Hack 66. Turn Video into Matrix-Style Symbols

AfterdownloadingASCIIMoviePlayeryouwillhaveafoldercontainingfour

items:ASCIIMoviePlayer,ASCIIMoviePlayer.pbproj,build(afolder),and

qtplyr.c.Theoneyouaregoingtobemostinterestedinisthefilenamed

ASCIIMoviePlayer,whichistheactualapplication.



Theotherfilescontainthepiecesnecessaryforyoutobuildthe

applicationfromscratch.Theactualsourcecodefortheapplicationis

inqtplyr.c,shouldyouwishtoseehowitworksorevenenhanceit.If

youhaveinstalledtheDeveloper'sTools,includedwithMacOSX,

youcandouble-clickASCIIMoviePlayer.pbprojtoworkwiththe

sourcecode.



6.7.2.RunningASCIIMoviePlayer

TorunASCIIMoviePlayer,youneedtoruntheTerminalapplication.Ifyouare

notfamiliarwithTerminal,youcanfinditintheUtilitiesfolder.Thedefault

colorforTerminalisblacktextonawhitebackground.

IfyouwouldliketochangethecolorofthetextandbackgroundinTerminal,

chooseTerminal WindowSettings Color.Thereisasetofpreselected

colorschemes,oneofwhichisGreenonBlack.Youcanalsocustomizethe

colorcombination,ifyousodesire.

TorunamoviethroughASCIIMoviePlayer,drag-and-dropthe

ASCIIMoviePlayerapplicationtotheTerminalwindow.Then,drag-and-dropa

movieyouwouldliketoplay(ofcourse,youcantypeoutthecommandsifyou

sodesire).



Whenyoudrag-and-dropafileontheTerminalwindow,youwill

noticethatthepathofthefileappearsautomatically.Thisisthe

expectedbehavior.



BeforehittingtheReturnkey,youshouldmaximizetheTerminalwindowby

clickingontheZoombutton(thesmallgreenbuttonintheupper-leftcornerof

thewindow).Figure6-20showsaTerminalwindowabouttorun

ASCIIMoviePlayerusingamoviecalledmymovie.mov.

Figure6-20.Terminal,readytoshowamovie



Onceyouareprepared,presstheReturnkeyandwatchthecharactersstream

alongyourscreen.Youshouldbeabletoseeyourmoviewithinthestreaming

characters.Figure6-21showsaframefromamovieplayingin

ASCIIMoviePlayer.

Figure6-21.DidyoutaketheRedPill?



6.7.3.AlternateApproaches

ThereareotherprogramsthatarecapableofconvertingmoviestoASCII.

QuickASCII(http://sourceforge.net/projects/quickascii/;free,opensource)is



basedonASCIIMoviePlayer,butithasaddedoptionalcoloroutputand

performanceenhancements.QuickASCIIrunsonLinux,MacOSX,andother

Unix-likeoperatingsystems.

MPlayer(http://www.mplayerhq.hu/homepage/;free,opensource)isavideo

playerthatisavailableforWindows,MacOSX,Linux,andjustaboutevery

otheroperatingsystemontheplanet.Itisacapablemediaplayerinitsown

right,butifyouaddAA-lib(http://aa-project.sourceforge.net/aalib/;free,open

source),youcangetMPlayertooutputASCIImoviesbyusingthe-voaa

argument.IfyouhavetroublebuildingAA-lib,thereisaninstallerpackageat

http://sveinbjorn.vefsyn.is/aalib.IfyouwanttoaddcolorASCIIoutput,youcan

addthelibcacalibrary(http://sam.zoy.org/projects/libcaca/).



6.7.4.HackingtheHack

Sure,watchingthevideoisfunforawhile,butifyouwantto,youcanintegrate

itsoutputintoyourmovie.Forexample,youcantakeaneditedscenefromyour

movieanddissolvetothecontinuationofthescene,onlyASCIIfied.Therearea

couplewaystoaccomplishthiseffect:

Youcanrecordyourcomputermonitorwithyourdigitalvideocamera.If

youusethisapproach,youwillneedtoframetheimagecarefully,butyou

dothatforallofyourshotsanyway,right?Youmightalsohavetochange

yourcamera'sandcomputermonitor'ssettingsinordertocapturetheimage

withoutflicker[Hack#32].

Youcanuseascreen-recordingprogramandcapturetheASCIImovieasa

digitalmovie.Idonotrecommendthismethodunlessyouhaveveryfast

hardwareandanabundanceofharddrivespace.

ThereisalsoavirtualcommunityofpeoplecreatingandworkingwithASCII

art.ThereareASCIIwebcams,ASCIIpictures,andevenASCIIcartoons.

ASCII…whowouldathought?



Hack67.CreateaSurrealScene



Usingalayeringtechnique,placepeople"inside"asurrealenvironment,

suchasadreamsequence.

Therearelimitedgenresandscenariosinwhich,asamovieproducer,youcan

letyourimaginationrunwild.Onescenarioinwhichthisoccursiswhenyouare

attemptingtoconveyadream.Well,ifyoucanalterrealityinadream,whynot

alteritinanunusualfashion?Youcanplaceyourcharactersinawatercolor

meadow,acrayon-coloredoffice,or,ifyou'reartisticallychallenged,a

computer-renderedplanetsurface.



YoucanalsofollowNASA'sleadandvisitMars!Imagesareavailable

fromtheSpiritandOpportunityRoversat

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all/.



6.8.1.CreatingYourForegroundandBackground

Youwillbecreatingacompleteenvironmentwhereyourcharacterswillinteract.

Inordertoachievethis,youwillneedtocreatebothaforegroundanda

backgroundimagetobelayeredinfrontofandbehindyourcharacters,

respectively.Yourforegroundimageshouldconsistofprops,suchasdesks,or

cars.Thesepropswillbeusedtoprovideanillusionofdepth.

Whenchoosingamediumonwhichtocreateyourforeground,chooseacolor

youdonotplanonusinginyourforegroundartwork.Thisisbecauseyouwillbe

transferringyourartworkandaddingittoyourscene.Inordertodoso,youneed

tokeyoutthecolorofthemediumyouhavechosen.Otherwise,partsofyour

imagewillbemadetransparentalongwithyourbackground.Forexample,ifyou



haveselectedtocreateyourforegroundartworkonasheetofgreenpaperboard,

youshouldnotuseanygreeninyouractualartwork.

Someeditingsystemsarecapableofremovingonlyblueorgreen

backgrounds.Makesureyouknowthecapabilitiesofyoursystem

priortodoinganyproductionwork.



Yourbackgroundimageshouldcovertheentiresurfaceofwhatevermediumyou

areusing(ornot,ifthat'syourartisticvision).Thebackgroundofyoursequence

shouldalsoprovidesometypeofperspective,includingahorizonline.

6.8.1.1.Usingartsuppliestomakeyourimages.

Ifyouaremoreartistic,paint,color,anddrawyourwaytotheenvironmentof

yourdreams.Keepinmindthatwhenyouhavefinished,youwillneedtoimport

yourworkintoyourcomputer.Therefore,youshouldcreatesomethingthatcan

beeasilytransferredtoyourcomputer.

Ifyouhaveascanner,scanyourimageatahigh-resolutionsetting.Eventhough

youwillbeusingonlya720x480image(720x576forPAL),itisalwaysbetter

tohavemoredetailavailableshouldyouneedtomanipulatetheimage.Ifyoudo

nothaveascanneravailable,youcanjustaseasilyuseyourvideocamerato

recordyourartwork.Whenusingavideocamera,makesureyoubothlightthe

imageappropriatelyandkeepitframed.Agoodmethodistocapturetheimage

usingatripodtostabilizeyourcamera.

6.8.1.2.Usingyourcomputertomakeyourimages.

Ifyoufallintotheartisticallychallengedcategory,asIdo,youcancreateyour

backgroundusingyourcomputer.Oneprogramthatisexceptionallyadeptat

creatinglandscapesandenvironmentsisDAZ|Studio

(http://www.daz3d.com/studio/;free).DAZ|Studioisaneasytouseprogramthat