[cairo] Simulate multiple camera views on the same subject

[Janosch Scharlipp]

Hi,
i want to simulate different views ("cameras") on the same subject,
where the cameras only see a small part of the subject, but with high
resolution.
So i thought i could implement this with cairo using recording
surfaces, so i can draw all contents of the subject in a recording
surface with mm as unit (circle with 1 mm diameter p.e.), and then
replay this recording surface onto the camera surfaces which can be
positioned and scaled so that the contents of the subject apear as if
the camera had a look on the target (circle with a diameter of 100 px
p.e.).

I tried to make the subject an unbound recording surface, but no
matter what i try to draw there, i can't replay it on my camera
surface. (CAIRO_NO_MEMORY status)

Is this possible with cairo? How would you approach this?

Kind regards,
Janosch