[0050] Having thus described the invention, what is desired to be protected by Letters Patent is presented in the subsequently appended claims.