TextArt

TextArt is a fun and easy-to-use application that can convert images to text art by replacing the pixels with characters.

This used to be a common technique for transmitting text art via programs with no image support, such as IRC clients, as well for publishing it on websites that don't allow photo uploading, like some forums.

It's a Metro app that can be downloaded and installed from the Windows Store with minimum effort, so you can pin it to the Start Screen or Menu for quick access.

The photo-to-text converter is packed in a Modern UI made from a large panel with a white background, where you can find and open a picture from the computer using the built-in file browser. The only file types supported are .jpg, jpeg, .png, .bmp and .gif.

After opening the photo, you can view it in the main window and control the text art by adjusting the number of characters to be displayed in a row. This can be done by clicking and dragging a slider. It affects the overall size of the text art.

Once you click the Generate button, you can preview the output. If you're not pleased with the results, you can go back to make further adjustments. Otherwise, right-click somewhere on the screen to bring up a horizontal bar on the bottom part of the window. It's possible to increase or decrease the font size, as well as to copy the output to the Clipboard.

There is no option implemented for saving the text art to file. But you can take a screenshot of the output and share the image using another installed Modern UI app, such as Microsoft OneNote.

To sum it up, TextArt offers a straightforward solution and intuitive options to help generate text from images.