diff --git a/simgear/canvas/elements/CanvasImage.cxx b/simgear/canvas/elements/CanvasImage.cxx
index fbd2cf9f..c13f25ab 100644
--- a/simgear/canvas/elements/CanvasImage.cxx
+++ b/simgear/canvas/elements/CanvasImage.cxx
@@ -838,5 +838,98 @@ namespace canvas
     return false;
   }
 
+  void Image::fillRect(const SGRect<int>& rect, const std::string& c)
+  {
+    osg::Vec4 color(1,1,1,1);
+    if(!c.empty() && !parseColor(c, color))
+      return;
+    
+    fillRect(rect, color);
+  }
+
+void fillRow(GLubyte* row, GLuint pixel, GLuint width, GLuint pixelBytes)
+{
+  GLubyte* dst = row;
+  for (int x = 0; x < width; ++x) {
+    memcpy(dst, &pixel, pixelBytes);
+    dst += pixelBytes;
+  }
+}
+
+SGRect<int> intersectRect(const SGRect<int>& a, const SGRect<int>& b)
+{
+  SGVec2<int> m1 = max(a.getMin(), b.getMin());
+  SGVec2<int> m2 = min(a.getMax(), b.getMax());
+  return SGRect<int>(m1, m2);
+}
+
+  void Image::fillRect(const SGRect<int>& rect, const osg::Vec4& color)
+  {
+    osg::ref_ptr<osg::Image> image = _texture->getImage();
+    const auto format = image->getInternalTextureFormat();
+    
+    auto clippedRect = intersectRect(rect, SGRect<int>(0, 0, image->s(), image->t()));
+    if ((clippedRect.width() == 0) || (clippedRect.height() == 0)) {
+      return;
+    }
+    
+    GLubyte* rowData = nullptr;
+    size_t rowByteSize = 0;
+    GLuint pixelWidth = clippedRect.width();
+    GLuint pixel = 0;
+    GLuint pixelBytes = 0;
+    
+    switch (format) {
+    case GL_RGBA8:
+        rowByteSize = pixelWidth * 4;
+        rowData = static_cast<GLubyte*>(alloca(rowByteSize));
+        
+        // assume litte-endian, so read out backwards, hence when we memcpy
+        // the data, it ends up in RGBA order
+        pixel = color.asABGR();
+        pixelBytes = 4;
+        fillRow(rowData, pixel, pixelWidth, pixelBytes);
+        break;
+    
+    case GL_RGB8:
+        rowByteSize = pixelWidth * 3;
+        rowData = static_cast<GLubyte*>(alloca(rowByteSize));
+        pixel = color.asABGR();
+        pixelBytes = 3;
+        fillRow(rowData, pixel, pixelWidth, pixelBytes);
+        break;
+        
+    default:
+      SG_LOG(SG_IO, SG_WARN, __PRETTY_FUNCTION__ << ": unsupported internal image format:" << format);
+      return;
+    }
+    
+    for (int row=clippedRect.t(); row < clippedRect.b(); ++row) {
+      GLubyte* imageData = image->data(clippedRect.l(), row);
+      memcpy(imageData, rowData, rowByteSize);
+    }
+    
+    setImage(image);
+  }
+
+  void Image::setPixel(int x, int y, const std::string& c)
+  {
+    osg::Vec4 color(1,1,1,1);
+    if(!c.empty() && !parseColor(c, color))
+      return;
+    
+    setPixel(x, y, color);
+  }
+
+  void Image::setPixel(int x, int y, const osg::Vec4& color)
+  {
+    osg::ref_ptr<osg::Image> image = _texture->getImage();
+    image->setColor(color, x, y);
+    
+    // is this needed, or does OSG track modifications to the data
+    // automatically?
+    setImage(image);
+  }
+
 } // namespace canvas
 } // namespace simgear
diff --git a/simgear/canvas/elements/CanvasImage.hxx b/simgear/canvas/elements/CanvasImage.hxx
index 9641c489..dedcaf01 100644
--- a/simgear/canvas/elements/CanvasImage.hxx
+++ b/simgear/canvas/elements/CanvasImage.hxx
@@ -101,6 +101,22 @@ namespace canvas
        */
       void setSourceRect(const SGRect<float>& sourceRect);
 
+      /**
+       * fill the specified rectangle of the image, with an RGB value
+       */
+      void fillRect(const SGRect<int>& rect, const std::string& color);
+      
+      /**
+       * fill the specified rectangle of the image, with an RGB value
+       */
+      void fillRect(const SGRect<int>& rect, const osg::Vec4& color);
+      
+      void setPixel(int x, int y, const std::string& color);
+      
+      void setPixel(int x, int y, const osg::Vec4& color);
+
+      
+    //  void setRow(int row, int offset, )
     protected:
       enum ImageAttributes
       {
diff --git a/simgear/math/SGVec2.hxx b/simgear/math/SGVec2.hxx
index c0c6cb62..d9e4439f 100644
--- a/simgear/math/SGVec2.hxx
+++ b/simgear/math/SGVec2.hxx
@@ -193,8 +193,8 @@ min(S s, SGVec2<T> v)
 template<typename T>
 inline
 SGVec2<T>
-max(const SGVec2<T>& v1, const SGVec2<T>& v2)
-{ v1 = simd4::max(v1.simd2(), v2.simd2()); return v1; }
+max(SGVec2<T> v1, const SGVec2<T>& v2)
+{ v1.simd2() = simd4::max(v1.simd2(), v2.simd2()); return v1; }
 template<typename S, typename T>
 inline
 SGVec2<T>
diff --git a/simgear/nasal/cppbind/detail/from_nasal_helper.hxx b/simgear/nasal/cppbind/detail/from_nasal_helper.hxx
index a582bfe6..afda9f24 100644
--- a/simgear/nasal/cppbind/detail/from_nasal_helper.hxx
+++ b/simgear/nasal/cppbind/detail/from_nasal_helper.hxx
@@ -207,6 +207,15 @@ namespace nasal
     return Vec2(vec[0], vec[1]);
   }
 
+  template<class Vec4>
+  std::enable_if_t<is_vec4<Vec4>::value, Vec4>
+  from_nasal_helper(naContext c, naRef ref, const Vec4*)
+  {
+    auto vec = from_nasal_helper(c, ref, static_cast<std::array<double, 4>*>(0));
+    return Vec4(vec[0], vec[1], vec[2], vec[3]);
+  }
+
+
   /**
    * Convert a Nasal vector with 4 elements ([x, y, w, h]) to an SGRect
    */
diff --git a/simgear/nasal/cppbind/detail/nasal_traits.hxx b/simgear/nasal/cppbind/detail/nasal_traits.hxx
index 17e18ecd..228b2556 100644
--- a/simgear/nasal/cppbind/detail/nasal_traits.hxx
+++ b/simgear/nasal/cppbind/detail/nasal_traits.hxx
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ class SGWeakReferenced;
 template<class T> class SGSharedPtr;
 template<class T> class SGWeakPtr;
 template<class T> class SGVec2;
+template<class T> class SGVec4;
 
 namespace boost
 {
@@ -47,6 +48,9 @@ namespace osg
   class Vec2d;
   class Vec2f;
   class Vec2s;
+
+  class Vec4f;
+  class Vec4d;
 }
 
 // The actual traits...
@@ -55,6 +59,10 @@ namespace nasal
   template<class T>
   struct is_vec2: public std::false_type {};
 
+  template<class T>
+  struct is_vec4: public std::false_type {};
+
+
 #define SG_MAKE_TRAIT(templ,type,attr)\
   template templ\
   struct attr< type >: public std::true_type {};
@@ -65,6 +73,10 @@ SG_MAKE_TRAIT(<>, osg::Vec2d, is_vec2)
 SG_MAKE_TRAIT(<>, osg::Vec2f, is_vec2)
 SG_MAKE_TRAIT(<>, osg::Vec2s, is_vec2)
 
+SG_MAKE_TRAIT(<class T>, SGVec4<T>, is_vec4)
+SG_MAKE_TRAIT(<>, osg::Vec4d, is_vec4)
+SG_MAKE_TRAIT(<>, osg::Vec4f, is_vec4)
+
 #undef SG_MAKE_TRAIT
 
   template<class T>