The role of acousto-optic (AO) modulators in programmable real-time image processing has recently been demonstrated. For fully investigating the image-processing capabilities of the AO modulator, general techniques to derive spatial transfer functions are needed for a variety of physical situations. We develop a technique to determine the spatial transfer functions numerically for various cases of beam incidence on an AO modulator. Normal incidence and incidence at twice the Bragg angle are investigated as examples for which double-sided and single-sided notch spatial filtering, respectively, are achieved. The observed spatial-filtering characteristics are reconciled with simple intuitive physical arguments. (C) 1998 Optical Society of America.