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                                               534
     CHAPTER 7                                                                Transparency



     stack and replaced by the group object, numbered i, followed by the remaining
     objects to be painted on top of the group, renumbered starting at i + 1. This oper-
     ation applies recursively to any nested subgroups. Henceforth, the term element
     (denoted Ei ) refers to a member of some group; it can be either an individual ob-
     ject or a contained subgroup.

     From the perspective of a particular element in a nested group, there are three
     different backdrops of interest:

     • The group backdrop is the result of compositing all elements up to but not in-
          cluding the first element in the group. (This definition is altered if the parent
          group is a knockout group; see Section 7.3.5, “Knockout Groups.”)
     • The initial backdrop is a backdrop that is selected for compositing the group’s
          first element. This is either the same as the group backdrop (for a non-isolated
          group) or a fully transparent backdrop (for an isolated group).
     • The immediate backdrop is the result of compositing all elements in the group
          up to but not including the current element.

     When all elements in a group have been composited, the result is treated as if the
     group were a single object, which is then composited with the group backdrop.
     (This operation occurs whether the initial backdrop chosen for compositing the
     elements of the group was the group backdrop or a transparent backdrop. There
     is a special correction to ensure that the backdrop’s contribution to the overall re-
     sult is applied only once.)

7.3.3 Group Compositing Computations

     The color and opacity of a group are defined by the group compositing function:
      〈 C, f, α 〉 = Composite (C 0, α 0, G )

     where the variables have the meanings shown in Table 7.7.

                TABLE 7.7 Arguments and results of the group compositing function
     VARIABLE               MEANING

      G                     The transparency group: a compound object consisting of all ele-
                            ments E1, … , En of the group—the n constituent objects’ colors,
                            shapes, opacities, and blend modes

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