# Is There A Software Program That Does This?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-software-program-that-does-this/364640>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 15, 2006, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-software-program-that-does-this/364640 "2006-07-15T19:06:11Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\
**Post date:** [July 15, 2006, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-software-program-that-does-this/364640/1 "2006-07-15T19:06:11Z")

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I’m guessing there is, but I’ve not heard of it Some time ago someone posted a link to an animated version of the famous “bullet dodge” scene in _The Matrix_. The animation was done using alphanumeric characters that moved and changed shading to show the figures, spaces, etc. Of course, it’s entirely possible that someone did all of it by hand, as it were, as I’ve seen paintings that were done in a similar style, but good, lord, to do an _animated_ scene like that “by hand” (as it were) would take _ages!_

So is there a program that does it automatically, or did the person do it by hand?

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**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\
**Post date:** [July 15, 2006, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-software-program-that-does-this/364640/2 "2006-07-15T19:14:42Z")

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There are programs that will take the various movie formats (.mov, .divx, .avi, etc.) and convert them to ascii animations. Google for “make ascii movie.”

[This](http://www.freedownloadscenter.com/Multimedia_and_Graphics/Graphics_Editors/Magic_ASCII_Studio.html) seems to be the most popular.

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**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\
**Post date:** [July 15, 2006, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-software-program-that-does-this/364640/3 "2006-07-15T19:23:03Z")

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Wow, I post a question and less than 10 minutes later you show up with the answer, that’s gotta be some kind of record. Thanks!

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**Author:** ![Omphaloskeptic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bcef8e/32.png) [@Omphaloskeptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omphaloskeptic)\
**Post date:** [July 16, 2006, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-software-program-that-does-this/364640/4 "2006-07-16T23:26:30Z")

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For a really twisted application of this sort of thing (this one uses aalib), see [here](http://webpages.mr.net/bobz/ttyquake/).

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**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\
**Post date:** [July 17, 2006, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-software-program-that-does-this/364640/5 "2006-07-17T02:16:15Z")

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IMHO, it would have been much cooler if they had done it in the katakana symbols that scroll down the screen in the matrix. Are there any ascii art generators for other charecter sets? Although I guess it would be called unicode art.