ASCII Generator dotNET
Posted Feb 08, 2007 | 2 Comments
tags: software
While randomly surfing to Sourceforge today, I came across an impressive little application called ASCII Generator dotNET that transforms any image into "ASCII art." It magically creates a paragraph-like block of text characters that looks as close to the original image as possible using merely letters, numbers, and punctuation.
Here's an example of what it can do, using the famed black and white close-up of Jim Weinheimer's demonic eyes from the OR scene in "Final Rotation":
ASCII Generator dotNET has a user-friendly drag and drop ability and generates the text image instantly. The user-interface gives you an image tab and a text tab for comparing the original and the generated ASCII text.
What I found most impressive are the real-time controls for brightness and contrast, image size, as well as a small selection of pre-defined character sets to use when building the ASCII image. You can manipulate all of these aspects of the generated text in real-time, making for a quite satisfying amount of control over the final output. The latest versions have even added color support, for those interested.
I found this application to produce consistently accurate and impressive results considering the limited resolution that is possible when using ASCII characters to display a complex image. It is well suited to working with simple images with clear areas of contrast and not too much fine detail, although the tweaking controls available can help add definition to more complicated pictures. If you can still see the individual text characters, step back from the monitor for the best effect!
The application is completely free, just like almost everything on Sourceforge. The developer has even posted a tutorial to get you up and running, although the program is so simple and easy to use, I found it to be rather self-explanatory. So go try it out!
NOTICE: You also need to install the Microsoft .NET framework for the program to work.
#2 Andrew Swihart Feb 19, 12:37 PM
#1 jeebus Feb 18, 08:31 PM