38. A graphical processing system comprising: a receiver adapted to receive a page description language representation of graphical objects, the graphical objects having transparency characteristics and color characteristics; and a converter operatively coupled to the receiver, the converter adapted to convert a portion of the page description language representation into a planar map representation, the planar map representation having regions wherein each region is associated with one or more of the graphical objects, and assign a color to a planar map region as a function of the transparency characteristics and color characteristics of the graphical objects associated with the planar map region.
39. The system of claim 38 further comprising a sorter operatively coupled to the converter, wherein the sorter is adapted to sort the planar map regions into a print order.