Original Usenet thread from alt.ascii-art, started 18 Aug 1997.
Text Art Plus
alt.ascii-art
· 9 messages · 18 Aug 1997 - 25 Aug 1997
>> In the past few weeks, I developed a new way of drawing my >> cartoons for which I coined the term Text Art Plus. >Is it just me or does anybody else feel that this does not belong >here? >(and why bother using text characters at all, why not just _draw_ >the cartoons?) Actually, I think this _does_ belong here. I've been to Pete's site, and had a look at the TAP stuff, and it's still ascii in essence as far as I'm concerned. I know it's in gif format and some of the elements aren't ascii at all, but it's based on and inspired by ascii as far as I can tell - I doubt that Frogstein and Birdstein would be the same if they were drawn, hence they are still in ascii form. I don't think Pete is claiming that this is strictly ascii, but *I* like what he's done, and I think announcing the TAP stuff is relevant to this group; without ascii, the TAP stuff wouldn't be there anyway! :) *flump*
PeteCasso wrote: > > In the past few weeks, I developed a new way of drawing my cartoons for > which I coined the term Text Art Plus. [ 8< bla bla bla 8< ] Is it just me or does anybody else feel that this does not belong here? (and why bother using text characters at all, why not just _draw_ the cartoons?) -- :) Veronica Karlsson ( e93...@sm.luth.se http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/ )
Hayley Jane Wakenshaw wrote: > > >> In the past few weeks, I developed a new way of drawing my > >> cartoons for which I coined the term Text Art Plus. > > >Is it just me or does anybody else feel that this does not belong >here? > >(and why bother using text characters at all, why not just _draw_ >the cartoons?) > > Actually, I think this _does_ belong here. I've been to > Pete's site, and had a look at the TAP stuff, and it's > still ascii in essence as far as I'm concerned. As far as I am concerned ascii art is about facing the challenge of using the very limited ascii table to create pictures that will be viewable on all computers and that are "memory efficient" (i.e. takes up little memory space in relation to their "physical size" on a screen). Pc's pictures have left the challenging limitations by allowing any kind of graphical items to be a part of them, they are no longer viewable on all computers and they take up much more memory than ascii pictures do. Another thing that is special about ascii art is that it is easy to copy and change without the changes looking weird and sticking out. If I were to copy PC's pictures and try to change them I would probably have some trouble getting the characters to look the same since I most likely don't have the same programs and fonts as he has. If for example I were to take one of Joan's ascii pictures and change some details it might not even be obvious to that eagle-eyed lady what changes had been made... > I know > it's in gif format and some of the elements aren't ascii > at all, but it's based on and inspired by ascii as far > as I can tell - I doubt that Frogstein and Birdstein > would be the same if they were drawn, hence they are > still in ascii form. Then there is always the technical part where you take away the fancy window environment and look at the individual ones and zeros in the memory of the computer.... On that level it would be more or less impossible for a computer to "see" that an ascii picture and one of PC's "TAP" creations even slightly resemble each other. <***leave subject***> <***start wild and unrelated association***> This may seem like uninteresting nonsense to you but just think a little, it can have some interesting practical consequences.... For example if you have an ascii picture that you like and want to find more of the same kind you can take a line, or part of a line, stuff it into alta vista and find other places on the net where that picture exists, you can't do that with a gif (ok, you might get lucky if you search on the file name but the same gif image may appear under different names while ascii pictures can't change too drastically and still be the "same" pictures....). An example: 1. I tried to search in Alta Vista for a line from good old "Meriday's" feet... Here's the line: "MMMM MM::::m:m:MM" And this is what I got in return: http://mediafilter.org/ZK/Conf/Conf_Email/May.17.1996.15.49.51 (unfortunately unrelated to the lovely lady) http://lalaland.cl.msu.edu/~vanhoose/ascii/flatmap.vt (not her, but a nice ascii find) http://think.ucdavis.edu/~campb/jokes/pics.asc a hit! http://futures.gold.ac.uk/IdeaBase/gorilla.html hmmm... a hit, but hideously disfigured to "save the children" http://www.vrx.net/NET.SCANDAL/asci a hit! http://www.sjoki.uta.fi/~kotkkrla/perustuslaki.text a hit! (plus a couple of no longer working addresses) 2. Then I tried the line: "meriday in the morning" (since I seem to recall that somebody called the picture that) From which I got this result: http://www.cli.di.unipi.it/~aldinic/original.html with a link to this page: http://www.cli.di.unipi.it/~aldinic/Meriday.html (and that one isn't even complete) 3. Then I tried to search for just the name "meriday".... I got 20 replies. I found the cut-off version again (twice!), an instruction to finger mbk...@remarque.berkeley.edu (it works, but you have to look fast because it just flashes by... or see it one piece at a time by telling the computer to list the results one page at a time). BUT - in order to find these I had to wade through piles of "rubbish" ( =nice stuff, but not what I was looking for), including a bunch of pictures of - lizards and snakes! (and of course the usual bunch of dead ends... "404 Not Found" is not what I was looking for...). [I know this is not exactly what this discussion was about but it just popped up in my mind right now and I thought I'd tell the rest of you about this searching method....] <***end wild and unrelated association***> <***go back to subject***> > > I don't think Pete is claiming that this is strictly > ascii, No, and I agree with that, but if it is not ascii, does it belong here??? > but *I* like what he's done, and I think And I don't, but the argument is not about _taste_. I personally think those disgusting little animals should go to hell, but as long as they are made in ASCII they are on-topic and welcome to the group and I will not argue about that, it is when they take the form of PC's new invention "TAP" that I say - this is not ascii and does not belong here. > announcing the TAP stuff is relevant to this group; > without ascii, the TAP stuff wouldn't be there anyway! :) No, but I think that with this he has passed the border out of ascii-land (this place may be where he started, but it is now where he is now). -- :) Veronica Karlsson ( e93...@sm.luth.se http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/ )
Shimrod wrote: > > Veronica Karlsson wrote: [ 8< ] > > http://futures.gold.ac.uk/IdeaBase/gorilla.html > > hmmm... a hit, but hideously disfigured to > > "save the children" > > Well, actually the whole pic is there, but all leading spaces have > been removed, and the <PRE> </PRE> tags weren't used. if you set > your proportional font to Courier, it starts looking better already. > It looked horrible! When I tried a non-proportional font Netscape still removed the initial spaces: (this is a part from around the face) > 8888888888888888::88888::::::M88888888888888888888 > 88888888888888888:::88888:::::M888888888888888 8888 > 88888888888888888:::88888::::M::;o*M*o;888888888 88 > 88888888888888888:::8888:::::M:::::::::::88888888 8 > 88888888888888888::::88::::::M:;:::::::::::888888888 > 8888888888888888888:::8::::::M::aAa::::::::M8888888888 8 > 88 8888888888::88::::8::::M:::::::::::::888888888888888 8888 > 88 88888888888:::8:::::::::M::::::::::;::88:88888888888888888 > 8 8888888888888:::::::::::M::"@@@@@@@"::::8w8888888888888888 > 88888888888:888::::::::::M:::::"@a@":::::M8i888888888888888 > 8888888888::::88:::::::::M88:::::::::::::M88z88888888888888888 > 8888888888:::::8:::::::::M88888:::::::::MM888!888888888888888888 > 888888888:::::8:::::::::M8888888MAmmmAMVMM888*88888888 88888888 > 888888 M:::::::::::::::M888888888:::::::MM88888888888888 8888888 This looks less like the empty skin of the skinned Meriday - now it looks like a sideways view of Meriday after falling from a high building... (which version, skinned or crushed, you see in my example above depends on what font you see it with...) I tried the source code (if your news reader interprets html tags you might not get the point here, what I see is html source code): > 88888888888888888:::88888:::::M888888888888888 8888<BR> > 88888888888888888:::88888::::M::;o*M*o;888888888 88<BR> > 88888888888888888:::8888:::::M:::::::::::88888888 8<BR> > 88888888888888888::::88::::::M:;:::::::::::888888888<BR> > 8888888888888888888:::8::::::M::aAa::::::::M8888888888 8<BR> > 88 8888888888::88::::8::::M:::::::::::::888888888888888 8888<BR> > 88 88888888888:::8:::::::::M::::::::::;::88:88888888888888888<BR> > 8 8888888888888:::::::::::M::"@@@@@@@"::::8w8888888888888888<BR> > 88888888888:888::::::::::M:::::"@a@":::::M8i888888888888888<BR> > 8888888888::::88:::::::::M88:::::::::::::M88z88888888888888888<BR> > 8888888888:::::8:::::::::M88888:::::::::MM888!888888888888888888<BR> > 888888888:::::8:::::::::M8888888MAmmmAMVMM888*88888888 88888888<BR> > 888888 M:::::::::::::::M888888888:::::::MM88888888888888 8888888<BR> (the wrapping was added by the news program) The only way I found to see this was to save the page, remove the <br> on each line, add the <pre> and take it back into Netscape... Another point: if you know what that picture is you probably already have it in a file somewhere (or don't care too much about it), if you don't you might not immediately get the idea to start messing about with the source code... And I also don't see that that is a picture that needs to be "hidden" from children anyway (even better - the only person who would just sit down and play with something like would probably be a ten-year-old child... just like those "child-proof" bottles that the parents can't open but have to ask their children to open for them...) [ 8< ] -- :) Veronica Karlsson ( e93...@sm.luth.se http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/ )
In article <01bcad8d$a0e83de0$cff89bce@default>, "Hilton Janfield" <korops @ vcn.bc.ca---remote-to-reply> writes:
[ snipping all over the place ]
|> | |
|> | /( _|_ |
|> | Lieutenant Woof ( "> ('o') Helm Officer |
|> | (I need to replace this (= )= (= =) |
|> | pic! If anyone has a good " " " " |
|> | F&B-style/sized pic of a wolf or dog or something, e-mail it |
|> | to me!!) |
Something like this perhaps?
m , ,
( "o ('o')
( \ (, ,)
~ " " " "
It's a FAT dog...
Hmm, I think the front view looks to birdyish. Needs more inspiration.
The left one might look better like this (but it looks less doggish to me):
m
( "o
( )
~ " "
|> | ,, ,, |
|> | Queue (@@ (@@) Villian |
|> | If you don't get the (/ )/ (/\) |
|> | joke on the name (you ^ ^ ^^ |
|> | probably don't..) e-mail me. |
Sorry.., lost me :-(
--
^^
ir. H.J.H.N. Kenter oo ) ken...@cs.utwente.nl
University of Twente =x= \ tel. +31 53 4894099
Tele-Informatics & Open Systems | \ tfx. +31 53 4893247
P.O. Box 217 7500 AE Enschede /|__ \
The Netherlands (____)_/ http://www.cs.utwente.nl/~kenter/
Famous last words: Segmentation Fault (core dumped)
Text Art Plus goes far beyond RTF and html in terms of manipulating text for achieving visual effects. Coloring and blinking text in html, things that other ascii web pages make use of, are already extentions to pure ascii, BTW. Text Art Plus takes text manipulation to the extreme, to the limits of state-of-the-art technology. But even so, I am aiming at extreme simplicity (just like in my pure ascii drawings), doing only what can be done rather easily with the most sophisticated tools. Here is an old cartoon of mine, expressing a position statement rather than wanting to entertain. 01WW5WWW10WWWW5WWW20WWWW5WWW30WWWW5WWW40WWWW5WWW50WWWW5WWW60WWWW5W68 02 02 03 Frogstein and Birdstein, Advanced Technology 03 04 by Pete Casso Revision 970503 04 05 05 06 Guru Devilstein, what is ascii art? 06 07 / 07 08 ,, _==_ 08 09 ( "> W <" ) 09 10 ,(> )>| <( <) 10 11 ( ^^ ^^ 11 12 ascii art is about achieving visual effects ... 12 13 using keyboard characters is the only valid condition ... 13 14 14 15 15 16 you are free to use advanced technologies ... 16 17 I use the most advanced technologies ... 17 18 / 18 19 / Yaay! Guru Devilstein has spoken! 19 20 / / 20 21 / _==_ 21 22 / <" ) 22 23 / <( <) 23 24 ,, ^^ 24 25 ( "> W 25 26 ,(> )>| http://members.aol.com/petecasso <- . 26 27 ( ^^ all original ascii art gallery ` 27 28 ` . original comic strips ` 28 29 ` . animated cartoons ' 29 30 ` . multimedia ; 30 31 ` . , 31 32 ` . . ' 32 33 33 34WW5WWW10WWWW5WWW20WWWW5WWW30WWWW5WWW40WWWW5WWW50WWWW5WWW60WWWW5W68
PeteCasso wrote: > > Text Art Plus goes far beyond RTF and html in terms of manipulating text > for achieving visual effects. Coloring and blinking text in html, things > that other ascii web pages make use of, are already extentions to pure > ascii, BTW. > The html coloured/blinking ascii art can be "converted" back into ordinairy ascii art by a simple copy-and-paste operation... > Text Art Plus takes text manipulation to the extreme, to the limits of > state-of-the-art technology. But isn't one of the basic ideas about ascii art that the pictures should be viewable without "advanced" programs? > But even so, I am aiming at extreme > simplicity (just like in my pure ascii drawings), doing only what can be > done rather easily with the most sophisticated tools. Oh! another person who thinks that the word "sophisticated" means "new and with as many buttons as possible"! :( -- :) Veronica Karlsson ( e93...@sm.luth.se http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/ )
Jorn Barger wrote: > > >Veronica Karlsson wrote: > [...] > >> I tried to search in Alta Vista for a line from good old > >> "Meriday's" feet... Here's the line: > >> "MMMM MM::::m:m:MM" > > Altavista ignores all punctuation, so this would work the same as > "MMMM.MM.m.m.MM" or "MMMM MM m m MM". > > Unfortunately, most all ascii art is almost pure punctuation, so AV is > little or no use. (It may be that other search engines would handle > this better-- anyone know?) Oh :( Well, I haven't actually used this method, I just thought about the possibility when I wrote that post about the difference between ascii art and gif images as "seen" by the computer... :-/ -- :) Veronica Karlsson ( e93...@sm.luth.se http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/ )
Maybe try it in quotes? Usually that makes it search for the string "as is", no? _________________________ Veronica Karlsson wrote: > > Jorn Barger wrote: > > > > >Veronica Karlsson wrote: > > [...] > > >> I tried to search in Alta Vista for a line from good old > > >> "Meriday's" feet... Here's the line: > > >> "MMMM MM::::m:m:MM" > > > > Altavista ignores all punctuation, so this would work the same as > > "MMMM.MM.m.m.MM" or "MMMM MM m m MM". > > > > Unfortunately, most all ascii art is almost pure punctuation, so AV is > > little or no use. (It may be that other search engines would handle > > this better-- anyone know?) > > Oh :( > > Well, I haven't actually used this method, I just thought about the > possibility when I wrote that post about the difference between ascii > art and gif images as "seen" by the computer... :-/ > > -- > :) > Veronica Karlsson > ( e93...@sm.luth.se http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/ ) -- __________________________________________ Tom R. Earlywine X:o) __________________________________________ The idea that Bill Gates has appeared like a knight in shining armour to lead all customers out of a mire of technological chaos neatly ignores the fact that it was he who, by peddling second-rate technology, led them into it in the first place. -Douglas Adams, on Windows '95 __________________________________________
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