Char Studio.
The problem
I wanted a way to turn images into ASCII and character art that gave me real creative control, not just a one-click converter. The tools I found either lacked the features I needed or didn't have the look I wanted, and none of them kept everything in one place in the browser.
What I built
I started from a basic open-source generator and rebuilt it around how I actually work, built in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. It now has a growing set of rendering modes (dithering, halftone, pixelate, heatmap, and color shift and more), multiple character sets and dithering algorithms, live webcam input, and fine control over every result, all in a clean interface that runs right in the browser.
I use it to make custom assets for my own design work without relying on third-party software. It's free for anyone to use, and I'm adding new modes and features as I go. If you try it, I'd love to hear what you'd make with it or what you'd want next.
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