1. A method for converting a two-dimensional object to a two-dimensional distance field, the object represented as a set of boundary descriptors and a fill rule, comprising: preprocessing the set of boundary descriptors; constructing a spatial hierarchy from the preprocessed set of boundary descriptors; initializing a cache of intersections; and querying the spatial hierarchy at a set of locations to determine a set of distances at the locations, the set of distances used to construct a two-dimensional distance field, the querying further comprising: invoking a distance function at each location to determine an unsigned distance; and determining a sign of the unsigned distance using the cache of intersections, the location, and the fill rule.