
URL:         http://www.math.fu-berlin.de/~guckes/ascii/
Created:     Mon Mar 11 11:11:11 MET 1996
Last update: Thu Aug 20 18:00:00 CEST 1998
ASCII Pages - alt.ascii-art 




Overview 
Description | Usage | Newsgroups | Etiquette | Signatures | Collections | 
Programs | What *is* ASCII Art?

 
ASCII Art - A Description 
ASCII Art is text. Text consist of characters. Characters consists of pixels. 
Problems about definition: The pixels of a character are not fixed. They depend 
on the font type and the size. Therefore ASCII pictures show up differently on 
terminals. 
A byte consists of eight bits making up for 256 different values. ASCII 
(American Standard Code of Information Interchange) defines 128 of them with 
associated symbols. These symbols should be unique throughout all fonts. The 
other 128 can be associated with other symbols, depending on the font. They are 
therefore *not* unique and thus are not used with ASCII Art. 



ASCII Art - Usage 
There seem to be quite some uses for ASCII Art. The most apparent use is for 
viewing some picture on a computer terminal. Therefore you see them in online 
talk and online games, but also in email and ezines, and in signatures on 
Usenet. 
Some people print them out and give them to their children for coloring. 



ASCII Art - Newsgroups 
The Usenet "newsgroups" dealing with ASCII Art are alt.ascii-art and 
rec.arts.ascii. 



ASCII Art - Etiquette 
Requesting Pictures - BAD Examples 
Give me a picture of X!
Send me pictures!
I want pictures - send them!
Basically, anything demanding a request is stupid. 
Requesting Pictures - GOOD Examples 
I am new to this group.  Is there a FAQ?
I am looking for ASCII pictures of X.
It would be nice if someone set me some.
Thanks!
Politeness never hurts anyone.

 
ASCII Art - Signatures 
Frequently Asked Questions 
Q: How do I create a signature?
A: $ touch $HOME/.signature

Q: What should I put into my signature?
A: Full name and *one* email address.

Q: How big should a signature be?
A: At most four lines with a maximum of 80 characters per line.

Q: What can I put into my signature?
A: Full name and *one* email address, and anything that fits into the 4x80 box.

Q: Is 4x80 the maximum?
A: Yes.  Period.  Anything else is megalomania.

Q: Where can I see examples of signatures?
A: Sven's Signature Collection http://www.math.fu-berlin.de/~guckes/afw/sig.collection
   Sven's Signatures           http://www.math.fu-berlin.de/~guckes/sig/SIGS

Q: I want a signature!  Give me one!
A: Make one youself!

Q: Could someone make me a signature with X and Y?
A: Perhaps - if you ask nicely.

Q: Would someone help me create a signature with something cool?
A: OK - what do you think is cool?

Q: I want another signature - what to do?
A: Change any character of your current signature.

Q: Would someone help me create a signature with a scene from "ID4"?
   A few hundred fighters would be cool.
A: I doubt they'd fit into a 4x80 signature box.  Anything more subtle?

Q: Would someone help me create a signature with an X fighter?
A: OK - here you are:

	-- 
	FirstName LastName userid@host.domain
	\ /
	 X
	/ \

Q: How do I become an ascii artist?
A: Get a degree in arts at some university.  Or claim to be on one on Usenet.
   Or post random texts like mad - one of them might think you are an artist.

Q: ASCII pictures always look strange on my screen.
   While the 'i' is quite thin the 'm' is quite wide.
   I always have to use another program to see pics properly.
   What can I do to see them correctly?
A: The program which views the picture uses a font where characters have
   different width.  Tell your program to use a font where all characters
   have the same width.  That's one of the requirements for viewing pics.
   If you do not know which program you are using then you definitely lose.
   If you do not have any info on the program then you should find one.
   If you do not understand the documentation of the program then ask.
   If you ask on Usenet then make sure that you ask at the proper newsgroups!
   If you post without meeting the requirements then you *will* be flamed!
   You have been warned!

Q: Which editors can you recommend for making ASCII pictures?
A: 1) VIM
      UNIX, DOS, Macintosh, Atari, Amiga, ...
   2) JOE
      DOS: ftp://ftp.std.com/src/msdos/editors/joe2x2.zip
      UNIX:ftp://ftp.std.com/src/msdos/editors/joe2.8.tar.Z

Q: How can I get my name in big letters?
A: http://www.inf.utfsm.cl/cgi-bin/figlet/service
A: http://www2.webserve.net/gateways/figletgateway.pl



ASCII Art - Collections 
Web Pages of other people. 
    ASCII Artists 
    URL: http://www.afn.org/~afn39695/collect.htm 
    The biggest list of links to "ASCII Artists". 
    ASCII Comic Strips [970123,980820] 
    URL: http://www3.sympatico.ca/petecasso/ 
    OLD: http://members.aol.com/petecasso/ 
    Cartoon characters Frogstein, Birdstein, Catstein, Dogstein, and 
    Flowerstein. Also gets posted to alt.ascii-art and truly is something 
    different on that newsgroup. Very nice! 
    Author: Pete Casso petecasso@sympatico.ca OLD: petecasso@aol.com 
    ASCII Aeroplanes Collection [961005] 
    URL: http://www.servtech.com/public/ptomblin/planes.html 
    Now with approximately 350 aircraft. 
    Author: Paul Tomblin ab401@freenet2.carleton.ca 
    ASCII Collection by Joan Stark 
    URL: http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/7373/ 
    Cartoon characters, Animals, Mythical Creatures & Beings/Celestial Items, 
    Seasonal Items, Odds 'N Ends (things, people, flags, fonts, misc), Solid to 
    Line Conversions, Thoughts... 
    Author: Joan Stark spunk1111@juno.com 
    ASCII Page by Don Bertino 
    URL: http://www.calweb.com/~bertino/disney.html 
    A big archive of all kinds of pictures and animations of Disney characters. 
    Don Bertino is a moderator of rec.arts.ascii . 
    Author: Don Bertino bertino@netcom.com 
    ASCII Collection by Allen Mullen [970302] 
    URL: http://www.inetw.net/~mullen/asciiart.htm 
    Allen Mullen is a backup moderator of the newsgroup rec.arts.ascii . A lot 
    of his pictures are in color. 
    [970401] 
    ASCII Art by "The Dutch Dude" 
    URL: http://www.geocities.com/Paris/5997/ 
    Animals, Disney, Valentine, X-mas, Other, Famous People, Transport, 
    Garfield, New, Easter 
    The pictures of The Dutch Dude are of type "screenful", and thus look good 
    on printouts. 
    ASCII Babes Collection [961005] 
    URL: http://www.ifi.uio.no/~alfo/asciibabes.html 
    ASCII Babes waiting for being downloaded. Nine of them, last I checked. 
    Author: Alf Marius Foss Olsen alfo@ifi.uio.no 
    ASCII in Color [961218] 
    URL: http://home.earthlink.net/~solution 
    Three nices examples. 
    Author: Paul Burton solution@earthlink.net 
    ASCII Art (animated and dead) by Donovan bakd@gwtc.net [980526] 
    URL: http://www.geocities.com/Paris/LeftBank/6558/ascii.html 
    URL: http://www.geocities.com/Paris/LeftBank/6558/ascii.html 



Programs 
    FIGlet 
    URL: http://st-www.cs.uiuc.edu/users/chai/figlet.html 
    A "banner" program. It changes text into big letters made of ASCII 
    characters. Lots of different font types. 
    FIGWin 
    URL: http://home.earthlink.net/~solution/ 
    FIGWin - FIFlet for Windows 



ASCII Art - a personal opinion 
What is ASCII Art? 
Some define it solely as the conversion of a picture to an ASCII file. But I 
disagree with that as anyone can use a program that does the job. There is some 
art in programming, but not much art is starting a program. Therefore a 
converted picture does not count as art. Sorry. 
The result of a conversion can be improved by using a better resolution of the 
picture - but this leads to an enormous amount of data. But if I wanted a good 
picture with no restriction to its size then I rather see pictures with color. 
What amazes me most are small ASCII pictures that represent an object. So for me 
the art consists in using a minimal amount of data for such a representation of 
an object. 
Disagree all you want. ;-) 
[961201] 
You want ASCII pictures? You get 'em! :-) 
The pictures you will find here mostly are little ones. They usually are only up 
to four lines long so as to fit into signatures. 
However, there are also some bigger ones. Those have been selected because they 
are exceptional in one way or the other. 
NOTE: NO ANSI stuff here. And no converted pictures from other formats (such as 
GIF), either. These tend to be big and are much better viewed in real life. 
Besides, I rather let other people spend their quota on this. ;-) 


Send feedback on this page to
. 
Sven Guckes guckes@math.fu-berlin.de 
