ASCII Video Player

ascii_video_player.py

import cv2
import pygame
import numpy
import functools

# WHAT IS THIS?
# This script is a simple ascii video player made in Python / pygame
# It allows you to drop in videos, or to use the webcam

pygame.init()

select_size = 1280, 720
screen = pygame.display.set_mode(select_size)
clock = pygame.time.Clock()
fps = 140

font = pygame.font.Font("freesansbold.ttf", 10)
display_font = pygame.font.SysFont("Arial", 48)

chars = " .`':il=|fLnvhckeabCUwgAB$NWM@"
thresholds = [0, 6, 12, 18, 27, 39, 48, 54, 60, 69, 75, 81]
thresholds += [90, 96, 102, 111, 117, 123, 132, 138, 144, 153]
thresholds += [159, 165, 171, 180, 186, 213, 243, 249]

characters = [font.render(char, False, "white") for char in chars]
cmw = max(surf.get_width() for surf in characters)
cmh = max(surf.get_height() for surf in characters)
for i in range(len(characters)):
    s = pygame.Surface((cmw, cmh))
    s.blit(characters[i], (0, 0))
    characters[i] = s
cx = cmw
cy = cmh

thresholds = [t * 3 for t in thresholds]
thresholds = list(enumerate(thresholds))

conv = dict()
for x in range(766):
    # I know this is horribly inefficient but it only runs once
    thresholds.sort(key=lambda y: abs(y[1] - x))
    conv[x] = characters[thresholds[0][0]]

vcapture = False
cam = False
select = True

locations = []


def select_option(webcam, vname):
    if webcam and vname:
        raise ValueError("Pick one!")

    if vname:
        # frames are in BGR
        vcapture = cv2.VideoCapture(vname)
        width = int(vcapture.get(cv2.CAP_PROP_FRAME_WIDTH))
        height = int(vcapture.get(cv2.CAP_PROP_FRAME_HEIGHT))
        fps = int(vcapture.get(cv2.CAP_PROP_FPS))  # frame locked at video FPS

    if webcam:
        import pygame.camera

        pygame.camera.init()
        cameras = pygame.camera.list_cameras()
        if len(cameras) == 0:
            raise ValueError("No webcams detected")
        cam = pygame.camera.Camera(cameras[0], (1280, 720))
        cam.set_controls(hflip=True)  # so it doesn't look too weird
        cam.start()
        width, height = cam.get_size()
        fps = 140  # reasonable FPS limit, only refreshes on new webcam frames

    locations.clear()
    x = 0
    y = 0
    while y < height - cy // 2:
        while x < width - cx // 2:
            locations.append((x + cx // 2, y + cy // 2))
            x += cx
        y += cy
        x = 0

    if vname:
        return fps, (width, height), vcapture
    if webcam:
        return fps, (width, height), cam


@functools.lru_cache(maxsize=10000)
def convert(x):
    return conv[sum(x)]


running = True
while running:
    refresh = False
    if vcapture:
        frame = vcapture.read()[1]
        if frame is None:
            select = True
            pygame.display.set_mode(select_size)
            vcapture = False
            fps = 140
        else:
            frame = numpy.fliplr(frame)
            frame = numpy.rot90(frame)
            refresh = True

    if cam:
        if cam.query_image():
            frame = pygame.surfarray.pixels3d(cam.get_image())
            refresh = True

    if select:
        screen.fill("lightgreen")
        pygame.draw.rect(screen, "springgreen3", screen.get_rect(width=110))
        pygame.draw.rect(
            screen, "springgreen3", screen.get_rect(width=110, right=screen.get_width())
        )
        text = display_font.render("ASCII Video Player", True, "black")
        screen.blit(text, text.get_rect(midtop=(1280 / 2, 50)))

        text = display_font.render(
            "To select a video, drag it into the window", True, "black"
        )
        screen.blit(text, text.get_rect(midtop=(1280 / 2, 200)))

        text = display_font.render("To select the webcam, press 0", True, "black")
        screen.blit(text, text.get_rect(midtop=(1280 / 2, 300)))

        pygame.display.flip()

    if refresh:
        # screen.blits + generator expression + caching was the most efficient
        # way I found to do this
        screen.blits(
            ((convert(tuple(frame[x][y])), (x, y)) for x, y in locations),
            doreturn=False,
        )
        pygame.display.flip()

    for event in pygame.event.get():
        if event.type == pygame.QUIT:
            running = False
        if event.type == pygame.DROPFILE:
            fps, size, vcapture = select_option(False, event.file)
            pygame.display.set_mode(size)
            select = False
        if event.type == pygame.KEYDOWN:
            if event.key == pygame.K_0:
                fps, size, cam = select_option(True, False)
                pygame.display.set_mode(size)
                select = False
            if event.key == pygame.K_ESCAPE:
                select = True
                pygame.display.set_mode(select_size)
                vcapture = False
                if cam:
                    cam.stop()
                cam = False
                fps = 140
        if event.type == pygame.MOUSEBUTTONDOWN:
            if event.button == 6:
                select = True
                pygame.display.set_mode(select_size)
                vcapture = False
                if cam:
                    cam.stop()
                cam = False
                fps = 140

    clock.tick(fps)
    pygame.display.set_caption(
        f"ASCII Video Player ({round(clock.get_fps(), 1)} / {fps} FPS)"
    )

if cam:
    cam.stop()
pygame.quit()

Relies on pygame, numpy, and opencv (pip install opencv-python).