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From: pk6811s@acad.drake.edu
Newsgroups: alt.ascii-art
Subject: gif->ascii converters
Date: 8 Jun 94 11:48:25 CST
Organization: Drake University, Des Moines, Iowa
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In article <2t2sef$mra@mailhost.interaccess.com>, ylsul@elmer.elmer.harvard.edu (Young Sul) writes:
> 
> So let me post!
> I haven't seen the FAQ, soooo, are there any good gif->ascii converters
> around? I'm interested in those for UNIX systems and also those for 
> Macintoshes....

The original gif->ascii converter is ascgif, author John Ferrell.  It
works by replacing a pixel in the image with an ascii character that
approximates the 'brightness' of the pixel, using a table of 16 ascii chars.
A revised version was released as Gif2Ascii.  Both programs are non-
compatible with gif89 files.

I made an attempt to improve the conversion of pixels to ascii with Gifscii.
It is structured and runs a lot like ascgif, using some of the original
code for reading the gif into memory.  Gifscii uses a larger set of
characters and attempts to mimic several pixels with each char.  Some
work was also done to allow compilation of Gifscii on multiple platforms,
which is why the program looks the same no matter what machine you run
it on - except on those which it crashes :-) 

Both programs convert only to black-and-white.

Actually, gif-to-ascii is ripe for research into better algorithms.

Anyway, here's where you can find Gifscii:

ftp.ncsu.edu in the /pub/ncsu/chking/Archive/Gifscii directory:

    ALPHAGifscii.exe       <- Digital Alpha
    Gifscii.exe            <- msdos
    Gifscii.lha            <- Amiga
    Gifscii.ux             <- unix (Sun)
    MacGifscii.hqx         <- Macintosh
    VAXGifscii.exe         <- Digital VAX

    Gifsciiv2.2src         <- latest c-source

The executables are compressed by the program of the donor's choice.

Paul Kline       @c@      pk6811s@acad.drake.edu
  - ignorance exceeded only by inquisitance -