Short:        Converts IFF pictures to ascii pictures
Author:       ukjg@rz.uni-karlsruhe.de
Type:         gfx/conv
Architecture: m68k-amigaos


ILBM2ASCII                                                 @@@@@@@@@@@@@[
----------                                                 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

by Tobias Ferber                                           mmmmmmmmmmmmmi
based on iff2ascii.amos by Matthew Stratfold               @A***********!
                                                           @[
                                                           @[
What's it do?                                              @[
-------------                                              @[
It converts IFF pictures into an ASCII representation.
The program will antialiase the text by selecting the      mmmmmmmmmmmmmi
best characters to make the edge.  Characters are also     @A****M@****@[
selected for their density when shading.                   @[    ]@    @[
                                                           @[    ]@    @[
How to use it:                                             @[    ]@    @[
-------------                                              Y@_  _@@W__W@`
The program can be invoked from the shell in the normal    'M@@@@A~*@@A`
way or by running the arexx script use either:               '~~`

ilbm2ascii [ilbm-file] > [ascii file]
rx ILBM2ASCII.rexx FROM [ilbm file] TO [ascii file]
                                                           @@@@@@@@@@@@@[
If you have ARexx running you can double click the icon    ~~~~~~~~~XX@@[
and start it from the Workbench and select the picture         __mW@A*~`
and destination file using file requesters.                _mW@A*~`
                                                           @@b_.
How it works:                                               ~V*@@ms_.
------------                                                    '~V*@@ms.
The program looks at pixel blocks of 2x3 pixels and        mmmmmmmmmmW@@[
selects a character that best matches that block.          *************!
Consequently the ASCII picture will be much bigger and
and a differnt aspect ratio than the original IFF.         @@m_    ims.
You may want to adjust your IFF before conversion to       @PV@W.  !*M@b
compensate for this.  If you want to know more then have   @[ '@W.    V@[
a look at the source that's included.                      @[  '@W.    @[
                                                           @[   !@@s__W@`
Preparation of the pictures:                               @[    '*@@@*`
---------------------------                                s_
The program assumes that any non background colour is      M@@Ws_
a colour.  For this reason you should use 2 colour           ~V@@@Wm_
images.  If you want to convert images with more colours       @['~*@@Wm.
then load them in to your favourite imgage processor           @[   _d@@[
and dither a 2 colour image from that.  ILBM2ASCII will        @bmW@@*f~
select a character whose density best matches the dither.   ,_m@@@*f~
                                                           @@*f`
                                                           `
Distribution etc:                                           gW@[  ,gmms.
----------------                                           d@*~` ,@@**@@.
The Conversion Table is inspired by Jorn Barger's         i@!    d@!   MW
alt.ascii art FAQ which had the table by Rob Harley in    ]@     @@    ]@
it.                                                       !@.   ]@[   ,WP
                                                           MWs_g@A  im@A`
The program is freely distributable, though keep the        VM@@*`  !*~
archive together and give credit where it's due.
                                                             _mm@@@Wms.
Feel free to include this any archives and libraries       ,W@**~~~V*@@s
do not charge any money other than an amount to cover      @A`        V@i
media, duplication and distribution.                      ]@`          Y@
                                                          ]@           ]@
All programming by Tobias Ferber.                         '@b         ,@P
(ukjg@rz.uni-karlsruhe.de)                                 !@Wm_    ,g@A`
                                                            'VM@    ]Af
ILBM2ASCII is a C coded FAST program based on IFF2ASCII
which was an AMOS program by Matthew Stratfold. Who also   mmmmmmmmmmmmmi
helped out on this doc, examples and the-rat icon.         *************!

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This program is BeerWare - if you like it go and buy yourself a beer :-)