ansimake

Quickly convert pixel images of ANSI art created with AI to actual ANSI art.

Features

• 🎨 True Color Support - Full 24-bit RGB color rendering
• 🖼️ Multiple Formats - Supports PNG, JPEG, GIF, and more
• 📐 Smart Sizing - Automatically fits to terminal size or custom dimensions
• 🎭 Two Rendering Modes:
  • Half-block mode (default) - Uses foreground and background colors for higher detail
  • Block mode - Uses full blocks
• 🎯 Color Quantization - Optional CIELAB-based color reduction for smoother output

Installation

cargo install ansimake

Or build from source:

git clone https://github.com/yourusername/ansimake.git
cd ansimake
cargo build --release

Usage

Basic Usage

ansimake image.png

Command Line Options

ansimake [OPTIONS] <IMAGE_PATH>

Options:
  -b, --bw              Convert to black and white
  -w, --width <WIDTH>   Output width (maintains aspect ratio if height not specified)
      --height <HEIGHT> Output height (overrides aspect ratio if specified with width)
  -t, --tolerance <TOL> Color tolerance/distance threshold (default: 0)
  -B, --blocks          Use block characters with foreground colors only
  -h, --help            Print help

Examples

The goal was to built a tool that converts an ansi-looking source image to its actual ANSI output, and so it works best in these conditions

Before

After

# Convert with custom width
ansimake photo.jpg -w 100

# Black and white conversion
ansimake image.png -b

# Use block mode for simpler rendering
ansimake image.png -B

# Color quantization for smoother output
ansimake image.png -t 15

Library Usage

use ansimake::{Image, ConversionConfig};

fn main() -> Result<(), Box<dyn std::error::Error>> {
    // Load an image
    let img = Image::load("image.png")?;

    // Optionally convert to grayscale
    let img = img.to_grayscale();

    // Configure conversion
    let config = ConversionConfig {
        size: (80, 24),
        use_blocks: true,
        color_tolerance: 10.0,
        ..Default::default()
    };

    // Convert to ANSI art
    let ansi_art = img.to_ansi(&config);
    println!("{}", ansi_art);
    Ok(())
}

Requirements

• Rust 1.70+ (for building from source)
• A terminal with true color support (most modern terminals)

License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.