CODEWITHSUNDEEP
rrandom
Icyeval
Icyeval

Reputation: 113

Generate Random Data in the Form of a Letter

I couldn't found anything on this task while Googling, but I can't imagine no one has thought of doing this. Is there a way to generate random 2d data in the form of a letter of choice? So basically a function letter_random_data(letter) that would output x and y coordinates (within some boundaries) that together with some noise form the chosen letter.

Upvotes: 0

Views: 161

Answers (1)

user2554330
user2554330

Reputation: 44887

Here's one way to do it: Draw an image containing the letter (or text, more generally). Read the image into an array, and use it to accept or reject points drawn randomly in the box holding the image.

For example,

library(png)

getTextImage <- function(text) {
  filename <- tempfile()
  png(filename = filename)
  plot.new()
  cex <- 1
  repeat {
    if (strwidth(text, cex = 2*cex) > 1) break
    if (strheight(text, cex = 2*cex) > 1) break 
    cex <- 2*cex
  }
  text(0.5, 0.5, text, cex = cex)
  dev.off()
  image <- readPNG(filename)
  unlink(filename)    # clean up file
  if (length(dim(image)) == 3)
    image <- image[,,1] # just keep one channel
  image
}

randomText <- function(n, text) {
  image <- getTextImage(text)
  nx <- dim(image)[1]
  ny <- dim(image)[2]
  hits <- 0
  x <- y <- numeric(n)
  while (hits < n) {
    tryx <- runif(1)
    tryy <- runif(1)
    keep <- image[round((nx-1)*tryx + 1), round((ny-1)*tryy + 1)] == 0
    if (keep) {
      hits <- hits + 1
      # Need to rotate so it looks good
      x[hits] <- tryy
      y[hits] <- 1 - tryx
    }
  }
  cbind(x, y)
}

plot(randomText(1000, "Hello"))

This produces the following plot:

screenshot

Upvotes: 2

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