·building·project·shipped

ascii-art

Multi-layer ASCII art generator with dithering, edge detection, and compositing — browser-native.

github ↗demo ↗

Problem

ASCII art generators tend to be one-shot: throw an image in, get a single grayscale render out. There's no way to layer effects (dithering vs. edge detection vs. luminance ramp) or to compose pieces.

Solution

A browser-based ASCII compositor where each effect is a layer with its own palette, threshold, and blend mode. Stack edge-detected outlines over a dithered fill the same way you'd stack channels in a paint program.

How

  • Stack: TypeScript on the client, no backend.
  • Algorithms: Floyd-Steinberg dithering, Sobel edge detection, configurable luminance ramps.

Results

Live at ascii-art-sable.vercel.app.

Lessons

A "layer" mental model carries over surprisingly well from raster graphics to fixed-width text — the compositing math is the same.