Editing Vector graphics (section)

== Vector operations ==
[[Vector graphics editor]]s typically allow translation, rotation, mirroring, stretching, skewing, [[affine transformation]]s, changing of [[z-order]] (loosely, what's in front of what) and combination of primitives into more complex objects.<ref name="ChapmanChapman2002b" /> More sophisticated [[transformation (mathematics)|transformation]]s include [[Set (mathematics)#Basic operations|set operations]] on closed [[shape]]s ([[union (set theory)|union]], [[complement (set theory)|difference]], [[intersection (set theory)|intersection]], etc.).{{Sfn|Barr|1984|p=21}} In SVG, the composition operations are based on [[alpha composition]].<ref>{{cite web|title=SVG Compositing Specification|author=SVG Working Group|website=w3|url=https://www.w3.org/TR/SVGCompositing|date=15 March 2011|access-date=8 August 2022|archive-date=August 7, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220807173633/https://www.w3.org/TR/SVGCompositing/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Vector graphics are ideal for simple or composite drawings that need to be device-independent,<ref>{{cite thesis |last=Qin |first=Zheng |date=January 27, 2009 |title=Vector Graphics for Real-time 3D Rendering |publisher=[[University of Waterloo]] |page=1 |url=https://uwspace.uwaterloo.ca/bitstream/handle/10012/4262/phd-thesis.pdf |access-date=July 28, 2020 |hdl=10012/4262 |archive-date=July 28, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200728125357/https://uwspace.uwaterloo.ca/bitstream/handle/10012/4262/phd-thesis.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> or do not need to achieve [[photo-realism]]. For example, the [[PostScript]] and [[PDF]] [[page description language]]s use a vector graphics model.