Convert Images into ASCII Art with the power of Python

Contents

• What ASCIIFY is
• How ASCIIFY works
• How to use ASCIIFY
• Future Plans
• Support me

What ASCIIFY is

ASCIIFY is a python script that takes in as input an image, and returns a text output that resembles the input image. In other words, it replicates an image with certain characters.

For example, when the following image of Octocat -

is passed as a parameter into ASCIIFY, the following output is observed -

....................................................................................................
....................................................................................................
.....................................####:...............####.......................................
.....................................#########################......................................
.....................................#########################......................................
.....................................########################.......................................
....................................###########################.....................................
...................................#############################....................................
...................................########?+?#######%++########....................................
...................................#####:::..::::::::::..::+####....................................
...................................####:::....::::::::.?..::####....................................
...................................####:::..?.::::::::?.?.::####....................................
...................................+###:::+??;::::::::???.::@###....................................
....................................###:::.??.::::::::.?..::###.....................................
.......................................###:::::::?::::::::###.......................................
........................................:####::::::::::@###.........................................
..................................###.......############............................................
..................................:,##.......@#######@..............................................
..................................:.##......###########.............................................
.....................................#:;....###########.............................................
......................................#@%#:S#####.#####@............................................
.......................................#######.##.######............................................
............................................##.##.######............................................
............................................##.##.######............................................
........................................::::##:##:######::::........................................
.....................................::::::###:##:###:###::::::.....................................
....................................,:::::::++##S::###++:::::::.....................................
.....................................:::::::++:++:++++++:::::::.....................................
.......................................:::::++:++:++++++:::::.......................................
..........................................::++:++:++++++::..........................................
..................................................,.................................................
....................................................................................................

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How ASCIIFY works

ASCIIFY works in a rather simple and intuitive way. Here's the algorithm -

• Resize the image to a standard dimension, while maintaining aspect ratio
• Convert to grayscale (the reason for doing so is because characters are replaced based on their intensity)
• Create list of special characters to replace pixels with
• Classify and divide pixels into buckets or groups, based on their intensity
• Replace all pixels in a bucket with the corresponding special character
• Print the text into terminal or write into a file
• Profit!

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How to use ASCIIFY

• Ensure you have the required dependency "PIL" for Python installed. (pip install pillow)
• Clone the repo
• Run the python script, and pass the image path as the parameter
• The script will print the output in the terminal, and will also write into a file 'img.txt' in the same directory as the python script
• Profit!

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Future Plans

• Alternatively support colored outputs by printing the text onto an image

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