1. An apparatus that generates characters or glyphs from a bitmap of text, comprising: a processor; memory, when operatively coupled to the processor, implementing: an input component for receiving a bitmap of an image comprising at least one textual line that is identified by a base-line and a mean-line; a character chopper component that includes a candidate chop line generator component for generating a plurality of chop lines that each separate a pair of adjacent characters or glyphs in the textual line, wherein the candidate chop line generator component is configured to produce a candidate chop line through each pixel in at least one row extending along and within the textual line, said character chopper component further including a chop line selection component for selecting a subset of the candidate chop lines that correspond to the plurality of chop lines that each separate a pair of adjacent characters or glyphs in the textual line; and an output component that applies the chop line to the textual line to produce the characters or glyphs, wherein the candidate chop line generator component generates candidate chop lines that each maximize a fitness function that increases as a total path lightness of the respective candidate chop lines increases and decreases as an intersection number increases, wherein the intersection number denotes a number of white-to-black and black to white transitions that the respective candidate chop line crosses.