ASCII Art Studio

It's pretty difficult to define art since it's made out of everything and under any shape possible. Variety is further enhanced by computer applications, with video and image editing programs that let you create 2D and 3D works of art, but there's also a particular type that certainly appeals to heavy computer users. As the name suggests, ASCII Art Studio is dedicated to this type, letting you unleash your imagination and combine characters to create unique visual patterns.

With a short and uneventful installation being enough to deploy the application on your system, you'll be up and running in a matter of seconds from the moment the download is finished. The design also helps with accommodation because the interface is cleverly simple, with a side panel holding all tools, with more than enough space to draw and view your work.

Little time needs to be spent snooping through features and you quickly realize the set is not abundant. However, putting them to good use enables you to create everything you imagine. This is because of the implemented creation methods, which let you manually draw with characters or convert images to ASCII art.

By default, your workspace is fitted with a character map which is conveniently placed at the bottom. You can move it anywhere you see fit, and the same goes for the side panel, letting you configure your workspace for more comfort. Characters can be changed by selecting one of the various encoding types to use, which adds even more to flexibility.

Creating art is done by combining them with the tools you are given. Unlike most drawing utilities, this application leaves traces of characters in various shapes, depending on the selected tool. In this regard, you can use freehand, brush, eraser, fill tool, big text, lines, curves and geometrical shapes, and all of them fitted with adjustment settings for shape and size.

If you feel like inspiration is not by your side, hope is not lost at all. With the help of an import tool, you can load JPG, BMP and GIF files to be converted to ASCII art. Several adjustment options are at your disposal prior to feedback, and let you specify a custom size value, as well as what characters to use and exclude.

Proper management of these values can lead to stunning results you might quickly want to share with your friends. The generated image can be further tweaked with available drawing tools to add your personal touch. Finally, the result is saved as a GIF image or printed out on a sheet of paper. There's also the possibility to copy the image because it's rendered as text and inserting it in any text field keeps formatting options, thus your image intact.

Taking everything into consideration, we can say that ASCII Art Studio lives up to expectations and can be used by beginners and experts alike. Even though ASCII does not tickle your fancy, seeing how images are transformed in characters arranged to resemble the original is a fun experience. Multiple character encoding types, customizable brushes and topping it off with a cleverly simple interface make this application worth more than a try.