Character Palettes

Character palettes define which ASCII characters represent different brightness levels when converting images or generating content.

Character Palette Section

The character palette section appears in the left sidebar below the tool palette.

Palette Selector

A dropdown shows the active palette. Palettes are grouped:

• Custom - Your created palettes appear first
• Presets - Built-in palettes

Each entry shows the palette name and character count.

Character Grid

The character grid displays all characters in the active palette:

• Characters are ordered from lightest (left) to darkest (right)
• Click a character to select it for drawing
• The currently selected drawing character is highlighted
• Drag characters to reorder them
• Double-click to edit/replace a character

Preset Character Palettes

Minimal ASCII

' '  .  :  ;  +  *  #  @

8 characters. Clean, simple output using only basic keyboard characters.

Standard ASCII

' '  .  ,  :  ;  !  i  l  I  |  /  \  r  c  v  x  z  u  n  o  
e  a  h  k  b  d  p  q  w  m  A  U  J  C  L  Q  O  Z  X  0  
#  M  W  &  8  %  B  @

48 characters. Full keyboard range ordered by visual density. Captures fine detail.

Block Characters

' '  ░  ▒  ▓  █

5 characters. Unicode block elements for clean, solid fills without texture.

Extended Unicode

' '  ·  ∙  •  ○  ◦  ◯  ⦾  ⦿  ░  ▒  ▓  █  ▬  ▭  ▮  ▯
□  ▢  ▣  ▤  ▥  ▦  ▧  ▨  ▩  ■  ◇  ◈  ◉  ◊  ○  ◌  ◍  ◎  ●
△  ▲  ▴  ▵  ▶  ▷  ▸  ▹  ★  ☆  ✦  ✧  ✩  ✪  ✫  ✬

56 characters. Rich artistic symbols for detailed effects.

Dots & Lines

' '  .  ·  ∙  •  -  –  —  ―  ─  |  ¦  │  ║  ┃  /  \  ╱  ╲  ╳  +  ×  ✕  ✗  ✘

25 characters. Fine detail characters for line art and textures.

Retro Computing

' '  .  :  =  +  *  #  &  @  ░  ▒  ▓  █  ▄  ▀  ▌  ▐
┌  ┐  └  ┘  ├  ┤  ┬  ┴  ┼  ╔  ╗  ╚  ╝  ╠  ╣  ╦  ╩  ╬

35 characters. Classic computing aesthetic with box-drawing characters.

Editing Characters

Grid Controls

Below the character grid, control buttons appear:

Adding Characters

1. Select a character for drawing (from the canvas or character picker)
2. Click to add it to the current palette
3. Drag to reorder as needed

Editing Characters

• Double-click any character to open the character picker and replace it
• Select + Edit button - Select a character, then click to replace it

Reordering

• Drag and drop - Grab the handle and drag to a new position
• Arrow buttons - Select a character and use /

Removing Characters

1. Click a character to select it
2. Click to remove it

Palettes must contain at least one character.

Managing Palettes

Click to open the palette manager.

Create New Palette

Click next to the dropdown to create a new empty palette. It starts with a single space character.

Duplicate Palette

In the palette manager, click duplicate on any palette to create an editable copy.

Rename Palette

Custom palettes can be renamed in the palette manager.

Delete Palette

Custom palettes can be deleted. Preset palettes cannot be deleted.

Import & Export

Export

Click to export the current palette as JSON:

{
  "name": "My Character Set",
  "characters": [" ", ".", ":", ";", "+", "*", "#", "@"],
  "category": "custom"
}

Import

Click and paste or upload JSON data. The palette is validated and added to your custom palettes.

Character Mapping in Import

When importing images or videos, character palettes control the conversion:

Mapping Method

Select how pixel values map to characters:

Dithering Modes

Apply dithering for smoother gradients:

Dither Strength

When dithering is enabled, adjust strength from 0% to 100%.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Tips

• Photos: Use 20+ characters for detail
• Simple graphics: 5-8 characters work best
• Block characters: Clean fills without texture
• Mixed palettes: Combine blocks with ASCII for hybrid effects