The nonzero winding number rule determines whether a given point is inside a path by conceptually drawing a ray from that point to infinity in any direction and then examining the places where a segment of the path crosses the ray. Starting with a count of 0, the rule adds 1 each time a path segment crosses the ray from left to right and subtracts 1 each time a segment crosses from right to left. After counting all the crossings, if the result is 0 then the point is outside the path; otherwise it is inside. Note: The method just described does not specify what to do if a path segment coincides with or is tangent to the chosen ray. Since the direction of the ray is arbitrary, the rule simply chooses a ray that does not encounter such problem intersections. For simple convex paths, the nonzero winding number rule defines the inside and outside as one would intuitively expect. The more interesting cases are those involving complex or self-intersecting paths like the ones shown in Figure 4.10 (in a PDF Reference). For a path consisting of a five-pointed star, drawn with five connected straight line segments intersecting each other, the rule considers the inside to be the entire area enclosed by the star, including the pentagon in the center. For a path composed of two concentric circles, the areas enclosed by both circles are considered to be inside, provided that both are drawn in the same direction. If the circles are drawn in opposite directions, only the "doughnut" shape between them is inside, according to the rule; the "doughnut hole" is outside.

An alternative to the nonzero winding number rule is the even-odd rule. This rule determines the "insideness" of a point by drawing a ray from that point in any direction and simply counting the number of path segments that cross the ray, regardless of direction. If this number is odd, the point is inside; if even, the point is outside. This yields the same results as the nonzero winding number rule for paths with simple shapes, but produces different results for more complex shapes. Figure 4.11 (in a PDF Reference) shows the effects of applying the even-odd rule to complex paths. For the five-pointed star, the rule considers the triangular points to be inside the path, but not the pentagon in the center. For the two concentric circles, only the "doughnut" shape between the two circles is considered inside, regardless of the directions in which the circles are drawn.