a method and computer graphics program executed by a processor for interactively subdividing a region in a computer controlled graphics display system is described . the user directly manipulates a control object using a pointing device such as a computer mouse with the result that the region exposing the control object is evenly divided into an array or volume of smaller regions . the distance from the position of the start of interaction with the control object is continuously monitored to interactively update the number of divisions in the horizontal and vertical directions . example displays during this interaction phase include overlaid grids representing the actual position of pending subdivisions , or a matrix of abstract subregions representing the count of subregions that will be created when the user indicates that the interaction is complete by releasing the control object . upon release of the control object , the previewed splits to the region are converted to real splits in the region .