im2ansi: A command-line tool to convert images into ANSI/ASCII art

[Youssef Saeed]

Hello everyone,

I'm excited to share a new command-line tool I built with Ring called im2ansi.

It's a simple, cross-platform utility that converts any image into beautiful ANSI, ASCII, SVG, or HTML art, right in your terminal. I wanted a fast and flexible tool for this, and Ring was a perfect fit for the job.

Here are a couple of screenshots showing what it can do:


Key Features:

• Export to ANSI, ASCII, SVG, or HTML.
• Flexible Sizing: Easily control the output width and height.
• Highly Customizable: Use custom character sets, choose from 12 built-in ASCII ramps, and invert colors.
• Cross-Platform: Works on Linux, macOS, and Windows.

Get Started

The easiest way to try it is to download a pre-built executable from the GitHub releases page:

• Download Here: https://github.com/ysdragon/im2ansi/releases/latest

Quick Example

im2ansi -p my_image.jpg

You can find the full documentation and source code on the GitHub repository:

• GitHub Repo: https://github.com/ysdragon/im2ansi

This was a fun project to build, and I'd love to hear your thoughts. Contributions, bug reports, and suggestions are all welcome!

Best regards,
Youssef

[Mahmoud Fayed]

Hello Youssef

Thank you very much for developing this wonderful tool :D

It's a great example about developing command-line tools using Ring, RingStbImage & RingFastPro

This is a screen shot from my machine

Added to Ring Website - News section & Resources section too

Keep up the GREAT WORK :D

Greetings,

Mahmoud

[Youssef Saeed]

Hello Mahmoud,

Thank you for your kind words and for adding the tool to the News and Resources sections on the Ring website.

Best regards,
Youssef

[Mahmoud Fayed]

Hello Youssef

You are welcome :D

Greetings,

Mahmoud

[Ka mara]

Hello Youssef,
This is SO NICE and INTERESTING.

THANKS for Creating it.

Tim

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[Youssef Saeed]

Hello Ka mara,

Thank you for your kind words!

Best regards,

Youssef

[Mansour Ayouni]

Hello Youssef,

A beautiful and fun tool!

Thank you for providing it!

I'm thinking of using it in some innovative daraviz ideas, in the Softanza Data Analytics module to visualise patterns of matrix data...

The principle is that I always prioritise the visualisation of data structures, tables, calendars, timelines, diagrams, and even statistical plots in the console in plain ascii form (before adding image-based visualizations).

The goal is to allow programmers to debug their visual outputs in the console without needing additional library and GUI frontends.

I'll let you know.

Best,

Mansour

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ring-lang/b20182bc-235a-42e7-a530-4b2ca1182933n%40googlegroups.com.

[Youssef Saeed]

Hello Mansour,

Thank you for testing the tool and for your kind words!

> I'm thinking of using it in some innovative daraviz ideas, in the Softanza Data Analytics module to visualise patterns of matrix data...

> The principle is that I always prioritise the visualisation of data structures, tables, calendars, timelines, diagrams, and even statistical plots in the console in plain ascii form (before adding image-based visualizations).

> The goal is to allow programmers to debug their visual outputs in the console without needing additional library and GUI frontends.

That sounds like a fascinating use case. I really like your philosophy of prioritizing ASCII-based data visualization in the console—it is a very practical approach for debugging. I would love to see how it turns out.

Best regards,
Youssef