ASCII Image Generator: Photo to Text Drawing or Painting

Portray the original pixel image with text by changing the little square colored pixels into letters, numbers and symbols. ASCII characters are used to represent different color intensities. A small font can make it look like a drawing or painting. For a classic ASCII image use a large readable font.

The ASCII art generator replaces each pixel with text. So increasing the font from 1 to 10 makes the text image 10 times larger. Using a large readable font works best on small images. This program can use a webcam, video or a picture. Play or pause videos using the Video checkbox.

The pictures above were made using keyboard characters like the ones used in this sentence. Text is added to a canvas. So you can add color and save it as a picture using the right mouse button. Check Text to switch to a text box. I recommend using the text box with a small picture and a font size of 10 to 14px.

Based on my results it is easier and faster to make good looking ASCII images using a canvas. The text box works best for very simple images. A phone screen may be too small to convert a photo to a classic ASCII image with a large font. I made lots of interesting images with this program. Open the Menu, choose a photo and hit ASCII to start making your own.

Select Small, Medium or Custom to change the display size. Changing the Alpha setting changes the symbols that are used. Changing the style changes the font style. Increase the intensity to increase the text density. I added different text and color lists to change the appearance of the ASCII image. Change the text line spacing by changing the percentage.

I created this ASCII art generator as an experiment to see what I could do with keyboard characters. See what you can make with it. Try it out on different pictures and use different options. It works best with high contrast photos and images with transparent backgrounds. If you need photos to turn into art try searching for public domain images.

Attribution is appreciated. While you are sharing your ASCII art let people know what you used to make it.

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