Asciinator

Asciinator is a tool that converts image files (currently .jpg .jpeg .png .bmp) into ASCII art. The program reads an image, process it, and generates ASCII art, which can then be saved to a text file.

Features

• only works on Linux distributions (Debian, Ubuntu, etc...)
• Converts images into ASCII art
• Customizable block size (between 1-100)
• doesn't rely on any dependencies

Installation

Step 1: download the version that works on your system and extract

-Linux Version

-Windows Version

Step 2: Run the Program

linux(debian, ubuntu, etc...)

./asciinator <block size> <image_filename.jpg>

windows

.\asciinatr <block size> <image_filename.jpg>

for example

./asciinator 5 cat.jpg

and the output will be saved in result.txt on the same directory

• <block size> 1 - 100: A value of 1 will print one ASCII character for each pixel, resulting in more detailed output. A value of 100 will print one ASCII character for every 100 pixels, producing a less detailed and more compressed output.
• <image_filename>:The image file that will be converted to ASCII art

Avilable Makefile Commands

• make: Builds the project and creates the asciinator executable.
• make clean: Cleans the build by removing object files.
• make fclean: Removes the asciinator executable and object files.
• make re: Cleans and rebuilds the project.

Uninstallation

make fclean

---

Update

• removed 'opencv' dependencies, now the program can be used without the need to install opencv(it would take 1gb of memory space)

Pseudocode

1. Check Command Line Arguments:
   • if the number of arguments is not 3, print a usage message and exit
   • extract blockSize from argument and convert it to an integer.
   • if blockSize is not between 1 and 100, print and error message and exit.
   • extract the imageFilename from the command line argument.
   • Check if the filename has a valid image extension and ends with .jpg .jpeg .png .bmp
   • if invalid, print an error message and exit.
2. Generating ASCII ART:
   • Use stb_image to load the image as grayscale.
   • divide the image into blocks(arrays) by dividing it into rows and cols, asciiArt[rows][cols] <- the array of each block
   • Process each block in the image:
     • loop over each row y and col x
       • Initialize total to store the sum of the block intensities
       • Loop through each pixel in each block
         • get the actual pixel position (px, py).
         • after looping through a block we add its intensity to total.
       • Get the average intensity of the block.
       • Assign an ASCII character to the block depends on its intensity.
       • Store the character in an array
3. Save ASCII Art to a File:
   • Open the outputfile result.txt (always check for failure when opening files)
   • Write each row of the ASCII character to the file.
   • close the file
4. Cleanup and Exit
   • Free image memory and print.
   • Print a success message.