Ultimately this will be used in a web page (for shapes representing towns in different counties)

Interesting. Many years ago, I developed Acme::EyeDrops -- which similarly had to solve the problem of how to represent arbitrary shapes for use in ascii art. If you look at Acme::EyeDrops Shape Reference, you'll see it defines two kinds of shapes:

• Built-in shapes. An algorithm is used to generate these types of shapes, for example a Sierpinski triangle. (Note that A::E has precious few built-in shapes; ideas for new built-in shapes welcome).
• ".eye file" shapes. These shapes are defined by a (simply formatted) .eye file, for example, a map of italy.

Two simple examples to give you a feel for how this works.

Running this program:

use Acme::EyeDrops qw(sightly);
print sightly({ Text            => 1,
                TextFiller      => '/\\',
                Shape           => 'siertri',
                # For 'siertri' built-in shape, Width=>5 means:
                #   height is 2**5 lines
                #   width  is 2 * 2**5 characters
                Width           => 5 });
[download]

displays:

                               /\
                              /\/\
                             /\  /\
                            /\/\/\/\
                           /\      /\
                          /\/\    /\/\
                         /\  /\  /\  /\
                        /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
                       /\              /\
                      /\/\            /\/\
                     /\  /\          /\  /\
                    /\/\/\/\        /\/\/\/\
                   /\      /\      /\      /\
                  /\/\    /\/\    /\/\    /\/\
                 /\  /\  /\  /\  /\  /\  /\  /\
                /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
               /\                              /\
              /\/\                            /\/\
             /\  /\                          /\  /\
            /\/\/\/\                        /\/\/\/\
           /\      /\                      /\      /\
          /\/\    /\/\                    /\/\    /\/\
         /\  /\  /\  /\                  /\  /\  /\  /\
        /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\                /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
       /\              /\              /\              /\
      /\/\            /\/\            /\/\            /\/\
     /\  /\          /\  /\          /\  /\          /\  /\
    /\/\/\/\        /\/\/\/\        /\/\/\/\        /\/\/\/\
   /\      /\      /\      /\      /\      /\      /\      /\
  /\/\    /\/\    /\/\    /\/\    /\/\    /\/\    /\/\    /\/\
 /\  /\  /\  /\  /\  /\  /\  /\  /\  /\  /\  /\  /\  /\  /\  /\
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
[download]

Running this program:

use Acme::EyeDrops qw(sightly);
print sightly({ Text            => 1,
                TextFiller      => 'Azzurri',
                Shape           => 'map_italy' });
[download]

displays:

                       Azzurr
                    iAzzurriAzz
                  urriAzzurriAzzurr
        iA   zzurriAzzurriAzzurriAzz
      urriAzzurriAzzurriAzzurriAzzur
  riAzzurriAzzurriAzzurriAzzurriAzz
  urriAzzurriAzzurriAzzurriAzzur
 riAzzurriAzzurriAzzurriAzzurr
 iAzzurriAzzurriAzzurriAzzurriA
zzurriAzzurriAzzurriAzzurriAzzu
rriAzzurriAzzurriAzzurriAzzurr
    iAzzurr    iAzzurriAzzurri
     Azzu        rriAzzurriAzzu
     rr           iAzzurriAzzurri
                  AzzurriAzzurriAzz
                   urriAzzurriAzzurr
                   iAzzurriAzzurriAzz
              u     rriAzzurriAzzurriA
           zzur       riAzzurriAzzurriA
          zzurr         iAzzurriAzzurriAz
          zurri           AzzurriAzzurriAzz
          urriA             zzurriAzzurriAzzurriA
           zzu                rriAzzurriAzzurriA
                                zzurriAzzurriAzzur
             ri                     AzzurriAzzurriAzz
        urriAzzu                      rriAzzurriAzzurriA
        zzurriAz                        zurriAzzurriAzzurri
         Azzurri                          AzzurriAzzu  rriAz
         zurriAz                            zurriAzz      urr
         iAzzurr                               iAzz        ur
         riAzzur                                riA
         zzurriA                                zzurr
         iAzz ur                                 riAzz
          ur                                     riAzz
                                                urri
                                               Azzu
                               r ri          Azzur
                              riAzzurriAzzurri Az
                              zurriAzzurriAzz
                                 urriAzzurri
                                    AzzurriA
                                       zzurr
                                         iAz
[download]

The primary purpose of Acme::EyeDrops is to auto-generate obfuscated, working Perl code ... so its shape pouring capabilities are fairly primitive. I'm just bringing it to your attention in case it gives you ideas for your current project, or in case it generates ideas for enhancing the shape pouring capabilities of Acme::EyeDrops.

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