ascii from media

converts images/video to ascii art

installation

make sure you have ffmpeg installed (along with the respective headers)

usually on linux you just install the headers like so:

sudo apt-get install libavutil-dev libavformat-dev libavcodec-dev libswscale-dev

on macos you would do

brew install ffmpeg

on windows:

choco install ffmpeg-full

i'm not doing pre-built binaries

it is getting too annoying to handle cross plat binary releases using my apple silicon mac. just build from source.

or wait till i release the web app!

build from source

zig build -Drelease

the above command builds an executable found at ./zig-out/bin

if you want to just directly run the executable, run:

zig build run -Drelease -- [options]

see below for explanations for available options

usage

run the program with the following options (the default zig install directory is ./zig-out/bin):

/path/to/asciigen [options]

options:
- -h, --help: print the help message and exit
- -i, --input <file>: specify the input media file path (local path/URL) (required)
- -o, --output <file>: specify the output media file (txt/img/vid) (required)
- -c, --color: use color ascii characters (optional)
- -n, --invert_color: Inverts the color values (optional)
- -s, --scale <float>: set the downscale or upscale factor (optional, default: 1)
- -e, --detect_edges: enable edge detection (optional)
- --sigma1 <float>: set the sigma1 value for DoG filter (optional, default: 0.3)
- --sigma2 <float>: set the sigma2 value for DoG filter (optional, default: 1.0)
- -b, --brightness_boost <float>: increase/decrease perceived brightness (optional, default: 1.0) advanced options:
- --full_characters: Uses all ascii characters in generated output.
- --ascii_chars <string>: Use what characters you want to use in the generated output. (default: " .:-=+*%@#")
- --disable_sort: Prevents sorting of the ascii_chars by size.
- --block_size <u8>: Set the size of the blocks. (default: 8)
- --threshold_disabled: Disables the threshold.
- --codec <string>: Set the encoder codec like "libx264" or "hevc_videotoolbox". (default: searches for encoders on your machine)
- --keep_audio: Preserves audio from input video.
- --stretched: Resizes media to fit terminal window
- -f, --frame_rate: Target frame rate for video output (default: matches input fps)

To render on the terminal directly, just omit the output option.

To output to a text file, use the .txt extension when setting the output option

examples:

Image

basic usage:

asciigen -i input.jpg -o output.png

text file output:

asciigen -i input.jpg -o output.txt

using color:

asciigen -i input.png -o output.png -c

with edge detection, color, and custom downscale:

asciigen -i input.jpeg -o output.png -s 4 -e -c

with brightness boost and url input:

# bonus (this is a sweet wallpaper)
asciigen -i "https://w.wallhaven.cc/full/p9/wallhaven-p9gr2p.jpg" -o output.png -e -c-b 1.5

terminal output (just omit the output option):

asciigen -i "https://w.wallhaven.cc/full/p9/wallhaven-p9gr2p.jpg" -e -c -b 1.5

Video

with an input video (no urls allowed):

asciigen -i /path/to/input/video.mp4 -o ascii.mp4 --codec hevc_nvenc --keep_audio

with an input video and rendering on the terminal (stretched to fit terminal):

asciigen -i /path/to/input/video.mp4 --stretched -c

with input video and custom ffmpeg encoder options:

asciigen -i /path/to/input/video.mp4 -o ascii.mp4 -c --codec libx264 --keep_audio-- -preset fast -crf 20