Functions
ASCII Mode
· Image Upload
· Color
· Invert Color
· ASCII only
· Invert ASCII
· No Dispersion
· Anti-Aliasing
· Characters
· Characters to use
· Wordrepeater
· Font Size
· Lign Height
· Letter Spacing
· Font Color
· Background Color
· Flip Horizontally
· Flip Vertically
· Split Font Color
Table Mode
· Image Upload
· Color
· Invert Color
· Flip Horizontally
· Flip Vertically
· Anti-Aliasing
· Cell Height
· Cell Width
FAQ
How do I install IMG2ASCII on my computer?
How do I run PHP on my computer?
What browsers are supported?
How do I convert the output to an image?
ASCII Mode Functions
IMG2ASCII supports 2 output modes, one of them is Table Mode and the other one is ASCII Mode. In ASCII Mode the input image is converted to a text, which looks somewhat like the image provided. To get an idea what that could be, please check the examples section.
Image Upload
You may choose to upload the image file from your computer, or to provide a link to a valid image file. This link may not point to your local hard drive, since the server does not have access to it. If you add multiple links an animation will be created with all the images. There is an option to set the delay for each ascii image to be displayed, and if the animation should be looped.
Color
The Color option colors the letters according to the original color. Please note that this may not work in combination with the Split Font Color function or the Inverted Character function.
Invert Color
The Invert Color option inverts the color of each letter. This function is only available if Color was selected.
ASCII only
With this option selected only the 256 Characters from the ANSI charset are used. This makes sure every browser can view the image correctly.
Invert ASCII
The ASCII values are inverted with this option. This means that if the spot on the image is dark, a bright letter is chosen, instead of a dark one. This makes sense, when using darker background than foreground.
No Dispersion
With this option selected there is no dispersion of characters, this makes the image look less random.
Anti-Aliasing
This option is recommended if you want production quality. Without, only one pixel per character is analysed, but with, the average of the whole area is taken and used to fetch the character at the given position. There is a good article on Wikipedia about Anti-Aliasing.
Characters
You may select what type of characters should be used to generate the output. A gradient would look like this.
| Alphabet: | ltttCCJLLOPPpXXQgEHHHNNMM |
Number: |
1333332222222654000999999 |
| Puntuation Marks: | ´´´...-.-,!!::;;»???" |
| Exotic: | ¨¨·¸¡÷°¬ª¢î&òôÔÀÕ@ŧ宮ÑÆ |
| Blocks: | **╒╜╔╩╢╫♣■♣■▒▒▒▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓██ |
| Inverted: | ·÷³jDØMÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑM¼ôt³÷· |
Please note that the Inverted function will not work well with some options like Color or Split Font Color.
Characters to use
If this option is used the Characters option is omitted, instead the list of characters written in the text field will be used to generate the images. The list should be entered as a sequence of characters.
Wordrepeater
With this option enabled the enterd word will be repeated for the whole area of the image. Depending on the darkness of the current position on the image a letter is either written or not. The predefined mode "Black and White" uses this option with a dot.
Font Size
This specifies the font size in pixels. Fonts smaller than 13 will be displayed with anti-aliasing and therefore be too bright. It is recommended to generate the image in a font size larger than 8 and then scale the output with an image manipulation program, if you wish smaller characters.
Lign Height
You may adjust the lign height with this value. 0 is the default value. Although negative values may be used, it must not be smaller than the font size itself, i.e. the minimum you may enter with a font size of 13 would be -12, otherwise the program would end returning an error message. Please note that the output size will always be the same as that of the input image, no matter what value you enter for lign height or letter spacing.
Letter Spacing
This option works like the Lign Height option, just vertically, not horizontally.
Font Color
The Font is displayed in this color, if Color is not selected. Please enter a 6-digit Hexadecimal color code or use the color picker application by pressing on the image to the right.
Background Color
The background is displayed in this color.
Flip Horizontally
This option mirrors the output by the vertical axis.
Flip Vertically
This option mirrors the output by the horizontal axis.
Split Font Color
An example says more than a thousand words.
| Font Distribution = 0.5 | ÑÆ®®åʼRûToi¬°¸¨ ´^°?¢xöUÜ˾NMÆÆÑÑ |
| Font Distribution = 0.25 | Ñ®MÉQúr¿, ¨¸÷¯\=loLüûqâþH#M®ÆÆÑÑÑ |
| Font Distribution = 0.75 | ÑÆÆ®MNå¾ægÄhöLct³)¦-¸¨ ¨÷=îúWÊM®ÑÑ |
Table Mode Functions
In ASCII Mode the input image is converted to a table with colored backgrounds.
Image Upload
You may choose to upload the image file from your computer, or to provide a link to a valid image file. This link may not point to your local hard drive, since the server does not have access to it.
Color
If this is checked the table will be colored and not just black and white.
Invert Color
The Invert Color option inverts the color of each table cell. This function is only available if Color was selected.
Flip Horizontally
This option mirrors the output by the vertical axis.
Flip Vertically
This option mirrors the output by the horizontal axis.
Anti-Aliasing
This option is recommended if you want production quality. Without, only one pixel per character is analysed, but with, the average of the whole area is taken and used to fetch the character at the given position. There is a good article on Wikipedia about Anti-Aliasing.
Cell Height
Each cell in the table will have this height (pixels). This value may not be less than 1.
Cell Width
Each cell in the table will have this width (pixels). This value may not be less than 1.
FAQ
How do I install IMG2ASCII on my computer?
First, copy all the included files to a folder which is accessible by
the server. Be sure to keep the folder structure, the images should be in
a seperate folder called "img". There is an installer included to
the package, just run installer.php and follow the steps. If it does not work
you can also install the script manually.
1) import the database (ascii.sql) with your preferred database management
program (for example PHPMyAdmin)
2) edit ascii_class.php with a text editor and change the first few lines
with the database connection settings.
How do I run PHP on my computer?
You need a server to run PHP scripts. The fastest and easiest way is to
install XAMPP for Windows or Linux.
Please refer to the XAMPP manual for more detail on running PHP scripts.
What browsers are supported?
For using the creation form: Any browser which supports getElementById (IE 6+, NN 6+, Mozilla 1+, Opera 6+ or any other DOM1-compliant browser).
For viewing the generated output: If "ASCII Only" is selected most browsers will display the output correctly, though some letters are not exactly the same in different browsers. If you wish to display Unicode text the output is best viewed in Mozilla (or Firefox). The output may be captured with a screenshot and then converted to an image.
How do I convert the output to an image?
First, you need to create a screenshot. This can be done by either using a tool, or by pressing AltGr+PrintScreen. This copies a screenshot to memory. Now, open your preferred image manipulation program (i.e. Photoshop) and paste the image (CTRL+v). Crop the image as desired and save as.
If you have any other questions, feel free to contact me at 