image to ascii converter that takes the shape of character into account

Hi.

A couple of years ago, there was a challenge for the best ascii art
generator
(image to ascii art) I don't know the results though.

I searched the net, but all stuff I found works by 'character
brightness' and treats characters as pixels. The result is either very
huge images - loss of all details, nothing that would ever fit into an
neat email signature or similar.
Hand creating is always an option of course, but I would like to know
if anyone knows a good program for line-art to ASCII conversion.

Years ago I wrote my own software for this, its a part of motiontrack
(http://motiontrack.sourceforge.net) and attempts to find the best
possible ASCII character for every part of the image by weighted
pattern matching.

I am thinking about getting that project out of the fridge and
improving it a bit. Is there anything out there that's better, so I
can compare results?


regards

Corvus

PS: obascii :

this is the (crappy) source image
http://cybertrench.com/test2.png

this is the result of a conversion:

> menhance test2.png -q 75 -s 210 x.png >/dev/null 2>&1;
> masciiart x.png 2>/dev/null |sed -e 's/^/> /'
>
>                                                          _/
>                                                        _/'           ,/'
>                                                       /'           ,"         ,*'
>                    _we^^m                           _/           ,/         ,/
>                 _m^~                               j'          ,/         ,/
>               _*'                                _/          _/         _/'
>             _/'                                 ,'          /'         /'
>            j'     _,am*mm--ww_                 p'         ,~         ,"
>           p'    w^~          ~\_             _f          /'         /'
>          p    ,"               "            ,'         _/         _/
>         j'   /     _mmmemw_     l          j'         j'         j'
>         '   f    _/'       \    I         j'         /          /
>        ]   j    p' l_a*mq`  L   f         '        _/          /
>        '   '   j'  #L   F  j'  q'      _,         ,'         j'
>       j   j    I   ~   /   f   f      j@         ,'         /'
>       I        t     j~  _f   /      jQ'        r'         /
>       |    b_   "^^^"  _a'   /      j#F         '         f
>       ]     "w,_   __jm~   _/      q#f      _           ,'
>        ,       ~"""~~    _/'      _##       Q           ~
>        ~w              _/'       /dV^     _@          /
>          \w_       __m^'        { #,      #          &
>            ~"^^mm^"~           ` q@I     #'         f
>                               /  #Q[    d'        _A                                       ,    ,
>                             _^  Jfq    j(        _g'                            q          '   _'
>                             '     f   j@1        #'  ._______                   -l        &    f
>                            `     j   _#"B'      &'         ~~"g       _jM^w    j 1       qQ   f
>                           /      '  /A' #      jY            a'      r~ ' j    d^^       fI  /
>                          /      7  j0Y  f      #           _/       p     f    H_       j I q'
>                                 ' jM ' j'     #H          /'       j'    j    j ]       ' I [
>                                7 /Y    #     #'j,       ,'         !    j'    I  \_    I  [j
>                                '/7     f   ,/f [[     _/           [__,/      '   \_  j'  Lf
>                               ]/ '     ' ,jMY  N     j'      __,,  ~~~             `  I   "
>                               7'<     j',#'j'  N    ^^^^^"""~~~
>                               '/      F d' [  |7
>                               j      j'j' d   ]E
>                               '      ##'      RI
>                              `      j#'       II          ,   ,              j'
>                                     4'        N'      _       '             /7
>                                     f        j]       l\w    ]             / I
>                                    #         II       I  [   I            J  '
>                                   /'         j        I  '   L           g__j_
>                                  j           ]        Lj/   j           _' ~T~""'
>                                  '           '       4~"!   I           f   ]
>                                 /           j           f   [          f     _
>                                 '           f        j j     _,mem^   j      `
>                                             '        mM    |"~        `
>                                            j
>                                            I
>                                            '

(i hope google news doesnt mess this up)

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