# P5.asciify - Apply real-time ASCII conversion to your favorite WebGL p5.js sketches instantly

**URL:** <https://discourse.processing.org/t/p5-asciify-apply-real-time-ascii-conversion-to-your-favorite-webgl-p5-js-sketches-instantly/44893>\
**Category:** Gallery\
**Tags:** contributions\
**Created:** [August 5, 2024, 5:28pm UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/p5-asciify-apply-real-time-ascii-conversion-to-your-favorite-webgl-p5-js-sketches-instantly/44893 "2024-08-05T17:28:57Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![humanbydefinition](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/discourse.processing.org/humanbydefinition/32/20701_2.png) [@humanbydefinition](https://discourse.processing.org/u/humanbydefinition)\
**Post date:** [August 5, 2024, 5:28pm UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/p5-asciify-apply-real-time-ascii-conversion-to-your-favorite-webgl-p5-js-sketches-instantly/44893/1 "2024-08-05T17:28:57Z")

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![p5.asciify.animated-logo](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/uploads/processingfoundation1/original/3X/6/5/656896a577e09145b7115478ae90e65bbf1cbbc9.gif)

Hey everyone, I’d like to introduce my relatively new `p5.js` add-on library `p5.asciify` on here, which I’ve been actively working on over the last month and will continue to do so for the  
foreseeable future.

`p5.asciify` converts the main canvas in `WEBGL` mode into a grid of ASCII characters in real-time, allowing you to bring a retro, text-based aesthetic to your visualizations.

The main goal of `p5.asciify` is to provide an easy-to-use, customizable solution for converting the main `p5.js` canvas into ASCII characters, offering a wide range of settings and effects to adjust the appearance of the ASCII grid to specific needs.

To see `p5.asciify` in action, check out the example sketches in the provided collection on the `p5.js` web editor: [`p5.asciify examples`](https://editor.p5js.org/humanbydefinition/collections/DUa3pcJqn)

The GitHub repository can be found here: [https://github.com/humanbydefinition/p5.asciify](https://github.com/humanbydefinition/p5.asciify)

Besides the source code, it contains a `README` to get you set up with the add-on library, and a `Wiki` that explains and showcases all the functionality and ways for you to manipulate the ASCII conversion.

Feel free to contribute to the development of, report issues, or suggest new features. I highly value your feedback and contributions!

I would also love to see your creations using `p5.asciify`! Feel free to tag me on social media or use the hashtag `#p5asciify` so I can enjoy and share your amazing work too. (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ\*:・ﾟ✧  
_Instagram: humanbydefinition_

Cheers!

_PS: Would’ve loved to provide more links and images, but since I am a completely new user on here, I am unfortunately not yet able to. Peace!_

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**Author:** ![humanbydefinition](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/discourse.processing.org/humanbydefinition/32/20701_2.png) [@humanbydefinition](https://discourse.processing.org/u/humanbydefinition)\
**Post date:** [May 21, 2025, 6:16pm UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/p5-asciify-apply-real-time-ascii-conversion-to-your-favorite-webgl-p5-js-sketches-instantly/44893/2 "2025-05-21T18:16:57Z")

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Hey hey, as `p5.asciify` is slowly reaching the `1.0` version, and with the topic almost being a year old now, I thought it’d be a great time to provide a follow-up.

By now, `p5.asciify` is the most advanced open-source ASCII conversion I am aware of, and I can highly recommend giving it a shot. 👀 _(don’t sleep)_ With it’s real-time rendering capabilities, it’s also a great choice for live coding, and has already been used in live coding performances, as seen here: [https://www.instagram.com/p/DH3uMpJosLa/](https://www.instagram.com/p/DH3uMpJosLa/)

`p5.asciify` even offers `SVG` export now to target pen plotting enthusiasts. 🤠 Unfortunately I haven’t seen anyone giving it a shot yet. 🫠

The rendering process is totally customizeable, and besides using and playing around with pre-defined ASCII converters, it’s also possible to create custom ASCII converters, where you can define each grid cells properties individually. _(there are a lot of properties 🤗)_ To take it a step further `p5.asciify` `v0.9.5` introduced a plugin system where you can turn your custom ASCII converters into a reusable `p5.asciify` add-on libraries to share them with the world. 🙂

With the recent `v0.9.5` release, `p5.asciify` now also supports the new `p5.js` `2.0` versions, starting from `v2.0.2`. ✨

There’s now also a fully fledged documentation page I can highly recommend checking out! Besides the API documentation, it includes guides with interactive sketches, and tons of other useful resources to get started with `p5.asciify`: [https://p5.textmode.art/](https://p5.textmode.art/)

Give it a spin and let me know what you make! 🫶 Any feedback is HIGHLY appreciated!!

 ![accurate textmode chihiro](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/uploads/processingfoundation1/original/3X/3/9/39b8be1dda0cf19b72d00bd843ee6739f722f375.png)  
 ![textmode voxel fractal (private p5.asciify build)](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/uploads/processingfoundation1/original/3X/4/f/4fca2230e750e933d5477aecb57a2798ba95a62d.png)  
 ![result (6)](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/uploads/processingfoundation1/original/3X/e/c/ec7bf4a601c9c4709527d60b680b65894c325698.png)  
 ![loop #1](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/uploads/processingfoundation1/original/3X/1/9/19b5f9fb06d6690b411c6c5bb65490fbffe8794c.gif)  
 ![loop #2](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/uploads/processingfoundation1/original/3X/2/7/27a076da972872ede0953f02adf4c10ce27e8a89.gif)