dotmax

Render anything in terminal braille. Images, GIFs, videos, webcam - one line of code.

Gallery

Color Rendering

Full-color image rendering with braille dots	Color rendering with tuner overlay
High-detail color closeup	Medium-resolution color render

Monochrome & Pixel Sizes

8px monochrome braille	Small pixel density
Small pixel snake render	Large pixel with shading enabled
Large pixel monochrome	Animated GIF playback in terminal

3D, Audio & More

3D sphere wireframe (OBJ rendering)	Sphere with I/O overlay
3D snake head model	Audio spectrograph visualization
Grid/oscilloscope formation

Install

cargo add dotmax --features image

One-Line Usage

use dotmax::quick;

quick::show_file("photo.png")?;    // Any image
quick::show_file("cat.gif")?;      // Animated GIF (plays automatically)
quick::show_file("movie.mp4")?;    // Video (requires 'video' feature)
quick::show_webcam()?;             // Live webcam (requires 'video' feature)

Features

# Cargo.toml - pick what you need
[dependencies]
dotmax = { version = "0.1", features = ["image"] }           # Images only
dotmax = { version = "0.1", features = ["image", "svg"] }    # Images + SVG
dotmax = { version = "0.1", features = ["video"] }           # Video + webcam

Video feature requires FFmpeg installed on your system.

Quick API Reference

use dotmax::quick;

// Display (blocks until keypress or video ends)
quick::show_file("any.png")?;           // Auto-detect format
quick::show_image("photo.jpg")?;        // Static image only
quick::show_webcam()?;                  // Default webcam
quick::show_webcam_device(0)?;          // Webcam by index
quick::show_webcam_device("/dev/video1")?;  // Webcam by path

// Load without displaying
let grid = quick::load_image("photo.png")?;  // Returns BrailleGrid
quick::show(&grid)?;                         // Display manually

// Create empty grid
let mut grid = quick::grid()?;  // Terminal-sized

Drawing Primitives

use dotmax::prelude::*;

let mut grid = grid()?;
draw_line(&mut grid, 0, 0, 100, 50)?;
draw_circle(&mut grid, 50, 25, 20)?;
draw_rectangle(&mut grid, 10, 10, 80, 40)?;
show(&grid)?;

Animation Loop

use dotmax::animation::AnimationLoop;

AnimationLoop::new(80, 24)
    .fps(30)
    .on_frame(|frame, grid| {
        grid.clear();
        grid.set_dot((frame * 2) % 160, 48)?;
        Ok(true)  // Return false to stop
    })
    .run()?;

Examples

# Basic (no features needed)
cargo run --example hello_braille
cargo run --example bouncing_ball
cargo run --example shapes_demo

# Images
cargo run --example load_image --features image
cargo run --example dither_comparison --features image

# Animated GIF/APNG
cargo run --example animated_gif --features image -- your.gif
cargo run --example animated_apng --features image -- your.apng

# Video (needs FFmpeg)
cargo run --example video_player --features video -- your.mp4

# Webcam (needs FFmpeg + camera)
cargo run --example webcam_viewer --features video
cargo run --example webcam_tuner --features video   # Interactive settings

Tuners

Tuners let you find the best render settings visually. Adjust dithering, brightness, contrast, etc. in real-time and see the results instantly.

Why use a tuner?

Different images/videos look best with different settings. Instead of guessing values in code, use the tuner to experiment live, then copy the settings you like.

Webcam Tuner

cargo run --example webcam_tuner --features video

Video/Image Tuner

cargo run --example render_tuner --features video -- your_video.mp4
cargo run --example render_tuner --features image -- your_image.png

Tuner Controls

What the settings do

• Dithering: How dots are distributed. Floyd-Steinberg = smooth gradients, Bayer = patterned, Atkinson = high contrast, None = pure threshold
• Threshold: Brightness cutoff for black vs white. Auto (Otsu) calculates optimal value. Manual lets you pick 0-255
• Brightness/Contrast/Gamma: Standard image adjustments. Useful for dark or washed-out sources

Performance

License

MIT OR Apache-2.0