ASCII Camera 📹✨
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║ 🎥 ASCII CAMERA 📹 ║
║ Real-time Retro Video Art ║
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Transform your webcam feed into retro ASCII art in real-time! ASCII Camera brings back the nostalgic charm of text-based graphics while showcasing your creativity in the terminal.
Features
🎥 Real-time conversion: Live webcam feed to ASCII art
🌈 Colorful output: Support for colored ASCII art with ANSI escape codes
⚡ High performance: Optimized for smooth real-time rendering
🎛️ Customizable: Multiple ASCII character sets and color schemes
📏 Adaptive resolution: Automatically adjusts to your terminal size
🔧 Easy to use: Simple command-line interface
Installation
From PyPI (recommended)
pip install ascii-camera
From source
git clone https://github.com/masashimorita/ascii_camera.git
cd ascii_camera
pip install -e .
Usage
Basic usage
ascii-camera
With custom options
ascii-camera --charset detailed
ascii-camera --color
ascii-camera --width 80 --height 24
ascii-camera --fps 15
ascii-camera --color --theme matrix
Available options
--width, -w
: Terminal width (default: auto-detect)
--height, -h
: Terminal height (default: auto-detect)
--fps
: Frames per second (default: 12)
--charset
: ASCII character set (simple/detailed/block)
--color
: Enable colored output
--theme
: Color theme (matrix/amber/cyan/rainbow)
--camera
: Camera device index (default: 0)
--help
: Show help message
ASCII Character Sets
- Simple:
.:-=+*#%@
(10 levels)
- Detailed:
.,'~!;<>+*xvXGM#8@
(16 levels)
- Block:
░▒▓█
(4 levels, bold look)
Color Themes
- Matrix: Classic green-on-black terminal
- Amber: Retro amber terminal
- Cyan: Cool cyan blue
- Rainbow: Dynamic color mapping
Requirements
- Python 3.8+
- OpenCV (opencv-python)
- NumPy
- Colorama (for Windows color support)
- Webcam/camera device
How it works
- Capture: Uses OpenCV to grab frames from your webcam
- Process: Converts each frame to grayscale and resizes to terminal dimensions
- Map: Maps pixel brightness values to ASCII characters
- Display: Renders the ASCII frame in your terminal with optional colors
- Repeat: Continues the process for real-time video
Troubleshooting
Camera not found
ascii-camera --camera 1
ascii-camera --camera 2
Performance issues
ascii-camera --fps 8
ascii-camera --width 60 --height 20
Terminal compatibility
- Works best with modern terminals that support ANSI escape codes
- For Windows: Use Windows Terminal, ConEmu, or enable ANSI support
Contributing
Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.
License
MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.
Inspiration
Inspired by classic ASCII art and retro terminal aesthetics. Perfect for developers who love the intersection of modern technology and nostalgic computing.