16. The method of claim 11 wherein the transparency characteristics are given by a plurality of pixels wherein each pixel provides a transparency value and a color value.
11. A method to blend graphical objects comprising: (a) receiving graphical objects represented in a page description language, the graphical objects having transparency characteristics and color characteristics; (b) converting a first graphical object in the page description language representation into a first planar map, the first planar map having regions associated with the first graphical object; (c) converting a second graphical object in the page description language representation into a second planar map, the second planar map having regions associated with the second graphical object; (d) combining the first and second planar maps, the combined planar map having regions; (e) tagging a region in the combined planar map to indicate which graphical objects are associated with the region; and (f) assigning a color to the tagged region as a function of the transparency characteristics and color characteristics of the graphical objects associated with the tagged region.