1. A method for contour extraction for representing a pixelated object in a background pixel field comprising: locating an object pixel that is the start of a new contour for the object and identifying that pixel as the first pixel of the new contour; locating a first contour point on the mid-point of a transition edge of the first pixel; determining a tracing direction from the first contour point for tracing the new contour; locating sequential contour points on mid-points of pixel transition edges along the tracing direction until the first contour point is again encountered to complete tracing the new contour; and adding the new contour to a list of extracted contours that represent the object.