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https://github.com/jart/hiptext

Turn images into text better than caca/aalib
https://github.com/jart/hiptext

Last synced: 18 days ago
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Turn images into text better than caca/aalib

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README 

        
# hiptext [![Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/jart/hiptext.svg?branch=master)](https://travis-ci.org/jart/hiptext)



hiptext is command line tool for rendering images and videos inside terminals.



![Last Supper in Macterm](http://i.imgur.com/7TfrQsL.png)



![Happy Cat in Macterm](http://i.imgur.com/cr7sSHh.png)



![Obama in Macterm](http://i.imgur.com/UnfnpMr.png)



## Dependencies



You need clang or gcc >=4.7. You also need to install:



    sudo apt-get install build-essential libpng12-dev libjpeg-dev \

        libfreetype6-dev libavformat-dev libavcodec-dev \

        libswscale-dev libgflags-dev libgoogle-glog-dev ragel



## Installation



    wget https://github.com/jart/hiptext/releases/download/0.2/hiptext-0.2.tar.gz

    tar xvzf hiptext-0.2.tar.gz

    cd hiptext-0.2



    ./configure

    make -j4

    sudo make install



If you get compile or link errors relating to freetype, and you do not have

`freetype-config(1)` on your path, try modifying `Makefile` to adjust the

`LIBFREETYPE_CFLAGS` and `LIBFREETYPE_LIBS` for your system.



## Usage



### Images



Most image types, e.g. JPEG, PNG, GIF, etc. are supported.



    hiptext balls.png



### Videos



You can play videos in your terminal using hiptext. Yes, really.



    youtube-dl -o gangnam-style.mp4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bZkp7q19f0

    hiptext gangnam-style.mp4



### Miscellaneous



    hiptext --spectrum

    hiptext --nocolor balls.png

    hiptext --nocolor --chars=" .oO0" balls.png



## Rendering Modes



### xterm256



By default, hiptext assumes you're using an xterm256 compatible terminal,

e.g. gnome-terminal, without bothering to check the `TERMINAL` environment

variable.



    hiptext --xterm256 balls.png



To double the number of pixels using Unicode half blocks, consider using the

following option, which may become the default in the future:



    hiptext --xterm256unicode balls.png



### MacTerm



The most beautiful terminal for hiptext is the one built into Mac OS X called

Terminal.app. This terminal uses xterm256 but it's implemented using a custom

color palette that was chosen by designers rather than engineers.



But the interesting thing about this palette is that it uses slightly different

colors for foreground and background. By using Unicode half blocks, this allows

us to simulate something closer to 512 colors!



    hiptext --macterm balls.png



However to use this, you *must* be using the black color scheme. After all, why

would you use anything else?



### Unicode



If you want to render an image without the ANSI color escape codes, you can use

the `--nocolor` flag. This will render the image using shaded unicode block

characters.



    hiptext --nocolor balls.png



### ASCII



The no-color mode supports a very simple character quantiser that can convert

images to ASCII. Please understand that if this is what you want, there are

much better tools for the job, like cacalib.



    hiptext --nocolor --chars=" .oO0" balls.png



### SIXEL



If you use a SIXEL terminal, e.g. mlterm >=v3.1.3, then the following flags can

provide much more minute rendering:



    hiptext --sixel256 balls.png           # For 256-color SIXEL terminal such as mlterm (>=v3.1.3)

    hiptext --sixel16 balls.png            # For 16-color SIXEL terminal such as xterm(patch level >= #294) with "-ti vt340 option"

    hiptext --sixel2 balls.png             # For monochrome SIXEL terminals



## Configuration



### Background



By default, hiptext assumes that your terminal background is black. If this is

not the case, you can specify your background color using a CSS or X11 color

string.



    hiptext --bg=white balls.png