"Standard" lines:

Lines created by the presence or absence of objects:

Lines created by a change in colour:

Lines created by a change in size:

Lines created by a change in orientation or direction:

Lines created by fragmentation:

Linear objects:

Finally, an imaginary line:





Lines can have many properties: length, thickness, colour, direction, waviness, etc. In a field of repeated lines that all share the same properties, a sharp change in one property can imply the existence of another line. For example, here

we have a set of vertical lines that all change colour at the same location, implying the existence of a horizontal line. Here again

we have a set of horizontal lines that all change thickness together, implying a vertical line. Finally, in this instance

we have a set of lines that change direction along a sharp edge, implying a diagonal line.

After studying some of the ways in which lines can be created or implied, I became interested in combining various schemes. Below is a combination of the 3 earlier examples, yielding 4 "levels" of lines in all. At the lowest level, the image is composed only of vertical lines that change colour between blue and cyan. At the highest level is a single diagonal line passing through the lower left and upper right corners of the image.

Copyright ( C ) March 7, 1999, Michael McGuffin
Updated September 19, 2000