image2ascii

NEW! Make ASCII Web Animations

Convert images to custom ASCII art with code or from the command-line. Print images to the console in a fun way, and take advantage of io/console terminal width to make the art based on window size!

Prerequisites

Requires ImageMagick which can be downloaded here

Installation

$ gem install image2ascii

Use from command-line

  Usage: image2ascii [image path or URL] [options]
    -w, --width N                    Width (in characters)
    -t, --terminal-percent N         Width as percent of terminal size
    -c, --color COLOR                Color in hex, rgb, or by name [examples: 'red', '255, 255, 255', '#FFFFFF']
    -x, --custom CHARS               Custom characters in order of descending relative brightness [example: '@#-.']
    -i, --invert                     Invert ASCII character order
    -b, --block                      Print ASCII in block form
    -g, --greyscale                  Print ASCII in greyscale
    -h, --help                       Prints this help

Use with code

- With defaults -

  require "image2ascii"
  
  ascii = Image2ASCII.new("/path/to/img.jpg")
  ascii.generate
  
  ascii = Image2ASCII.new("http://www.realclearlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/MonaLisa.jpg")
  ascii.generate

- Change width -

    ascii = Image2ASCII.new("/path/to/img.jpg")
    
    ascii.generate(width: 30)
    ascii.generate(width: ascii.winsize)        #default
    ascii.generate(width: ascii.winsize / 2)    #half of window size

- Change color -

    ascii = Image2ASCII.new("/path/to/img.jpg")
    
    ascii.generate(color: "full")          #default
    ascii.generate(color: "greyscale")
    ascii.generate(color: "#FFFFFF")
    ascii.generate(color: [255, 255, 255])
    ascii.generate(color: "white")

- Print as blocks -

this will print to the terminal as blocks. Works with greyscale or full color.

    ascii.generate(block: false)  #default
    ascii.generate(block: true)

- Hide from terminal -

The "generate" command returns a string, to capture this string without outputting to the terminal we can stop it from printing

    ascii_string = ascii.generate(hidden: true)
    puts ascii_string

- Change character map -

The character map can be changed. It is crucial that they are ordered ascending or descending in apparent brightness

    ascii = Image2ASCII.new("/path/to/img.jpg")
    
    ascii.chars = ".-#@"   # "." is less bright than "-" is less bright than "#" is less bright than "@"
    ascii.generate
    
    #default = ".'`^",:;Il!i><~+_-?][}{1)(|\\/tfjrxnuvczXYUJCLQ0OZmwqpdbkhao*#MW&8%B@$"

To reverse the order for an "inverted" effect you can reverse the default string

    ascii.chars = ascii.chars.reverse
    ascii.generate

Examples

Full Color

Greyscale + Custom characters (123)

#FFFFFF

Full Color Block

Morpheus