This invention is a method for rectifying an input digital image including warped textual information. The method includes analyzing the input digital image to determine local orientations for a plurality of local image regions and determining an orientation vector field by interpolating between the determined local orientations for a lattice of positions. A set of streamlines are determined responsive to the orientation vector field. A global deformation function is formed by interpolating between the streamlines and is used to form a rectified image.